South Africa: SA's BRICS membership has grown substantially, says President President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africas membership of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) has grown substantially since the country joined this group of emerging economies 12 years ago. The President made the remarks in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter on Monday. He and other BRICS Heads of State will virtually converge for this years Leaders Summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the event. He said as government works to rebuild the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is much to be gained from our participation in BRICS and the relationships we have established with other member countries. From the onset, he said, BRICS countries identified the strengthening of economic and financial ties as one of the key pillars of its cooperation. The countries have adopted the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership to increase access to each others markets, promote mutual trade and investment and create a business-friendly environment for investors in all BRICS countries. An important part of this strategy, particularly for South Africa, is to diversify trade so that more manufactured goods, rather than raw commodities, are traded. Last year, over 17% of South Africas exports were destined for other BRICS countries, while over 29% of our total imports came from these countries. He said these countries were therefore significant trading partners, and the value of this trade was continuing to grow. Total South African trade with other BRICS countries reached R702 billion in 2021, up from R487 billion in 2017. At a time when we are focused on improving the capacity and competitiveness of our economy, these trade linkages will prove vital to the growth of local industry. There is therefore a direct relationship between, on the one hand, our reforms in energy, telecommunications and transport, our investment in infrastructure and our efforts to reduce red tape, and, on the other hand, the work underway to increase exports to our BRICS partners. These reforms are also important for encouraging greater investment from BRICS countries into our economy, he said. The President said tourism, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, was one area with great potential is tourism. Tourists from other BRICS countries accounted for 65% of all arrivals in South Africa in 2018, and these markets will therefore be expected to make an important contribution to the recovery of this sector. It is therefore significant that visitors from India and China can now make use of our new eVisa programme to make it easier and less costly to visit our country, he said. As government mobilises financing from different sources to fund the countrys ambitious infrastructure build programme, he said he expected the New Development Bank (BRICS Bank) to play an important role in providing financial and project preparation support for infrastructure and sustainable development projects. South Africa has received R86 billion from the bank to improve service delivery in critical areas. The bank also demonstrated its flexibility in rapidly approving $2 billion for each BRICS member under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Programme. Alongside the engagements between governments, the BRICS Business Council and the BRICS Womens Business Alliance are building ties between our respective business communities. They have been looking at the development of sectors such as agribusiness, aviation, financial services, energy, manufacturing and infrastructure, while also improving regulatory environments and developing skills. The collaboration among BRICS members in the area of health and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in particular has placed South Africa in a better position to respond effectively to the current and future health emergencies. After several years of planning, the virtual BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre was launched in March, he said. The centre was expected to enable BRICS countries to engage in joint vaccine research, development and co-production. It will also contribute to the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, strengthen health systems and help our countries to respond to future pandemics. President Ramaphosa said South Africa saw the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre as a valuable development in the countrys efforts to strengthen its vaccine manufacturing capacity. We will be calling on our BRICS partners to support the principle that vaccines destined for Africa should be produced on the continent. Earlier this month, the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture, adopted a BRICS Strategy on Food Security Cooperation. This is especially important as concerns grow around food security in the wake of COVID-19, the conflict in Ukraine and the increasing effects of climate change. The strategy aims to maintain sustainable agriculture production, unhindered supply of seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs, access to markets and stable functioning of food value chains. More broadly, said the President, this weeks summit aims to usher in a new era for global development that is more inclusive, sustainable and fair. Through the reform of the multilateral system, including the United Nations, and by refocusing the attention and resources of the global community on the sustainable development agenda, the BRICS group can support a sustained and equitable global recovery, he said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-06-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. BRICS seen to help tackle global woes 08:23, June 20, 2022 By ZHANG YUNBI ( China Daily Group has become platform for developing countries, emerging markets to collaborate A growing number of leaders, officials and experts are voicing hopes for the BRICS mechanism to help the world better tackle the global economic downturn and prevent global governance from grinding to a halt. They made their observations as President Xi Jinping is poised to host the 14th BRICS Summit on Thursday. The BRICS grouping of leading emerging economies initially started in 2006 with four membersBrazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa became the fifth member in 2011. The summit comes at a time when the gap between rich and poor countries is widening amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and readiness among nations for greater collaboration on global development is shrinking, observers said. BRICS accounts for about 40 percent of the world's population and 24 percent of global GDP. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the BRICS nations and the international community as a whole "need to redouble their efforts to restore multilateralism, which prioritizes unity in addressing challenges". Xu Xiujun, director of the International Political Economy Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics, said, "Since its establishment, BRICS has sent a strong message that its members have their own rights for seeking greater development." Over the past 16 years, the grouping has become "a major platform" for the BRICS countries and the rest of developing countries and emerging markets to collaborate, as well as a key forum for consultation among the five BRICS members for participation in global governance, Xu said. "We are seeing a resurgence of Cold War mentality as well as attempts at bloc confrontation, and several developed countries have embarked on cliques, such as the 'Indo-Pacific' strategy, in an attempt to divide the world into two systems," Xu said. Last month, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is India's minister for external affairs, warned at the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting that "the knock-on effects of the Ukraine conflict have led to sharp increases in the costs of energy, food and commodities". "This must be mitigated for the sake of the developing world," he said. Zhu Jiejin, a professor at Fudan University's School of International Relations and Public Affairs, said that "it is an irreversible trend to witness the rise of emerging markets and developing countries as a whole in the 21st century". "The birth of the BRICS mechanism stems from the joint pursuit by these emerging markets and developing countries of boosting their international say, their ability to set agenda, shape rules and bring the global governance system toward greater fairness, justice and equality," Zhu said. The security and development of developing countries "are suffering heaving blows" because economic globalization is suffering from strong headwinds and frustrations, and the gaming among major countries is increasingly intense, according to Zhu. "In this context, reinforced BRICS cooperation facilitates unity among the emerging markets and developing countries, helps make the global governance system better respond to the justified concerns and pursuits of these nations, and protects their legal and rightful interests," Zhu added. In recent years, countries including Argentina and Egypt have expressed their willingness to join BRICS. Kester Kenn Klomegah, an independent researcher on African affairs and a writer for the Eurasia Review website, said that "many countries are showing an interest in the underlying principles and values of BRICS". "BRICS is an organic association of countries that have many things in common: They have several shared interests and common approaches to addressing challenges that are relevant to all of humanity," Klomegah wrote in an article last month. At the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting last month, the ministers "supported advancing the process for expanding the membership of BRICS and indicated that further discussions would be held on this issue", according to China's Foreign Ministry. "China will work with BRICS parties to continue to have in-depth discussions on BRICS expansion and determine the standards and procedures for that on the basis of consensus. We look forward to more like-minded partners joining the big family of BRICS," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on May 27. Chen Fengying, an economist and former director of the Institute of World EcoBRICS seen to help tackle global woes By ZHANG YUNBI | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2022-06-20 07:03 Group has become platform for developing countries, emerging markets to collaborate A growing number of leaders, officials and experts are voicing hopes for the BRICS mechanism to help the world better tackle the global economic downturn and prevent global governance from grinding to a halt. They made their observations as President Xi Jinping is poised to host the 14th BRICS Summit on Thursday. The BRICS grouping of leading emerging economies initially started in 2006 with four membersBrazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa became the fifth member in 2011. The summit comes at a time when the gap between rich and poor countries is widening amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and readiness among nations for greater collaboration on global development is shrinking, observers said. BRICS accounts for about 40 percent of the world's population and 24 percent of global GDP. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the BRICS nations and the international community as a whole "need to redouble their efforts to restore multilateralism, which prioritizes unity in addressing challenges". Xu Xiujun, director of the International Political Economy Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics, said, "Since its establishment, BRICS has sent a strong message that its members have their own rights for seeking greater development." Over the past 16 years, the grouping has become "a major platform" for the BRICS countries and the rest of developing countries and emerging markets to collaborate, as well as a key forum for consultation among the five BRICS members for participation in global governance, Xu said. "We are seeing a resurgence of Cold War mentality as well as attempts at bloc confrontation, and several developed countries have embarked on cliques, such as the 'Indo-Pacific' strategy, in an attempt to divide the world into two systems," Xu said. Last month, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is India's minister for external affairs, warned at the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting that "the knock-on effects of the Ukraine conflict have led to sharp increases in the costs of energy, food and commodities". "This must be mitigated for the sake of the developing world," he said. Zhu Jiejin, a professor at Fudan University's School of International Relations and Public Affairs, said that "it is an irreversible trend to witness the rise of emerging markets and developing countries as a whole in the 21st century". "The birth of the BRICS mechanism stems from the joint pursuit by these emerging markets and developing countries of boosting their international say, their ability to set agenda, shape rules and bring the global governance system toward greater fairness, justice and equality," Zhu said. The security and development of developing countries "are suffering heaving blows" because economic globalization is suffering from strong headwinds and frustrations, and the gaming among major countries is increasingly intense, according to Zhu. "In this context, reinforced BRICS cooperation facilitates unity among the emerging markets and developing countries, helps make the global governance system better respond to the justified concerns and pursuits of these nations, and protects their legal and rightful interests," Zhu added. In recent years, countries including Argentina and Egypt have expressed their willingness to join BRICS. Kester Kenn Klomegah, an independent researcher on African affairs and a writer for the Eurasia Review website, said that "many countries are showing an interest in the underlying principles and values of BRICS". "BRICS is an organic association of countries that have many things in common: They have several shared interests and common approaches to addressing challenges that are relevant to all of humanity," Klomegah wrote in an article last month. At the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting last month, the ministers "supported advancing the process for expanding the membership of BRICS and indicated that further discussions would be held on this issue", according to China's Foreign Ministry. "China will work with BRICS parties to continue to have in-depth discussions on BRICS expansion and determine the standards and procedures for that on the basis of consensus. We look forward to more like-minded partners joining the big family of BRICS," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on May 27. Chen Fengying, an economist and former director of the Institute of World Economic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that "there should be a delicate design about the membership expansion process". "Efforts should be made to prevent the grouping's efficiency from being dragged down by overly expanded membership, and the grouping also needs to steer clear from potential frictions triggered by different demands or conflicting interests," she said. BRICS members need to keep an eye on the big picture, make a long-term plan to make the BRICS mechanism even stronger, revitalize South-South cooperation and boost the dialogue between developing and developed countries, she added. Zhu, the Fudan University professor, said that initiating the grouping's expansion "helps display the BRICS nations' image of openness and inclusiveness, and will boost their representativeness and say in the world". "In the meantime, more emerging markets and developing countries could tap into this platform to boost their say and influence in the world," Zhu added. Ren Lin, head of the Department of Global Governance at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics, said that given the current international situation, which poses potential risks of major confrontation, there should be greater unity to shore up positivity, in order to offset potential risks. "Expanding BRICS' influence and its circle of friends could further promote democratization of international relations and better consolidate the efforts of emerging markets and developing countries, thus providing a greater boost to global economic recovery," she added.nomic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that "there should be a delicate design about the membership expansion process". "Efforts should be made to prevent the grouping's efficiency from being dragged down by overly expanded membership, and the grouping also needs to steer clear from potential frictions triggered by different demands or conflicting interests," she said. BRICS members need to keep an eye on the big picture, make a long-term plan to make the BRICS mechanism even stronger, revitalize South-South cooperation and boost the dialogue between developing and developed countries, she added. Zhu, the Fudan University professor, said that initiating the grouping's expansion "helps display the BRICS nations' image of openness and inclusiveness, and will boost their representativeness and say in the world". "In the meantime, more emerging markets and developing countries could tap into this platform to boost their say and influence in the world," Zhu added. Ren Lin, head of the Department of Global Governance at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics, said that given the current international situation, which poses potential risks of major confrontation, there should be greater unity to shore up positivity, in order to offset potential risks. "Expanding BRICS' influence and its circle of friends could further promote democratization of international relations and better consolidate the efforts of emerging markets and developing countries, thus providing a greater boost to global economic recovery," she added. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Then-White House legislative affairs director Marc Short (L) and Vice President Mike Pence in the Rose Garden at the White House on June 6, 2018 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The January 6 committee plans to put key witnesses on the stand during its public hearings. Key testimony is expected from Trump administration officials and those present at the Capitol. Witnesses to date have included Capitol Police, Justice Department officials and riot embeds. The select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack has interviewed nearly 1,000 people since it converged about a year ago. The panel has mapped out plans for six public hearings related to its investigation and is expected to call some of its key witnesses to testify in what is expected to be a widely-viewed series of events. The committee's fifth public hearing, which is expected to focus on the former president's efforts to push his election fraud claims through the Department of Justice, is scheduled for 3 pm on Thursday, June 23. This story will be updated as new information becomes available. Rusty Bowers, GOP Speaker of Arizona's House of Representatives Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers offers up an amendment as lawmakers debate among three proposed laws that are designed to deal with distracted driving caused by cellphone use, on the floor of the House of Representatives at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin As the leading lawmaker in the Arizona House, Bowers has been pressured by Trumpworld to overturn the 2020 election results. Bowers has rebuffed efforts to interfere with Biden's lawful win advanced by Trump, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Ginni Thomas, the insurrection-stoking wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and fellow Arizona Republicans. Bowers testified on June 21. Pat Cipollone, former Trump White House counsel Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said he would testify about Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ official who outlined ways for Trump to challenge the 2020 election. Alex Wong/Getty Images Cipollone was one of former President Donald Trump's top legal advisors on January 6, 2021. Cipollone is reportedly in talks with the January 6 committee to publicly testify about last year's Capitol riot and would focus on discussing Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department official who reportedly used his powers to try and aid Trump in overturning the 2020 election. Richard Donoghue, former Department of Justice official US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue. Kena Betancur/Getty Images Donoghue was serving as Trump's acting deputy attorney general on January 6, 2021. CNN reported that Donoghue jotted down notes about a call he was on during which Trump tried pressuring him and Rosen to overturn the 2020 election results. Story continues January 6 committee co-chair Bennie Thompson said Tuesday that Donoghue was set to testify on Thursday, June 23. Caroline Edwards, US Capitol Police officer US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was the first law enforcement officer injured by rioters storming the Capitol grounds on January 6, testifies during a hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol on June 09, 2022 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan committee, which has been gathering evidence related to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol for almost a year, will present its findings in a series of televised hearings. On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building during an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for Joe Biden. U.S. Capitol Police Officer Pfc. Harry Dunn listens behind. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Edwards was one of the congressional police officers who confronted the violent mob of Trump supporters as they swarmed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. The New York Times reported that she was thrown to the ground, blinded with chemical spray, and suffered a concussion during the hours-long ordeal. Edwards testified on June 9 about the carnage she witnessed that day. Steve Engel, former Department of Justice attorney Prosecutors charged two men with giving gifts to ingratiate themselves with federal law enforcement officers. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images Engel was an attorney in Trump's Department of Justice on January 6, 2021. ABC News reported that January 6 committee members want to work him into a panel that would include former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general. Engel is expected to testify at a future hearing. Benjamin Ginsberg, GOP election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg, right, and Robert Bauer, co-chairs of The Presidential Commission on Election and Administration, prepare to testify before a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing in Russell Building titled "Bipartisan Support for Improving U.S. Elections: An Overview from the Presidential Commission on Election Administration." Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call Ginsberg is one of the attorneys who worked on the month-long recount fight in 2000 that ended with George W. Bush becoming president. In 2000, Ginsberg wrote that the GOP was "destroying itself on the altar of Trump" in a scathing op-ed. Ginsberg testified June 13. Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump White House aide White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and White House legislative aide Cassidy Hutchinson (R) dance to the song YMCA as President Donald Trump ends a campaign rally. Alex Brandon/AP Images Hutchinson worked for then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 6, 2021. She's reportedly been interviewed for more than 20 hours and has provided "extensive information about Meadows's activities in trying to overturn the election." Greg Jacob, former Mike Pence general counsel Susan Walsh/AP Images Jacob is one of the people then-Trump attorney John Eastman blamed for the violence on January 6. "The 'siege' is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened," Eastman wrote to Jacob during the attack, according to The Washington Post. Jacob testified on June 16. Michael Luttig, conservative attorney and former judge Susan Walsh/AP Images Luttig is a conservative lawyer and former appeals court judge who advised Vice President Mike Pence during Trump's attempt to overturn the election, The Washington Post reported. Luttig testified that Trump is working on rigging the 2024 election "in plain sight" on June 16. Wandrea ArShaye Moss, former Georgia election worker Wandrea' "Shaye" Moss, former Fulton County, Georgia, election worker delivers remarks after receiving the 2022 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Sunday, May 22, 2022, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. AP Photo/Josh Reynolds Moss was a full-time employee in the Fulton County, Georgia elections office during the 2020 election who was harassed by Trump supporters who embraced the embattled former president's baseless claims of election fraud. Moss testified on June 21. Byung J. Pak, former US attorney for the northern district of Georgia Ron Harris/AP Images Pak was a Department of Justice attorney in Atlanta who resigned in January 2021 because he said he refused to go along with President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. Pak testified on June 13. Nick Quested, British filmmaker who documented the Proud Boys Nick Quested accepts the Courage Under Fire Award at the 33rd Annual IDA Documentary Awards at Paramount Theatre on December 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for International Documentary Association The British documentarian had been following the Trump-supporting Proud Boys in the months leading up to January 6, 2021, and was likely privy to planning conversations involving alleged rioter Enrique Tarrio, the New York Times reported. The Department of Justice charged Tarrio with seditious conspiracy on Monday. Quested testified on June 9. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger holds a press conference on the status of ballot counting on November 6, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images Raffensperger was one of the Georgia officials Trump famously asked to "find" 12,000 votes he needed to beat Biden in the Peach State. Instead, Raffensperger conducted a recount and certified Biden's victory, compelling Trump to campaign against him in May's GOP primary (which Raffensperger won, anyway). Raffensperger testified on June 21. Jeff Rosen, former acting attorney general Former acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen has already testified about Trump's efforts to pressure DOJ. Yuri Gripas-Pool/Getty Images Rosen was serving as Trump's acting attorney general on January 6, 2021. He spoke to the committee in October 2021 about ideas Trump and those who supported false claims about the 2020 election kicked around in order to try and overturn the results. Rosen is expected to testify at a future hearing. Al Schmidt, former Philadelphia city commissioner Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt stands outside the Pennsylvania Convention Centre on November 6,2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lynsey Addario/Getty Images Schmidt was a city commissioner for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who defended the state's electoral process in 2020, thus invoking former President Donald Trump's wrath. Schmidt testified on June 13. Marc Short, former Mike Pence chief of staff Marc Short (C), former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, joins other Republicans at an election-night rally for gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles on November 02, 2021 in Chantilly, Virginia. Virginians went to the polls Tuesday to vote in the gubernatorial race that pits Youngkin against Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Short was Pence's chief of staff on January 6, 2021. Short warned the Secret Service that Trump was about to publicly attack his boss the day before the January 6 insurrection. The committee showed clips from his taped deposition during the June 16 hearing. Bill Stepien, former Trump campaign manager Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien stands alongside then-US President Donald Trump as he speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One as he flies from Manchester, New Hampshire to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, August 28, 2020, following a campaign rally. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Stepien was former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager. The New York Times reports that during a meeting on November 7, 2021 at which Trump was pushing his baseless claims of election fraud Stepien laid out the "exceedingly low odds of success with his challenges." January 6 committee staff announced on June 12 that Stepien was scheduled to testify on Monday, June 13, but later said Stepien would not appear due to a family emergency and that his lawyer would make an on the record statement. Gabriel Sterling, Georgia state election official Gabriel Sterling, Georgia's Voting System Implementation manager, speaks during a press conference addressing Georgia's alleged voter irregularities at the Georgia State Capitol on January 04, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. In a one-hour phone call Saturday with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's Secretary of State, President Trump urged him to overturn his defeat in the November election against President-elect Joe Biden. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Sterling is Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperberger's top deputy. Sterling testified on June 21. Chris Stirewalt, former Fox News executive Susan Walsh/AP Images Stirewalt was the Fox digital politics editor who called Arizona for Joe Biden on election night 2020. He was fired in January 2021. Stirewalt testified on June 13. Read the original article on Business Insider The worlds largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States. (See images below.) The stingray, captured on June 13, measured almost four meters (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly under 300 kilograms (660 pounds), according to a statement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project. The previous record for a freshwater fish was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, the group said. The stingray was snagged by a local fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. Village residents watch as researchers release a record-breaking giant freshwater stingray back into the Mekong River. (Photo: via Associated Press) Village residents watch as researchers release a record-breaking giant freshwater stingray back into the Mekong River. (Photo: via Associated Press) The stingray was snagged by a local fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. The fisherman, who earned $600 for the catch, alerted a nearby team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project, which has publicized its conservation work in communities along the river. The stingray weighed about 660 pounds. (Photo: via Associated Press) The stingray weighed about 660 pounds. (Photo: via Associated Press) When you see a fish this size, especially in freshwater, it is hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned, Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan said in an online interview from the University of Nevada in Reno. The university is partnering with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and USAID, the U.S. governments international development agency. Researchers say the catch was a hopeful sign for the Mekong River in the face of environmental challenges. (Photo: via Associated Press) Researchers say the catch was a hopeful sign for the Mekong River in the face of environmental challenges. (Photo: via Associated Press) Freshwater fish are defined as those that spend their entire lives in freshwater, as opposed to giant marine species such as bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between fresh and saltwater like the huge beluga sturgeon. The team that rushed to the site inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish before releasing it. The device will send tracking information for the next year, providing unprecedented data on giant stingray behavior in Cambodia. The fact that the fish can still get this big is a hopeful sign for the Mekong River, Hogan said, noting that the waterway faces many environmental challenges. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. (Bloomberg) -- Most Read from Bloomberg Libyas oil production has risen in the past week to around 700,000 to 800,000 barrels a day, according to Energy Minister Mohamed Oun. Oun, who gave the updated estimate on Monday, said on June 13 that the OPEC members output was down to 100,000-200,000 barrels a day. Production in Libya, which has Africas largest oil reserves, has been volatile since mid-April amid an increase in political tension and protests at energy fields and ports. Libyas decline in crude production has been steep, with the nation pumping an average of 1.2 million barrels a day just last year. Major importers in Europe were hoping it would be able to raise that figure to help counter supply constraints elsewhere. Oil has surged almost 50% in 2022 to $110 a barrel, mostly due to the fallout from Russias invasion of Ukraine. The increase in Libyas output in recent days is partly due to the nations biggest field, Sharara, ramping up, according to two separate people with knowledge of the matter. The southwestern deposit is operated by Libyas National Oil Corp. in a joint venture with Spains Repsol SA, TotalEnergies SE of France, Austrias OMV AG and Equinor ASA of Norway. It can pump around 300,000 barrels daily at full capacity. Sarir, a large eastern field, is also producing more, the people said. Output at Agoco, the company which operates Sarir, has reached about 270,000 barrels a day after Sarir restarted on June 16, they added. More Outages Possible Still, output could plummet again in the next few days as Waha Oil Co., which operates in the east of the country, may have to halt production entirely due to protests, according to people familiar with the matter. Story continues The company has already curbed production by 80,000 barrels a day to 210,000, the people said. Thats because crude storage tanks at the Es Sider port used by Waha Oil are full due to vessels being unable to load. One such tanker is the Ohio. Protesters prevented it from picking up oil and have instructed it to leave the terminal. Earlier this month, demonstrators forced workers to shut down Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, another key oil port. Since then, Waha Oil has been producing crude intermittently. Political Crisis Libyas parliament-backed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, said the nation has little chance of holding elections this year, raising the prospect of the oil outages lasting for months. The nation has been mired in conflict since the fall of dictator Moammar Al Qaddafi in 2011. Its now facing a standoff between rival politicians, with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah resisting demands from some lawmakers to resign after they declared Bashagha as premier in February. Bashagha has set up a new government in the city of Sirte following clashes in Tripoli, the capital, between militias loyal to him and others who back Dbeibah. The North African nation was meant to hold a presidential election in December, but the process was delayed with just days to go, dealing a blow to peace efforts. Creaky oil facilities, already struggling to maintain production, have been the target of protests in recent months. Theres also a power struggle in the oil sector. The relationship between Oun and NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla, who has for years run the energy sector and signed agreements with international oil companies, has been strained since the government in Tripoli restored the Ministry of Oil in March 2021. The ministrys attempt to assert greater control sparked an internal crisis. Oun asked the government to dismiss Sanalla several times and change the NOCs board. Oun has complained about the state-run company not sending production figures to the ministry. (Updates with Es Sider storage tank details from fourth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. STORY: Banned goods include coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology. "This decision is really unprecedented. It's a violation of everything," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a call with reporters. "We consider this illegal. The situation is more than serious ... it requires in-depth analysis before we formulate our response and next steps," he added. Sandwiched between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad receives supplies from Russia via rail and gas pipelines through Lithuania. Kaliningrad's governor estimated the ban could affect up to half of all goods that are brought to the region by rail. Inside Creative House / Getty Images/iStockphoto Stretching your nest egg as far as possible is something that's most likely front of mind for retirees who aren't very wealthy. With no new sources of income aside from Social Security or possibly a pension, it's important to settle in a place to retire that won't drain your savings. Related: The Downsides of Retirement That Nobody Talks About Learn: How Biden Is Impacting Social Security in 2022 However, getting a clear sense of exactly how long your retirement savings will last requires understanding how much it costs to live in the state you're calling home. As anyone trying to get by somewhere with a high cost of living can attest, even basic necessities can quickly winnow down your retirement account. And it only gets more complicated if you decide you don't want to spend your entire retirement in the same place, as your costs won't be consistent throughout your retirement. That's why GOBankingRates performed a study to compare the cost of living in every state and determine how long you can survive off of $100,000. Granted, $100,000 won't buy you a lot of time in any state. But, these results will give you a sense of just how much you need to save. kieferpix / Getty Images/iStockphoto 50. Hawaii Annual Expenditure: $91,970.213 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 1 month 1 day To say that Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in is something of an understatement: Hawaiians pay more than double the national average per year. You'll need over $2 million to survive retirement in this state -- the most in the country. xavierarnau / iStock.com 49. New York Annual Expenditure: $70,512.08 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 5 months 1 day Some might gripe that the only thing imperial about the Empire State is how much it costs to live there, with the average New Yorker needing more than $70,000 a year to cover expenses. MundusImages / Getty Images 48. California Annual Expenditure: $67,657.34 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 5 months 23 days California's not an easy place to stretch your retirement dollar, with the cost of housing coming in at more than double the average for the country. Story continues Poll: Do You Think You Will Be Able To Retire at Age 65? FilippoBacci / Getty Images/iStockphoto 47. Massachusetts Annual Expenditure: $64,231.65 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 6 months 22 days Massachusetts is not a state that's kind to your retirement savings, with sky-high housing costs playing the biggest part in making things difficult. RyanJLane / Getty Images 46. Oregon Annual Expenditure: $61,900.28 $100,000 Will Last: 1 years 7 months 13 days Oregon has a cost of living that's higher than the country as a whole, particularly in housing, which is almost $7,200 higher than the national average. However, if you're dead set on enjoying the beautiful coastlines of the Pacific Northwest in your golden years, consider making your home in Brandon. It's the best city in the state to buy a home. pkujiahe / Getty Images/iStockphoto 45. Alaska Annual Expenditure: $60,472.91 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 7 months 24 days Costs in Alaska are generally high -- particularly for healthcare and utilities -- but there's one area where the state won't eat so far into your nest egg: Alaska is the most tax-friendly state for retirees. WilliamSherman / Getty Images 44. Maryland Annual Expenditure: $58,997.96 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 8 months 8 days Maryland is one of the more expensive states for retirees to live in, but a lot of the older residents can afford it: It's one of the states with the richest retirees. JayLazarin / Getty Images 43. Connecticut Annual Expenditure: $57,856.06 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 8 months 22 days Not only is Connecticut one of the pricier states in the country to live in, but for many retirees, the source of their income might not be as stable as they would hope. Connecticut is the worst state for pensions in the U.S. BDphoto / Getty Images 42. Rhode Island Annual Expenditure: $55,762.59 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 14 days If you've compiled an impressive nest egg over the course of your career, Rhode Island isn't a great place to keep it protected. XKarDoc / Getty Images/iStockphoto 41. Vermont Annual Expenditure: $55,667.43 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 18 days Not only is Vermont a tough place to maintain your nest egg, it's also a pretty rough spot for building it up as well. The Green Mountain State is the state where it's hardest to save $1 million for retirement, another GOBankingRates study found. KenWiedemann / Getty Images 40. New Jersey Annual Expenditure: $54,811.01 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 25 days Like many of the most expensive states in the country, the main culprit for New Jersey's high cost of living is housing, with New Jersey residents paying more than $1,300 higher than the average American for a place to live. edella / Getty Images 39. Maine Annual Expenditure: $54,715.85 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 29 days It's possible that the high cost of living in Maine has some residents thinking big in terms of what it means to be wealthy. In a GOBankingRates survey, the most common answer for what it meant to be "rich" in Maine was an income of $10 million a year or more, the highest answer for any state. Joel Carillet / Getty Images 38. Washington Annual Expenditure: $53,098.16 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 16 days If you're surprised to see Washington so far down this list, keep in mind that it's home to Seattle, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Best to look for more affordable cities. CHBD / Getty Images/iStockphoto 37. New Hampshire Annual Expenditure: $52,289.32 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 27 days If you're dead set on living in New Hampshire in retirement but you're looking to avoid some of those high costs, steer well clear of the 03854 ZIP code -- home to New Castle Island. It's the most expensive ZIP code in the state. 1MoreCreative / Getty Images 36. Delaware Annual Expenditure: $51,337.74 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 12 days Although Delaware might be on the higher side for costs, it can also offer some great ways to protect your nest egg: It's one of the best states to retire rich in the country. ImagineGolf / Getty Images 35. Nevada Annual Expenditure: $50,576.48 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 23 days If you want to spend your golden years in the Silver State, prepare to spend a little more. Costs are at least 10% higher than the national average across every category except for utilities, where they're actually 20% under what the rest of America pays. Adventure_Photo / Getty Images 34. Colorado Annual Expenditure: $50,100.69 $100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 30 days While your $100,000 will only last just under two years in Colorado, it depends upon which city you land in. If you want to stay in the Rocky Mountain State but don't like the "mile high" costs in Denver, consider Colorado Springs where it's over $10,000 a year cheaper. wanderluster / Getty Images 33. Arizona Annual Expenditure: $49,101.53 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 14 days Arizona's costs are a bit higher than the national average in every category except utilities, and healthcare. catnap72 / Getty Images 32. Pennsylvania Annual Expenditure: $48,768.48 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 17 days In Pennsylvania, housing costs are just a couple of hundred dollars below the national average. However, if you're looking to stretch your retirement savings as far as possible, you can still do better, especially when Pennsylvanians pay more than average for groceries, utilities and transportation. Shutterstock.com 31. Idaho Annual Expenditure: $48,578.16 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 21 days Idaho's scenic landscape could be considered incentive enough to retire there, but the state's low costs are an additional perk. Joel Carillet / Getty Images 30. Virginia Annual Expenditure: $48,435.42 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 21 days You'll pay less for groceries, utilities and transportation than the average American if you opt to retire to Virginia, but there's clearly more to the story. That would be the cost of housing, which is over $1,100 higher than the national average. RiverNorthPhotography / Getty Images 29. South Dakota Annual Expenditure: $48,054.79 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 28 days There's one thing you don't have to worry about in South Dakota: state income tax. That's because it's one of the seven states without any, which could make a significant difference in how long you can stretch that nest egg. urbancow / Getty Images 28. Montana Annual Expenditure: $47,912.05 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 1 day If you were hoping to keep your nest egg healthy after retiring to Montana by investing well, you might find it harder there than elsewhere. Montana is one of the worst states to grow your money, according to a separate GOBankingRates study. nycshooter / Getty Images 27. Florida Annual Expenditure: $47,721.74 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 5 days Florida might only be middle-of-the-pack for stretching a six-figure retirement fund, but it's still a popular destination for many retirees. And you have plenty of options to choose from in terms of which Florida city stacks up the best for you. sharply_done / Getty Images/iStockphoto 26. Minnesota Annual Expenditure: $47,579 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 5 days In Minnesota, it costs about the same as the national average to live here. That's not true statewide, though, as Minneapolis is among the more expensive major cities in the country. amygdala_imagery / Getty Images 25. Utah Annual Expenditure: $47,103.21 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 12 days Regardless of how long it lasts, Utah is doing plenty to help you build that retirement account. It's the state where it's easiest to save $1 million for retirement. Shutterstock.com 24. North Dakota Annual Expenditure: $46,722.58 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 19 days One place you probably won't overspend in North Dakota is on housing. You can expect to pay less than $9,500 per year. dlewis33 / Getty Images 23. Wisconsin Annual Expenditure: $45,866.16 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 6 days You can make $100,000 last over two years in retirement if you're living in the Badger State. And your annual housing costs are lower than the national average, as well. iofoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto 22. North Carolina Annual Expenditure: $45,533.10 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 13 days If you're looking for a place to live in retirement where you're not in the hustle and bustle of the city but also still close enough to take advantage of city living on occasion, North Carolina might be the place to look. Three of the best suburbs for retirement are in the Tarheel State: Bermuda Run, Fairfield Harbour and Sunset Beach. Kirkikis / Getty Images 20. (tie) Illinois Annual Expenditure: $44,867.00 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 24 days In Illinois you can stretch $100K to a bit more than two years. And if you decide you want to make the Windy City your home, you'll have plenty of options in selecting from the many different suburbs around the city. Jeremy Hardin / Getty Images/iStockphoto 20. (tie) Wyoming Annual Expenditure: $44,867 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 24 days The cost of living in Wyoming is lower than it is for the country as a whole. Shutterstock.com 19. Nebraska Annual Expenditure: $44,581.52 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 28 days Nebraska's cost-of-living scores are either at or below the national average in every category except for transportation. However, at least some of the money you can save on things like groceries and housing will end up with the state government: Nebraska is the least tax-friendly state for retirees. peeterv / Getty Images/iStockphoto 18. South Carolina Annual Expenditure: $44,533.94 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 31 days The question of how long $100,000 lasts in retirement might be especially apt for South Carolina. A GOBankingRates survey determined that most residents of the Palmetto State have about $50,000-$100,000 saved for retirement. Shutterstock.com 17. Kentucky Annual Expenditure: $44,248.47 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 4 days Kentucky's biggest cost advantage over other states is in its housing, where you'll pay almost $2,000 less than the national average. peeterv / Getty Images/iStockphoto 16. Louisiana Annual Expenditure: $44,248.47 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 4 days Not only is Louisiana among the better states for stretching your savings in retirement, it's also the best state to grow your money, according to a separate GOBankingRates study. Zview / iStock.com 15. Texas Annual Expenditure: $43,820.26 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 11 days Texas offers a range of advantages to its elderly residents when it comes to stretching retirement dollars. Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto 13. (tie) Ohio Annual Expenditure: $43,439.63 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 19 days Housing is especially affordable in Ohio, coming in at almost $2,400 less than what the average American is paying. Add that to costs that are either below average or less than 2% over it, and it's not hard to see why Ohio cracked the top 20 in this study. RiverNorthPhotography / Getty Images 13. (tie) Michigan Annual Expenditure: $43,249.31 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 22 days The Great Lake State is as welcoming as it is scenic, and the low costs mean you can enjoy more of it with your nest egg. Shutterstock.com 12. New Mexico Annual Expenditure: $43,296.89 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 22 days If you enjoy life in the big city but can't handle the high cost of living that usually comes with it, New Mexico might offer you the best compromise. . dlewis33 / Getty Images 11. Arkansas Annual Expenditure: $43,249.31 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 22 days The cost of a comfortable retirement in Arkansas is very low, coming in below any other state in the country save for Mississippi and its incredibly low cost of living. Purdue9394 / Getty Images 10. Indiana Annual Expenditure: $43,106.57 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 26 days Indiana offers retirees the chance to stretch their savings much further than most of the country; this is important to the Hoosier State, as Indiana is the state with the poorest retirees in the country. ablokhin / Getty Images 9. West Virginia Annual Expenditure: $43,059.00 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 26 days West Virginians are paying less for housing and utilities than most Americans, but that's counter-balanced by higher-than-average costs on groceries and "miscellaneous" expenses. Shutterstock.com 8. Iowa Annual Expenditure: $42,773.52 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 3 days Like many states in the Midwest, Iowa boasts low housing costs that help push the overall cost of living down significantly. However, while it's housing leading the charge, Iowa's costs are below what the average American pays across the board. TriggerPhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto 7. Missouri Annual Expenditure: $42,725.94 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 3 days Although most costs are lower in Missouri, the Show-Me State is especially affordable when it comes to housing. A year of a roof over your head costs an average of just $7,961, making it one of just eleven states where you can expect to pay under $8,000 per annum. Joel Carillet / Getty Images 6. Tennessee Annual Expenditure: $42,345.31 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 10 days Whether it's the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville or Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee is a great state for American music. Of course, if you're retired and living there, it's the low costs that might be music to your ears. krblokhin / Getty Images/iStockphoto 5. Georgia Annual Expenditure: $42,250.15 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 14 days Low costs in Georgia mean a retiree can make $100,000 last them for almost two years and five months. Even if you're living well by saving on basic costs, though, not everyone is in the same situation: Atlanta is among the places in the U.S. with the most income inequality. Shutterstock.com 3. (tie) Alabama Annual Expenditure: $41,821.94 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 21 days You can expect to stretch your retirement savings by retiring almost anywhere in the Yellow Hammer State, but that's especially true if you decide to call the city of Birmingham home: It's one of the cheapest places to retire in the entire country. Tiago_Fernandez / Getty Images 3. (tie) Oklahoma Annual Expenditure: $41,821.94 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 4 months 21 days Oklahoma has low costs statewide that will help you stretch $100,000 to almost a full two and a half years. Shutterstock.com 2. Kansas Annual Expenditure: $41,155.84 $100,000 Will Last: 2 years 5 months 5 days Kansas is a great state to retire to if you want to stretch your nest egg as far as possible, and it's even better if you're living off of a pension funded by the state: Kansas is one of the best states for pensions. Shutterstock.com 1. Mississippi Annual Expenditure: $39,633.31 $100,000 Will Last: 12 years 7 months 13 days No state has a lower cost for a comfortable retirement than Mississippi, where you can expect to pay almost $3,400 less for housing than the country as a whole. All told, the cumulative cost of living in Mississippi is almost $8,000 lower than the national average. Andrew Zarivny / Shutterstock.com How Long $100K in Retirement Will Last in Every State States on either coast might offer a lot in terms of great weather and loads of culture, but they certainly ask a lot in terms of your pocketbook. The 15 states where $100,000 stretches the least in retirement include five states on the Pacific Ocean (Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska). On the East Coast, the worst states for your retirement nest egg are New York, Maryland, New Jersey and all six of the states that make up New England. On the other end of the list, it's hard to miss that states from the South and the Midwest have the lowest costs by far. Of the 15 states where your $100,000 in retirement savings goes the furthest, all but two (Idaho and Wyoming) are in one of those two regions. More From GOBankingRates Jordan Rosenfeld contributed to the reporting for this article. Methodology: In order to find how long $100,000 will last across the country, GOBankingRates first found (1) the national average annual expenditures for people 65 and older, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2020 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Then, GOBankingRates created (2) state-level annual expenditure estimates by multiplying the national figure by each state's overall cost of living index score for 2021 from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Finally, GOBankingRates found (3) how many years $100,000 will last in each state by dividing $100,000 by each state's average annual expenditures estimate. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were then ranked with No. 1 being the state where $100,000 will last the longest and No. 51 being the state where it will run out most quickly. GOBankingRates provided supplemental information on the average annual cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, and healthcare for people 65 and older in each state by again using MERIC's cost of living indices for each category to factor out national estimates from the CES. All data was collected on and up to date as of May 10, 2022 . This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Long $100K in Retirement Will Last in Every State Animal shelters in Louisiana saved more dogs and cats in 2021 even as shelters across the nation struggled but the state still ranks near the bottom of U.S. states. Louisiana's shelters saved 76,879 dogs and cats that entered their care in 2021, with a save rate of 78%. Louisiana's save rate was one of the lowest in the country in 2021, but the state saw significant improvement, as shelters across the country had a decline in save rates , according to Best Friends Animal Society, an organization that aims to improve the lives of pets and animals. Shelter deaths across the U.S. rose for the first time in five years, which Best Friends Animal Society attributes to staffing shortages, fewer volunteers, and reduced adoption events, along with increased intakes and fewer adoptions. Food Finds: Owner's dog inspired Lafayette restaurant, pet-friendly business serves barbecue, cocktails Abram Cross is one of the many volunteers helping to load animals into aircraft. Animals being flown out from Lafayette animal shelter to NJ to help alleviate shelter pressure. Wednesday, March 17, 2021. The responsibility of saving pets lives should not rest solely on shelters and those in animal welfare, but on entire communities including community members, government leaders, shelters, and other animal welfare groups, said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, in a news release. Through collaboration and community involvement, this model provides better support for pet owners, efficiency in shelters, and more lifesaving outcomes for pets. When a community supports its shelters critical needs, we see dramatic results. 'It's amazing': Louisiana man who rescued 13 kittens sees outpouring of support For the last six years, Best Friends Animal Society has compiled data for a national look at how many dogs and cats in animal shelters have been saved in a given year. Around two-thirds of Louisiana, shelters reported data for the report. Louisiana's saving rate of 78% was the fourth lowest of U.S. states, according to the most recent data, ahead of only Alabama (76.9%), Maryland (77.3%), Mississippi (72.7%), and North Carolina (76.6%). Story continues Generally speaking, Best Friends Animal Society says an ideal save rate would be above 90%, which is the benchmark for "no-kill" status. The benchmark assumes that around 10% of animals brought into shelters will have medical conditions or behavioral issues that warrant humane euthanasia, but the shelters do not kill animals due to a lack of space. Three shelters in Louisiana reached a no-kill status in 2021, including the Lafayette Animal Shelter and Care Center, the St. Tammany Parish Department of Animal Services, and the Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter. One other shelter, Tangipahoa Parish Animal Services, received a special mention from the organization for increasing its saving rate by more than 40% over the year, reaching 81.3%. Shelter: Lafayette animal shelter reaches no-kill threshold for first time Around 31.3% of state shelters were designated as no-kill in 2021. "These four shelters prove that saving dogs and cats is possible even during the most challenging of times, said Lee Ann Shenefiel, south-central regional director at Best Friends Animal Society, in a news release. Its our hope that other shelters in Louisiana will adopt similar lifesaving programs so they can save as many dogs and cats as possible in the future. In 2020, around 57,747 of the 60,671 dogs and cats that entered Louisiana shelters were saved, for a rate of 71.6%. The percentage of shelters with no-kill designations was around the same. The report lists Louisiana as a "medium priority" in terms of the help needed to save more cats and dogs in shelters. Only two states New Hampshire and Delaware are listed as no-kill states, meaning all shelters meet the 90% save rate benchmark. CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TODAY: Help support journalists like William Taylor Potter In Louisiana, eight parishes are considered no-kill by the report, including De Soto, Concordia, West Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, St. Martin, Lafayette, Vermilion, Assumption, and Washington. Five other parishes are considered nearly no-kill Morehouse, East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Lafourche, and Terrebonne. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana animal shelters saved more dogs and cats in 2021 A man is behind bars after allegedly driving under the influence during a fatal crash that killed a pedestrian. The incident happened on June 19 just before 2 p.m. Memphis Police officers responded to a fatal pedestrian at Chelsea Avenue and Bellevue Boulevard. A man identified as Daniel Roby, 37, was driving a Chevrolet Impala in the center lane on Chelsea behind another vehicle, according to an affidavit. When Roby attempted to pass the vehicle using the right lane, he hit and killed the pedestrian, police said. A witness told police Roby was speeding before the crash. According to the affidavit, police smelled a strong odor of intoxicant on Roby. He told police that he had smoked some marijuana and drank several alcoholic beverages before the accident, the affidavit said. He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Roby performed poorly on a field sobriety test. He also had a suspended drivers license, police said. He did not have valid insurance, and his vehicle tag expired in May. Records show Roby faces multiple charges including Public Intoxication, Reckless Driving, DUI, and Vehicular Homicide. Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Trending stories: Reuters An exceptionally well-preserved Roman floor mosaic, showing a rich variety of fish, animals, birds and ships, has returned to the site where it was first found in a Tel Aviv suburb after a decade-long tour of some of the world's top museums. The 1,700 year-old mosaic, from the late Roman period, was discovered in 1996 during highway construction work, but was not put on display until 2009, when sufficient funding to preserve it was donated. The colorful mosaic, 17 metres (55 ft) long and about 9 metres (29 ft) wide, may have served as the foyer floor of a mansion in a wealthy neighborhood of Lod, near what is now Tel Aviv, the Israel antiquities Authority said in a statement. While a warming climate could spell disaster for countless snow-loving species, an ice-free Arctic artery could also offer critical trade alternatives to the Russian-controlled Northern Sea Route, a new study has found. Climate models indicate that parts of the Arctic Ocean that were once blanketed in ice year-round are now warming so rapidly that they will likely be iceless for months on end in as soon as two decades, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This dramatic transformation will lead to the endangerment of species that thrive in sub-zero temperatures, the researchers acknowledged. Yet these conditions will also increase the Arctics navigability so much that by 2065, new trade routes could be populating international waters not only curbing the shipping industrys carbon footprint, but also loosening Russias control over trade in the Arctic, according to the study. Theres no scenario in which melting ice in the Arctic is good news, wrote lead author Amanda Lynch, a professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown University. But the unfortunate reality is that the ice is already retreating, these routes are opening up, and we need to start thinking critically about the legal, environmental and geopolitical implications, Lynch added. Lynch and her colleagues worked to model four navigation scenarios based on different potential outcomes of global efforts to stymie climate change in the coming years, according to the study. Their projections determined that unless world leaders constrain warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next 43 years, climate change will likely open new maritime routes through international waters by the middle of the century. Such changes could have significant implications for both world trade and global politics, according to co-author Charles Norchi, director of the Center for Oceans and Coastal Law at the University of Maine School of Law and a visiting scholar at Brown. Story continues The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed in 1982, increased the authority of Arctic coastal states over primary shipping routes, Norchi said in a statement. Through a specific clause in the convention called Article 234 these countries gained the ability to regulate the routes maritime traffic, so long as the region remains covered in ice for most of the year, according to Norchi. This provision was supposed to ensure the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution from vessels, he explained, citing the article. Yet Norchi attested that for decades, Russia has used Article 234 for its own economic and geopolitical interests. Russian law requires all vessels that travel through the Northern Sea Route to be piloted by Russians, and they also must provide advance notice of their plans and pay tolls, he said. Up against such heavy regulation, major shipping companies often choose to bypass the route and instead use the much longer but cheaper and easier trade routes through the Suez and Panama canals, according to Norchi. If the ice near Russias northern coast continues to melt, so too will the countrys grasp on shipping in the Arctic, Norchi explained. While Moscow will continue to invoke Article 234, it will face opposition from the international community, he added. Not only that, but with melting ice, shipping will move out of Russian territorial waters and into international waters, Norchi said. If that happens, Russia cant do much, because the outcome is driven by climate change and shipping economics. Because Arctic routes are about 30 to 50 percent shorter than Suez and Panama canal trips reducing travel time by about 14 to 20 days shipping companies could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about 24 percent, according to Lynch. These new arteries could also offer alternatives if a ship blocks an important shipping route for an extended period, Lynch added, referring to a March 2021 incident when a vessel was stuck in the Suez Canal for six days. Diversifying trade routes especially considering new routes that cant be blocked, because theyre not canals gives the global shipping infrastructure a lot more resiliency, Lynch said. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Jun. 20PERU According to court documents, an Alma, Michigan, man is now planning to plead guilty for his alleged connection to the molestation of two Miami County preteen boys. Thomas Brockway, 65, is set to plead guilty to two amended counts of child molesting, both Level 3 felonies, after a hearing this week in Miami Circuit Court. Per law, the presiding judge in the case has the right to reject or accept the plea agreement, and Brockway has a sentencing hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 25. Brockway's charges stem from several alleged sexual encounters that occurred between Brockway and two preteen boys while the defendant was living in Miami County between 2012 and 2017, according to court records. A probable cause affidavit filed in the case indicates that the boys were as young 6 or 7 years old at the time the alleged incidents which primarily involved oral sex occurred, and one of the boys reportedly told authorities that there were over 30 encounters in all. During each of the alleged encounters, Brockway would also reportedly tell the boys "not to tell anyone," the affidavit stated. In an interview with investigators, and highlighted in the affidavit, Brockway reportedly confessed to molesting the two boys, adding that the encounters usually happened in the basement of his residence while the boys and their families were visiting. However, per the affidavit, they allegedly occurred when everyone else was out of the house. Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who resigned in 2018, is attempting a political comeback with a run for US Senate. Michael Thomas/Getty Images A campaign ad from Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens depicts an armed raid against a "RINO." Greitens is also selling stickers that say "RINO hunting permit" for $25. Greitens is facing criticism for the video that some say could potentially encourage violence. A Republican Senate candidate in Missouri posted a campaign ad on Twitter Monday that depicts him taking part in an armed, military-style raid targeting elected officials who he said are "surrendering to Joe Biden." Eric Greitens, who identifies himself as a "MAGA Navy SEAL," uses the 38-second video to encourage viewers to buy a $25 sticker for a "RINO hunting permit," referring to the phrase "Republicans in name only." In the video, he is accompanied by men in military uniforms who smash through the front door of a home. Greitens' video was released months after his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, accused him of growing physically violent with her and her children. She said in a sworn affidavit filed in a child custody dispute and obtained by the Associated Press that "people other than myself were worried enough to intervene to limit Eric's access to firearms." Greitens has denied the allegations. Greitens is also facing criticism for the video from people who say could potentially encourage violence. "This is sociopathic," Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, posted on Twitter. "You're going to get someone killed." In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Greitens rejected criticism of the ad. "If anyone doesn't get the metaphor, they're either lying or dumb," the spokesperson said. Eric Greitens' campaign is selling "RINO hunting permit" stickers for $25 each. Screenshot/Greitens for US Senate Greitens is running to replace retiring US Sen. Roy Blunt, with a recent poll showing him at the top of the field in the August GOP primary. He resigned as Missouri's governor in 2018, after he was accused of blackmailing a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair. That woman also accused him of sexually assaulting her in testimony. Greitens at the time described his interaction with the woman as a consensual extramarital affair. Additionally, Greitens' request to rejoin the Navy SEALs was denied in 2019. Read the original article on Business Insider A spider monkey wearing a bulletproof vest and other body armour was found dead following a shootout between police and a drug cartel in Mexico, according to reports. The monkey which authorities believe belonged to a cartel group member was killed during a shootout on Tuesday in Texcaltitlan, a town roughly 63 miles southwest of Mexico City. Images of the monkey wearing a tiny camouflage jacket and small bullet-proof vest appeared online following the shootout. Mexico state authorities later confirmed the authenticity of the images as well as the monkeys death, the Associated Press reported on Friday. It remains unclear how the monkey, who was also wearing a diaper, was exactly killed however. Reports suggest the hail of gunfire or its owner was to blame. A primate was killed at the scene, which was presumably owned by a criminal who was also killed at the scene, said state prosecutors in a statement. An autopsy will be carried out on the animal by a veterinarian specialised in the species, the State of Mexico added. The small primates death came alongside that of 11 gang members who reportedly attacked local security forces in the State of Mexico municipality. The shootout then ensued. Security forces responding to the shooting in Texcaltitlan, Mexico (REUTERS) Seven gang members were arrested and some also sustained injuries. Those individuals appeared in court on Saturday and were identified as members of the Familia Michoacana cartel, who have been accused of attempted murder and other charges. They are due to appear in court again in the coming days. In typical Mexican tradition, the deceased monkey received its own corrida, a folk ballad often composed in honour of dead drug cartel members, which said: Life is very short, it wasnt the monkeys turn (to die). La policia mexicana combatio contra una celula de la Familia Michoacana en Texcaltitlan (Edomex) hace dos dias. El enfrentamiento dejo 10 sicarios abatidos, tambien murio un mono arana vestido como un sicario porque era la mascota de uno de ellos. pic.twitter.com/FAtohmyvTk NIPORWIFI (@niporwifi) June 16, 2022 Authorities were considering animal-trafficking charges against the suspects who survived the shootout, earlier reports said. Story continues Elsewhere in Mexico last week, a Bengal tiger was pictured walking the streets of Tecuala, in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, and another tiger bit a mans hand off eventually killing him. While keeping exotic pets is permitted with a licence in Mexico, experts told reporters that drug gangs often avoid doing so and that pets such as monkeys or tigers were considered status symbols. Additional reporting by the Associated Press The Daily Beast Ukrainian State Emergency Service / Handout/Anadolu Agency via GettyRussia fired a series of rockets at a shopping center in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on Monday, raising fears that Russia is stepping up its attacks on civilian structures regardless of the loss of life.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday there were more than a thousand civilians inside the shopping mall and the casualties to come might bring even more shock and horror to Ukrainian people already confronting so much deat A dog that was abused and left to starve is in need of a new home after her owner was arrested on animal cruelty charges, the MSPCA said. Carl Moglika Jr., of Agawam, is facing two counts of animal cruelty in connection with the surrender of Sophie, a four-and-a-half-year-old Pit Bull mix, who was found severely emaciated, according to the MSPCAs law enforcement division. He is slated to appear in court in July. Officers responding to a complaint from Moglikas condominium management office learned neighbors had overheard Sophie being hit and crying in pain. Sgt. Loiselle drove Sophie from Agawam to the MSPCAs Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston because it was clear she needed to be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible, said Thomas Grenham, Director of MSPCA Law Enforcement. In addition to being emaciated, Sophie had diarrhea, anemia, a fractured tooth, and a thin coat. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Hampden District Attorneys Office said, We are happy to hear that Sophie is recovering and her condition is improving. We are thankful for the people who came forward to alert law enforcement of the inhumane treatment, which resulted in Sophie getting the treatment she needed and her owner being held accountable. Despite what shes been through, shelter staff say that Sophie is incredibly friendly, and loving, but her past trauma has impacted some of her behavior. It was heartbreaking to see Sophies condition when she first came to us, MSPCA-Angell Director of Adoption Centers and Programs Mike Keiley said. Weve been able to nurse her back to health, physically, but there are still some behavioral challenges that were working through. Keiley noted that those challenges include resource guarding, which is a tendency for some dogs to growl, lunge, or even bite, to guard their food or toys. Our team is working hard to help Sophie learn how to communicate with people in a new way, Keiley explained. Having lived in an environment in which normal forms of dog communication were being ignored, she has to learn those skills from the beginning. Story continues Morgan Katz, MSPCA-Angell director of behavior services adoption centers, is now asking for hero adopters to step forward to give Sophie the wonderful home she deserved. Despite her history, Sophie has a big personality and is silly and engaging, Katz said. She loves being around people and is constantly seeking affection from them. We know that she can thrive in the right home with hero adopters able to continue the behavior support shes been receiving in our care. The MSPCA is looking for an adopter in an adult-only household with no other pets who is committed to working with a behavior professional to provide the on-going support she needs. Interested adopters can apply at mspca.org/bostonadopt. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Associated Press The Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels engaged in a lengthy full-team brawl in the second inning Sunday after tensions over two days of inside pitches boiled over. Both managers and six players were ejected after the brouhaha, which stopped and started twice before Angels closer Raisel Iglesias came back out to the empty field to throw a tub of sunflower seeds and another bucket of gum onto the infield. Three of the first four hitters in Seattle's lineup were ejected, while three Angels pitchers were tossed. Nearly six in 10 Americans believe former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new poll released Sunday. The findings by the ABC News/Ipsos survey reveal a very slight uptick in support for prosecution of Trump since the start of televised hearings by the House select committee investigating the insurrection. The new poll, conducted June 17 and 18, found that 58% of those surveyed believe Trump should be charged with a crime for his role. An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in April found that 52% of those surveyed thought the same. The latest poll also found that 58% of Americans believe Trump bears either a great deal or a good amount of responsibility for the events of Jan. 6 last year. Another 17% believes Trump bears just some responsibility. The poll found that 60% believe the House Jan. 6 select committee is conducting a fair and impartial investigation. But only 33% of those surveyed said they were following the panels hearings somewhat or very closely. The poll was based on a nationally representative probability sample of 545 adults age 18 or older. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Check out the full poll results here. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea abruptly stopped importing COVID-19 prevention and control products from China in May, trade data released by Beijing showed, after the country bought face masks and ventilators from its neighbour in previous months. Daily new cases of fever in North Korea, as reported by its state news agency, KCNA, have been declining since the reclusive country first acknowledged in mid-May that it was fighting an COVID-19 outbreak. But it has yet to reveal how many of those cases tested positive for the coronavirus. North Korea did not import any face masks, thermometers, rubber gloves, ventilators or vaccines from China in May, according to data released by Chinese customs on Monday. That compared with imports of more than 10.6 million masks, nearly 95,000 thermometers and 1,000 non-invasive ventilators from China in January-April. South Korea and the United States have offered to provide help, including vaccines, but Pyongyang has not responded. As Pyongyang has never directly confirmed how many people have tested positive for the virus, the World Health Organization said in June that it assumed the situation was getting worse, not better. Overall, China's exports to North Korea slumped 85.2% to $14.51 million in May from $98.1 million in April. The top export items were soybeans, granulated sugar, soybean meal and wheat flour. North Korea bought $2.97 million worth of soybeans, $2.64 million of granulated sugar, $1.49 million of soybean meal and $846,598 of wheat flour in May, the Chinese customs data showed. Chinese foreign ministry confirmed on April 29 that China had suspended cross-border freight train services with North Korea following consultations due to COVID-19 infections in its border city of Dandong. (Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo. Editing by Gerry Doyle) A number of agencies are involved in the probe into Tuesdays incident at Glacier Valley Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) School district officials in Alaska investigating how students at a summer child-care program were served floor sealant instead of milk say the two products were not on the same pallet as first believed. A number of agencies are involved in the ongoing investigation into Tuesdays incident at a summer program at a Juneau elementary school in which officials say 12 students and two adults drank the floor sealant. The Glacier Valley Elementary School is seen in Juneau, Alaska, where a dozen students and two adults were served floor sealant instead of milk at the school after containers were apparently mixed up, the superintendent said last week. (Photo: Ben Hohenstatt/The Juneau Empire via AP) Juneau School District chief of staff Kristin Bartlett said by email Friday that as the investigation has progressed, school officials have been able to get clarification on some of the details of what happened. The district in a statement late Thursday said it now understands that in the spring of 2021, a pallet of floor sealant was mistakenly delivered to a district food commodity warehouse at the same time as four pallets of shelf stable milk. The warehouse is intended for food items only. The pallet of floor sealant remained untouched in storage with other food products until this week, when the districts food service contractor ran short on milk and sent staff to retrieve shelf stable milk, the statement said. On Tuesday, three boxes of floor sealant were picked up from the warehouse by the contractor, with one delivered to the summer program, the statement said. The others were delivered to two other schools and remained unopened, according to the statement. Bartlett said the boxes were marked with a label that said Seal 341. According to the district statement, a worker with the contractor took the box of floor sealant and poured its contents into cups to be served at breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, students complained of the milk tasting bad and burning their mouths and throats, and it was quickly discovered that what was served was a slightly scented liquid floor sealant resembling milk. Story continues Staff immediately directed students to stop consuming the substance and removed it, the statement said. Twelve students and two adults each ingested up to three ounces of the floor sealant, the statement said. Poison control was contacted for instructions, but the district said a delay in parental notification was longer than it should have been and caused families to learn of the incident from other sources. Some students were taken by parents for medical treatment, the statement said. As of Wednesday evening, the students are recovering, and some are fully recovered, it said. The district said it is examining its protocols for emergency communications. It said the warehouse was inspected and now contains only food items. The child-care program remains open. Inspectors with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are also conducting a more thorough investigation, the statement said. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Officials explain how kids were served floor sealant instead of milk at summer child-care program appeared first on TheGrio. Paul Haggis' lawyer claimed the Oscar-winning director is "totally innocent" after reports surfaced he was arrested in the southern region of Italy on Sunday and placed under investigation of allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman. "Under Italian Law, I cannot discuss the evidence," Haggis' lawyer Priya Chaudhry told Fox News Digital. "That said, I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. "He is totally innocent, and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly." Haggis, 69, has been in Italy for the Allora film festival that begins on Tuesday in Ostuni, a tourist town in Puglia, the region that forms the "heel" of the Italian peninsula. Paul Haggis attends the AmiCorti Film Festival 2021 on June 16, 2021 in Peveragno, Italy. Daniele Venturelli HILARY SWANK STUNNED THAT MILLION DOLLAR BABY WRITER PAUL HAGGIS ACCUSED BY 4 WOMEN OF SEXUAL ASSAULT The news agency LaPresse, and several additional Italian media groups, carried a written statement from prosecutors in the city of Brindisi that they were investigating allegations a "young foreign woman" meaning non-Italian was forced to have "non-consensual" sexual relations over two days with the Canadian screenwriter. Prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando, who are conducting the investigation, said in the statement that the woman was "forced to seek medical care" following the sexual encounters. Italian news media reported that after a few days "of non-consensual relations, the woman was accompanied by the man" to Brindisi airport on Sunday and "was left there at dawn despite (her) precarious physical and psychological conditions." Prosecutors said airport staff and police noticed her "obvious confused state," and after initial treatment, took her to Brindisi's police headquarters, where officers accompanied her to a local hospital for examination. Authorities said they weren't authorized to give out information about the case, including her nationality or age, or Haggis' whereabouts. Paul Haggis won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for "Crash" in 2006. J. Vespa CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER Story continues Haggis won the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 2006 for "Crash," which was inspired by his own real-life incident where he was carjacked outside a video store in Los Angeles. The Canadian director, who also wrote "Million Dollar Baby" and "Flags of Our Fathers," has been accused of rape and sexual misconduct by a total of four women, citing incidents that allegedly occurred between 1996 and 2015. Publicist Haleigh Breest filed a civil lawsuit in December 2017, and claimed Haggis raped her on Jan. 31, 2013 in a New York City apartment. Her suit prompted three additional women to come forward under the condition of anonymity, according to AP. Haggis was a Scientologist for 35 years and left the church in 2009. Shortly after the lawsuits, Leah Remini and her "Scientology and the Aftermath" co-host, Mike Rinder, released a lengthy statement defending Haggis and claiming the women in question may have suspect motivations for coming forward. "There is plenty of reason to worry about defending anyone accused of sexual assault in todays climate. But the fear of consequences for speaking our truth has not held us back in the past and isnt about to start now," they wrote. "We have supported victims of sexual abuse who have reached out to us and have worked with them and law enforcement to ensure justice is done for both victims and the accused. We have avoided trial by media." Remini questioned Haggis' sexual assault accusers' affiliation with their previous religion. The pair were seen in 2015 where Remini signed copies of her book, "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology." Debra L Rothenberg In their post, they defended Haggis character and suggested the Church of Scientology is behind the three additional accusers that are "suddenly appearing out of the woodwork." "We expect the next 'revelations' about Paul Haggis in this campaign to destroy him to be based on information culled from his Scientology files in the form of more 'anonymous' accusers, hiding behind a lawyer who will never have to disclose who is paying their bill." Haggis has denied the original rape allegation in a counter-complaint and said the accuser and her lawyer had demanded a $9 million payment to avoid legal action, which he characterized as extortion. "Paul Haggis deserves, based on his record as a gentleman and humanitarian, to be judged when all the evidence has been taken under penalty of perjury in a court of law," Remini and Rinder wrote. "Because claims of anonymous accusers who have NOT gone to law enforcement are not credible." The Associated Press contributed to this report. A pensioner came to the rescue of a police officer who was under attack. (File photo: PA) A pensioner has been hailed for her "outstanding bravery" after she intervened to save a police officer from an attacker. The woman, in her 70s, was out walking her dog in Darlington, Durham, when she saw a man attacking two police officers. She tried to grab the attacker's arm while he was repeatedly punching one of the officers in the head. The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, then called for back-up using one of the police officer's radios, which had fallen from their body armour in the attack. The incident happened in July 2020 but the pensioner was commended for her actions at Durham Constabularys Durham Difference Awards earlier this month. Read more: AA van gets stuck on beach beside car it was called to recover A pensioner was commended for bravery at a police awards ceremony. (Durham Police) The attacker later pleaded guilty to a string of offences, Durham Police said, including assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH), and was jailed for six and a half years. The awards also recognised a 15-year-old girl who was a key witness in a stabbing in Shildon. She had an interaction with the suspect, called the police and provided information which proved vital. The man also received a jail term of six and a half years. The pensioner and the teenager were both presented with certificates to recognise their bravery at the awards by Chief Constable Jo Farrell. Temporary Chief Superintendent Richie Allen, said: These members of the public richly deserve recognition for their selfless and brave actions. They have both shown an instinct to protect and help others without a second thought for their own personal safety. I would like to thank them on behalf of Durham Constabulary for what they did. PHILADELPHIA (AP) A government attorney for the Philippines was fatally shot in an Uber while visiting Philadelphia, officials said Sunday. John Albert Laylo was heading to Philadelphia International Airport with his mother to board a flight and was stopped in the Uber at a red light near the University of Pennsylvania around 4:10 a.m. Saturday, officials said. Several rounds were fired into the Uber from a black car behind it, police said. The black car then pulled up alongside the Uber and fired several more rounds into it, police said in a news release. Laylo was shot in the back of the head and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday, police said. No one was arrested, and no weapon has been found, police said. Authorities did not offer a suspected motive or say whether Laylo, his mother or the Uber driver were intentionally targeted. Homicide detectives are investigating and are looking for surveillance video. The consulate general of the Philippines said the victim was an attorney for its government, Philadelphia's KYW-TV reported. It wasn't clear whether the Uber driver or Laylo's mother were injured, but the latter posted to Facebook on Sunday, indicating she had been hit by shrapnel and saying she had been on vacation with her son, whom she referred to as Jal and said was 35 years old. Never did I imagine or dream that ... the end of our vacation will be like this! Leah Bustamante Laylo wrote in a post accompanied by snapshots of her and her son touring sites in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. We travelled together and we are supposed to go home together! I will bring him home soon in a box! Philadelphia, along with other large U.S. cities, is experiencing a surge in gun violence. In one notable episode June 4, a gun melee in the South Street entertainment district, about 3 miles from the shooting that killed Laylo, left three people dead and several others injured. The Daily Beast via Facebook/Rudy GiulianiFormer New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani doubled down Monday on his wildly overblown characterization that he was brutally assaulted by a Staten Island grocery store worker over the weekend, despite security footage showing the man only tapped his back.Speaking to about 200 people in a Facebook Live, Giuliani called the viral security footage deceptive. He claimed the pat packed so much vigor it nearly knocked him and a friend to the ground, but he was able to stay upright A member of the national Planned Parenthood Association speaks to hundreds gathered near the Tennessee State Capital building in Nashville on 14 May 2022 (AFP via Getty Images) When the Supreme Courts draft majority opinion striking down Roe v Wade was leaked last month, Planned Parenthood put out a statement saying that its worst fears had been confirmed. For more than a century, the nonprofit has been on the frontline of Americas war over access to reproductive healthcare, ever since its founder opened the nations first birth control clinic in New York City in 1916. It then fought against anti-abortion campaigners to set up one of the nations first abortion clinics three years before the Supreme Court legalised it in 1973. The organisation further cemented a womans right to abortion two decades later, when it took on Pennsylvanias governor in the landmark Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v Casey. But Planned Parenthood is now facing one of its biggest battles to date as the bombshell 2 May leak revealed the Supreme Courts intentions to overturn a womans constitutional right to an abortion and push reproductive rights in America back by 50 years. The writing had been on the wall for decades, Planned Parenthood CEO and President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement immediately after the news broke. This leaked opinion is horrifying and unprecedented, and it confirms our worst fears: that the Supreme Court is prepared to end the constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v Wade, she said. While we have seen the writing on the wall for decades, it is no less devastating. With the final opinion expected to drop any day now, all eyes have now turned to Planned Parenthood as the nations leading provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare and sex education in the US to help lead the charge in protecting abortion access across the country. Pro-choice demonstrators rally outside the Supreme Court (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Planned Parenthood currently has more than 600 health centres across the US and accounts for roughly 37 percent of all abortion services carried out in the US each year. In the last reported year ending September 2019, it provided 10.4 million medical services to Americans, including 354,871 abortion procedures to women across the country. Story continues Heres what you need to know about the organisation and the steps it has taken both now and through history to protect the right to an abortion: Action since the leak Planned Parenthood is emphasises that abortion is still legal and is still your right on its website as it together with other abortion providers, activists and leaders in Democrat states scrambles to put in place protections if and when the final Supreme Court opinion drops. But the reality is that the organisation has already stopped providing abortions at some clinics in anticipation of the ruling. On 16 June, Planned Parenthood announced that it had halted abortion services at its only clinic in South Dakota. This came after Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma already stopped providing abortion services there in May. What this now means is that women in the two states can no longer get a legal abortion. South Dakota and Oklahoma are among the 26 states with trigger laws in place, meaning that abortion will be effectively banned or severely limited with immediate effect as soon as Roe is overturned. Announcing the halting of abortions at its Sioux Falls clinic in South Dakota, Planned Parenthood said that it couldnt in good faith schedule appointments later this month, because there is a good chance patients would have to go out of state for their abortions by this time. Instead, the healthcare provider is doing everything they can to make sure patients get the care they need. Such actions include helping women navigate what will be an increasingly challenging and complex process to receive a legal abortion if Roe is overturned - in part by directing women to abortion care in states where access will still be protected regardless of the Supreme Court ruling. Anti-abortion protesters outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in South Carolina (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) More patient navigators are being hired by the organisation staff who can help provide women with the information they need, help them find abortion appointments in states where it is legal and arrange financial aid to cover the costs of travelling potentially hundreds of miles for the procedure. Ms McGill Johnson told CNBC that Planned Parenthood is also boosting staff and funding at clinics in states where it will remain legal in preparation for a growing demand for appointments there specifically in states that border trigger law states. Services such as birth control and mental healthcare are also being expanded in clinics in states where abortion will be banned or restricted, she said, adding that these services will become even more critical if Roe is overturned. A pioneer in birth control Leading the charge around access to reproductive rights and taking on the Supreme Court have long been in Planned Parenthoods DNA. While the organisation is widely known for its abortion clinics, it actually started out in birth control. It was 1916 when founder Margaret Sanger opened Americas first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn, at a time when education around birth control was illegal in the US. As a nurse who grew up in an Irish family as one of 11 children and after seeing her mother die in poor health aged 50 from multiple pregnancies and seven miscarriages, Sanger began studying birth control methods in Europe. When she opened her clinic in October 1916, women reportedly lined up all down the block for information on birth control. But, just nine days later, the clinic was shut down by law enforcement and Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne and activist Fania Mindell were arrested and charged with sharing birth control information. Despite the pioneering clinics short lifespan, Sanger continued to spread information across America about birth control and, seven years later, she launched the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau in Manhattan and the American Birth Control League. The organisations one focused on researching birth control and the other on population growth, disarmament and famine would later merge to become whats now known as Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger continued to push for access to birth control and in 1936 20 years after she opened the first clinic in Brooklyn birth control was finally legalised in New York, Vermont and Connecticut. Margaret Sanger set up the countrys first birth control clinic in 1916 (Getty Images) Another almost four decades passed and landmark Supreme Court rulings including Griswold v Connecticut before everyone, both single and married, could legally access birth control anywhere in America, paving the way for Planned Parenthood to legally provide birth control services across its clinics. It was around that time that the abortion rights movement also took off and, in 1970, three years before Roe v Wade, Planned Parenthood began providing abortion services for the first time in its clinic in Syracuse, New York. As reproductive healthcare have developed, services offered by the organisation have expanded to include the provision of new birth control methods, emergency contraception and the abortion pill. Beyond abortion access Though Planned Parenthood was founded on birth control access and is now best known for abortion access, its services extend much further today including to healthcare for transgender patients, cancer screening and HIV testing. The organisation first started providing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for transgender patients in 2005 and, by 2019, it offered this care across 200 health centres in 31 states. It also provides cancer screenings, with almost 600,000 screenings and preventions including breast exams and pap tests carried out in 2019 alone. Through these services, the healthcare provider was able to detect cancer early on in more than 75,000 women. Other womens health services include pregnancy tests, prenatal services and miscarriage care. As well as being a provider, Planned Parenthood also works on educating the public about sexual and reproductive healthcare and campaigns for the right to access such healthcare through the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Its global arm Planned Parenthood Global has worked with over 1,000 organisations providing and educating people on reproductive and sexual healthcare across more than 70 countries. Ties to the KKK and eugenics However, while Planned Parenthoods mission today is Care, no matter what, its history is marred by the founders ties to the KKK and eugenics. Sangers desire to provide reproductive healthcare access to low-income and minority women was in part motivated by her belief in eugenics the racist practice of selective breeding based on the belief that some people should not be allowed to reproduce. She promoted the theory in writings in scientific journals while her public support for the Supreme Courts 1927 ruling in Buck v Bell contributed to thousands of Americans being sterilised against their will. US Senator Elizabeth Warren joins pro-choice demonstrators outside the US Supreme Court on 3 May hours after the leaked draft (Getty) Sanger also once spoke at a KKK rally in New Jersey in 1926, writing about the experience in her 1938 autobiography. Always to me any aroused group was a good group, and therefore I accepted an invitation to talk to the womens branch of the Ku Klux Klan at Silver Lake, New Jersey, one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing, she wrote. Planned Parenthood publicly condemns its founders racism and belief in eugenics that are in direct opposition to Planned Parenthoods mission in a statement on its website. Her name was also removed from a New York clinic in 2020. Violent attacks As one of the loudest voices in the pro-choice movement for several decades, Planned Parenthoods abortion clinics have long been targeted by violence from anti-abortion groups and extremists. In 2015, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Denver, was the site of one of the most violent attacks on an abortion provider in history, when a gunman entered the clinic and opened fire on people inside. Three people were killed in the attack and nine others wounded, with suspect Robert Dear taken into custody alive after a five-hour standoff with police. Mr Dear claimed that he carried out the shooting because he harboured anti-abortion views, describing himself as a warrior for babies. In 2021, a federal judge ruled that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial. The 2015 shooting came just over a decade after a gunman went on a shooting spree across two Planned Parenthood clinics in Massachusetts in 1994, killing two and wounding another five. Other facilities have also been subjected to arson attacks and bombings over the years. Planned Parenthood v Casey Aside from violence at the clinics, Planned Parenthood has also come up against powerful opponents of reproductive healthcare rights in the courts even long after abortion was legalised. The organisation has been at the centre of numerous legal battles at both a state and federal level, the most prominent being the US Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1992. Planned Parenthood sued Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey after the anti-abortion Democrat introduced new laws restricting a womans access to abortion. Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey introduced abortion restrictions in the state in 1989 (Copyright 1990 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Under the 1989 Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, married women would have to notify their husbands before they could get an abortion and minors would have to get parental consent. Clinics would also be required to implement a 24-hour waiting period before a woman could get an abortion. The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court where, in 1992, the justices ruled the law unconstitutional and upheld the right to an abortion based on the 14th Amendment right to privacy which was codified under Roe v Wade. However, the ruling did make some changes to the constitutional right laid out in Roe. The Supreme Court removed Roes trimester framework for when an abortion could be restricted, creating instead an undue burden standard. This undue burden standard allows states to restrict abortion access so long as it does not create a substantial obstacle to the woman getting an abortion before the fetus is viable. The change paved the way for some states to implement laws such as the 24-hour waiting periods laws that pro-choice activists argue disproportionately impact low-income women and those who live far from clinics. Yet, despite the restrictions, Casey was significant as it upheld the landmark Roe ruling from two decades earlier. In the majority opinion, the justices stuck with the precedent set in the 1973 case, writing: It is therefore imperative to adhere to the essence of Roes original decision, and we do so today. What now? Now, that precedent and the constitutional right of a woman to get an abortion is under attack. In last months bombshell leaked draft, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito specifically wrote: Roe and Casey must be overruled. But Planned Parenthood is not going down without a fight. Understand that Planned Parenthood and our partners have been preparing for every possible outcome in this case and are built for the fight, said Ms McGill Johnson back on 2 May. Planned Parenthood health centers remain open, abortion is currently still legal, and we will continue to fight like hell to protect the right to access safe, legal abortion. An investigation is underway after a man was stabbed to death in Boston on Sunday, officials said. Officers responding to a report of a stabbing in the area of 35 Colorado Street in the citys Mattapan neighborhood around 2:30 p.m. found a man suffering from apparent stab wound, according to the Boston Police Department. The man was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name has not been released. There was no immediate word on whether any arrests have been made. Anyone with information is urged to contact Boston police homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network known as NIBIN is a federal database that catalogs shell casings found at crime scenes and guns confiscated by police departments across the country. While the database has existed for more than 20 years, the philosophy behind how it is used by law enforcement officials has evolved, police say. Kentucky police departments were making less than 1,000 NIBIN submissions annually a few years ago, but now the rates are approaching 10,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency that maintains NIBIN. "We used to use it as a forensic tool, and now we want to use it as an investigative tool," said Shawn Morrow, special agent in charge of the Louisville field division. Owensboro Police officers point out characteristics of shell casing as they examined the image on a computer screen inside the ATF's mobile NIBIN unit in Owensboro, Ky. on June 16, 2021. The mobile unit has been traveling to agencies in an effort to populate the database of shell casings to help match guns used in multiple crimes. More: This gun-tracing technology is cutting violent crime in Louisville, feds say He cited a case in Western Kentucky in which a man was pulled over by cops and found with drugs, which allowed police to secure a search warrant of his home. There, they found a gun that was identified through NIBIN as having been used in three unsolved shootings in another state, which police didn't previously realize were connected. When someone pulls the trigger, there are three markings that will be left on the casing and their uniqueness is like a fingerprint. For subscribers: Matt Bevin pardoned her for manslaughter. Now she can sue LMPD police she says framed her The NIBIN computer takes two- and three-dimensional images of shell casings and looks for matches in those markings, which are then reviewed by trained firearms examiners. Graphic The markings are compared to entries in the national system, which includes nearly 300 sites where police can send their ballistic evidence. Thus, a marking could be matched with a shooting in another state. But a match is only confirmed when examiners compare casings using a comparison microscope an important distinction when thinking about admissible evidence in court cases. Story continues Since its inception, 4.5 million pieces of ballistic evidence have been stored in NIBIN, according to the ATF website. Jonathan Bullington contributed to this report. Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: NIBIN: How police use ballistics to tell if your gun has criminal link President Joe Biden. Susan Walsh/AP Photo President Biden is considering measures like a federal gas-tax holiday to relieve pain at the pump. Average US gas prices have been above $5 a gallon, squeezing millions of Americans' wallets. Biden said he hoped to decide on a gas-tax holiday by the end of the week. President Joe Biden is weighing the possibility of a federal gas-tax holiday as millions of Americans continue to face pain at the pump. "I hope to have a decision based on the data I'm looking for by the end of the week," Biden told reporters Monday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to CNN. Pausing the federal gas tax 18.4 cents a gallon would require action from Congress. A pair of Democratic senators unveiled legislation in February to shelve the tax until 2023, but lawmakers haven't otherwise made much headway on the idea. Gas prices have remained elevated for months because of factors like a US ban on Russian oil imports following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and a mismatch between supply and demand. Monday's nationwide average for gas was just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. In an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a federal gas-tax holiday was "certainly worth considering." What's more, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the idea was under consideration. "Part of the challenge with the gas tax, of course, is that it funds the roads," Granholm said. Meanwhile, states like Georgia and Maryland temporarily suspended state gas taxes in March, when the price per gallon was also increasing. Biden also said he's considering sending Americans gas-rebate cards. Read the original article on Business Insider Prince William would have pushed Andrew into the shadows long ago, it has been claimed. (PA) Prince William wanted to "cut loose" Prince Andrew from royal duties a long time ago, it has been reported. The Daily Mail claimed that the Duke of Cambridge would prefer his uncle to "vanish from public view" as part of his vision for a more slimmed-down modern monarchy. The newspaper's royal editor, Rebecca English, spoke to a number of William's friends and confidantes ahead of the prince's 40th birthday on Tuesday. Read more: Prince William's 40th birthday marked with commemorative coin One royal adviser told English that William wishes to build on the decades of work done by the Queen but take it into the modern era. Watch: Why was Prince Andrew banned from Order of the Garter ceremony? Part of William's desire to slim down the monarchy - a policy also favoured by his father, Prince Charles - would appear to be to ostracise Andrew. The Duke of York has been rarely seen in public since the fallout from his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In February, Andrew paid an undisclosed sum to Virginia Giuffre after agreeing to settle a sexual abuse lawsuit in the US out of court. She had sued the prince over allegations he sexually abused her more than two decades ago when she was 17 after Epstein trafficked her to England. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing Prince William at Royal Ascot last Friday. (PA) There have been reports that Andrew has been lobbying the Queen to let him return to public duties. But sources who spoke to the Daily Mail have indicated that William is firmly against the idea. A friend told the newspaper: "He [William] feels very strongly about this and if it had been up to him he would have pushed for things to have happened a lot faster than they did. "People are simply not going to be happy with silence any more. The Queen's approach has worked very well for her during a more deferential age, with different forms of communication." A former royal adviser said: "But what William is working out is how to take the best of what his grandmother has done and make it relevant today. Story continues Read more: Duchess of Cambridge channels Princess Diana in polka dots at Royal Ascot Prince Andrew has rarely been seen in public since he was engulfed in scandal. (PA) "And he believes the monarchy needs to better explain its own thinking, particularly in terms of its place in the world." A friend told the Daily Mail that William "has strong views on the Duke of York and believes his insistence in trying to cling on to a public role is highly dangerous for the institution". They added: "He would have cut him loose a long time ago if it had been up to him. He understands that when it comes to mother and son the situation is complicated, but honestly I think he just wishes he would vanish from public view." Watch: Prince William makes homeless charity pledge Police are searching for four inmates who escaped from a minimum-security federal prison camp in Hopewell, Virginia, during the small hours of Saturday morning. Inmates Corey Branch, Tavares Lajuane Graham, Lamonte Rashawn Willis and Kareem Allen Shaw were found missing from the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburgs satellite camp in Hopewell, Virginia, at around 1.45am, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. The four inmates were sentenced to between 10 and 18 years in prison for possession of narcotics and firearms. However, the authorities did not provide details about how the inmates escaped from the security facility which houses 185 male offenders, except for calling it a "walkaway". The US Marshals Service, FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been pressed into action to assist in the search for the four absconding. Branch, 41, was sentenced to more than 13 years in the Eastern District of Virginia for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Graham, 44, was sentenced in the Eastern District of North Carolina to 10 years for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and over 28 grams of cocaine base. He was also charged for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Willis, 30, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for possessing and concealing a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Lastly, 46-year-old Shaw was sentenced in the Western District of Virginia to more than 16 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a measurable quantity of heroin. According to an Associated Press report from last year, 29 prisoners have escaped from federal lockups across the US between 2019 and 2021. The escapes were all reported from minimum-security federal prison camps, some of which lack fences. In 2004, Maxence Arcy moved with his family to Bellefontaine, a poor suburb of the French city of Toulouse. Limited by what he could afford, the father of six bought a place on a sprawling housing estate in the neighborhood which had catchment schools with the worst educational record in the region. Sign up here for The 74s daily newsletter. Donate here to support The 74's independent journalism. At the time, there were only Mahgrebians and Africans living on the estate and going to these schools, says Arcy, who originally migrated from Morocco in search of work in 1984. It was a kind of segregation in the 21st century. But in January 2017, local authorities closed those schools in Frances fourth biggest city and instead bussed the 1,140 affected pupils to high-achieving facilities in the prosperous downtown in an attempt to write a new chapter of education equality. The theory, according to Georges Meric, president of the Haute-Garonne region that includes Toulouse, was that a rising tide lifts all boats. Put another way, by inserting the students from Bellefontaine and two other suburbs, La Reynerie and Mirail, into schools of proven success, social determinism would be countered and all children would benefit. There are districts in Toulouse with 90 or 95 percent immigrant populations, says Meric, who helped develop the scheme. They are very poor and opportunities are hard to come by. But the young children living there have the right to success in life. Under Merics 56 million project, buses take the pupils aged 11 to 15 to nearly a dozen different schools in the city center in journeys that take less than an hour. The school principals and teachers are supported by six social mix masters who help facilitate logistics such as transport and tackle any problems that arise, such as dealing with parent concerns. Five years on, the test results have been noteworthy. Before the bus scheme began, the drop-out rate for students living on the three estates after taking the Brevet Frances national diploma for 15-year-olds was almost 50 percent. That rate has now fallen to less than six percent and grades have risen by nearly 15 percent on average. Some 94 percent of pupils have stayed in the same school, calming fears that the scheme would lead wealthier families to move their children into the private sector. Story continues The welcoming colleges had a very good academic level already, that was important, says Meric. Its worked very well. There has not been segregation in them and its promoting the wider acceptance of diversity across the city. (Middle school is the U.S. equivalent of what is called college in France.) Eduardo Mosqueda, a professor who specializes in access to education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, acknowledges the successes of the Toulouse project. But, he says, consideration must be given to the amount of funding it requires. I cant help to wonder what the differences are in resources [that were] available to students in Bellefontaine compared to students in the schools where they are being bussed in terms of quality curriculum and adequately prepared teachers, he says. If the project to bus students costs 56 million, how much would student achievement improve if that money was invested into improving the schools that were closed? Even so, despite their poor academic performance, the Bellefontaine schools already had a high student to teacher ratio of around four to one, which came at a significant cost. Mosqueda also believes bussing might lead to added pressures on pupils. Students that are bussed are also in new school environments where it may be difficult to integrate given the racial, income, cultural and linguistic differences, he says. Yet Maxence Arcys 13-year-old son, Adam, who switched from a Bellefontaine school to one in Saint Aubin, has had few issues to date. Theres a bus that comes to pick him up 200 meters from our house, says Arcy. Hes mixing with other students. Hes happy, he has improved his grades. He wants to be an engineer. For Arcy, the initiative is a textbook example of how to improve social diversity and the opportunities of future generations. We were always for the project, he says. We wanted our child to see other nationalities and cultures. We were just concerned about the distance to the new school, but the bus works well. One crucial learning from the scheme has been the need for extensive dialogue between all parties involved. As many as 80 meetings, including 50 public meetings, were held before the bussing project was launched, helping address the concerns of those who voiced opposition to the project. The latter included parents worried about the distances the children would have to travel and a handful of teachers who were resistant enough to the idea of changes in the student makeup that they went on strike to try and prevent it. It wasnt comfortable at the beginning, says Meric. There was resistance both through administration and the local level. But we listened to their concerns. These lessons could be invaluable, according to Malika Baadoud, director of LEcole et Nous, a Bellefontaine-based parents association, given that schooling segregation is present across France and other countries. Often resulting from societal divides, she says, it has led to high dropout rates, school violence, racism and teacher burnout. In certain areas of France, social and racial diversity simply doesnt exist, says Baadoud, who has held her role since 2003 and was last year awarded the prestigious National Order of Merit for her work. One of the initial concerns for parents whose children were set to be bussed further afield, according to Baadoud, was the fact that many families dont own cars. But that was resolved by providing parents with free bus passes to travel from the estates to the schools to meet their children. Slowly it was proved that all of these fears were unfounded, says Baadoud. They know its an opportunity for their children. Its something that is unprecedented. The project is here to stay. Already this year two new schools have been built away from the estates traditional catchment areas in other, more privileged parts of Toulouse to ensure permanent social mixing in the classrooms and promote a more diverse staff. Encouraged by the results, several other cities and towns across France are now studying ways to launch their own bussing initiatives, according to Meric, with the Ministry of National Education helping to coordinate. Others have contacted us regional departments and ministerial officials have come to see us, he says. I hope the scheme multiplies. Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas while he waits to speak at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021. Drew Angerer/Getty Images Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, faces scrutiny over January 6. The select House committee asked her to testify after emails emerged between her and John Eastman. Schiff said Justice Thomas should "avoid even the appearance of impropriety" on January 6 cases. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on Sunday Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should not be involved in any cases related to January 6 or the House select committee's investigation in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Schiff, a member of the committee, appeared on CNN's State of the Union days after the committee asked to interview Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative activist who has faced criticism over her involvement with efforts to overturn the 2020 election. "Justice Thomas, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, should have nothing to do with any cases relating to January 6, particularly regarding our investigation," Schiff said. "We want our justices to uphold a standard that goes beyond what's lawful or unlawful, to avoid even the appearance of a conflict or impropriety," he added. The Washington Post reported last week Ginni Thomas had exchanged emails with John Eastman, a Trump lawyer who drafted a detailed memo outlining how to overturn the election. The Post previously reported Ginni Thomas had also emailed 29 Arizona lawmakers urging them to appoint pro-Trump electors despite Biden's popular vote victory in the state. "We want to know what she knows. What her involvement was in this plot to overturn the election," Schiff told CNN, adding that Ginni Thomas said she will testify voluntarily. He said the committee is interested in is "whether this was discussed with Justice Thomas given that he was ruling on cases impacting whether we would get some of this information." CNN host Dana Bash asked if that answer turns out to be yes, would Schiff join calls from some progressive lawmakers for Justice Clarence Thomas to resign or be impeached. Schiff did not answer beyond saying he should not be involved in January 6 cases. The Supreme Court and Schiff's office did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider Russia's air force has so far "underperformed" in Putin's invasion of Ukraine, helping even the battlefield for ground forces as the fighting shifts to the east four months into the war, the British defense ministry said this week. "Its failure to consistently deliver air power is likely one of the most important factors behind Russias very limited campaign success," the UK said. "It cannot gain full air superiority and has operated in a risk-averse style, rarely penetrating deep behind Ukrainian lines." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy routinely pushed for a no-fly zone to be enforced by the U.S. and NATO allies at the outset of the invasion, but has since abandoned those calls. The U.S. and NATO allies have sent billions in military aid to Ukraine over the past four months. The latest $700 million weapons package included more than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, as well as Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, anti-armor weapons, helicopters, tactical vehicles, and other arms. RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS ASK MOSCOW FOR BALLISTIC MISSILES TO COUNTER UKRAINIAN ARTILLERY Aside from Western support, the UK also blamed the Russian air force's lackluster performance on "heavily scripted" air combat training that is "designed to impress senior officials, rather than to develop dynamic initiative" among air crews. "While Russia has an impressive roster of relatively modern and capable combat jets, the air force has almost certainly failed to develop the institutional culture and skill-sets required for its personnel to meet Russia's aspiration of delivering a more Western-style modern air campaign," the UK defense ministry said. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv last week for the second time since the war broke out, pledging to support the Ukrainian army against Russia. UKRAINE: FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, POLAND LEADERS SET TO MEET ZELENSKYY IN KYIV AS AIR RAID SIRENS RING OUT "All the evidence is that Putins troops are under acute pressure themselves and they are taking heavy casualties. Their expenditure of munitions, of shells and other weaponry is colossal," Johnson said in Kyiv. Story continues "After our 114 days of attack on Ukraine, they have still not achieved the objectives they set out for the first week." A Ukrainian serviceman looks at a self-propelled howitzer on a road in the Kharkiv region on May 17. Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the British army, also reiterated the UK's support for Ukraine in a message to his troops this month. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines our core purpose - to protect the UK and to be ready to fight and win wars on land - and reinforces the requirement to deter Russian aggression with the threat of force," he said in an internal message reviewed by the BBC. "We are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again". ROMAN PETRENKO - MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022, 13:59 ALLEGED PHOTO OF SHELLING Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian Federations Bryansk Oblast, claims that the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired on a Russian settlement during the morning of 20 June. Source: Bogomaz on Telegram Quote: "Early in the morning, the village of Suzemka was shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Several facilities were damaged as a result of the shelling. An electrical substation is damaged in the village, there is partial disruption to electricity supply." Details: According to Bogomaz, one person, allegedly, was injured. He claims that "the source of the shelling was quickly suppressed by retaliatory shelling." Previously: Roman Starovoit, the governor of Kursk Oblast in Russian Federation declared that "the enemy" opened mortar fire on a village in the oblast, but that there were no victims. VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2022, 10: 56 At dawn on 20 June, Sumy Oblast was shelled twice and Chernihiv Oblast was shelled once from Russian territory. Source: State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Details: Border guards recorded two attacks conducted by Russian barrel artillery from the Russian village of Zernove. About three dozen shells exploded on the outskirts of the border villages of the Shostkynskyi district. Another 15 explosions due to Russian artillery shells were recorded on the outskirts of a border village of the Novhorod-Siverskyi district of Chernihiv Oblast. As of this report, no casualties or damages were recorded as a result of these attacks. The information is being updated. Geopix/Alamy Stock Photo The war in Finland had started about three weeks before. When the headlines announced that Helsinki had been bombed I thought it would be another Polandthat the country would be obliterated so quickly there would be little chance of getting there before it was over. Then the papers began recording the amazing feats of the Finns; incredible though it seemed, the Russian steam-roller was being held in check. I made my arrangements to go to Helsinki and left a few days after the New Years party. Maureen had a fortune-teller that night, and when he read my hand he said, You are going on a long trip. I was impressed until he added, You will be surrounded by lights, gaiety, and laughter. I found none of those things. It was a strange feeling flying from one war to another. The transition was a gradual one. When you took off from the aerodrome somewhere in England and flew over the North Sea in a plane with the windows frosted over so you couldnt see out, it was very much World War No. 2. It was still World War No. 2 at Amsterdam and Copenhagen; but at Malmo, a port in southern Sweden, the issue began to get shaky. When you asked for the latest war news, the answer was, Which? And by the time you reached Stockholm there was no longer any doubt: The war meant Molotov cocktails and Soviet bombers. The Jews Who Fought for Hitler: We Did Not Help the Germans. We Had a Common Enemy Stockholm was in a state of tension. The papers carried advertisements calling for volunteers, the restaurants were filled with women canvassing for funds, and the hotels decorated with posters saying, Defend Sweden by Helping Finland Now. The war on the Western Front was as remote as China. I stayed there only twenty-four hours; besides a general impression of excitement and confusion I chiefly remember how cold I was. I was wearing a thick suit, fur-lined boots and a sheepskin coat, but the biting wind penetrated my bones. I had a suitcase filled with sweaters, woolen underwear, woolen socks, a ski suit, and a windbreaker. I put on everything except the ski suit and tried not to think what it would be like when I got to the Arctic Circle. Story continues I took a trip along the coast to Hanko. Here I saw for the first time what continuous and relentless bombing was like. The deep quiet of the snow-bound countryside was broken by the wail of sirens five or six times a day as wave after wave of Soviet bomberssometimes totaling as many as five hundredcame across the Gulf of Finland from their bases in Estonia, only twenty minutes away. All along the coast I passed through villages and towns which had been bombed and machine-gunned; in Hanko, the Finnish port which the Soviets demanded in their ultimatum, 20 buildings had been hit, and when I arrived, 10 were still burning. It is difficult to describe indiscriminate aerial warfare against a civilian population in a country with a temperature 30 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. But if you can visualize farm girls stumbling through snow for the uncertain safety of their cellars; bombs falling on frozen villages unprotected by a single anti-aircraft gun; men standing helplessly in front of blazing buildings with no apparatus with which to fight the fires, and others desperately trying to salvage their belongings from burning wreckageif you can visualize these things and picture even the children in remote hamlets wearing white covers over their coats as camouflage against low-flying Russian machine-gunnersyou can get some idea of what this war was like. The roads were littered with mattresses, chairs, and household articles that the soldiers had salvaged from the fire. The charred framework of the houses stood out blackly against the snow, but there were no curious pedestrians to inspect the damage, for icy winds from the sea swept through the streets. I have never felt such cold. A 20-year-old army lieutenant detailed to show us through the town forgot to pull down one of his ear tabs, and a few minutes later his ear went dead white. One of the Swedish journalists shouted at him, and he quickly rubbed it with snow. Half frozen, we finally stumbled into a corner cafe. The proprietor brought us hot meat sandwiches and coffee. While he was serving us, he informed us cheerfully that the top floor of the house was on fire. It had been struck by an incendiary bomb two hours before. His sons were fighting it, and he was confident everything would soon be under control. Somehow it was an odd experience to be sipping coffee in a burning building; also somewhat of a contradiction trying to get warm in a house that was on fire. The young Finnish lieutenant had spent considerable time in America and spoke English fluently. He was an engineer in ordinary life, and now his job was to detonate unexploded bombs. He told us he had heard only that morning that his house, some distance away, had been bombed and completely destroyed. Fortunately, he had sent his wife and children away the previous week. Apart from a few reserved remarks he did not discuss the war. It was only when we left and wished him good luck that he said, It will take a miracle to save us, but perhaps a miracle will happen. Then, almost beneath his breath, It must happen. This boy was typical of many Finns with whom we talked. Although they were aware they couldnt hold out indefinitely in such an unequal struggle, they clung to a stubborn faith that some event, unforeseen though it was, would save them from final destruction. If you happened to be lunching at the Hotel Torni in Helsinki when the air-raid sirens sounded, you could climb up on the roof and watch the city crawl into its shell. Between the jumble of ice-covered roofs, you saw the people running for cover, the snow trucks pulling up by the roadside, and the police officers taking their positions on the street corners. Soon there was a silence so ominous that you could hear a door bang many blocks away. The Hotel Kamp was the capitals war-time center. When I arrived late at night it was deserted. But when I went downstairs the following morning, I found it overflowing with a noisy conglomeration of people; there were Finnish soldiers, women volunteers, politicians, and foreign journalists and photographers of a dozen different nationalities. Out of the general confusion I managed to find Webb Miller of the United Press and had lunch with him. He had just returned from the Mannerheim Line and was filled with admiration for the Finnish soldiers. Theyre the damnedest fighters Ive ever seen. They dont seem to be afraid of anything. And talk about improvisationthey invent their weapons as they go along. Theyve got a new trick which is to tie a mine to the end of a string, then hide in a ditch until one of the Russian tanks comes along and jerk it across the road. I talked with a soldier whod accounted for three 30-ton tanks this way! I pressed Webb with questions about the war and he told me the only way to understand what was happening was to keep in mind that two wars were taking place. The first war was the regular trench warfare, based on Western Front methods, being fought behind the Mannerheim defenses on the Karelian Isthmus; the second war was the guerrilla fighting waged through the forests on all the other fronts in Finland. In the trench war, the Russian attack on the Mannerheim Line had been repulsed; and in the guerrilla war, not only had the Russian thrusts been halted, but the Finns, by brilliant strategy and ferocious courage, had succeeded in wiping out entire divisions. When at last we reached a rather primitive hotel in the small town of Kajaani, the proprietress looked at us in bewilderment, as though we were part of a traveling circus. Soon, I think she decided a lunatic asylum was more likely, for during the next forty-eight hours her telephone rang with calls from New York, Amsterdam. and Copenhagen, and everybody sat up all night typing out endless stories. Besides Harold Denny and myself, there was Walter Kerr of the Herald Tribune, Edward Ward of the BBC, Desmond Tighe of Reuters, and Ebbe Munck, a Danish journalist. Kajaani served as GHQ for the Central Command. There in the slender waistline of Finland, some of the fiercest battles of the war were taking place. During the previous seven weeks, over a hundred thousand Russian troops had crossed the frontier, in repeated attempts to cut Finland in two. But the Finns had repulsed the onslaughts with some of the most spectacular fighting in history; they had annihilated entire divisions and hurled back others 30 and 40 miles to the border from where they started. To understand how they did it, you must picture a country of thick-snow-covered forests and ice-bound roads. You must visualize heavily armed ski patrols sliding like ghosts through the woods; creeping behind the enemy lines and cutting their communications until entire battalions were isolated, then falling on them in furious surprise attacks. In this part of Finland skis outmaneuvered tanks, sleds competed with lorries, and knives even challenged rifles. The evening we arrived in Kajaani we dined with General Tuompo, the brilliant 50-year-old ex-journalist general, who had only begun his military career 10 or 12 years previously and who, before the Finnish war was over, took a toll of nearly 85,000 Russian lives. He arranged for us to visit a front-line position on the RussianFinnish frontier, where we saw the patrols at work and had our first taste of Soviet artillery fire. We started off with the idea of, perhaps, accompanying one of the Finnish border patrols on a quick jaunt into Russia and back. Not that any of us imagined the frozen Russian landscape would prove interesting, but we all thought it would be fun to step into the Soviet Union without the formality of getting a visa. Accompanied by a Finnish army lieutenant, we left at four oclock in the morning, hoping to arrive at the front before dawn. But the roads were so slippery our car skidded into the ditch three times, delaying us considerably; it gave us a small idea of what the mechanized Russian units were up against. We approached the village of Suomussalmi just as dawn was breaking, and here I witnessed the most ghastly spectacle I have ever seen. It was in this sector that the Finns, a few weeks previously, had annihilated two Russian divisions of approximately 30,000 men. The road along which we drove was still littered with frozen Russian corpses, and the forests on either side had become known as Dead Mans Land. Perhaps it was the beauty of the morning that made the terrible Russian debacle all the more ghastly when we came upon it. The rising sun had drenched the snow-covered forests, their trees like lace valentines, with a strange pink light that seemed to glow for miles. The landscape was marred only by the charred framework of a house; then an overturned truck and two battered tanks. Then we turned a bend in the road and came upon the full horror of the scene. For four miles the road and forests were strewn with the bodies of men and horses; with wrecked tanks, field kitchens, trucks, gun carriages, maps, books, and articles of clothing. The corpses were frozen as hard as petrified wood and the color of the skin was mahogany. Some of the bodies were piled on top of each other like a heap of rubbish, covered only by a merciful blanket of snow; others were sprawled against the trees in grotesque attitudes. All were frozen in the positions in which they had died. I saw one with his hands clasped to a wound in his stomach; another struggling to open the collar of his coat; and a third pathetically clasping a cheap landscape drawing, done in bright, childish colors, which had probably been a prized possession that he had tried to save when he fled into the woods. They were everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of grotesque wooden corpses; in the ditches, under the trees, and even in dugouts beneath the snow where they had tried to escape from the fury of the attack. I learned, with a shock, that they had been members of the 44th Divisionthe same division that just a year ago I had seen swinging along the country roads in the Ukraine. How had the Finnish Army, with a force of scarcely more than 300,000 men, been able so far to stem the sweep of the Russian tide? I think it was due first to a free people fighting, with a courage never surpassed, against an Asiatic despotism for their homes, their liberties, and their lives; second, to the brilliant strategy of the Finnish military leaders; third, to the natural obstacles of the terrain which was broken by 70,000 lakes and three-quarters covered with forests; fourth, to Soviet blunders. From a military point of view, the Russian onslaught will be studied as one of the most fantastic campaigns in history. All through the north the Russian High Command ignored the elementary necessity of keeping open its lines of communication. Thousands of Russian soldiers were sent into the wilds of Finland to be isolated from their bases and swallowed up by the forests. This extraordinary stupidity was hard to understand. The only explanation was that Russia had reckoned on a blitzkrieg lasting only a few days and had organized the campaign accordingly. The first divisions had been equipped with an enormous amount of propaganda, banners and pennants, which they had expected to distribute among a vanquished people; and in the north, a division entered with a brass band, actually expecting to be welcomed by the people it had been sent to liberate. The reason the Kremlin was so grossly misinformed as to the political stamina of Finland may have been due to the fact that Soviet observers were afraid to reveal the true state of affairs for fear of being shot as saboteurs. For days I was haunted by the scene of those frozen, twisted bodies of the 44th Division. But the story of this division (one of those, incidentally, which invaded Poland in September) was typical of the whole blundering strategy for which the dictatorship of the proletariat now paid freely with the lives of the proletariat. It had crossed into Finland on Dec. 30 to relieve the 163rd Division, which was cut off, without supplies, near the small village of Suomussalmi. It marched 20 miles along a hard, snow-packed road cut through the heart of the forest, but was unable to join forces with the other, six miles away, across a roadless country. The Finns succeeded in first routing the 163rd, then turned their attention to the 44th; they cut off its supplies, and five days later attacked and annihilated the entire division. Before we left Kajaani, one of the Finnish press officers took us to an internment camp at Pelso, where we heard a version of the battle from a high-ranking officer of the 44th Division, who had been captured by the Finns. The officer was a clean-shaven man of middle age who had served with the Red Army for 22 years. The Finnish warden requested that we withhold his name and rank, and informed the prisoner he was not obliged to answer any questions unless he wished. The officer, however, gave an account of the battle which dovetailed completely with the Finnish version. He said the division was cut off on Jan. 2 and was without food until the final debacle on Jan. 7. The only supplies they received were six bags of hard tack dropped by plane. He told us that on Jan. 2 several of the officers begged the commanding general, Vinogradov, to retreat, but the latter replied it was impossible without an order from the Kremlin. And the order came too late. The officer made three points of interest: He declared that the army had been misinformed as to Finnish resistance, many of the leaders actually believing they were entering to liberate Finnish people, that the army was badly organized for a severe campaign, and that the Russian troops, superstitious by nature, were particularly unsuited to the Finnish terrain as they were mortally afraid of the dark forests. When I questioned him regarding the commissar system, he replied evasively that the commissars were necessary to infuse the soldiers with the proper spirit. I asked what he thought the final outcome of the war would be, and he hesitated; it was only when the warden bade him give an honest opinion that he replied he felt the Soviet Union, with its preponderance of men and material, was bound to conquer in the end. Out of the 44th Division of 18,000 men there were only a few hundred survivors. We went through the jail and talked with them, accompanied by the warden and a Russian interpreter. In the first room there was a group of 30 or 40 dressed in their brown tunic uniforms and high felt boots. Many had frozen hands and feet, wrapped in bandages; but compared to their comrades, lying in heaps along the roadside, they were lucky. When I questioned them about the war, they replied that they had been mobilized to repel a Finnish invasion of Russia. Some of them said they now realized they had been grossly misinformed, but I was astounded to find that many of them were still unaware of the fact that they had been captured on Finnish territory; they thought the battle of Suomussalmi had been fought somewhere in the North of Russia. When we questioned them about general conditions in Russia, a small, wiry little man with a black beard became the self-appointed spokesman of the group by silencing his comrades with menacing looks. With typical Slav cunning, he answered the questions in a manner which he thought best likely to please. He denounced the Soviet Union with such an exaggerated emphasis and paid the Finns compliments of so lavish a nature that his replies were obviously worthless. The second room into which I was taken was filled with Russian lorry drivers who had been in the Army Service Corps attached to the 44th Division. Most of them, I discovered, had never had military training of any kind; they were merely truck drivers picked up off the streets of Kiev. They spoke bitterly of the fact that they had been mobilised and, pointing to one of the group, said, And look at Feodor. He is over 40 years of age with a wife and many children. Feodor seemed pleased to have the spotlight turned on him and nodded his head emphatically, declaring that, indeed, he was 42 years old and had never heard the sound of a gun until he found himself driving a supply truck on the Suomussalmi front. The most amazing story of all, however, was from the Russian nurse with whom I talked. This 23-year-old girl, the only woman prisoner in Finland, was captured when the Finns routed the 163rd Division. She was a girl of medium size, with broad Slavic features and eyes which were filled with sadness. She wore a wool dress provided for her by the Finns; her only other clothes were the mans army uniform she had been wearing when captured. Faber and Faber A few months before, she had been living quietly in Leningrad with her husband and small child; then she received a mobilization order. Thinking it was only for the autumn maneuvers, she was not particularly worried. In November, however, she was attached to the 163rd Division and a month later forced to cross into Finland. Although miserable and frightened, she was sent, with two other nurses, to a front-line first-aid post. The other nurses were wounded and removed to a field hospital behind the lines; when the retreat came, the girl was unable to get back to the base and for twenty-four hours wandered through the woods with a Russian doctor. The pair were finally picked up by a Finnish patrol on the shores of a lake. The bodies of the other two nurses were later found by the Finns in the field hospitalan old farmhousealongside the corpses of hundreds of soldiers. Ebbe Munck, who had visited this hospital four days after the retreat, told me it was a ghastly sight. The yard at the back of the house was piled with naked bodies; when patients had died, the Russian doctors had simply thrown the corpses out of the window to make way for newcomers. Inside, hundreds of wounded men had died in their beds; when the order to retreat came, they had been abandoned. Ebbe said a man had even been left, half cut open, on the operating table. When the Finnish warden heard this story, he remarked bitterly, And thats the civilization they want to bring to Finland. From the book LOOKING FOR TROUBLE: The Classic Memoir of a Trailblazing War Correspondent by Virginia Cowles, Foreword by Christina Lamb. Copyright 1941 by Virginia Cowles. To be published on Aug. 9, 2022 by Modern Library, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. EUROPEAN PRAVDA MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022, 16:47 Servicemen from the Baltic Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation are conducting a training exercise for missile and artillery units in Kaliningrad Oblast [westernmost federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic Sea, to the south of Lithuania - ed.]. According to Evropaiska Pravda, this was reported by RIA Novosti [Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency - ed.]. Approximately 1,000 Russian soldiers and over 100 pieces of military and special equipment from missile and artillery units are involved in the training manoeuvres. It is reported that the soldiers serving in artillery and missile units will conduct "several hundred firing exercises" using Grad and Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), Giatsynt [Hyacinth - ed.] large-calibre self-propelled guns, and Msta-S, Akatsia [Acacia - ed.], and Gvozdika [Carnation - ed.] self-propelled artillery systems. On 18 June, Anton Alihanov, governor of Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation, announced that on Saturday Lithuania banned the transit of freight trains carrying goods sanctioned by the EU through its territory. The Russian Federation has said that Russia will be "free to solve the issue however it deems appropriate" if the EU does not address the "blockade of Kaliningrad." Dmitriy Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said this situation was "unprecedented" and Lithuanias decision was against the law. He added that Russia is still deciding on how to respond to it. However, Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has said that he does not expect the escalation of tension in the EUs diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation due to the blocking of transit to Kaliningrad Oblast. STORY: Russia became China's biggest supplier of oil in May. Crude oil imports from there soared 55% from a year before to a record level. It means Moscow has now retaken the top spot from Saudi Arabia as the top supplier to its eastern neighbor. Imports of Russian oil hit just over 8.4 million tonnes, according to official data. That's just under 2 million barrels per day. It shows Russia can find buyers for its oil despite western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine - which it calls a 'special military operation'. However, Moscow has had to slash its crude prices - a move that appears to have attracted major Chinese buyers like Sinopec. The crude deals also highlights the ties between the two countries. In February, when Russia's invasion began, they said their friendship had 'no limits'. China's overall demand has been slowed by health crisis curbs and a slowing economy. Despite that, it wasn't just oil China bought heavily from Russia. Data showed it also brought into almost 400,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas last month - 56% more than a year before. The El Paso Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, libel and taste. Letters must be 225 words or less to be considered for publication. Letters must include the writer's full name, address, ZIP code and phone number for verification purposes. Please allow 30 days between letters. Please click here and fill out the form to make a submission or mail submissions to: Thank and appreciate El Paso Water Water is unquestionably the most important commodity on earth. We can have the nicest buildings, roads, power plants, and factories, but without water, it would be meaningless. By logical consequence, El Paso Water (EPWater) is the most important entity in this city. All too often I see letters disparaging EPWater when we should be thanking and appreciating them for making it possible for us to live in a desert. Our water bills have historically been among the lowest in Texas. EPWater led the way in water conservation, desalting, recycling, planning, etc. The average water bill is $119.54, but 44% of that bill is for trash collection, recycling, stormwater, and franchise fees, which have nothing to do with water and sewer services, but EPWater is stuck with putting them on their bill. El Paso Water lab employees assess more than 45,000 samples a year to test water quality. I would also mention that the average electric bill is $169.70 and the salary of the previous CEO of El Paso Electric was $659,808, with total compensation exceeding $2.5 million. The CEO of EPWater is paid less than $350,000. Many things are currently upside down in this world, and unfortunately, some are upside down in El Paso, too. Anthony Tarquin West El Paso More: El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, city Rep. Svarzbein resolve Code of Conduct complaint Appreciate the value of an education School administrators dont deserve pay raises. Those who deserve pay raises are teachers, support personnel, custodians, and everyone else who helps education despite administrators. There ought to be good administrative punishment for students who want to disrupt class. Have them clean the schools or do community service cleaning public parks. Maybe then they would appreciate the value of an education instead of playing on cell phones or games on district-provided laptops. Story continues Parents need to send their young people to school with proper behavior and respect for authority. Morris Taylor III East El Paso Summer meals texting service, quick and easy Summer is here, and for kids, its often the most joyful time of the year. But many parents and caregivers may be worrying how theyll stretch their budget to replace the meals their kids usually eat at school. Luckily, summer meal programs run by local schools and community groups can help fill that gap by providing healthy meals at no cost to kids and teens at school buildings as well as familiar places like parks, pools, libraries and rec centers. No Kid Hungrys summer meals texting service makes it quick and easy for families to find their nearest summer meal site. Parents, grandparents and caregivers can simply text FOOD or COMIDA to 304-304 to find free summer meals in their community. All Texas kids deserve to enjoy a happy, hunger-free summer so they can return to school in the fall fueled and ready to learn. Franco Cruz San Antonio, Texas This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Summer meals texting service, quick and easy: Letter to the Editor BAMAKO, Mali (AP) Recent attacks by jihadi rebels in central Mali have killed 132 civilians, the government announced Monday. The killings happened when several villages in the Bankass area were attacked on Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement Monday. Three days of national mourning starting Tuesday have been declared by the head of the ruling junta, Col. Assimi Goita. The government said the attacks were carried out by jihadi rebels of the Katiba group. The attacks had earlier been reported by Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass, the biggest town near the attacked villages. The attacks show that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Mali's north to more central areas like Bankass. For several weeks extremist rebels in central Mali have been blocking the road between the northern city of Gao and Mopti in central Mali. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali issued a statement about the attacks on Twitter saying it is concerned by attacks against civilians in the Bandiagara region (the area of central Mali) perpetrated by extremist groups. These attacks have reportedly caused casualties and displacement of populations." In a separate incident, a U.N. peacekeeper died on Sunday from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device, the U.N. mission to Mali said in a statement. The head of the U.N. Mission to Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, said that since the beginning of 2022, several attacks have killed U.N. uniformed peacekeepers. He said that attacks on peacekeepers can constitute war crimes under international law and reaffirmed the mission's commitment to supporting peace and security in Mali. Since the beginning of the year, several hundred civilians have died in attacks in central and northern Mali. The attacks are blamed on jihadi rebels as well as the Malian army, according to a report by the human rights division of the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali began in 2013, after France led a military intervention to oust extremist rebels who had taken over cities and major towns in northern Mali the year before. The mission now has about roughly 12,000 troops in Mali and an additional 2,000 police and other officers. More than 270 peacekeepers have died in Mali, making it the U.N.'s deadliest peacekeeping mission, say officials. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) An attack on a civilian bus in northern Syria on Monday killed 13 people, including 11 soldiers, and wounded three troops, Syrian state media reported, quoting an unnamed military official. According to state news agency, SANA, the attack occurred in the province of Raqqa, which was once controlled by the extremist Islamic State group. The report did not say whether the bus was ambushed and attacked with machinegun fire, or whether it was hit by a missile or a roadside bomb. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack had all the hallmarks of IS militants who have carried out similar attacks over the past months, leaving dozens dead or wounded. The unnamed military official said the bus was en route to the central province of Homs when the terrorist attack" occurred early in the morning, killing 11 soldiers and two civilians, and wounding three troops. The militants proclaimed a so-called caliphate in a third of both Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the city of Raqqa was their de-facto capital. They were defeated in 2019 but IS sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks. Syrian authorities regularly blame such attacks on the Islamic State group. The militants' sleeper cells have been active in eastern, northern and central Syria. The Republican governor of Texas has cost his state nearly $3m as he continues to direct state officials to operate a costly program that involves busing hundreds of migrants across the country to Washington DC. The skyrocketing figure was first reported by The Daily Mail on Monday, citing documents obtained from the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM). The figure encompasses funds spent since mid-April, just two months ago, when the first bus arrived on the doorsteps of Fox News, which touted its arrival as an exclusive, as well as other news agencies. In about two months, Texas officials have bused just 1,778 migrants to the nations capital for a total price tag of $2.9m; that cost has been only slightly offset by a half-hearted attempt to raise money through donations for the effort on the website of the governors office. The Mail reports that number had reached just over $100,000 as of the end of May. The plan has been roundly denounced as an expensive ploy for attention by Greg Abbotts critics, including in the White House. The number of migrants bused to DC under the plan represents a fraction of the number of migrants believed to be crossing the border into Texas every month. I think its pretty clear that this is a publicity stunt, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in early April, when the plan was first announced. It isnt even completely clear under what circumstances the migrants in question are getting on the buses; Texas officials do not have the legal authority to force anyone, including noncitizens, to board buses and be shipped around the country. But the state is within its rights to provide charter buses for those who wish to head to DC voluntarily, and has apparently done so for migrants caught after alleged illegal border crossings. It remains in question whether all those bused to Washington were properly informed of their rights before they got on the buses; many have been forced to accept aid from DC-based support organisations and aid groups upon their arrival. Some, however, have expressed gratitude for the free ride to DC where they can stay or more easily reach relatives living across the US. Story continues The Independent has reached out to Mr Abbotts office for comment and the latest fundraising figures from the online campaign. As the federal government continues to roll back commonsense policies that once kept our communities safe, our local law enforcement has stepped up to protect Texans from dangerous criminals, deadly drugs, and illegal contraband flooding into the Lone Star State, his office claimed in April. Mr Abbott, a first-term governor, is facing a challenge in November in the form of Beto ORourke, a former congressman and presidential candidate who has sought to challenge the Republican leader publicly on the issues of his responses to Texass energy grid woes as well as the Uvalde school massacre. Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott The Republican Party of Texas is well known for its anti-LGBTQ+ stances, but the party platform it adopted this year goes beyond even previous ones, with language calling homosexuality an abnormal lifestyle choice and opposing all efforts to validate transgender identity. The party adopted the platform Saturday at its convention in Houston, The Texas Tribune reports. Republican elected officials arent required to follow the platform, but the document indicates the general feelings and direction of the party. Previous platforms included much antigay and anti-trans language, but the abnormal lifestyle choice statement is new. The platform also endorses conversion therapy, as it has in the past, and calls it by a new name, reintegrative therapy. Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice, the platform reads. We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin, and we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values. No one should be granted special legal status based on their LGBTQ+ identification. Related: Check out The Advocate on Pride Today below: At least one delegate, David Gebhart, tried to soften this language, saying, We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church, Tribune editor Sewell Chan tweeted. Gebharts suggestion was met with laughter and boos. Other delegates made homophobic and sexually charged comments. The platform addresses trans identity more explicitly than in the past. It calls gender dysphoria a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition and opposes any gender-affirming treatment for people under 21. This aligns with Gov. Greg. Abbotts recent order that parents who allow their minor children to receive gender-affirming health care be investigated for child abuse (the order is temporarily blocked by court action). Texas legislators tried but failed to pass a law declaring such care to be child abuse. Story continues Without recognizing any irony, though, the platform endorses the fundamental right of parents to make all decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in all aspects. Apparently allowing children access to gender-affirming care is not one of those aspects. The document further opposes teaching about critical race theory in K-12 schools something that is not taught outside of higher education anyway and calls for students to learn about the humanity of the preborn child. It also asserts that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected and criticizes U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, for negotiating with Democrats on gun regulations. Cornyn was booed at the convention. Abbott had a limited presence at the event. He only appeared at a reception on Thursday on the sidelines of the convention, the Tribune reports. Some Texas Republicans consider Abbott insufficiently conservative; Allen West, the former state party chairman, challenged him from the right in the recent Republican primary, but Abbott did win renomination for a third term. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who pushes state leaders priorities in the legislature, had a bigger role, addressing the convention. The platform shows how far rightward the party has lurched, political observers told the Tribune. A more aggressive party platform sends a clear message to politicians about where the base is going, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston. Donald Trump radicalized the party and accelerated the demands from the base. There simply arent limits now on what the base might ask for. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) accused Donald Trump Sunday of deliberately trying to accelerate the violence already raging at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, against his vice president, Mike Pence, in a reckless bid to hang on to power. Lofgren, a member of the House select committee investigating the insurrection, pointed to the tweet the former president sent out attacking Pence even as Trump supporters were violently storming the Capitol that day. Former White House aides testified at last weeks House committee hearing that Trump was urged to send a message to help quell the violence. But he instead fired off a tweet mid-riot saying Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done referring to Pences refusal to reject electoral votes that certified Joe Bidens victory. A video of the scene at the Capitol after Trumps tweet shows a rioter then announcing that Pence betrayed us, infuriating the crowd. Supporters were soon chanting: Hang Mike Pence! When he sent out the tweet attacking his vice president, he already knew that the violence was underway, Lofgren said on Face the Nation on CBS. The only conclusion you can reach is that he intended to accelerate that violence against the former vice president. The former presidents niece, Mary Trump, accused her uncle in an interview last week of essentially handing down a death sentence to Pence, and suggested that Pences murder could have helped Trump claim justification for declaring martial law. Likewise, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman accused Trump on MSNBC on Saturday of inducing a murderous rage in his supporters as part of a set up against Pence. Lofgren also accused Trump of fomenting a chillingly lawless, violent culture in America today. She pointed to very conservative Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) being yelled at and roughed up by extremist Republicans Saturday at the Texas Republican Party Convention in Houston. Story continues I think thats what the former president has unleashed here, she added. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... (Photo: via Associated Press) (Photo: via Associated Press) Donald Trump knew he lost the 2020 vote to Joe Biden before he decided to attack it out of the blue as a rigged election, a top aide said Sunday. Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House aide, told CNN that she heard Trump privately admit that he lost the election though he wasnt happy about it. Can you believe I lost to this guy? Trump blurted out as he watched Biden on TV, while Griffin overheard, she said. Criminal intent is critical in charges against Trump over his efforts to overthrow election results, which were clearly legitimate, according to the courts and all recounts across the nation. Nevertheless, a defense attorney could try to argue that Trump genuinely believed he won the election ... and was trying to stop fraud, Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told the New Yorker last week. Proving mindset is really hard. But the concept of willful blindness could be used against Trump, she noted. A person cannot ignore the probability that a fact is true such as the election was legitimate just because he wishes it werent true. Despite Trumps apparent recognition that he had lost the election, Griffin believes it will be hard to prove intent. Check out the video clip above. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... A grand jury indicted two Florida men on hate crime charges after they allegedly attacked a man because of his race. Robert, 52, and Roy Lashley, 55, of Ocala, received the indictment on June 17 after Roberts arrest, according to the Department of Justice. The alleged attack happened on Nov. 17, 2021. Robert and Roy attacked the victim, a Black man, with their fists and an ax handle while repeatedly calling the victim racial slurs, the DOJ reported. Both men are facing a maximum term of 10 years imprisonment, three years of mandatory supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Every investor in Bathurst Resources Limited (ASX:BRL) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome. With a market capitalization of AU$210m, Bathurst Resources is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Bathurst Resources. Check out our latest analysis for Bathurst Resources What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bathurst Resources? Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices. We can see that Bathurst Resources does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Bathurst Resources' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Bathurst Resources. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Republic Investment Management Pte Ltd with 21% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 11% and 6.7%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO Richard Tacon directly holds 0.8% of the total shares outstanding. Story continues On looking further, we found that 50% of the shares are owned by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company. Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage. Insider Ownership Of Bathurst Resources While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Bathurst Resources Limited. Insiders own AU$30m worth of shares in the AU$210m company. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently. General Public Ownership The general public-- including retail investors -- own 39% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Private Company Ownership We can see that Private Companies own 12%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Bathurst Resources better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Bathurst Resources has 4 warning signs (and 2 which make us uncomfortable) we think you should know about. But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. By David Lawder TORONTO (Reuters) -The United States is in talks with Canada and other allies to further restrict Moscow's energy revenue by imposing a price cap on Russian oil, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday. "We are talking about price caps or a price exception that would enhance and strengthen recent and proposed energy restrictions by Europe, the United States, the UK and others, that would push down the price of Russian oil and depress Putin's revenues, while allowing more oil supply to reach the global market," Yellen told reporters in Toronto. "We think a price exception is also an important way to prevent spillover effects to low income and developing countries that are struggling with high costs food and energy," Yellen said, speaking alongside Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Yellen said a price exception is an effective cap that could be achieved through a mechanism to restrict or ban insurance or financing for Russian oil shipments above a certain amount. The United States, Canada, Britain and some other countries have banned imports of Russian oil, but the European Union remains highly dependent on Russian crude. Asked if U.S. President Joe Biden planned to seek consensus on an oil price plan at the G7 leaders summit in Germany next week, Yellen said: "We are very active, actively working on this with our partners." Freeland said Canada "thinks it is a really good idea" to try to limit Russia's oil revenues, but recognizes that this will be challenging for European countries. "The path forward here is really to be talking with our European partners and to recognize, you know, how central they are in the decision making here," Freeland said, adding that Ukraine needed to be included in any decisions as well. (Reporting by David Lawder in Toronto and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Sandra Maler and Deepa Babington) Protesters hold a poster that reads 259 parliamentarians voted in favor, eight were against, and another 28 abstained. Read also: How Women Politicians Lead Ukraine to Victory? PoliTALKynia & War This international agreement of the Council of Europe provides for the criminalization of violence against women, domestic violence, harassment, forced marriages and abortions, sterilization, and also provides for the protection of victims, the ability of law enforcement agencies to respond to various forms of violence, and other measures to prevent or punish violence against women. As of May 2021, the convention had been ratified by 33 states and 12 more had signed it. Ukraine signed the Istanbul Convention in 2011 but had not ratified the document. In 2020 and 2021, the ratification of the Istanbul Convention was a key requirement of the Women's March in Kyiv. Two petitions calling for ratification of the Istanbul Convention had already been posted on the president's website, both garnering the more than 25,000 votes required for the head of state to consider it. Read also: Ukraine is a step away from EU candidate status: what's next, and how long until full membership? On February 17, in response to the petition, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he had consistently supported the protection of the rights of people who had experienced domestic violence and gender-based violence. In June 2020, he supported a petition calling for ratification and signed a decree on measures to prevent and combat domestic violence and protect the rights of people who have experienced such violence. Following the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers in April 2021 approved the relevant action plan. Earlier, the Women's March initiative stated that the issue of women's protection was even more urgent in the context of a full-scale war, and called for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention: "This will be an important step in Ukraine's European integration process, the Marchs organizers said. Story continues Read also: Olena Zelenska thanked European countries for helping Ukrainian women "Unlike in the Russian world, where domestic violence is decriminalized and not a crime and where women are in no way protected. We must accentuate the direction in which our country is moving this is the path of European integration!" Read also: Artillery unit commander Tetyana Chubar put her confectionary dreams on hold to fight off invaders KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO MONDAY, 20 JUNE 2022, 19:56 Iryna Vereshchuk, deputy Prime Minister, has said that Russia has deported about 1,200,000 Ukrainian citizens, including 240,000 children, to Russia. Source: Vereshchuk at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Centre - Ukrinform Quote: "I do have a figure of how many Ukrainians have been deported to Russia in total, and it is somewhat different from the one provided by the Russian side. But you should understand that the Russian side never tells the truth. They talk about almost 2 million people. Our [Ukrainian] intelligence shows that this is approximately 1,200,000 citizens." Details: Vereshchuk emphasised that 240,000 of the deportees were children, 2,000 of whom were orphans. She also said that there are more than 300 people at the Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk who have been prevented from being evacuated by the Russians. Quote from Vereshchuk: "Currently, there are more than 300 people at the Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk. But this is not Azovstal, there are no bomb shelters like that there. Azot is a chemical plant that has no underground infrastructure. We have appealed for a humanitarian corridor to be opened from this plant, we wanted to use the Yuvileinyi Bridge [Jubilee Bridge], which has not been destroyed yet. But the enemy has not allowed us to do this." More details: Vereshchuk emphasised that evacuation is possible only if civilians ask to leave - it is important that there is no coercion [to evacuate]. Previously: On 13 June, the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration reported that the occupiers had deported more than 50,000 residents from Mariupol to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast. On 18 June, Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, said that civilians in the Azot plant's storage facilities in Sievierodonetsk had refused to evacuate. FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The influx of Ukrainian refugees into the European Union could gradually ease labour shortages in the euro zone as some of those fleeing the war are likely to settle permanently, the European Central Bank said on Monday. Around seven million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine so far since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, and more are leaving each day, with many hoping to find durable employment opportunities in the 27-nation EU. "Under all of the assumptions detailed thus far, back-of-an-envelope calculations point to a median increase of between 0.2% and 0.8% in the euro area labour force in the medium term," the ECB said in an Economic Bulletin article. "This corresponds to an increase of between 0.3 and 1.3 million in the size of the euro area labour force as a result of the Ukrainian refugee crisis," it added. With unemployment at a record low, the euro zone has been struggling with increasing labour shortages and the influx of refugees could "slightly ease" labour market tightness, the ECB said. Still, getting people to work may prove difficult due to administrative barriers, the ECB added. "Barriers to the labour market and other frictions remain significant impediments to refugees, making it difficult for them to integrate into host countries labour markets, especially in the short term," it said. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Gareth Jones) Two University of Missouri students are facing felony charges over a hazing incident that left freshman Danny Santulli paralysed after he was forced to drink an entire bottle of vodka on a fraternity pledge night. Ryan Delanty and Thomas Shultz were indicted by a grand jury in Boone County on Friday on charges of endangering a life and supplying liquor to a minor or intoxicated person. Mr Shultz faces an additional charge of tampering with evidence after he allegedly withheld text messages from prosecutors. Mr Santulli, 19, was left permanently brain damaged after he was forced to drink a bottle of Titos vodka and force-fed beer at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house during the Pledge Dad Reveal Night in October 2021. Mr Santulli is paralysed and unable to see or speak eight months after the incident, and only returned to his parents home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, this month. Family lawyer David Bianchi filed a civil lawsuit against 23 defendants including students, officers and board advisors for Phi Gamma Delta which has recently been settled. Danny Santulli is still unable to speak and is unaware of his surroundings following the hazing incident (Facebook) According to the suit, Mr Santulli was blindfolded in a room at the campus fraternity and pressured to drink a full bottle of Titos vodka by his pledge father Mr Delanty. Mr Santullis family called on law enforcement to prosecute those involved in the hazing incident in an interview with Good Morning America this month. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Bianchi called on students involved in hazing incidents to face immediate expulsion and criminal charges. An online petition calling for Justice for Danny Santulli on Change.org has attracted more tan 33,000 signatures. A University of Missouri spokeswoman told KOMU 8 that Mr Shultz is enrolled for the fall semester. Mr Delanty is not currently a student. Surveillance footage shows the Phi Gamma Delta pledge brothers prior to the hazing incident last October (Good Morning America) A shirtless Danny Santulli is seen during the hazing ritual at the University of Missouri last year (Good Morning America) Surveillance footage from the night of the hazing incident shows a shirtless Mr Santulli being led around the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house and fed vodka through a tube. Story continues After passing out, Mr Santulli is placed on a sofa by fraternity members. Students later pick him up and take him to hospital by car. By the time Mr Santulli reached hospital he had suffered cardiac arrest and staff had to restart his heart. He registered a blood alcohol level of .486 - five times the legal limit. Mr Bianchi filed an amended petition this month against two of the students involved, Samuel Ghandi and Alec Wetzler. Mr Wetzler has also been charged with misdemeanour counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor, the only person to be criminally charged over the incident. Bond has been set at $50,000 for Mr Shultz and Mr Delanty. BISSAU (Reuters) - West Africa's regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) deployed troops to Guinea-Bissau on Monday to help stabilize the country after a failed coup earlier this year. The 15-nation bloc announced in February that it would deploy the force, a few days after President Umaru Sissoco Embalo survived what he called an assassination attempt by drug traffickers. "We thank ECOWAS heads of state for their... solidarity at a time when Bissau was grappling with upheavals linked to several attempts to subvert constitutional and democratic order," Defence Minister Marciano Silva Barbeiro said at an inauguration ceremony in the capital Bissau. The 631 troops will help local forces protect public officials, institutions and civilians. Guinea-Bissau has seen 10 coups or attempted coups since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974. The tiny former Portuguese colony on the coast of West Africa is known as a major transit point for Latin American cocaine headed for Europe. ECOWAS deployed a similar mission from 2012 to 2020 after another coup, to help deter the military from intervening in politics and protect political leaders. (Reporting by Alberto Dabo; writing by Nellie Peyton; editing by Philippa Fletcher) Abortion rights demonstrators protest outside the Texas state capitol in Austin on 14 May. Several district attorneys in the state have vowed not to enforce the states criminal anti-abortion laws. (Getty Images) Without federal protections for the right to an abortion, legal access to abortion care in the US could vary not just on a state level but county by county, redrawing the nations map for bodily autonomy protections. Severe restrictions on abortion access and the enforcement of laws in states with criminal abortion bans, with prison sentences and heavy fines for providers and others who aid and abet an abortion, in some cases will largely depend on where one lives. The criminalisation of patient care will be up to the discretion of local law enforcement, creating a two-tiered system where people, women and families who have access to resources could continue to have access to abortion services, and where working-class people, women and families would be denied those services, said Jose Garza, the district attorney of Travis County, Texas. Those widening fissures threaten our public safety, they threaten quite frankly the foundation of our democracy, he told The Independent. To widen those fissures even further would be a very, very dark moment for our democracy. Sixteen states and Washington DC have laws that protect the right to abortion. But so-called trigger laws in more than a dozen states could quickly or immediately criminalise abortion care in the wake of a decision at the US Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, which affirmed constitutional protections for the right to abortion care. A decision from the court in the case of Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization is expected to reject the Roe precedent and its affirming ruling in 1992s Planned Parenthood v Casey, marking a stark reversal that could force women and girls to carry pregnancies to term, or seek abortion care in states or countries where it is protected, leading to far-reaching and potentially life-threatening consequences for millions of Americans. A state law in effect since late last year in Texas bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant, with no exceptions for rape and incest. Enforcement relies on private parties through civil suits against people who aid and abet abortion patients. Story continues The state also is among 13 with trigger laws in place to outlaw abortion care, and among nine states with older unenforced, unconstitutional laws banning abortion that have remained on the books despite the Roe ruling. The Independent asked the chief prosecutors in more than a dozen counties and parishes where their respective states anti-abortion laws are set to take effect to ask how or if they will go about prosecuting such cases, including whether they will issue subpoenas for personal digital data to prosecute them. Mr Garza is among several district attorneys in Texas who told The Independent that they will not prosecute people seeking abortion care or who provide abortions, should state laws criminalising care go into effect without Roe. He also joined a statement with the district attorneys representing parts of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi who refuse to prosecute providers and condemn state-level efforts to criminalise personal healthcare decisions. The prosecutors warned that anti-abortion laws have the potential to fuel attempts by some to criminalise patients, medical professionals, healthcare providers, and others who assist in these medical procedures. Kim Ogg, the district attorney of Harrison County, Texas, the third most populous county in the US and home to nearly 5 million people, said in a statement that she is concerned that the justices of the nations highest court may overturn long-standing precedent of a womans right to make decisions about her own healthcare, specifically her right to privacy to choose abortion. Their statements followed the shocking arrest of a 26-year-old woman in the Rio Grande Valley in April who was charged with murder for her alleged abortion, charges that were ultimately dropped, but have raised critical questions about the information health providers share with law enforcement and the lengths to which law enforcement agencies could pursue cases involving abortion despite no grounds to do so. Legal organisation National Advocates for Pregnant Women said her arrest proves the true intent of those who are fighting to overturn Roe: the surveillance, control, and criminalisation of pregnant people. A recent state law in Louisiana which has some of the most severe anti-abortion laws in the US effectively bans all abortion care beyond the moment of fertilization and implantation, with no exception for rape or incest. The state already has a trigger ban in place and several obstacles to abortion care, including a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory ultrasounds and state-directed counseling. The states latest measure clarifies dozens of state laws governing abortion care by imposing a prison sentence of up to 10 years for abortion providers or anyone found guilty of performing an abortion, along with no less than $10,000 in fines. An abortion performed later in the pregnancy could result in a 15-year prison sentence as well as a minimum $20,000 fine, if found guilty. New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams told The Independent that his office is focused on pursuing accountability and justice for the most serious, violent crimes committed against our people. We cannot and will not shift the priority from tackling senseless shootings and rapes to investigating the choices women make with regard to their own bodies, he said. Other district attorneys offices throughout Louisiana and in neighbouring Mississippi did not respond to The Independents request for comment. We cannot and will not shift the priority from tackling senseless shootings and rapes to investigating the choices women make with regard to their own bodies. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams Following the passage of the sweeping anti-abortion law in Texas, people seeking abortion found refuge across state lines in Oklahoma, where providers fielded dozens of calls each hour for appointments. In the weeks that followed, Oklahomas Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a series of bills criminalising all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, with providers facing up to 10 years in prison. When asked whether his office will pursue anti-abortion cases under the law, Steve Kunzweiler, the Republican district attorney in Tulsa County, told The Independent that it is inappropriate to engage in a speculative discussion on alleged facts which have not been presented to our office for review. We will continue to adhere to the [principles] and standards upon which our office is obligated to follow, he said. Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza is among several chief prosecutors in Texas who refuse to prosecute abortion providers under the states laws. (Getty Images for MoveOn.org) A law in Arizona which recently implemented a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, mirroring the Mississippi law at the centre of Supreme Court case would make abortion care illegal without Roe protections. Rachel Mitchell, the district attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona, where six of the states nine abortion clinics are located, told The Appeal she will follow the law when asked whether her offfice will pursue prosecutions against abortion providers. She did not respond to the outlet when asked if she would use the fetal personhood law to prosecute people who provide or seek abortions. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Pima County, where two clinics are located, county attorney Laura Conover said her office will do everything in our power to ensure that no person seeking or assisting in an abortion will spend a night in jail. The opposite approaches between the two chief prosecutors reflect how a patient traveling between county lines within the same state could face enormous disparities for abortion care along with their providers and family members or others who may help them seek care and whether they will face legal consequences for doing so. Tennessees trigger law makes abortion care a felony in nearly all cases, to be effective within 30 days after Roe is overturned. Nashvilles Democratic District Attorney Glenn Funk said in a statement that his office will not prosecute any woman who chooses to have a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy or any medical doctor who performs this procedure at the request of their patient. I am appalled that this assault on a womans personal health decisions is in jeopardy, he said after the publication of the leaked draft Amy Weirich, the Republican district attorney for Tennessees Shelby County, the states largest, told The Independent that her office does not deal in hypothetical situations. We deal in facts and truth. Any statement on unknown variables is irresponsible and political grandstanding. Last year, the states Republican-controlled legislature passed a law allowing the states attorney general to intervene in local cases, including those involving abortion, allowing the appointment of a temporary prosecutor when ta district attorney has peremptorily and categorically refused to press charges. The National Right to Life Committee the nations largest anti-abortion organisation has drafted sweeping model legislation for states to adopt, which would, among other things, criminalise abortion care and grant state attorneys general to take on abortion cases when local prosecutors refuse. James Bopp Jr, general counsel for National Right to Life, said in a statement that the states must employ a robust enforcement regime without overarching federal protections. Abortion rights advocates and prosecutors warn that broad criminal laws targeting abortion care could open up patients and their physicians to invasive subpoenas of their personal data, including period-tracking apps and search engine results for abortion clinics. In order to prosecute those kinds of cases, it would require prosecutors and law enforcement to dig deep into the personal medical history of people who are seeking care, and I think that is antithetical to our public safety, Mr Garza told The Independent. In a recent meeting with legal experts about threats to privacy protections in the wake of the Supreme Courts ruling, Vice President Kamala Harris said she fears the vulnerability of women who are using menstrual-tracking apps, those who use a search engine to find certain locations or certain help and how vulnerable those searches will be to bad actors attempting to track their history, much less any government forces that may be interested in investigating that for whatever purpose. Several pieces of proposed legislation in Congress would also block intimate data gathered on smartphones including, more broadly, location data from getting into the hands of the companies that collect them and the companies that want to buy them. A bill from California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs would strictly limit the sexual health data that companies can collect, retain and disclose, while a sweeping proposal from Senator Elizabeth Warren would ban data brokers from selling or transferring location and health data. Anti-abortion activists have already relied on surveillance methods to track patients and providers, using methods like license-plate tracking and cameras outside clinics. At least one state also has reviewed sensitive patient information gathered from clinics; in 2019, Missouris top health official testified that the state mined detailed personal information from Planned Parenthood including reviewing patients menstrual cycles, medical identification numbers, dates of procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses. Patient names were not included. A group of Democratic senators recently wrote to data collection firms that offered reams of data related to possible patients at Planned Parenthood clinics data that lawmakers have warned could end up in the possession of people taking civil action against providers and patients. These and other practices targeting women seeking necessary health care services are almost certain to escalate if Roe v Wade is gutted and abortion is criminalised instantly in states across the nation, the senators wrote to data firms. Under these circumstances, [your companys] decision to sell data that allowed any buying customer to determine the locations of people seeking abortion services was simply unconscionable, risking the safety and security of women everywhere. A group of senators also wrote to Googles chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, urging the company to stop unnecessarily collecting and retaining customer location data, to prevent that information from being used by right-wing prosecutors to identify people who have obtained abortions. Law enforcement routinely has relied on location data for criminal investigations; in 2020, the company received nearly 12,000 requests from law enforcement agencies seeking so-called geofence data that reveals location data at a given time, according to reports published by Google and reviewed by senators. It doesnt make sense to spend our time and energy thinking about how one might do that, Mr Garza told The Independent. But I think those fears and concerns are incredibly legitimate I think the implications for that, for law enforcement, using their authority, in that way would deeply undermine core democratic principles and I think that that would have serious and dangerous implications for our democracy, he said. Moores Country Store has sold its gas stations to the Express Lane Group, HEAS Energy, owners David and Jennifer Moore said on social media. We are getting out of the fuel business and going back to our roots the Hot Dog business, the Moores said in the post. Yes, the Moores Coleslaw and Moores Chili will still be available but at more locations now, very soon. Express Lane will be keeping Moores hot dogs and most other menu items at all other Moores locations. They will be adding your favorites from them to the menu as well. They will also be available for caterings, the post states. Moores hot dogs will be in some of the Express Lanes throughout Lynchburg and the surrounding area over the next several months. The first stop will be the Madison Heights Express Lane the most requested location for the hot dogs. So while it is a sale, it is also a partnership, the Moores said. David and Jennifer Moore said they still will be working in all of the six stores. Our focus will be back at Moores Mt. Athos and expanding our brand throughout Virginia, the post states. Thank you, Thank you for your business and your trust in us over the years and especially the friendships that have evolved. We are not leaving you, we are just readjusting our sails for a new adventure. We look forward to seeing everyone at ole Moores or in and out of Express Lanes. Rachael Smith The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Amherst County was hard hit with damage from storms the afternoon of June 17 that left thousands without power, according to the countys chief public safety official and Appalachian Power Companys website. Sam Bryant, director of public safety, said Monday morning every fire department in the county at one point Friday was out in the roadways cutting downed trees with help of the Virginia Department of Transportation, law enforcement and citizens gracious to assist. The county had 6,000 to 7,000 outages and power gradually has been restored, according to Bryant. He said he was told by APCo representatives that straight line winds caused much of the damage, some of the worst one company has seen this summer. It really rocked everybody, said Bryant. We were hit really hard. Bryant said a dialysis center in the Ambriar shopping center that lost power was brought back up and running over the weekend to help people with medical needs. The High Peak area to north and east portions of the county, including the Town of Amherst, U.S. 60 West and East, Virginia 151, Boxwood Farm Road, Sweet Briar College and Clifford were among areas affected. An APCo news release sent just after 6 p.m. Saturday said outages peaked at 130,000 in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee at about 5 p.m. Friday when winds gusting up to 65 miles-per-hour, coupled with heavy rain and lightning, resulted in damaged power lines and other equipment. Nearly 2,400 company and contract workers were busy restoring power, the release said. An updated release sent Monday afternoon said more than 95% of customers affected by the storm had power restored with roughly 1,000 still without electricity in Virginia. No one was displaced or injured in Amherst County that Bryant is aware of, he said. A few homes had trees on them, Bryant said, and he and Nate Young, the countys building official, checked on them. The Amherst Town Police Department and Amherst County Sheriffs Office also was active in their responses. At least 55 to 60 trees were down across the county and APCo had workers from other states in the area working to restore power, he said. God had His hand on parts of the county that had some close calls, he said. I used my saw and my pickup for three hours straight, he said of working on the tree cleanup. While the timing of the storm event is close to the 10-year anniversary of the well-known derecho windstorm that devastated much of the county and left widespread power outages at the end of June and first few weeks of July 2012, Bryant said Fridays storm damage was not as extensive. Bryant, who lives in northern Amherst County, said Monday morning he still doesnt have power and expected to get it back within the following 12 to 13 hours. Its part of living rural, Bryant said. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Claflin University announces that Bank of America will invest $500,000 to support the Universitys Center for Social Justice and the Pathways From Prison Program. The Pathways From Prison Program is a historic collaboration between Claflin and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) that provides incarcerated individuals in South Carolina access to the Universitys exceptional academic programs. Incarcerated individuals that meet Claflin and SCDC requirements can earn a bachelors degree in criminal justice, psychology, and organizational management. They can also earn minors and certificate credentials. Bank of America's investment will support student scholarships; enhance technological resources such as laptops, keyboards, printers, routers, and wi-fi hotspots. Funding for the partnership will also be used to increase the number of qualified faculty and staff to ensure incarcerated students receive the same high-quality educational experience that has earned Claflin national recognition as one of the nations premier liberal arts universities. We are extremely grateful for Bank of Americas support for our Center for Social Justice and the Pathways From Prison Program. Research indicates a dramatic reduction in recidivism rates for incarcerated individuals who participate in prison education programs, said Claflin President Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack, a 2019 USA Eisenhower Fellow. Warmacks research during his fellowship explored global best practices for reducing mass incarceration through education and rehabilitation. Bank of Americas reputation as a global leader in banking and finance is widely recognized. This partnership amplifies their commitment to equality, equity, and expanding economic opportunities for diverse populations. Education is a gateway to a better life, said Kim Wilkerson, President, Bank of America South Carolina. We appreciate Claflin Universitys leadership and recognize the success and progress made through the Pathways From Prison Program. Issues of racial equality and economic opportunity are deeply connected, and its important to remove the barriers to success and focus on areas where systemic, long-term gaps have existed. The Pathways From Prison Program was established through the Second Chance Pell Grant Pilot Program, a U.S. Department of Education (DOE) initiative. The grant provides need-based Federal Pell Grants to individuals incarcerated in federal and state prisons. Claflin University was the only historically black college/university (HBCU) in South Carolina among 67 colleges and universities nationwide selected for the program. Claflin University Claflin University is a comprehensive institution of higher education affiliated with the United Methodist Church. A historically black University founded in 1869, Claflin is dedicated to providing a student-centered, liberal arts education grounded in cutting-edge research, experiential learning, state-of-the art technology, community service, and life-long personal and professional fulfillment. Claflin is a diverse and inclusive community of students, faculty, staff and administrators who work to cultivate practical wisdom, judgment, knowledge, skills and character needed for globally engaged citizenship and effective leadership. Bank of America Environmental, Social and Governance At Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), were guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. Were delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. Its demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News). For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, register for news email alerts. DES MOINES Lowering prescription drug prices and protecting rural pharmacies are the main goals of a new state law that adds regulations of companies that serve as a sort of middleman between pharmacies and insurance companies. The new provisions were unanimously approved by state lawmakers this session and signed into law last week by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Pharmacy benefits managers or PBMs are third-party companies that administer drug plans on behalf of health insurance providers. The industry says that saves consumers money by negotiating with drugmakers, but critics say consolidation in the PBM industry has actually led to higher prescription drug prices and threatened the existence of rural pharmacies. The new state law requires PBMs to update weekly their list of reimbursement rates to pharmacies; allows pharmacies to disclose or sell lower-cost prescriptions to covered individuals; and creates a framework for the state insurance commissioner to gather data on PBMs activity in the state. Drug prices are out of control and Iowans feel it every day. The PBM industry has a large part to do with the increased prices, said Iowa Rep. Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden who managed the legislative proposal in the Iowa House. Their practices also continue to put independent pharmacies out of business, harming Iowans access to care. With nearly nine in 10 Americans living within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, the local pharmacist is oftentimes the health professional Iowans see most often, especially in rural Iowa. In addition, with the primary care provider shortage looming, we need to ensure Iowans continue to have access. If we dont reform PBMs, pharmacies will continue to go out of business. Iowa lawmakers have been working on PBM-related legislation for 15 years. But a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for states to regulate PBMs. Dozens of states have enacted new regulations since that ruling. Iowa Rep. John Forbes, a Democrat from Urbandale and pharmacist, said dozens of community pharmacies in Iowa have closed over the past decade. He said that is creating pockets of the state where it is difficult for residents to access medication. Forbes said low reimbursement rates for prescription drugs is one of the main causes, and that the new state law is an attempt to create a more level playing field between pharmacies and PBMs. The goal being to make sure pharmacy services were readily available to all areas in the state of Iowa, Forbes said. Best said the consolidation of the PBM industry has reduced competition. Three companies control 80 percent of the PBM market, according to research from Health Industries Research, a nonpartisan health care market research organization. According to the research, CVS/Caremark owns 34 percent of the PBM market, Express Scripts 25 percent and OptumRx 21 percent. The next most prominent company is Humana, which has 8 percent of the market share, according to the research. Their power is such that the typical way you are able to negotiate with a business contract is not possible its a system where you as the employer accept their terms or they leave you and instead only include their pharmacy as part of the network, Best said. There is no longer a free market in this space. Reform is needed to restore a competitive marketplace that will benefit the consumer. CVS Health opposed the new law. In a statement, a company spokesman warned the new law could produce higher costs at the pharmacy counter and said lawmakers should instead focus their work on drug prices set by drug companies. During the legislative process, the Iowa House approved a package that went even further, but it was scaled back in the Iowa Senate. Still, House File 2384 was approved unanimously in both chambers, and Reynolds signed it into law June 13. Shortly after lawmakers concluded their work for the session in May, Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny, described how challenging it was to produce the legislation. The House passed that bill probably 60 plus days ago, Whitver said at the time, and in that time Ive had probably at least 60 meetings on that bill. Its a very complicated issue. You have the pharmacist on one hand, you have (pharmaceutical companies) on another, you have the PBMs, you have insurance companies, you have employers. So to try to find a balance to do what were trying to do, which is control drug prices, is very difficult. And to try to get all those people on the same page is almost impossible. Lawmakers said they hope the legislation is just a first step, and that they can revisit the issue in future sessions after the state insurance commissioner collects more data. Hopefully what the bill does is in the short term is give some ability of the local pharmacies to stay strong by preventing some of the clawbacks and some of the practices that the PBMs are doing, but also allow the insurance commissioner to start collecting data that we need to actually make the right decision and the informed decision down the road, Whitver said. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The draft of Tunisias new Constitution to be put to referendum in July is expected to be unveiled this Monday, while protests calling for the referendum boycott are continuing. The draft will be presented to President Kais Saied, law expert Amine Mahfoudh said Sunday, according to Webdo Tunis. The constitutionalist is member of a national consultative commission established by the President to draft a new constitution that will replace that of 2014, adopted in the wake of the 2011 revolution that removed former autocratic leader Ben Ali. President Saied initiated the national dialogue after he seized all major powers on July 25, dissolving the parliament, and seizing the executive power. He argued that the move is meant to restore the country but he suffered criticism at home and abroad, as the referendum meets neither national nor international standards. In this connection, a protest movement staged on Sunday in the capital Tunis, at the initiative of the National Salvation Front, called for a boycott of the July 25, 2022 referendum, considering that the whole process leading up to this deadline is illegal. The protesters held up banners telling the President get out and shouted slogans hostile to the exceptional measures that they described as a putsch against the State and the 2014 Constitution, reports TAP news agency. The opponents of President Kais Saied also denounced the appearance of civilians before the military justice system as well as all attempts by the ruling power to subjugate, according to their own words, the justice system to the service of the President of the Republic and his agenda. They criticised in this regard, the dismissal of 57 judges without allowing them to appeal. Front constitutive committee member Ridha Belhaj said that the rejection of the referendum is expanding and now includes various parties which despite their differences agree that the President of the Republics process has strayed from the Constitution. He affirmed that militant actions will continue to bring down Kais Saieds project, which jeopardizes the national gains achieved since 2011, namely freedoms and the peaceful transfer of power as well as the organization of free and transparent elections supervised by an independent authority. Mohamed Goumani, member of the Ennahdha movement, one of the components of the National Salvation Front, said that this movement supports judges following the unconstitutional dismissal of 57 of them for refusing to be involved in political settling of scores. In a statement to TAP, member of the National Salvation Front constitutive committee Chaima Issa explained that this movement is part of a set of actions aimed at countering the putsch and ensuring the return to the functioning of legitimate institutions. She considered that it would have been possible to solve the pre-July 25 problems by means of the law and the constitution rather than by the monopoly of power and the putsch, which has led to a deep economic crisis and isolated the country from its international environment, she regretted. The National Campaign against the July 25, 2022 referendum also staged on Sunday a protest movement at the entrance of the medina of Nabeul and a march towards the local seat of the Independent Higher Authority for the Elections (ISIE). Nothing demonstrates the deep isolation of the Algerian regime in its Arab and African environment than the abstinence of the Arab League and the African Union from taking a stand on the Algeria-Spain feud. In contrast, when Spain tried to Europeanize its crisis with Morocco last year, the Arab League, the Arab Parliament and the African parliament reacted in support of Moroccos position and lauded its efforts to curb illegal migration. But with Algeria, there is a resounding silence as the civilian facade stumbles on its erratic decisions. Algeria had canceled a neighborliness deal with Spain, asked its banks to abstain from processing import and export activities with Spain and tacitly threatened to use the migration card against Spain. All of these measures came in retaliation for a sovereign Spanish decision to support Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara. The Arab League and the African Union are aware of Algerias hegemonic agenda and its use of separatist militias for decades in a failed bid to unsettle its neighbor Morocco. As the feud with Spain becomes a conflict with the EU, Algeria is left alone acting like a pariah state ready to use its only resource, gas, to blackmail its second trading partner, Spain. As Algeria receives a blow from the EU asking it to backpedal on its hostile and discriminatory measures against Spain, the rest of the Arab world and Africa watch and wonders what is Algeria doing? It is actually showing its real face as the real party that prevents a political solution to the Sahara conflict. Algerian diplomacy, faithful to its nervous reactions on the hot, has issued a statement saying they are not waiting for any friendly state or organization to support it in its crisis with Spain, in a tone that indicates the isolation of Algeria in its immediate neighborhood. Even the Arab League summit, that was scheduled for March in Algiers, is shrouded in uncertainty due to Algerias constant warmongering and hostile moves against Morocco. Algerias isolation is self-imposed by a regime that is ready to shoot itself in the foot as it reluctantly realizes that the days of the Polisario separatists are over. A delegation of the National Popular Congress for Al-Quds started, Sunday, a four-day visit to Morocco. The delegation, chaired by the Secretary General of the Congress, General Bilal Al-Natsheh, is scheduled to meet officials of Bayt Mal Al-Quds Asharif Agency and the Palestinian ambassador to Morocco. The delegation will visit the Mohammed V mausoleum and the seat of Parliament. On Tuesday, the delegation members will participate in an event celebrating the proclamation of Rabat by ICESCO as capital of culture in the Islamic world. The event, organized by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency, features the inauguration of an exhibition of photos on Al-Quds under the theme Rabat in Al-Quds. This event will be marked by the signing of a cooperation and partnership agreement between the National Popular Congress for Al-Quds and Bayt Mal Al-Quds Asharif Agency. The Palestinian delegation will travel Wednesday to Fez where it will hold a working session at the Agency for the Development and Rehabilitation of the city of Fez before visiting historical monuments and take part in a meeting at the commune of Fez on cooperation between the two cities. The National Popular Congress for Al-Quds is a body of the Palestine Liberation Organization. King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, has called on Moroccan pilgrims to duly represent their country during the rite, and to give an honorable image that goes in line with strong adherence to the values of tolerance and moderation and the rejection of any desire for extremism. Be the ambassadors of your country by upholding these ideal values, and by remaining strongly attached to your identity, to your national unity and to your Maliki rite, the Sovereign said in a message addressed, on Monday, to the first batch of Moroccan pilgrims heading to the Holy Places of Islam for the pilgrimage of the year 1443 AH. I also want you to show how keen I have been, since Almighty God entrusted me with the mission of leading my loyal people, to uphold our model of moderate Sunni Islam, in keeping with the words of the Almighty: We made of you an Ummah justly balanced that you might be witnesses over the nations, added the King. That Ishhaad, or bearing of testimony, which is required of all Muslims, cannot be achieved except through moderation and the rejection of extremism and fanaticism, said the Sovereign in this message, which was read by the Minister of Habous and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Toufiq. The King also stressed that he has given his highest instructions to the Minister of Habous and Islamic Affairs to keep up his commendable efforts in taking good care of the pilgrims and providing for the overall conditions of their stay in the Holy Land so that they perform their rituals in an optimal manner. I asked him to provide for your comfort, health requirements, administrative needs and religious guidance throughout your pilgrimage, said the King. Therefore, make sure you cooperate with the officials in charge so that these goals can be achieved. Consequently, you are expected to respect at all times the instructions given to you and comply with the measures in place throughout your pilgrimage. You must also observe the measures and regulations set by the authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the organization of the great Hajj season, in keeping with the instructions given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, my esteemed brother King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Sovereign stressed. Thanking the Almighty for helping us to overcome the pandemic which has afflicted the entire world, and for enabling us to gradually resume our religious and social traditions, while continuing to observe preventive measures and the necessary health requirements, the Sovereign called on pilgrims to arm themselves with patience, restraint, endurance and to defend themselves against anything that may taint the sacredness of the pilgrimage rite. Morocco and the US kick started this Monday Africas largest military exercises which also bring along troops from 18 friendly countries to enhance inter-operability and readiness against traditional and new threats. In an opening speech, Inspector general of Moroccos Armed Forces Belkhir El Farouk underscored the need for friendly armies to work together in synergy to champion the ideals of peace and security. Therefore, this exercise is part of this approach in cohesion with the aspiration of our countries and the needs for modern engagement, he said. He underscored in particular the need for joint exercises such as the African Lion in terms of promoting operational interoperability. The African Lion is an annual event which runs until June 30 bringing together 7500 soldiers from 20 countries led by Morocco and the US. Queen Elizabeth has missed Royal Ascot for first time since her coronation The 96-year-old monarch - who recently celebrated her Platinum Jubilee - has missed the whole of the prestigious horseracing event due to her ongoing mobility issues. The Queen has only previously missed the event once during her reign, in 2020, when it was held behind closed doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she still watched the final day of the racing event on TV, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Duke of Kent replaced the Queen - who has a long-standing love of horses - during the royal carriage procession, which also featured Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Read more here: Charlie Sheen changed his mind about his daughter having OnlyFans Charlie Sheen "overlooked and dismissed" issues surrounding his daughter's decision to join OnlyFans. The 56-year-old actor recently criticised his 18-year-old daughter Sami for joining the platform - but he's now changed his mind and has instead come out in support of his daughter and his ex-wife Denise Richards. Charlie acknowledged that Denise, 51, has "illuminated a variety of salient points, that in my haste, I overlooked and dismissed". Read more here: Kim Kardashian hails Kanye West as the 'best dad' Kim Kardashian has paid a heartfelt Father's Day tribute to Kanye West. The 41-year-old star has taken to social media to hail her ex-husband, describing Kanye as the "best dad to our babies". Kim - who has North, nine, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, three, with the rap star - wrote on Instagram: "Thank you for being the best dad to our babies and loving them the way you do. "Happy Father's Day Ye (sic)" Read more here: A Ukrainian serviceman in the Donetsk region walks as grain silos burn after Russian shelling. Photo: Serhii Nuzhnenko/REUTERS In February, Ukraine shocked the world by driving Russian forces from Kyiv, fending off Vladimir Putins attempt to quickly capture the country. Almost four months later, the war has settled into a bloody slog that is now largely focused in the Donbas, in Ukraines east. As Ukrainian forces suffer heavy losses, Russias superior artillery has put it at a major advantage in the region. But even there, Russias advances are slow and grinding, and Ukraine sometimes rolls back its gains. To assess the current state of play and what might come next, I spoke with Michael Kofman, a widely cited expert on the Russian military. Kofman is the research program director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization in Arlington, Virginia. Is anyone actually winning this war right now? How do we even judge what success looks like for Russia or Ukraine at the moment? You have to judge it based on the strategies and the political objectives that you think these two actors are pursuing. For Russia, its very clear that seizing the administrative territories of the Donbas is their minimal goal. And if they are successful and then are given substantial time to recuperate, they may not stop there. In the second phase of this war, the Russian military is operating much more in the way they were trained and organized to fight unlike the first phase, which was principally a botched regime-change operation. This strategy seems centered on attrition warfare as the principal Russian approach. Thats in part because the force they are fighting with has been substantially depleted. The Russian military took very heavy losses in the first phase of the war in terms of personnel and equipment. It is also because this type of warfare strongly favors the Russian military doctrinally. Its a military based around firepower with a tremendous amount of artillery. So the Russian approach has been to essentially grind their way toward incremental territorial gains. The Ukrainian strategy, thus far in the second phase, has been to try to exhaust Russian forces, leverage urban terrain, and fight for every piece of it in order to inflict the maximum amount of casualties so that the Russian offensive eventually runs out of steam. In the interim, theyve conducted localized counter attacks around Kharkiv, Izium, and in Kherson, but these are not major counteroffensives. The Ukrainian military also suffered badly from casualties, losing a tremendous amount of personnel, but they are also very short on ammunition. And this has been very much an artillery war. It may look like a modern war on the internet, but for all the videos of anti-tank guided missiles and air defenses and the like, this war is one largely being fought with artillery. And so the Ukrainian military right now is at the most dangerous point in this second phase. I think the first period of the war perhaps created undue optimism. Ukraine defied the expectations of many, including myself, in terms of military performance. However, at this stage, there is perhaps undue pessimism. The Ukraine situation is quite difficult, but Russian gains have been fitful and incremental. The offensive is exhausting, and the Russian military has major structural issues when it comes to availability of manpower. It was designed much more for a short, sharp, conventional war with NATO than a conflict of this type. And so it, too, is struggling and will continue to struggle, with both militaries now digging into reserves, those with much less training, lower morale, and poor equipment. Wars like this often come down to attrition and those who have the most staying power on the battlefield. From the beginning, President Zelenskyy has been pleading for more firepower from the West. The U.S. and Europe have provided lots of weaponry and a huge amount of money, but lets say they gave him everything he wanted. To what extent would that enable Ukraine to possibly turn the tide in the Donbas? Or would it mean things just return to a stalemate? Right now, its very premature to assess the trajectory of the war. More than likely, after this period of fighting, there will be an operational pause. Both sides will try to rearm, refit, and replenish their forces. Then Ukraine is likely to attempt a counteroffensive, but it will be easier to gauge whether Ukraine can take back substantial amounts of territory once its significantly armed with western weapons. At least from my point of view, there is no looming stalemate or frozen conflict yet in this war. Stalemates are often declared, but they are a temporary state of affairs. The military balance is actually quite dynamic, and you are likely going to see territory still changing hands across the rather sprawling battlefield, which stretches all the way from Kherson, in the southwest, to Kharkiv. The forces appear relatively balanced, such that neither can substantially make progress. But thats deceptive, particularly in a war of attrition. It may appear that both sides are holding their lines, but in a sustained war of attrition, one military is going to be depleting the capability of the other their forces, their equipment, their morale perhaps at a much higher rate. In that kind of scenario, it will be hard to see a front thats about to collapse until it does. Right now, neither side has the forces to pursue maneuver warfare. Neither side is able to attain a substantial local advantage with enough reserves to really exploit any kind of operational maneuver. But that can change over time. The big Russian advantage over the Ukrainian military is firepower, since they understand that a shortage of manpower is their biggest weakness. Russian forces have been degraded, and, as weve discussed, its original invasion strategy was ill considered. It also seems that Putin is not somebody whos going to take the half-win of simply capturing territory in eastern Ukraine. But does he even have the capability to make another push into central and western Ukraine? My view is that the Russian military barely has the capability to take the Donbas. And even that outcome is very much in doubt right now for them. But this is a conversation about today. Its clear that if given the opportunity to expand this war, the Russian objective is to take Ukraines southern coast all the way to Odesa. That would dramatically impinge on Ukraines viability economically as a state. Those may seem to be unrealistic aspirations right now, but this war is likely to become protractive, and its important to consider that it can take different trajectories, one in which there is a prolonged postwar period, lets say, as you put it, a stalemate emerges. As I put it wrongly. Its okay. Such that it gives Russian forces a long enough time period to recover from their losses, Russia is very likely to pursue another offensive operation to capture more Ukrainian territory. That is, they are not going to be satisfied with the minimal gains in the Donbas. Thats more of a question of when and whether or not they will be able to reacquire the means to do it. And its also about the trajectory of any possible peace talks, right? Because Ukraine is claiming that it will settle for nothing less than clawing back everything its lost, and Russia has bigger aspirations. So its hard to imagine the two sides interests aligning enough to discuss a settlement anytime soon. Yeah. And of course the biggest reason for that is that all those conversations at this stage are very premature. Battlefield performance is going to determine the political position and the prospects of both sides in this contest. The other element of this is that the war is also obviously having a huge effect on the energy market and the market for other goods. I got gas yesterday. I saw. Yeah, I dont have to tell you. Europe is suffering far worse than the U.S. in this regard, and European leaders seem a little less patient about the trajectory of the war. President Biden has said that he wouldnt pressure Zelenskyy into establishing peace talks. I think European leaders might have a different take on that, even if they continue to show solidarity. If Ukraine continues to suffer setbacks, how long do you think the American or European patience would last? I cannot predict either our will or the will of our political leadership or that of people in other countries. What I can offer you is a comment on how I see the determinants of the military balance between the two sides. And the way I would frame this is that military balance helps set some expectations but it is not predictive of outcome. You cannot predict whats going to happen in a battle or particular set of battles. At the moment, the local military balance favors Russia not dramatically but significantly. The long-term military balance favors Ukraine. But that is highly contingent on Ukraine being able to gain sustained military support from the United States and other European countries. That, of course, hinges on political will and cohesiveness. And over time, Ukraine could turn its advantage in manpower together with aid from the West into a combat-credible force, which is something that is in its nascent stages right now. But these expectations are strongly tied to assumptions about sustained western support. And I can only frame the conversation this way. I cant answer the question because I have no ability to predict the future to that extent. If I did, I would be far wealthier than I am. Historically, Russia has been able to win wars of attrition by just throwing people onto the battlefield, right? So far in this conflict theyve suffered tremendous losses, as you said upwards of 10,000 soldiers by most estimates, and possibly many more. How long can Putin keep up his approach with this kind of casualty rate? I dont think the approach Russia has taken is ultimately sustainable. But behind the scenes, they have been conducting a sort of shadow mobilization, recruiting what personnel they can to replace their losses. So its clear they are committed to a protracted war; its just not clear what their capacity is to sustain it. You are right that despite tremendous casualties, the Russian military remains on the battlefield, still prosecuting their offensive. Russia is well known for its endurance and ability to sustain prolonged attrition, and that continues to be a defining characteristic in this war. The U.S. and Europe cut Russia off almost entirely after the invasion, refusing to buy the countrys oil and imposing severe and unprecedented sanctions. But most of the rest of the world hasnt gotten on board with this strategy, and Russia is now making more money from oil, gas, and coal than ever. Can Putin hold out indefinitely, economically speaking? I do think the Russian economy can hold out for quite a long time, but it will become relatively primitive and ultimately disconnected from the modern global economy in many respects. I think the worst impact of sanctions and export controls is yet to come and hasnt been fully felt. And so its difficult to assess the situation this early into it. Is it fair to say that even a severe economic crisis in Russia is unlikely to threaten Putins power given the lack of opposition he faces? I think authoritarian systems often look very stable until the very end. They are the kind of systems that, to borrow a phrase from someone else, lose their political support gradually and then very suddenly. The truth is that it is a fools errand to try to predict regime change in a personal authoritarian system. That said, I have a fairly pessimistic outlook on the Putin regimes longevity. This is more intuition than prediction. My intuition tells me that the Putin regime is very much on a downward slope. That said, Im also of the belief that if this regime sees a significant change, itll be driven by Russian elites and will more than likely replace one authoritarian with a different authoritarian. Because I dont hold to the camp of folks who think that suddenly democracy will explode in Russia. Are there still people who think that? Listen, if there are people who thought it was going to happen in Iraq, there are definitely people who think it will happen in Russia. There are always people who think that. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. BairesDev BairesDev, a tech solutions company, will implement a pilot program in Brazil in which candidates complete a quick 2-minute form to match with open positions and be interviewed within three business days MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BairesDev, a leading technology solutions company, launched its Fast Track Hiring Program , aiming to boost its proprietary hiring process by accelerating the interview stage up to 70%, thus contributing to make it more efficient for candidates. With its own staffing suite, designed to find the Top 1% Tech Talent, BairesDev currently hires more than 200 qualified developers every month. According to Statista , over 1,400 tech employees were laid off in Latam since April 2022, mostly in Brazil. BairesDev is creating 1,000 job opportunities in this field and we've decided to launch the Fast Track Hiring Program pilot in this country, aware of the enormous potential it offers in terms of qualified tech talent for us to keep nurturing our pool in the region, stated Ezequiel Ruiz, VP of Talent Acquisition at BairesDev. In this initial phase, the Fast Track Hiring Program is oriented toward Software engineers with advanced English levels. Were looking for people specialized in Front End Development, Back End Development, DevOps, QA & Testing, Data Science, and Engineering. We are growing fast so we are constantly looking for the best talent in the region. How the Fast Track Hiring Program works The candidate fills in a 2-minutes form with their information and main skills. Then, the BairesDev recruitment team will review the candidate's profile and if there is a fit they will schedule an interview within three business days. This is the first step in the recruiting process, which is later complemented with online tests to assess skills and further interviews to assess technical abilities. BairesDev is a fast-growing tech company driven by talent. With over 5,000 employees and contractors distributed in almost 600 cities around the globe, the company promotes diversity and gender equality by providing equal opportunities for top talented people, wherever they may be. Story continues By the end of 2022, more than 3,000 people will join BairesDev, expecting a growth rate of 110% compared to 2021. About BairesDev BairesDev is a leading Nearshore Technology Solutions company that architects and engineers scalable and high-performing software solutions to meet all kinds of business challenges. Using its deep tech expertise and cross-industry experience, BairesDev evolves digital transformation into digital acceleration. The ultimate goal is to create lasting value throughout the entire digital transformation journey. With 5,000+ seasoned engineers in 36 countries, BairesDev provides time zone aligned services to empower Fortune 500 companies and leading brands. Working for clients like Google, Rolls-Royce, Johnson & Johnson, Pinterest, and ViacomCBS, the company has been reimagining the tech landscape for over a decade. For more information, please visit https://www.bairesdev.com Contact info: press@bairesdev.com Spring thrilled to announce they have received authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and Lloyd's coverholder status. Spring Insure logo Spring Insure logo DUBLIN, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spring Insure, the specialist Financial and Professional Lines MGA, is excited to announce that it has received authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and Lloyd's coverholder status in Ireland, opening its doors to European business. The European operation, based in Ireland, is led by Patrick Mettler. Patrick has over 20 years of experience in the Irish insurance Industry, most recently as Head of Sales for Hiscox in Ireland and previously 16 years as Head of Financial Lines and latterly Country Manager for Chubb Insurance in Ireland. Spring offers a range of financial and professional lines products across offices in London, Guernsey and now Dublin. Established in 2020, it has secured backing from some of the biggest names in the market including Beazley, Ascot, Aspen, Atrium, Argenta, Convex, Lancashire and MS Amlin and is a part of the Howden Group. Patrick Mettler, Managing Director of Spring Europe, commented: "The CBI authorisation is an important milestone for the business. The new Dublin office will open shortly and we are ready to accept risks as of today. We are an ambitious business with the kind of risk appetite that opens exciting opportunities for brokers. I'm excited to see what we can do together." ENDS Photos: Download here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uzdw147zkqfnuiy/AAAtNGbrt-O-rGBhz58O44HEa?dl=0 Patrick Mettler, Managing Director of Spring Europe Ltd Notes to editors Spring Insure Established in 2020, Spring Insure is an innovative, reliable, and forward-thinking business that offers a broad range of financial lines products through offices in London, Dublin and Guernsey. With decades of experience handling complex risks, the team of experts sustainably develop and manage capacity and MGAs on behalf of a wide range of insurers and syndicates at Lloyd's. Story continues For more information, visit www.springinsure.eu For more information please contact: pr@freepartners.com Related Images Image 1: Spring Insure logo This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment Voters in Lee County on Tuesday will cast their ballots, again, for primary races in wich no candidate garnered a majority of the vote. On the Republican ticket, citizens will vote for U.S. Senator, secretary of state, state auditor and two places on the Alabama Public Service Commission. Those within the Lee County Commissions District 4 will also vote for their representative on the commission. On the Democratic ticket, citizens will vote for the Democratic candidate for Alabama governor. In Alabama primaries, runoff elections are triggered when no candidate receives a majority of the vote. When this happens, the two candidates who received the most votes advance to the runoff election, while other candidates are removed from the ballot. Since these races only have two candidates in a runoff election, one candidate is guaranteed to receive a majority of the vote. Alabama voters, whether they have voted in the primary election or not, are eligible to vote in Tuesdays runoff election. However, voters who cast a Republican ballot last month must cast a Republican ballot in the runoff election. Similarly, voters who cast a Democratic ballot last month must cast a Democratic ballot in the runoff. Alabama law prohibits a person from voting in one partys primary election and voting in a different partys primary runoff election. Voters who did not cast a Republican or Democratic ballot last month are eligible to cast either ballot in tomorrows election. Voters can find where to cast their ballots by entering their address into the Alabama Votes website. Republican ballot U.S. Senate: Katie Britt received 45% of the Republican primary vote statewide for the U.S. Senate seat during the May 24 election, short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff, while Mo Brooks received 29%, the second-highest among candidates. In Lee County, however, Britt garnered a majority with 55%, while Brooks had only 22%. Secretary of state: Wes Allen and Jim Zeigler are on the ballot. In last months election, Zeigler received 43% of the vote statewide, while Allen received 40%. In Lee County, Zeigler and Allen got 38% and 35%, respectively. State auditor: Andrew Sorrell and Stan Cooke are on the ballot. In last months election, Sorrell received 40% of the vote statewide, while Cooke received 33%. In Lee County, Sorrell and Cooke got 32% and 29%, respectively. Rusty Glover received 39% of the vote in Lee County, but only 28% statewide, so he will not appear on Tuesdays ballot. Alabama Public Service Commission, Place 1: Jeremy Oden and Brent Woodall are on the ballot. In last months election, Oden got 34% of the vote statewide, while Woodall got 31%. In Lee County, both candidates got about 32% of the vote. Alabama Public Service Commission, Place 2: Chip Beeker and Robert McCollum are on the ballot for Place 2. In last months election, Beeker got 43% of the vote statewide, while McCollum got 36%. In Lee County, both candidates got about 39% of the vote. Lee County Commission, District 4: Robert Ham and Tony Langley are on the ballot. In last months election, Ham got 34.5% of the vote, while Langley got 33.3%. Democratic ballot Alabama Governor, Democratic candidate: On the Democratic ticket, Yolanda Flowers and Malika Sanders-Fortier are on the ballot. In last months election, Flowers got 33.8% of the vote statewide, while Sanders-Fortier got 32.5%. In Lee County, Flowers and Sanders-Fortier got 45% and 25%, respectively. After Tuesdays primary runoff election, the general election will be held on Nov. 8. Citizens have until Oct. 24 to register to vote in this election, if they are not already registered. General Hospital Days of Our Lives The Young and the Restless The Bold and the Beautiful This Week in Soaps history... June 22nd-26th, 2015 This week on the US Daytime Soaps...Ivy debated telling Liam the truth about her dual citizenship, but Quinn urged Ivy not to hand her man over to Steffy willingly. Once Ivy overheard Liam professing love to Steffy, Ivy told him about Immigration's error and offered him an annulment. Liam told Steffy that he no longer had to be married to Ivy and shouldn't have gotten married because he was nuts about Steffy.Public support for Maya led Ridge to ask her to return to Forrester and set the record straight about her resignation. She agreed to return only if Rick could, too. Ridge agreed to let Rick back at Forrester, and Maya and Rick reunited..Xander left Eric and Nicole to die. Thinking that death was near, Nicole and Eric shared an intimate moment. Eric and Nicole survived but had to deal with what they had done. Daniel realized how much he loved Nicole. Victor made Xander pay for his crimes. The police had Serena on the hot seat.Abigail wanted to move forward with Ben. Ben learned about Abigail's affair with Chad but kept the news to himself.Tate and Theresa moved in with Brady.Paul told Sonny they should be together.Chad kissed Zoe.Kate warned Will that Sonny was not a fool. Chad warned Sonny to be wary of Stefano. Sonny learned Will had lied to him again.Rosalie caught Morgan and "Denise" in a compromising position, but she agreed to keep Morgan's secret. Franco enlisted Denise's help to make Nina jealous.Madeline checked in with Ric to ask if he had news about Nina's fortune. Things quickly heated up when Madeline kissed Ric.T.J. decided to spite his mother by accepting Sonny's generous offer to pay for T.J.'s tuition and to stay at Greystone Manor until school started. Lucy voted for Nikolas to replace Michael as CEO of ELQ. Lucy felt that Michael needed to grow up and learn from Nikolas. Nikolas threatened to imprison Rosalie on Cassadine Island and expose her secret unless she recanted her statement about the illegal means he had used to obtain his shares of ELQ. Michael turned to Sabrina for solace and advice, so she asked if there was any possibility that he could forgive Sonny and return his sister to Sonny's care. Jennifer Smith blackmailed Luke into spending the night with her in exchange for Lucky's freedom. Luke got drunk and passed out before Luke and Jennifer had sex, so Jennifer admitted that she didn't have Lucky. Lulu and Dillon decided to help Luke and Laura track down Lucky. Dante was brokenhearted when he discovered that his wife had lied to him about her travel plans, so he turned to Valerie for comfort and kissed her. Holly Sutton turned up in British Columbia.Dylan told Avery to call the police and not him if she was in trouble. Avery called the cops when she thought an intruder was in her apartment, but Paul found no evidence. Lily had sex with Joe after a fight with Cane, and she confided in Avery about the encounter. Avery summoned Joe to the park to confront him, and after they argued, she was raped by a masked assailant. Avery named Joe as her attacker. Lily and Cane made amends, but she was unable to have sex with him because of her guilt. Lauren signed her divorce papers. Sharon told Dylan she was pregnant, and their families had a mixed reaction to the news. Mariah questioned Dylan's devotion when he took off to comfort Avery.Victor was released on bail and hired bodyguards to protect his family. Phyllis complained to "Gabriel" that Jack didn't seem like himself. Adam tricked Marco into admitting he wasn't Jack, and the men plotted to frame Victor for Marco's death. Marco sent a thug to kill Jack, but Jack and Marisa convinced the henchman to simply report to Marco that he'd killed Jack. Jack returned to Genoa City with Marisa, and he reunited with Phyllis without telling her what had happened. Marisa learned about an ominous meeting in the park between Victor and Marco, and Jack planned to show up to warn Victor. Adam witnessed Victor shoot a man who was either Jack or Marco.THE WEEK OF JUNE 20-24th, 2005While at the Blue Note, Chad got a call that Miles was sick, Fox joined him and they rushed off to see the baby. After a moment of hesitation, Whitney followed. Whitney refused to nurse sick Miles, angering Fox, Chad and her mother. Theresa tried to convince Whitney that she'd never be able to live with herself if she refused to nurse Miles and he died. Pilar told Martin that she knew about Rachel's murder, but didn't say anything. Martin then explained the details of his escape from Harmony. Luis, Sam, and Sheridan continued their search for Beth and Marty, but Alistair was determined to help Beth escape with Marty, to forever drive a wedge between Luis and Sheridan. When Pilar remembered that there were secret rooms in the mansion, Sam and Luis chopped through the mansion's walls with axes, searching for the hidden room, and Beth. Having seen an Amber alert for Beth and Marty on TV, Mrs. Wallace worried that she too would soon be found out. She hid at the only place she knew no one would dare look - Tabitha's house. While Fancy and Spike sipped champagne in the back room of Spike's club, Noah, believing the club was empty, set fire to it. Noah heroically saved Fancy from the burning club, and she was shocked when she found out that Noah was Sam Bennett's son. Rebecca hid the evidence of Ethan's paternity by her computer, but when Theresa was left alone in the Crane mansion, she used the opportunity to snoop around in hopes of finding something to use against Gwen and Rebecca. Source 3 and Ok, thats cool I guess idk how to respond to this lol. Reply Thread Link Yay for Harry Styles. I am sure he is reaching a lot of youngins that havent had representation or felt seen since Bowie. Um. I know ONTD doesnt like Katherine McPhee but do the gays? Doesnt she know that is Britney/ Christina territory? Reply Thread Link No we do not like Katherine McPhee. I dont think anyone does. Reply Parent Thread Link #teamivy Katherine McPhee is a very big fan of Katherine McPhee Reply Parent Thread Link she's big in the geriatric community Reply Parent Thread Expand Link what kind of representation is he, exactly? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link We don't like Katharine McPhee but I do think about that hi my gay boys video at least twice a week Reply Parent Thread Link I'm sure this moment set wattpad ablaze LOL Reply Thread Link Is this the first time hes owned up to being straight? I thought he was being all ambiguous about it? Reply Thread Link someone said to him its ok to be het Reply Parent Thread Link Im so happy the hets are finally being supported Reply Parent Thread Link ugh I just watched the video and it looked like he was joking the kid was still straight until the flag went up and not actually referring to himself? I think he's still being all ambiguous about it :/ Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Who lied to Kat McPhee that the gays wanted anything from her? Reply Thread Link I mean on the one hand good for this boy, on the other hand we are so tired Reply Thread Link He is just not charismatic to me, not interesting, it's still so weird because we were so close to no one from One Direction making it and he somehow managed to adjust his persona to fit what public would like. His team send out great target audience questionnaires, I guess. Reply Thread Link I feel like he used to be the guy in 1D who had the personality but its just been absolute nothingness since 1D ended. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah I definitely remember him having charm. But nothingness since then is right. I think a lot of the youth like that thougha blank slate they can project on Reply Parent Thread Link He had a lot of investment from his label. Like, A LOT. They trully went all out for him. Reply Parent Thread Link He spent his entire time in 1D since he was 16 charming his way into this huge network that now lands him on Nolan and MCU movies, and gets the best marketing and producing teams. He's bland af and has nothing to offer, but I doubt he's as dumb as people think he is. Reply Parent Thread Link Katherine McPhee is a Republican, right? Because, uh, as a straight I may be wrong, but I would think that one of the things "the gays" would want is equal rights? Reply Thread Link the only thing that the cynic in me sees in Styles is bland rainbow capitalism and oh so predictable branding, but good on that Italian dude I guess, it's a nice story to tell for the rest of his life. Edited at 2022-06-20 06:32 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link he's the male taylor swift so yes. Reply Parent Thread Link a bunch of videos from his tour are popping up on my fyp, everyone seems to have a great time Reply Thread Link His shows look fun but I find it weird how a lot of people aren't paying attention to Harry lmao they're either recording those dancing in the pit, or they're doing conga lines and shit, it's fun but it's weird for lil old me who keeps her eyes on the performer AT ALL TIMES lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah lol gen z love that. I saw Charli XCX and the mosh pit turned into a dance battle Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I keep selecting "Not interested" and they won't stop Reply Parent Thread Link My kid saw him in Glasgow and loved it, she's a big fan though. Reply Parent Thread Link What a nice moment for that young person. Reply Thread Link Niall is my fave lol also idgi like he just used the sign for clout how did this help anyone Reply Thread Link Honestly, if he is pandering to LGBT people, he's at least doing it with the basic respect that so many other singers lacks. Like so many others do one interview where they talk about giving to the gays something to see and it always felt really disingenuous...and so many feel obligated to loudly proclaim that when they wore something a little bit androgynous it was just a one time thing. At least HArry committed to it lol Reply Thread Link Texas is sweating out a massive heat wave unusually early in the year and sweating potential blackouts as all those air conditioning units put extra strain on the states infamously fragile grid. Already, before the hottest months of the year have even hit, Texans have annihilated previous records for all-time high electricity demand, surpassing 75 gigawatts in a single day. These are exactly the kinds of conditions that experts warned us about earlier this summer when they told Texans to expect soaring temperatures, sky-high electricity demand, and an overwhelmed grid. In the past, Texass grid has collapsed under extreme weather conditions, with fatal consequences. During a devastating cold snap in February 2021, a massive grid failure cut power to more than 4.5 million homes, leaving most without a heat source amidst life-threateningly cold temperatures. This failure has resulted in at least 57 deaths across 25 Texas counties and over $195 billion in property damage, bringing attention to the energy system crisis and its potential causes, says the University of Texas at Austins Energy Institute. The devastating failure was the result of mismanagement, negligence, and the state of Texas unusual approach to running its energy grid. As an energy powerhouse, Texas is in a unique position that enables it to largely isolate its grid from the rest of the country, meaning that it is not subject to outside regulation. As such, the state has allowed for a largely market-driven, deregulated grid, handing control of the states entire electricity delivery system to a market-based patchwork of private generators, transmission companies and energy retailers as the New York Times reported last year. The increased competition for low energy prices disincentivized spending on weather-proofing energy infrastructure and left a lot of room for confusion. Deregulation meant that critical rules of the road for power were set not by law, but rather by a dizzying array of energy competitors, the Times explains. Already, the body that oversees the Texas grid is repeating some of the same mistakes that led to last years tragedy. Texas grid operator told a power plant to delay repairs ahead of a May heat wave. It was among six that crashed, the Texas Tribune reported this week. As temperatures have continued to soar, and energy demand has continued to break records, however, the Texas grid has held up amazingly well. What variable is to thank for keeping the strained grid operating smoothly? Renewables. Wind and solar power are 'bailing out' Texas amid record heat and energy demand, read a recent CNN headline. Strong performance and high production rates from both wind and solar have been critical to meeting demand at peak hours. When demand peaked last Sunday, wind and solar contributed 26 gigawatts of energy to the grid, or nearly 40% of the total energy required. "Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables. But frankly, renewables are bailing us out," Michael Webber, an energy expert at the University of Texas was quoted by CNN. "They're rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartaches and a lot of money." This revolution is a huge victory for renewable advocates in Texas. It also smacks of irony, as many pro-oil news outlets and pundits were quick to (incorrectly) blame renewable energy for last years grid failure. Despite the staunch support for fossil fuels in Texas, however, renewables have been steadily gaining ground in the Lone Star State, which has lots of wide open spaces, particularly well suited to wind and solar farms, and a whole lot of energy industry infrastructure already in place. Renewable energys reliability during the summer heat is likely to keep fanning those flames, and hopefully even win over some heartland hearts, as the sector continues to grow. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: As of the middle of last week, Libya was producing only about 100,000-150,000 bpd of crude oil. While the oil market is looking for clues about losses of supply from Russia, the perennial wild card in crude production globally, Libya, has seen its output swing up and down again over the past weeks. The return of blockades on oilfields and export terminals amid renewed political rivalry is depriving the market of some of Libyas oil production at a time of tight global supply. This market tightness is likely to tighten further when the EU embargo on seaborne Russian oil imports officially begins at the end of this year. Libyas oil production, typically at around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) without blockades on oil infrastructure, has been lower in recent weeks since factions in the east renewed blockades on export facilities. The political rivalry also blurs the estimate of Libyan output and shipments with contradicting claims about how much production the country is losing during the protests at oilfields and oil ports. Currently, there is no immediate resolution to the renewed rivalry, which means there are unlikely to be elections this year. The political turmoil will continue to weigh on the Libyan oil sector, which is the key revenue source for the country. The distribution of revenues has been the bone of contention between the Tripoli-based and east-based institutions for years. Amid the political instability, Libyan oil production is also unstable, and shutdowns of exports could occur at any time, further tightening the global oil market, which is already tight on supply. Its unlikely that Libya will descend into a full-blown civil war again, Fathi Bashaga, the Prime Minister appointed by the parliament earlier this year, told Bloomberg in an interview, but noted that chaos would continue without a unified government, with little chance that elections will be conducted yet this year. Bashaga was expected to be a candidate in the presidential election that was slated to be held last December but was called off. Related: Ukraine Hits Oil, Gas Drilling Platforms Off Crimea, Russia Says Bashaga, backed by the east, told Bloomberg that people in the eastern part of Libya are angry and unsatisfied with the state and as long as justice is not addressed and revenues are not distributed fairly, closures of oil will continue. The blockade of Libyan oil production and export facilities could end once the central bank of Libya releases funds for the budget the east-based Parliament has approved, Bashaga told Reuters last week. Bashaga was appointed as Libyan prime minister by the parliament based in the east of the country in March. However, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who was appointed last year through a process backed by the United Nations, refuses to cede power. Bashaga is now based in Sirte in the east of Libya, while the rival prime minister is based in Tripoli. The renewed power struggle in Libya led in April to major shutdowns of oilfields and oil export terminals, which reopened briefly earlier this month, only to be closed again by protesters demanding a transfer of powers from Dbeibah, who has been refusing to step down for Bashaga. The blockades of oil ports have been mostly instigated by factions in the east, including such allied with eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar and the Libyan National Army (LNA) he leads. As of the middle of last week, Libya was producing only about 100,000-150,000 bpd of crude oil, oil minister Mohammed Aoun said. However, a western diplomat told the Financial Times that production was actually around 700,000 bpd, and while it fluctuates down by 30-40 percent these days, its not as low as the minister claims. We are aware of the oil ministry claim that Libyan oil production dropped to 100,000 barrels per day, a western diplomat told FT. However, we believe that to be inaccurate; actual production is significantly higher. The lack of official communication from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) about port and oilfield closures and blockades in recent days adds to the confusion about how much oil Libya really pumps. Whatever the actual figure is, the oil market shouldnt rely on a stable 1.2-million-bpd production from Libya this year. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: While Russia is sending lots more crude to Asia, it is unlikely that the Asian market can absorb all 4 million barrels that were going to Europe. Chinese imports of Russian crude surged by 55 percent in May as the worlds biggest importer of oil took advantage of major discounts. China imported a record volume of Russian crude in May, with arrivals surging by 55 percent to nearly 2 million barrels per day (bpd). This has made Russia the top oil supplier to the world's leading crude importerputting it ahead of Saudi Arabia for the first time in a year and a half. A record volume of cheap Russian oil, which sells at steep discounts to crude from other countries, made its way to Chinese refiners last month, according to figures from China's General Administration of Customs cited by Reuters. China imported 1.98 million bpd of Russian crude oil in May, up by 55 percent from May last year and up from 1.59 million bpd of Russian oil imported in April 2022, the data showed. The high purchases of Russian oil outstripped supply from Saudi Arabia, Russia's partner in the OPEC+ deal. Chinese imports of Saudi crude averaged 1.84 million bpd in May, up by 9 percent compared to May 2021, but down from 2.17 million bpd imported in April, according to the data cited by Reuters. Thanks to the increased shipments of cheap crude to China, Russia became the top supplier to the world's biggest oil importer for the first time in 19 months, per Reuters estimates. Related: Gazprom Neft CEO: Russia Already Exports Half Of Its Oil To Asia Russia has been increasingly selling its crude to China and India after Western buyers shun Russian oil and the EURussia's top oil customer before the war in Ukraineprepares to launch a phased-out embargo on seaborne imports from Russia by the end of the year. Russia is also estimated to have overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India's second-largest supplier of crude oil in May. The average daily rate of Russian oil exports to India stood at 819,000 barrels last month, compared with 277,000 bpd in April. Half of Russia's crude is headed east to Asia. This compares to 75 percent of Russia's oil exports which were being shipped to Europe earlier this year, Alexander Dyukov, chief executive of Gazprom Neft, said last week. Still, analysts doubt that the Asian market can absorb all 4 million bpd of oil that Russia was sending to Europe before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By Tsventana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Biden administration is considering a temporary lifting of the federal gas tax as a tool to reduce prices at the pump, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said this weekend in an interview with CNN. "The President is going to use all his authorities to do what he can to increase supply [of oil,]" the Energy Secretary told CNN, adding, in response to a question on why Biden doesn't lift the national gas tax, that "It is one of the tools." However, Granholm said that for the time being, increasing supply is the number one priority, and direct relief for consumers is also being considered. "Part of the challenging with the gas tax is that it funds the roads," Secretary Granholm said, explaining that revenues from this tax were part of the infrastructure bill that had just passed in Congress, and taking away the tax would interfere with the goals of that infrastructure bill. High retail fuel prices have become a major headache for the Biden administration as they keep breaking records, earlier this month hitting an all-time high of over $5 per gallon across all states. The situation prompted President Biden to slam the refining industry for not producing enough gasoline and diesel. In a letter sent earlier this month, Biden told refiners that "At a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable." He went on to say, "The lack of refining capacity - and resulting unprecedented refinery profit margins - are blunting the impact of the historic actions my Administration has taken to address Vladimir Putin's Price Hike and are driving up costs for consumers." Secretary Granholm, meanwhile, is meeting with refining industry executives this week to "discuss steps companies can take to increase refining capacity and output and reduce gas prices in the near term," per a spokesperson for the Department of Energy. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Following on from the recent signing by Qatar of a declaration of intent on energy cooperation with Germany aimed at becoming its key supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) going forward, the Emirate has now signed separate partnership deals with Frances TotalEnergies and Italys Eni for the US$30 billion North Field (or Dome) Expansion of the worlds biggest LNG project. According to statements from Qatars Energy Minister, Saad al-Kaabi, the French oil and gas supermajor will have a 25 percent stake in the project, with no other company to have a higher stake and the selection process for partners now finalised. The same terms have been announced the Eni partnership deal. TotalEnergies chief executive officer, Patrick Pouyanne, added that the companys 25 percent stake will be for one train (liquefaction and purification facility) of the project. Al-Kaabi confirmed that as Qatar has a unified approach, in which all four trains are considered to be one unit, TotalEnergies 25 percent stake in one virtual train gives it around a 6.25 percent holding in the whole four trains. Overall, the long-awaited North Field Expansion plan includes six LNG trains that are aimed at increasing Qatars liquefaction capacity up from 77 million tonnes per year (mtpy) to 110 mtpy, with the addition of four more trains from 2025, and then to 126 million mtpy with the addition of two further trains by 2027. All things remaining equal, this looks like an eminently achievable objective, given that the supergiant North Field natural gas field, together with the neighbouring 3,700 square kilometre area of Irans South Pars field, comprises by far the largest non-associated natural gas field in the world. By conservatives estimates the entire 9,700 square kilometre site holds at least 1,800 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of non-associated natural gas and at least 50 billion barrels of natural gas condensates. This abundant resource had allowed Qatar for many years to be the number LNG exporter in the world, although it did lose that spot for a time to Australia. Qatars loss of standing had been a product of the moratorium it had imposed in 2005 on the further development of the North Dome site but this was then lifted in the first quarter of 2017. Related: 3 Reasons Goldman Sachs Is Wrong About Lithium That TotalEnergies and Eni were the first two international oil companies chosen for key roles in this key project may not just be a reflection of their undoubted capabilities as oil and gas operations, but may also reflect the onus that Qatar is placing on positioning itself as the go-to emergency gas supplier for Europe, given the energy supply constraints that are likely to arise from its intended ban on Russian energy this year. Not only are both companies very highly regarded and well-favoured oil and gas firms by the European Union (E.U.) but they are also seen as our own firms, particularly TotalEnergies, as a senior energy source in the E.U. exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. Germany is effectively the economic leader of the E.U. but France could be termed the ideological leader of it, having pushed for the Treaty of Paris in 1951, which can be seen as the precursor to the European Economic Community and then the European Union itself, he said. TotalEnergies is seen by some senior members of the E.U. as sometimes fulfilling a role that straddles both economic and political agendas, although this operates on a level distinct from the company itself, he told OilPrice.com. TotalEnergies also put itself in a very advantageous position from both Germanys and Qatars perspectives by announcing early on after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that it would no longer be investing in any new project in Russia. For Qatar, tying up supply deals in Europe in preparation for the loss of at least some Russian oil (and gas) supplies in the future is a sound strategy for ensuring that the political will and financial backing for its North Field Expansion project continues to its completion in 2027. For around five years before these new deals were signed with TotalEnergies and Eni, state-run QatarEnergy had been waiting to finalise various partnership agreements, although it has stated that it could finance the entire project itself if required. Other international oil companies that have been bidding for inclusion in the four trains of the North Field East Expansion and/or the other two trains involved in the second phase, North Field South Expansion project, include ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, according to the E.U. energy source. Qatar sees an even split of buyers for the LNG volumes from the expansion projects, according to al-Kaabi, with Asian buyers expected to make up half the market and buyers in Europe the rest. In this vein, QatarEnergy awarded the engineering procurement and construction contract for the North Field Expansion project to a joint venture between Spains Tecnicas Reunidas and Chinas Wison Group. Related: Iraq Wants To Buy Exxons Stake In Key Oil Field In the shorter-term, the plan is that new LNG supplies from Qatar would come into Germany through existing importation routes augmented by new infrastructure approved by the German Bundestag on 19 May. This includes the deployment of four floating LNG import facilities on its northern coast, and two permanent onshore terminals, which are currently under development, according to the E.U. energy source. These plans will run in parallel with, but are likely to be finished significantly sooner than, plans for Qatar to also make available to Germany sizeable supplies of LNG from the Golden Pass terminal on the Gulf Coast of Texas. QatarEnergy holds a 70 percent stake in the Golden Pass terminal project, with ExxonMobil holding the remainder. The Golden Pass terminals estimated send out capacity will be around 18 million metric tons per year (mtpy) of LNG and the facility is expected to be operational in 2024. This said, there remain doubts over the degree to which Qatars LNG can replace the oil and gas that has historically flowed into the E.U. from Russia. As highlighted by OilPrice.com, last year Germany imported 142 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2021, down 6.4 percent from 2020, an average of around 12 bcm per month (although real month-by-month use would not reflect this arithmetical mean average due to differing seasonal usage). As a guide, according to data from Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS), for the month of December 2021, natural gas coming via pipelines from Russia amounted to 32 percent of Germanys total imports that month, followed by supplies from Norway (20 percent of the total) and the Netherlands (12 percent of the total). Using this December percentage gives a figure for the entire year of just over 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas being imported by Germany from Russia, which equates to just under 33 million metric tons of LNG, or just over 40 million tons of oil equivalent. The 33 million metric tons of LNG for the year for Germany alone from Russia compares to the entire Golden Pass figure over the year of 18 million metric tons per year of LNG. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Ecuador's state-owned oil company Petroecuador declared force majeure across exploration, production, and transportation operations amid escalating protests against the government. This means that exports of oil from the Andean country will be halted, as protesters entered oil fields, Reuters reported, citing a statement by Petroecuador. The protests by indigenous peoples in Ecuador against the economic policies of the government of Guillermo Lasso, which have recently included fuel price hikes, prompted the president to declare a state of emergency across three provinces. This, however, did not stop the protests, as people demanded cheaper fuel and food price controls, Al Jazeera reported. The state of emergency was motivated by the high degree of violence erupting among protesters in the three provinces where it was declared, with President Lasso saying, "I called for dialogue and the answer was more violence, there is no intention to find solutions." In addition to the economic demands of the protesters, they also want a suspension of new mining and oil projects, Reuters reported. As a result of these protests, Petroecuador said it had lost some 6,975 barrels of crude and has had to suspend some drilling operations. Ecuador has proven reserves of some 8.273 billion barrels of crude oil but is producing only about 400,000 bpd. Petroecuador, however, has the ambition to double this over the next five years and is looking for private sector investments of up to $12 billion to do it. "In order to complete these projects within the planned deadlines, private capital and adequate regulations to provide legal certainty to those keen to invest in the hydrocarbon sector will be needed," the state company said earlier this year as quoted by Reuters. "There are approximately 45 billion barrels of oil identified and only 14% is being produced, a figure that shows resources are not used properly," said the chief executive of the company separately. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The EU's top diplomat has accused Russia of committing "a real war crime" by blocking grain exports from Ukraine. "One cannot imagine that millions of tons of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger. This is a real war crime," Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said at the start of a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers on June 20 in Luxembourg. The ministers are scheduled to discuss ways to free millions of tons of grain stuck in Ukraine due to a blockade of its Black Sea ports by Russian forces. Since Russia launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine and blocked its ports, the country's grain shipments have stalled, leaving more than 20 million tons of grain trapped in silos. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Western accusations that Moscow is responsible for a sharp rise in global grain prices due to its naval blockade of the ports. He claimed last week that Russia was ready to guarantee the transit of ships exporting Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea and that Ukraine had alternative land routes, something Western experts say is not feasible. Moscow has previously demanded that economic sanctions on it be lifted in exchange for allowing grain exports. Borrell said that Russia's actions, and not Western sanctions, were to blame for the worsening global food crisis as the EU works to defuse the Kremlin's counternarrative. "I want to insist that it's not the European sanctions [that are] creating this crisis. Our sanctions don't target food, don't target fertilizers," Borrell said. International grain prices have soared amid the standoff, and key importers in the Middle East and Africa are facing supply shortfalls. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Europes refineries took in an increasing amount of crude oil last week, tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg has shown. Europes refineries took in 1.84 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil last weekthe third increase in the amount of Russian crude for the refineries in as many weeks. The oil flows from Russia to Europe, including to Turkey, are now the highest theyve been in nearly two months. The increases mainly came from Russias Litasco SAthe trading arm of Lukoiland Turkey. Lukoil boasts three refineries in Europein Italy, Romania, and Bulgariaand they continue to step up their purchases of Russian crude oil. While the rest of Europe may not be increasing its imports of Russian crude oilthe decreases have definitely slowed, the Bloomberg analysis revealed. The EU agreed to embargo 90% of all of its oil imports from Russia by the end of the yearbut perhaps the most damaging aspect of the European Unions attempt to hit Russia where it hurtsthrough its oil revenuescomes in the form of an insurance ban. Under the banwhich the UK also signed onto--EU operators will not be allowed to insure or finance the marine transportation of Russian crude oil to other countries. This would cripple Russias ability to export crude oil anywhere in the world, according to analysts. Russia, however, said it would provide state assurance under Russias trade agreement with other countries, insulating itself from any ban that the EU and UK could cook up. However, most of the worlds ports do not allow tankers to dock unless they carry full-coverage insurance. Russia continues to ship large amounts of Russian crude to China and India as well, with overall Russian revenues from export duty rising 6% last week. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Netherlands will ease its current restrictions on coal-fired power plants, a government source told Reuters on Monday. An official announcement is expected later today, according to Reuters. The news comes as Germany looks to lift restrictions on coal-fired power as well as some in the European Union try to conserve natural gas. The Netherlands currently caps its coal-fired power plant production at just 35% of capacity as it looks to transition away from the dirty fossil fuel and into cleaner energy. The government is looking to phase out its last four coal-fired power plants by 2030a step that the Netherlands The Netherlands total coal-fired power capacity stood at 3.31 GW in 2020, and was on track to fall to 3.18 GW in 2025 with two plants set to close, in hopes of completely phasing out coal-fired power by 2030 when the final three plants were set to shutter. In fact, the Netherlands passed a law in 2019 that banned the use of coal power generation by 2030. Those ambitious coal phase-out plans met with harsh resistance from utilities RWE and Uniper, who invoked in 2021 the Energy Charter Treaty to claim compensation from the governmenta treaty that protects fossil fuel infrastructure investments in the UE, Great Britain, and Switzerland. The Netherlands relies on Russia for roughly 15% of its gag from Russiaa dependence that is now in serious jeopardy, with Russia stopping the flow of gas already to Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, and reduced flows to others. In May, Russias Gazprom had stopped the flow of gas to Dutch gas trader GasTerra and Denmarks Orsted after they refused to go along with Gazproms payment demands in rubles. GasTerra buys and trades on behalf of the Dutch government. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Ukrainian forces attacked on Monday offshore oil and gas drilling platforms in the Black Sea, the Russia-installed head of Crimea said. Gas production is temporarily halted from the platforms, but there are no disaster-like consequences, Olga Kovitidi, a senator representing Crimea in Russias upper house of parliament, told Russian news agency Interfax. According to a post on Telegram by Sergei Askyonov, who was appointed as head of the peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Ukrainian forces attacked drilling platforms of the company Chernomorneftegaz in the Black Sea. Askyonov said he was in contact with the Russian ministry of defense and with the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor of the KGB. Crimea-based oil and gas exploration company Chernomorneftegaz, which operates in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was seized by Russia-backed officials in Crimea from Ukraines state gas firm Naftogaz after the Russian annexation of Crimea back in 2014. Chernomorneftegaz has been under U.S. and EU sanctions since 2014. Five people, including three injured, have been rescued after todays attack on the platform, the Russia-installed official of Crimea said. A search and rescue operation is ongoing, he added. At the time of the attack, there were 109 people on the three drilling rigs in the Black Sea, Askyonov told Russian state TV. In an update on the attack, he said that 21 people were evacuated, five were injured, and search operations were being carried out for the rest. Russian lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet said that Russia would respond with retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian decision-making centers, The Moscow Times reports. The Ukrainian military declined to comment on the reports of the attack on drilling platforms, Reuters reported, noting that it could not immediately verify those reports. Meanwhile, the fight over the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine intensifies, with Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar telling the Associated Press that the Kremlin had ordered the Russian military to overrun the entire Luhansk region by next Sunday. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is set to testify Tuesday at the House Jan. 6 committee about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to "find 11,780 votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Bidens election victory Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizonas state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be the key witnesses when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection resumes on Tuesday. The focus will be on how the former president and his allies vigorously pressured officials in key battleground states with schemes to reject ballots or entire state tallies to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, the panel will underscore how Trump knew his unrelenting pressure campaign could potentially cause violence against state and local officials and their families but pursued it anyway, according to a select committee aide. We will show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldnt go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of the Democratic members of the committee, told CNN on Sunday. The hearing, the fourth by the panel this month, is the latest effort to delve into Trump's unprecedented attempt to remain in power, a sprawling scheme that the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee has likened to an attempted coup." The committee will review how Trump leaned on Raffensperger to invalidate ballots that voters had cast for Biden. And then he tapped state legislators in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other disputed states to reject the election results from their own voters. While the committee cannot charge Trump with any crimes, the Justice Department is watching the panels work closely. Trumps actions in Georgia are also the subject of a grand jury investigation, with the district attorney expected to announce findings this year. Raffensperger, Georgia's top election official, rebuffed Trump's request that he find enough votes to overturn Bidens win in the state a request caught on tape during a phone call days before the Jan. 6 attack. During the call, Trump repeatedly cited disproven claims of fraud and raised the prospect of a criminal offense if Georgia officials did not change the vote count. The state had counted its votes three times before certifying Bidens win by a 11,779 margin. Sterling, Raffensperger's chief operating officer, became a notable figure in Georgias long post-election counting, and recounting, of the presidential ballots, with his regular updates often broadcast live to a divided nation. At one point, the mild-spoken Republican implored Americans to tone down the heated rhetoric. Death threats, physical threats, intimidation its too much, its not right, said Sterling, a Republican. Bowers is expected to discuss the pressure he faced to overturn Arizona's results requests from Trump advisers the Republican state leader on Monday called juvenile. In an interview with The Associated Press after arriving in Washington ahead of the hearing, Bowers said he is expected to be asked about a call with Trump during which lawyer Rudy Giuliani floated an idea to replace Arizona's electors with those who would vote for Trump. Bowers also revealed a second phone call with Trump in December 2020 that he said was mainly small talk, although Trump also referenced their first conversation. Also testifying Tuesday is Wandrea Shay Moss, one of two Georgia election workers who filed a defamation lawsuit in December 2020 against a conservative website. Moss claimed One America News Network falsely spread allegations that she and her mother engaged in ballot fraud during the election. The lawsuit, which was settled in April, also names Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as a vocal proponent of the baseless claim, which the mother and daughter say led to intense harassment, both in-person and online. The select committee also plans Tuesday to untangle the elaborate fake electors scheme that was aimed at halting Biden's election win. The plan saw fake electors in seven battlegrounds Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico sign certificates falsely stating that Trump, not Biden, had won their states. Conservative law professor John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump, pushed the fake electors in the weeks after the election. Trump and Eastman convened hundreds of electors on a call on Jan. 2, 2021, encouraging them to send alternative electors from their states where Trumps team was claiming fraud. The fake electoral certificates were produced and mailed to the National Archives and Congress. But the effort failed in the end, as Vice President Mike Pence refused Trumps repeated demands that he halt the certification of Bidens win on Jan. 6, 2021 a power he did not possess in his purely ceremonial role. The committee says it will also show Tuesday that it has gathered enough evidence through its more than 1,000 interviews and tens of thousands of documents to connect the varying efforts to overturn the election directly to Trump. At least 20 people in connection with the fake electors scheme were subpoenaed by the House panel, including former Trump campaign members, state party officials and state lawmakers. We will show during a hearing what the presidents role was in trying to get states to name alternate slates of electors, how that scheme depended initially on hopes that the legislatures would reconvene and bless it, Schiff said. Schiff told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that the hearing will also dig into the intimate role former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had in the plot to pressure Georgia state legislators and elections officials. The public testimony from Raffensperger comes weeks after he appeared before a special grand jury in Georgia, which is investigating whether Trump and others illegally tried to meddle in the states 2020 election. In retaliation for Raffensperger's refusal to support his election lies, Trump recruited a primary challenger in an effort to remove him from office. But Raffensperger narrowly held back the threat in last months primary, leaving him positioned to compete against a Democrat in the general election. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Starting Monday, a Midwest aviation services company will make its foray into Nebraska by expanding to Omahas Eppley Airfield. The highlight of Revv Aviations expansion is a flight school that will be paired with Revvs existing flight school at Council Bluffs Municipal Airport. The company is headquartered in Aurora, Illinois. Revvs Eppley flight school will be the second one at Nebraskas largest airport, joining one operated by Nebraska Flight Center. Revv is leasing offices at the TAC Air fixed-base operator at Eppley. Chief flight instructor Jerome Howard said Wednesday that pilots who are well into their training with Revv will be able to gain experience with Eppleys professional structures including coordinating with air traffic controllers on flights. The majority of students who get into flight training want to go into professional aviation, Howard said. Operating at an airport such as Eppley will give them that experience. Revvs expansion also deepens the companys relationship to Omaha. The company, which recently rebranded to its current name, has partnered for a number of years with the University of Nebraska at Omahas Aviation Institute to train students. Revv also trains pilots who arent going through a university program. Pilots who train through a university and earn a degree must fly for at least 1,000 hours in order to become fully certified and thus eligible to fly for airlines. Revvs expansion into Eppley also means the shifting of instruction of multi-engine aircraft to Eppley. The majority of Revvs instruction, including on single-engine aircraft, will stay at the Council Bluffs airport. Revvs aircrafts that are used for training include the single-engine Cessna 172 and the twin-engine Piper Seminoles. Its not like were moving the whole operation or anything, Howard said. The aircraft are still going to be based here at Council Bluffs. Howard acknowledged the new flight school should help slightly alleviate the pilot shortage. He said, however, that is only a secondary objective given that the shortage is a continuous cycle that sees major airlines pulling from regional airlines and regional airlines subsequently filling those gaps down the chain. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an average of 14,500 openings for airline and commercial pilots each year this decade mainly due to retirements and pilots who leave for other occupations. Revvs expansion to Eppley ties into the formers desire to train students from diverse backgrounds. Revv offers internships and scholarships for students. We want to get as many people, especially young people, into aviation. We want diversity. We want more female pilots and more female mechanics, marketing director Rod Kelly said, adding that Revv is also focusing on attracting people from underserved communities into the aviation industry. Howard echoed that. If you want to come out and learn how to fly, no matter walk of life you come from and no matter where you come from, aviation is something for everybody, Howard said. <&rule> The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. As the World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency, some experts say WHOs decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic. Many scientists also doubt any declaration would help to curb the epidemic, since the developed countries recording the most recent cases are already moving to shut it down. Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa. To date, no deaths have been seen outside Africa. The WHO said Thursday it did not expect to announce any decisions by its emergency committee before Friday. The number of COVID-19 cases in Nebraska fell 7% last week, ending a nine-week stretch of rising case numbers. The state recorded 2,998 new virus cases for the week ending Friday, compared to 3,240 the week before, according to figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases fell in more than two-thirds of the states and were down 12% nationally. Nebraskas case levels also remain relatively low for the nation, about 20% below the U.S. rate. Cases continue to explode in neighboring Wyoming, which last week had both the nations highest case growth and highest case rate. Iowa is among the states that saw increasing cases, though its per-capita case rate remains among the lowest in the country. Meanwhile, some who have long avoided the virus recently have tested positive. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and first lady Susanne Shore tested positive for COVID last week and reportedly were experiencing mild symptoms. Ricketts has been vaccinated and received a booster shot, according to his spokeswoman. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leader of the U.S. governments COVID pandemic response effort, also tested positive for the coronavirus last week. Fauci, 81, has been vaccinated and twice boosted and likewise was reporting mild symptoms. Dr. James Lawler, an executive director of the University of Nebraska Medical Centers Global Center for Health Security, said there likely are a number of reasons that the virus is catching people who so far have avoided it. One obvious reason, he said, is that there is more of the virus circulating than is being picked up on officially reported tests. Many people infected with COVID arent getting tested for it, and many of those who do test are using at-home antigen tests that arent routinely reported or included in official counts. We have a much cloudier view into whats really happening in overall community numbers, Lawler said. Its probably true that infection rates in communities are quite a bit higher than what the official numbers would lead you to believe. In addition, he said, the versions of the virus now circulating BA.2.12.1, which last week made up an estimated 64% of reported cases nationally, and the newer BA.4 and BA.5 are much more transmissible than previous strains. That goes for the original Wuhan strain and even the BA.1 version of omicron. In addition, many people now are months out from their last dose of vaccine or their last booster. We know with these vaccines, Lawler said, immunity wanes over time, especially with some of these newer variants. Immunity induced by COVID-19 infections also wanes over time, he said. Some people who contracted the delta or BA.1 strains now are getting the newer strains. During the week ending June 6, the Douglas County Health Department reported 772 initial COVID infections and 126 reinfections. Those are defined as a second positive test more than 90 days after a prior positive test at any time after Sept. 1. The Health Department has tallied a total of 5,816 reinfections among county residents. At the same time, the vaccines continue to provide significant protection against serious illness and death. In December, state health officials reported that Nebraskans who were fully vaccinated but not boosted were 11 times less likely than those who had not been vaccinated to require hospital care. Those who had been vaccinated and boosted were 46 times less likely to be hospitalized than those who hadnt gotten any shots. In Douglas County, some 39,017, or 10.3%, of fully vaccinated residents ages 5 and older had reported a breakthrough infection as of June 6. The percentage who died of COVID-19 was .045%. Additionally, Lawler said, people are taking fewer precautions against the virus than they were six months or a year ago. Fewer people are masking indoors. In such spaces, even a masked person has a greater risk of catching COVID. Nebraska COVID-19 hospitalizations also were down slightly last week, with a daily average of 124 hospitalized patients, down from 129 the previous week. Nebraska recorded seven new COVID deaths, bringing the toll of confirmed or probable deaths for the pandemic to 4,330. Total reported cases are inching close to half a million, topping 494,000. Build your health & fitness knowledge Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Julie Anderson Julie Anderson is a medical reporter for The World-Herald. She covers health care and health care trends and developments, including hospitals, research and treatments. Follow her on Twitter @JulieAnderson41. Phone: 402-444-1066. Follow Julie Anderson Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Omaha Public Library wants to help readers find new books or at least books new to them. Every month in this space, OPL employees will recommend reading based on different writing genres, themes or styles. Today is Juneteenth a celebration to recognize the end of slavery and honor the culture and achievements of African Americans. OPL staff selected some titles to recognize this federal holiday. Find these titles and more at one of OPLs locations or omahalibrary.org. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss: This is the true story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. Born to an enslaved woman from what is now Haiti and her master; Dumas traveled to Paris, rose in the ranks of the French Army, and became a real-life hero of the French Revolution before he was erased from history. If his name seems familiar, it is because he was father to famous author (and biggest fan) Alexandre Dumas who penned The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo among countless other stories that were inspired by his fathers adventures. Chris Cahill, clerk at Millard Library Black Boy by Richard Wright: Wrights exposition of what he viewed as the definitive Black experience in the United States is as fresh today as it was in 1945. This brave memoir was denounced by segregationists at the time of its publication, and it even caused consternation among contemporary reformers. Wright was raised in rural Mississippi. Colby Jenkins, senior clerk at W. Dale Clark Library Mrs. Lincolns Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini: This historical novel is based on the relationship between Elizabeth Keckley, a freed slave who was a modiste, and Mary Todd Lincoln. The story spans the years 1860 to 1901 and focuses on life in the White House during the Civil War and the aftermath of Lincolns assassination. Events are shared through Elizabeths eyes, and highlight that nothing was simple about American politics in the 19th century and slaves relationships to their former masters. Theresa Jehlik, strategy and business intelligence manager at Omaha Public Library Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: Gyasi explores slavery through an African lens when two half-sisters born in Ghana experience very different fates. Effia is married off to an Englishman who is involved in slave trade, while Esi is shipped to America as a slave. The lives of their descendants, in both Ghana and the U.S., are shared against a background of social, political and cultural forces that they cant control. This saga is a haunting reminder that decisions can echo across multiple generations and hundreds of years. Jehlik Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy: Based on a true historical figure, Tademy tells the story of Cow Tom, an African American slave who belonged to Yargee, a Creek Indian chief. Blessed with a gift for languages, Cow Tom was able to master several tribal languages, as well as English. Spanning the years 1830 through 1910, the stories of both Cow Tom and his granddaughter Rose bring to light a hidden, often dark, corner of American history, as well as a sweeping portrayal of the resilience and courage of people who often faced impossible odds. Jehlik Seeds of America Trilogy: Chains; Forge; Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson: This young adult series is set during the Revolutionary War a conflict that offered freedom to any Black male who fought for the Continental Army. Lynn Sullivan, library specialist at W. Dale Clark Library SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) After just seven months in office, and now reduced to heading a minority government, Bulgarias liberal Prime Minister Kiril Petkov finds himself between a rock and a hard place over European Union enlargement amid the war in Ukraine. Russias invasion spurred the EU to speed up its expansion drive in the Western Balkans, where Moscow still wields considerable influence. But EU and NATO member Bulgaria is blocking part of the process in the case of neighboring North Macedonia one of the six EU hopefuls in the region due to a dispute over history and cultural identity. Prime Minister Petkov, 42, has pledged to seek a solution to the decade-long gridlock, which, indirectly, would also unsnarl Albanias accession bid. But Bulgaria says its neighbor has not made enough concessions, and chances of a breakthrough seem slim. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Friday urged the cabinet to disperse any suspicion that the country might take the deeply unpopular step of abandoning its veto on North Macedonias EU accession. Speaking to reporters in Sofia, Radev called on Petkov to defend the national interest at next weeks European Council. He warned Petkov whos already under fire over the economy and faces a no-confidence vote in parliament next week that any chicanery or attempt to replace (the Bulgarian veto) will have severe consequences. The 27-nation bloc has invited the heads of government of six Western Balkan countries, including North Macedonia, to the EU leaders meeting in Brussels on June 23. In preparation, the six leaders gathered Friday at the lakeside resort of Ohrid, in North Macedonia, most arguing that the war in Ukraine had added greater urgency to their accession bids. Once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia will return to its old ways, fighting democracies in the West with fake news and propaganda, and pressing us not to seek EU and NATO membership, North Macedonias President Stevo Pendarovski said. We have been a candidate for (EU) membership for 17 years. This unfinished project has taken a toll on us. Also seeking EU membership for his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the EU hopefuls to halt trade with Russia. You should not give money to those who seek your destruction, Zelenskyy said, speaking by video link. Back in Bulgaria, Prime Minister Petkov said his government had decided to submit all issues linked to the neighboring countrys EU membership to Parliament. The North Macedonia topic is used as a decoy, Petkov said. his From here on now, no politician can say that the government is capable of taking unilateral actions. The decision is parliaments. Sofia insists that if it is to soften its stance the EU must guarantee that North Macedonia implements three key Bulgarian demands: changes its constitution to recognize the existence of an ethnic Bulgarian minority, drops hate speech against Bulgaria and moves to settling disputes over the history of the two countries. Bulgaria has seen a spike in pro-Russian and anti-Western propaganda, and analysts say a move by Petkov to lift the veto on North Macedonia could elevate pro-Moscow parties to power and change the countrys orientation. On the other hand, maintaining the veto could also strengthen Russias grip on the Balkans by keeping North Macedonia away from the EU. Parvan Simeonov, from the Gallup International Balkan agency, said some 70% of Bulgarians oppose lifting the veto and warned that such a move would bring brutal Putinism in Bulgaria. Last week, one of the four parties in Petkovs governing coalition walked out, citing disagreements over fiscal policy and North Macedonia. That left Petkov in charge of a minority government, which next week faces a vote of no-confidence in parliament over the economy, brought by the countrys main opposition party. ___ Testorides reported from Skopje, North Macedonia. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. China tightens regulation of business activities of officials' relatives Xinhua) 08:29, June 20, 2022 BEIJING - The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has issued a regulation on the business activities of relatives of officials. The regulation offers clear and specific provisions on the applicable objects and circumstances, working measures and disciplinary requirements concerning officials' spouses, children and their spouses who run business or enterprises. It sets different prohibitions on business activities of relatives of officials at different levels and sectors. The regulations are stricter for those at higher levels. Officials are required to report business activities of their relatives every year. False reporting will lead to severe punishment, according to the regulation. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) The European Unions executive arm recommended putting Ukraine on a path to membership Friday, a symbolic boost for a country fending off a Russian onslaught that is killing civilians, flattening cities and threatening its very survival. In another show of Western support, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv to offer continued aid and military training. The European allies' latest embrace of Ukraine marked another setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched his war nearly four months ago, hoping to pull his ex-Soviet neighbor away from the West and back into Russias sphere of influence. At Russias showpiece economic forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Moscow has nothing against Ukraine joining the EU, because it isn't a military organization, a political organization like NATO. He also reprised his usual defense of the war, alleging it was necessary to protect people in parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed rebels and to ensure Russias own security. Johnsons trip to Kyiv followed one Thursday by the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Romania, who pledged to support Ukraine without asking it to make any territorial concessions to Russia. We are with you to give you the strategic endurance that you will need, Johnson said on his second visit to the country since the Feb. 24 start of the war. Although he did not detail the aid, he said Britain would lead a program that could train up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers every 120 days in an unspecified location outside the country. The training program could change the equation of this war, he said. Ukraine has been taking heavy casualties in fighting in the east. I completely understand why you and your people can make no compromise with Putin because if Ukraine is suffering, if the Ukrainian troops are suffering, then I have to tell you that all the evidence is that Putins troops are under acute pressure themselves and they are taking heavy casualties," he said. "Their expenditure of munitions, of shells and other weaponry, is colossal. Since his April visit, "the Ukrainian grit, determination and resilience is stronger than ever, and I know that unbreakable resolve will long outlive the vain ambitions of President Putin, he said. Johnson said the U.K. will work to intensify the sanctions on Russia. He praised the resilience of Ukrainians and how "life is coming back to the streets of Kyiv, but noted that only a couple of hours away, a barbaric assault continues. Towns and villages are being reduced to rubble. Zelenskyy gave Johnson a tour of a monastery where they lit candles and the British leader received an icon. They placed flowers at an outdoor memorial wall displaying photos of soldiers who fell in fighting in 2014, viewed an exhibit of damaged, rusting Russian weapons, and greeted cheering crowds. We have a common view of the movement toward Ukraines victory. Im grateful for the powerful support! Zelenskyy said on Telegram. The possibility of membership in the EU, created to safeguard peace on the continent and serve as a model for the rule of law and prosperity, fulfills a wish of Zelenskyy and his Western-looking citizens. The European Commission's recommendation that Ukraine become a candidate for membership will be discussed by leaders of the 27-nation bloc next week in Brussels. The war has increased pressure on EU governments to fast-track Ukraines candidacy, but the process is expected to take years, and EU members remain divided over how quickly and fully to welcome new members. Political and military support from Western countries has been key to Ukraine's surprising success against larger and better-equipped Russian forces. Zelenskyy has also clamored for additional immediate support in the form of more and better weapons to turn the tide in the industrial east, known as the Donbas. In St. Petersburg, Putin decried the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and its allies as insane and, I would say, reckless. The calculation was understandable: to impudently, with a swoop, crush the Russian economy by destroying business chains, forcing the withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market, freezing domestic assets, hitting industry, finance, and the peoples standard of living. It didnt work, he said. Russia has pressed its offensive in the east, leaving desperate residents worried about their future. We are old people, we do not have a place to go. Where will I go? asked Vira Miedientseva, an elderly resident grappling with the aftermath of an attack Thursday in Lysychansk, just across the river from Sievierodonetsk, where a key battle is raging. In other developments Friday: Zelenskyy announced that Russia has freed Yuliia Paievska, a celebrated Ukrainian medic who used a body camera to record her work in Mariupol while the port city was under Russian siege. Paievska, known in Ukraine as Taira, got the clips to an Associated Press team on March 15, the day before she was captured by Russian troops. Zelenskyy said Paievska is already home. He said Ukraine will continue working to free all those held by the Russians. Russian state television showed video of two U.S. military veterans who went missing last week while fighting in Ukraine, confirming that the men were taken captive and raising fears about their fate. Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh, both from Alabama, were believed to be the first Americans captured by Russian forces since the war began. The Ukrainian navy claimed it destroyed a Russian boat carrying air defense systems to a strategic island in the Black Sea. The navy said on social media that the Vasily Bekh was used to transport ammunition, weapons and personnel to Snake Island, which is vital for protecting sea lanes out of the key port of Odesa. A group of volunteers called the IT Army of Ukraine said it carried out a cyberattack that delayed Putin's St. Petersburg speech. The group was convened by Ukraine after the invasion to launch cyberattacks against Russian targets. It said it carried out a distributed denial-of-service attack, which leverages networks of zombie computers to flood websites with junk traffic, rendering them unreachable. The wars disruption to exports of grain and other crops from Ukraine that feed the world has captured global attention and sent bread prices soaring across the world. But the production of other, more niche foodstuffs has also been impacted, including for a Ukrainian snail farmer. The organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest said it will start talks with the BBC on possibly holding next years event in the U.K. after concluding it cant be held in Ukraine. The Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 contest, buoying Ukrainian spirits. The event is traditionally staged by the previous years winner. Russian forces have switched their focus to the Donbas after a series of setbacks early in the war, including the failure to seize Ukraine's capital. The Ukrainian military said Moscow's troops kept up relentless attacks on Sloviansk and Sievierodonetsk, the focus of recent fighting. The military claimed Ukrainian forces pushed Russian fighters out of the village of Bohorodychne, north of Sloviansk. Russia and its allies say they have taken about half of Donetsk and nearly all of Luhansk the two regions that make up the Donbas. Sievierodonetsk and surrounding villages are in the last pocket of Luhansk region still in Ukrainian hands. The Russians are pouring fire on the city," said Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai. Its getting harder and harder for us to fight in Sievierodonetsk, because the Russians outnumber us in artillery and manpower, and its very difficult for us to resist this barrage of fire." The constant shelling made it impossible for 568 people, including 38 children, sheltering in the Azot chemical plant in the city to escape, he said. Russian forces have destroyed all three bridges leading from the city, but Haidai said it still had not been fully blocked off. Moscow's envoy for Russia-backed separatists who control much of the territory around Sievierodonetsk said an evacuation from the Azot plant still could take place. Rodion Miroshnik of the self-proclaimed Luhansks Peoples Republic said on social media that Russian troops and separatists are ready to consider options for opening a humanitarian corridor for the exit of civilians, but subject to strict adherence to the cease-fire. Earlier this week, Miroshnik accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt civilian evacuations from Azot, a claim vigorously denied by Ukrainian officials. Lukatsky reported from Lysychansk, Ukraine. Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. BURLINGTON, Vt.. (AP) Ranked choice voting will be used again in Vermont's largest city but this time only for city council elections. The Burlington city council on Monday passed an ordinance that officially lays out the details of the instant runoff retabulation system, the Burlington Free Press reported. Voters in March will rank their candidate choices and then the first-choice votes will be tallied. If no candidate wins the majority more than 50% of votes the candidate with the fewest number of first-choice votes is removed. The votes of the people who ranked that candidate first will then be moved to their second choice and another tally will be taken. If still no candidate wins, the process is repeated until someone secures a majority. The Legislature approved the city charter change and Gov. Phil Scott allowed it take effect without his signature. In a letter to lawmakers, he said he was allowing it because ranked choice voting will be limited to Burlington City Council elections. The Republican governor noted that when all city elections employed ranked choice voting, from 2005 to 2010, the system yielded flawed results," the newspaper reported. Supporters of ranked choice voting say the system eliminates vote-splitting when more than two candidates run, gives voters more selection and backs the notion that officials should earn a majority to be elected. More than two-thirds of Burlington voters approved the charter change. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday signed a bill that creates a new type of affidavit ballot" for first-time voters in New Hampshire who don't have required documents. Under current law, such voters fill out affidavits promising to provide documentation within 10 days, and those who dont can be investigated and charged with fraud. But the votes themselves remain valid. Under the new law, which takes effect in 2023, ballots cast by voters who fail to provide proof of their identities and residency seven days after an election would be thrown out. Municipalities would report to the secretary of state total votes, minus the unqualified affidavit ballot votes, no later than 14 days after an election. House Democratic Leader David Cote of Nashua said the measure jeopardizes the rights of overseas voters, particularly those serving in the armed forces. He said that Sununu, a Republican, should have sought a state supreme court opinion on its constitutionality. Sununu said that Secretary of State David Scanlan has given me his full assurances that this bill does not affect the states ability to get military ballots out on time, and that our processes will work without delay or impediments with its passage." Bill sponsor Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, said he's heard from constituents who say they've stopped voting in the face of increased fraud. State election officials say there's no evidence of widespread fraud. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Omaha police have arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with a Saturday morning shooting that injured three people near an Old Market bar. Raushod Johnson was arrested later Saturday on a felony warrant related to the shooting. He was charged in the warrant with three counts of felony assault and use of a weapon (gun) to commit a felony. Officers initially responded to a report of gunshots at Gate 10, 414 S. 10th St., just before 1 a.m., Omaha police said. Officers learned that a vehicle reportedly involved in the shooting was seen leaving the area. Police pursued the vehicle to 42nd and Dodge Streets, where they found two people with gunshot injuries. The two, George Thompson, 31, and Jordan Thompson, 27, were taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening. A third person, Detail Johnson, 28, also went to the Nebraska Medical Center for treatment of a gunshot injury. His injuries also were not considered life-threatening. He said he had been at Gate 10, police said. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A 15-year-old Omaha boy has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with a slaying that occurred just over a year ago. Nowa Kawunda is accused of fatally shooting Timothy Washington III at 2:20 a.m. June 16, 2021. Washington, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene near 39th Street and Ames Avenue. He was already in jail on some other charges from incidents that occurred on the same day, said Brenda Beadle, the chief deputy in the Douglas County Attorneys Office. This (murder) charge is just another part of that night. Kawunda, who was 14 years old at the time of Washingtons slaying, previously was charged with first-degree assault in connection with the shooting of Mack Johnson. Johnson, 37, told police that he was in a vehicle parked near 28th and Spencer Streets when he was shot about 2:30 a.m. early on June 16 last year. Kawunda also has been charged with robbery, two counts of shooting at an occupied dwelling or vehicle and five counts of use of a weapon to commit a felony. A Douglas County judge ordered Kawunda held on $1 million bail. Beadle said Kawunda has filed a motion to have his case transferred to juvenile court. Washington was the second-youngest in a set of six siblings, his older sister, Rayonta Washington, said a few days after his death. Three boys, three girls, just like the Brady Bunch, she said. He was loving and caring, a father, brother, friend, uncle he was everything, but most of all a father. Washington had three children who were ages 2, 8 and 17 at the time of his death. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Despite Western arms, Ukraine is outgunned in the east BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) Despite the heavy influx of weapons from the West, Ukrainian forces are outgunned by the Russians in the battle for the eastern Donbas region, where the fighting is largely being carried out by way of artillery exchanges. While the Russians can keep up heavy, continuous fire for hours at a time, the defenders cant match the enemy in either weapons or ammunition and must use their ammo more judiciously. One problem is that Western defense industries can't turn out weapons fast enough. Another is that the Ukrainians need training on Western-supplied hardware. Nobel sold for Ukrainian kids shatters record at $103.5M NEW YORK (AP) Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov says he was not expecting the medal he was auctioning off to help Ukrainian child refugees sell for the record amount of $103.5 million. Bidding in the auction ended in New York on Monday, which is World Refugee Day. The sale shatters the old $4.76 million record for a Nobel. The identity of the buyer isn't immediately known. Muratov was awarded the medal in October 2021. He helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid a Kremlin clampdown after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden says decision on gas tax holiday may come this week REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) President Joe Biden says hes considering pressing for a holiday on the federal gasoline tax. That could possibly save U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon. Biden told reporters Monday that his decision could come by the end of the week. The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. Taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel help pay for highways. Report: Police in Uvalde had rifles earlier than known UVALDE, Texas (AP) Documents examined by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV show armed police officers stood in a Uvalde elementary school hallway with at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the school, where he killed 21 people, 19 of them children. The outlets' report, which did not indicate the source of the documents, nevertheless intensifies the anguish and questions over why police didn't act sooner to stop the May 24 slaughter in the Robb Elementary School classroom. The outlets reported that gunfire could be heard as much as 29 minutes before officers entered the classroom and killed the gunman. Shots for tots: COVID vaccinations start for little US kids The nations youngest children are getting their chance at vaccines for COVID-19. Shots began Monday at a few locations, though they were expected to ramp up after the Juneteenth federal holiday. The Food and Drug Administration cleared vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer last week and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the final signoff over the weekend. Roughly 18 million youngsters under 5 are eligible. For the little kids, Pfizers vaccine is three shots and Modernas is two shots. Getting some parents on board may be a challenge given disappointing vaccination rates in school-age kids. 'It always wins': North Korea may declare COVID-19 victory SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Only a month after North Korea acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak was sickening its people, the country may be preparing to declare victory. The daily updates from state-controlled media say cases are plummeting. Its propaganda insists North Korea has avoided mass deaths despite desperately poor health care and what outsiders see as a long record of ignoring its peoples suffering. Some experts believe the next step will be a declaration of victory over the virus credited, of course, to Kim Jong Uns strong and clever guidance. A declaration now isn't a foregone conclusion, though. North Korea may seek better timing while using its anti-virus measures to maintain control over its people. Georgia's Raffensperger among witnesses for next 1/6 hearing The House Jan. 6 committee is expected to hear testimony from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to find 11,780 votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Bidens election victory. Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizonas Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be the key witnesses when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection resumes on Tuesday. The focus will be on how the former president and his allies pressured officials in key battleground states with schemes to reject ballots or entire state tallies to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna settle before trial's sequel LOS ANGELES (AP) A settlement agreement has been reached on the eve of a second trial pitting the Kardashian family against former reality TV star Blac Chyna. Jury selection had been set to begin Monday in the trial over Chynas allegations that her former fiance Rob Kardashian maliciously posted nude photos of her in 2017 after their tumultuous breakup. But court documents show the parties told the judge a settlement deal had been struck. A judge had separated Chyna's allegations against Rob Kardashian from her defamation allegations against his mother and sisters, which got their own trial. The Kardashians won that case when jurors found they hadn't done Chyna harm. Crypto investors' hot streak ends as harsh 'winter' descends NEW YORK (AP) The wealth-generating hot streak for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has turned brutally cold. As prices plunge, companies collapse and skepticism soars, fortunes and jobs are disappearing overnight, and investors feverish speculation has been replaced by icy calculation, in what industry leaders are referring to as a crypto winter. On Monday, the price of bitcoin traded at $20,097, more than 70% below its November peak of around $69,000. Experts say the selloff signals growing trepidation on Wall Street and Main Street about the crypto industrys fundamentals, which right now are looking shaky. Lightning bounce back, beat Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Anthony Cirelli, Nicholas Paul and Corey Perry also scored to help the two-time defending champion Lightning bounce back after playing poorly while losing the first two games on the road. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots. Stamkos, Paul, Maroon and Perry scored in the second period, when the Lightning chased Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper while pulling away to trim their series deficit to 2-1. Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for the Avalanche. Game 4 is Wednesday night. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union's executive arm on Friday recommended making Ukraine a candidate for EU membership, a morale booster and a first step on what is expected to be a long road for the war-torn country to join the 27-nation bloc. If Ukrainians were under any illusion that the European Commission's positive assessment would mean fast-track EU membership, their hopes of quickly joining the club were dashed. Starting accession negotiations is further down the line," said Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for the bloc's enlargement. Once conditions are met, then we will have to come back and reflect on it ... This is not for today." The European Commission delivered its proposal to award Ukraine candidate status after an analysis of answers to a detailed questionnaire. The Ukrainian government applied for EU membership days after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective, commission President Ursula von der Leyen said wearing clothes in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag. We want them to live, with us, the European dream. The leaders of the bloc's existing members are scheduled to discuss the recommendation during a summit next week in Brussels. The European Commissions endorsement, while a strong sign of solidarity with Ukraine, is likely to take years or even decades to materialize into EU membership. Its even possible that the candidate status will eventually be revoked if the reforms requested by the bloc to align with EU standards are not put in place. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who had been skeptical about Ukraines membership bid, embraced the proposal. I think the commission has found a good compromise. There is a lot more homework in the field of the economy, but also in the field of the rule of law, in the field of tackling corruption. Rutte said. So this is the first step of many. But the Netherlands has decided with full conviction to follow the commissions advice. Along with Ukraine, the European Commission also recommended giving neighboring Moldova EU candidate status. The commission also reviewed Georgias application but said the Caucasus nation first needs to fulfill a number of conditions. Adding new members requires unanimous approval from all EU member nations. They have expressed differing views on how quickly to add Ukraine to their ranks. Ukraines bid received a boost when the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania visited the country Thursday and vowed to back its candidacy. To be admitted, potential newcomers need to demonstrate that they meet standards on democratic principles and they must absorb about 80,000 pages of rules covering everything from trade and immigration to fertilizers and the rule of law. Before Russias invasion, the Commission repeatedly expressed concern in recent years about corruption in Ukraine and the need for deep political and economic reforms. Yes, Ukraine deserves a European perspective. It should be welcomed as a candidate country, on the understanding that important work remains to be done, von der Leyen said Friday. The entire process is merits-based. It goes by the book and therefore, progress depends entirely on Ukraine. Ukraine currently has an association agreement with the EU, aimed at opening Ukraines markets and bringing it closer to Europe. It includes a far-reaching free trade pact. Von der Leyen said that due to the 2016 agreement, "Ukraine has already implemented roughly 70% of the EU rules, norms and standards. It is taking part in many important EU programs," she continued. "Ukraine is a robust parliamentary democracy. It has a well-functioning public administration that has kept the country running even during this war. Von der Leyen said Kyiv should continue to make progress in the fields of rule of law and fighting corruption. She also cited the need to speed up the selection of high court judges. Expediting Ukraines application by declaring it an official candidate would challenge the EUs normal playbook for adding members. The degree to which Ukraines request for a fast-track accession represents a change in the EUs standard operating procedure is evident from the experiences of other aspiring members. Turkey, for example, applied for membership in 1987, received candidate status in 1999, and had to wait until 2005 to start talks for actual entry. Six Western Balkan countries Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo have been in the EU waiting line for years. At their June 23-24 summit, EU heads of state and government therefore face a delicate balancing act: signaling to Ukraine that the door is ajar while reassuring other aspiring members and some of the blocs own citizens that they arent showing favoritism to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday he was grateful to the Commission's recommendation to put his country and Moldova on the membership path. He called it "the first step on the EU membership path thatll certainly bring our victory closer. Zelenskyy added that he expected a positive result from the EU summit in Brussels. Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade. Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) The two Republican candidates in Alabamas U.S. Senate primary runoff on Tuesday can each boast that at one point they had Donald Trumps endorsement in the race. Trump first backed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in the spring of 2021. That endorsement stood for nearly a year until Trump rescinded it as the conservative firebrand languished in the polls. The former president took his time in issuing a second endorsement, supporting Katie Britt in the race only after she emerged as the top vote-getter in the states May 24 primary. In other races Tuesday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is facing voters amid growing concerns about crime. Runoffs in Georgia will resolve close contests in several congressional races and a secretary of state nomination, while primaries in Virginia will set up competitive congressional contests for the fall. Arkansas is holding primary runoffs for several legislative races. What to watch in Tuesdays primaries: ALABAMA The Senate runoff will decide the GOP nominee for the seat being vacated by 88-year-old Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who announced his retirement in February 2021 after serving six terms. Two months later, Trump announced his endorsement of Brooks, rewarding the six-term congressman who had objected to the certification of the 2020 presidential election and spoke at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. But Trump soured on Brooks as the primary campaign progressed, growing unhappy with his showing in the race and some of his comments urging the party to move on from the former presidents fixation on his 2020 election defeat. He pulled his endorsement last March. Britt, Shelbys former chief of staff and a former leader of a state business group, won the most votes in last months primary, capturing nearly 45% of the ballots compared to Brooks 29%. Britt had needed to earn more than 50% of the vote to win outright and avoid a runoff. Another top candidate, Mike Durant, best known as the helicopter pilot who was held captive in Somalia during the 1993 battle chronicled in the book and film Black Hawk Down, finished in third place and failed to advance to the runoff. Brooks has been backed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both of whom campaigned with him. Britt comes into Tuesdays runoff with a fundraising advantage and a shiny new endorsement from Trump, which came a couple of weeks after the primary. The former president, who has a mixed record of success in backing winning candidates in this years midterm elections, waited to make an endorsement to help stave off the embarrassment of backing a losing candidate in a high-profile race. The winner of the GOP race will face Democrat Will Boyd in November, though Democrats have found limited success in the deep-red state in the last 20 years. GEORGIA A Democratic contest for secretary of state headlines the Tuesday runoffs in Georgia, while Republicans will settle three congressional nominations. State Rep. Bee Nguyen, backed by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, is trying to defeat former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler in the secretary of states race. The winner will face Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the fall. Raffensperger beat back a challenge in his May 24 primary from U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who was endorsed by Trump. Trump made Raffensperger a top target for rebuffing his efforts to find enough votes to overturn Joe Bidens win in the states 2020 presidential election. In congressional runoffs, Vernon Jones, a Trump-backed candidate and former Democrat, is competing against trucking company owner Mike Collins for the Republican nomination for the 10th Congressional District seat east of Atlanta. Collins was endorsed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who also won his primary over a Trump-backed challenger. In the 6th District in Atlantas northern suburbs, emergency room physician Rich McCormick is trying to hold off Trump-backed lawyer Jake Evans. That race has revolved around accusations by each candidate that the other is insufficiently conservative. The Republican winners in the 6th and 10th are heavy favorites in the November election over their Democratic opponents. Republicans also have high hopes of knocking off 30-year Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop in southwest Georgias 2nd District. The GOP is choosing between former Army officer Jeremy Hunt and real estate developer Chris West. VIRGINIA In Virginia, voters will be picking Republican nominees to take on Democratic U.S. House incumbents in two of the most highly competitive districts in the country. In the coastal 2nd District, which includes the states most populous city, Virginia Beach, four military veterans are competing for the GOP nomination. With a big fundraising lead and the backing of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing House Republicans, state Sen. Jen Kiggans is widely seen as the front-runner. The winner will face Democrat Elaine Luria, a retired Naval commander and member of the Jan. 6 committee, in the general election. In central Virginias 7th District, six candidates are jockeying to take on Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer. WASHINGTON, D.C. Bowser, the two-term mayor of Washington, D.C., is trying to fend off challenges from a pair of Council members as the district contends with rising crime rates and homelessness concerns. Bowser has had a tumultuous second term that saw her repeatedly face off against Trump and walk a public tightrope between her own police department and a vocal coalition of activists led by Black Lives Matter. She is campaigning on the need for proven leadership and her history as one of the faces of Washingtons ongoing quest for statehood. Her primary challengers are Robert White and Trayon White, who are not related to each other. Both accuse Bowser of favoring developers as spiraling costs of living drive Black families out of the city and of mishandling public safety issues amid rising rates of violent crime, like a Sunday night shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead and a police officer and at least two other adults wounded. The Democratic primary essentially decides the mayoral race in deeply blue Washington, D.C. Robert White has a history of successful insurgent campaigns, having unseated an entrenched incumbent for an at-large Council seat in 2016. Trayon White openly invokes the spirit of late D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who remains a controversial but beloved figure among many Washingtonians. White was criticized in 2018 for claiming the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty and frequent subject of antisemitic conspiracy, were controlling Washingtons weather conditions. He later said he didnt realize his comment could be construed as antisemitic. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Ashraf Khalil in Washington, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report. Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) One photograph shows a kneeling soldier kissing a child inside a subway station, where Ukraine families shelter from Russian airstrikes. In another, an infant and a woman who appears on the brink of tears look out from a departing train car as a man peers inside, his hand spread across the window in a gesture of goodbye. In an uplifting Fathers Day message Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted 10 photos of parents and children set against the grim backdrop of war, praising fathers who protect and defend the most precious. There are scenes of childbirth, as a man and woman look toward a swaddled baby in what appears to be a hospital room where the spackled walls show scars of fighting. In another, a man lifts a child over a fence toward a woman with outstretched arms on a train platform. Being a father is a great responsibility and a great happiness, Zelenskyy wrote in English text that followed the Ukrainian on Instagram. It is strength, wisdom, motivation to go forward and not to give up." He urged his nation's fighters to endure for the "future of your family, your children, and therefore the whole of Ukraine. His message came as four months of war in Ukraine appear to be straining the morale of troops on both sides, prompting desertions and rebellion against officers orders. NATOs chief warned the fighting could drag on for "years." Combat units from both sides are committed to intense combat in the Donbas and are likely experiencing variable morale," Britain's defense ministry said in its daily assessment of the war. Ukrainian forces have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks, the assessment said, but added that Russian morale highly likely remains especially troubled. It said cases of whole Russian units refusing orders and armed stand-offs between officers and their troops continue to occur. Separately, the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate released what it said were intercepted phone calls in which Russian soldiers complained about front-line conditions, poor equipment, and overall lack of personnel, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War. In an interview published on Sunday in the German weekly Bild am Sonntag, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that nobody knows how long the war could last. We need to be prepared for it to last for years," he said. He also urged allies not to weaken support for Ukraine, even if the costs are high, not only in terms of military aid, but also because of the increase in energy and food goods prices." In his nightly address Sunday, Zelenskyy said the week ahead would be historic and perhaps bring Ukraine closer to membership in the European Union. But that move could portend a more hostile response from Russia, he warned. EU leaders recommended Friday that Ukraine join the bloc, and their proposal was to go to members for discussion this week in Brussels. Zelenskyy called the outcome of those talks one of the most fateful moments for Ukraine since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. I am sure that only a positive decision meets the interests of the whole of Europe, he said. In such a week we should expect greater hostile activity from Russia," he added. "And not only against Ukraine, but also against Europe. We are preparing. In recent days, Gazprom, the Russian gas company, has reduced supplies to two major European clients Germany and Italy. In Italy's case, energy officials are expected to huddle this week about the situation. The head of Italian energy giant ENI said on Saturday that with additional gas purchased from other sources, Italy should make it through the coming winter, but he warned Italians that restrictions affecting gas use might be necessary. Germany will limit the use of gas for electricity production amid concerns about possible shortages caused by a reduction in supplies from Russia, the country's economy minister said on Sunday. Germany has been trying to fill its gas storage facilities to capacity ahead of the cold winter months. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that Germany will try to compensate for the move by increasing the burning of coal, a more polluting fossil fuel. Thats bitter, but its simply necessary in this situation to lower gas usage, he said. Stoltenberg stressed, though, that the costs of food and fuel are nothing compared with those paid daily by the Ukrainians on the front line. Stoltenberg added: What's more, if Russian President Vladimir Putin should reach his objectives in Ukraine, like when he annexed Crimea in 2014, we would have to pay an even greater price. Britain's defense ministry said that both Russia and Ukraine have continued to conduct heavy artillery bombardments on axes to the north, east and south of the Sieverodonetsk pocket, but with little change in the front line. Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said via Telegram on Sunday: It is a very difficult situation in Sievierodonetsk, where the enemy in the middle of the city is conducting round-the-clock aerial reconnaissance with drones, adjusting fire, quickly adjusting to our changes." Russias defense ministry claimed on Sunday that Russian and separatist forces have taken control of Metolkine, a settlement just to the east of Sievierodonetsk. Bakhmut, a city in the Donbas, is 55 kilometers (33 miles) southwest of the twin cities of Lysyhansk and Siervierodonetsk, where fierce military clashes have been raging. Every day, Russian artillery pummels Bakhmut. But Bakhmut's people try to go about their daily lives, including shopping in markets that have opened again in recent weeks. In principle, it can be calm in the morning,'' said one resident, Oleg Drobelnnikov. The shelling starts at about 7 or 8 in the evening." Still, he said, it has been pretty calm in the last 10 days or so. You can buy food at small farmer markets,'' said Drobelnnikov, a teacher. It is not a problem. In principle, educational institutions, like schools or kindergartens, are not working due to the situation. The institutions moved to other regions. There is no work here." Ukraines east has been the main focus of Russias attacks for more than two months. On Saturday, Zelenskyy made a trip south from Kyiv to visit troops and hospital workers in the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions along the Black Sea. He handed out awards to dozens of people at every stop, shaking their hands and thanking them again and again for their service. Zelenskyy, in a recorded address aboard a train back to Kyiv, vowed to defend the countrys south. "We will not give away the south to anyone. We will return everything thats ours and the sea will be Ukrainian and safe. He added: "Russia does not have as many missiles as our people have a desire to live. Zelenskyy also condemned the Russian blockade of Ukraines ports amid weeks of inconclusive negotiations on safe corridors so millions of tons of siloed grain can be shipped out before the approaching new harvest season. In other attacks in the south, Ukraines southern military operational command said Sunday that two people were killed in shelling of the Galitsyn community in the Mykolaiv region and that shelling of the Bashtansky district is continuing. Russia's defense ministry said seaborne missiles destroyed a plant in Mykolaiv city where Western-supplied howitzers and armored vehicles were stored. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed concerns that a bit of Ukraine fatigue is starting to set in around the world." It would be a catastrophe if Putin won. Hed love nothing more than to say, Lets freeze this conflict, lets have a cease-fire,'" Johnson said on Saturday, a day after a surprise visit to Kyiv, where he met with Zelenskyy and offered offer continued aid and military training. Western-supplied heavy weapons are reaching front lines. But Ukraine's leaders have insisted for weeks that they need more arms, and sooner. Julia Rubin in New York, Sylvia Hui in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Frances DEmilio in Rome and Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Bakhmut, Ukraine, contributed to this report. Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. MANAUS, Brazil (AP) A fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazils remote Amazon and took police to a site where human remains were recovered, a federal investigator said, after a grim 10-day search for the missing pair. Authorities said Wednesday night without giving any details that they expected more arrests would be made soon in the case of freelance reporter Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira of Brazil, who disappeared June 5. At a news conference in the Amazon city of Manaus, a federal police investigator said the man who had been the prime suspect confessed Tuesday night and detailed what happened to Phillips and Pereira. Investigator Eduardo Alexandre Fontes said Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, nicknamed Pelado, told officers he used a firearm to kill the men. We would have no way of getting to that spot quickly without the confession, Torres said of the place where police recovered human remains Wednesday after being led there by Pelado. Torres said the remains were expected to be identified within days, and if confirmed as the missing men, will be returned to the families of the two. We found the bodies three kilometers (nearly two miles) into the woods, the investigator said, adding that officers traveled about one hour and forty minutes by boat on a river and 25 more into the woods to reach the burial spot. Pelados family had said previously that he denied any wrongdoing and claimed police tortured him to try to get a confession. Another officer, Guilherme Torres of the Amazonas state police, said the missing men's boat had not been found yet but police knew the area where it purportedly was hidden by those involved in the crime. They put bags of dirt on the boat so it would sink, he said. The engine of the boat was removed, according to investigators. The news conference at Brazil's federal police headquarters in Manaus also included military leaders, who joined the effort to find Phillips and Pereira a few days after their disappearance was reported. President Jair Bolsonaro, a frequent critic of journalists and Indigenous experts, has drawn criticism that the government didn't get involved fast enough. Earlier on Wednesday, he condemned Phillips in an interview, saying without evidence that locals in the area where he went missing didn't like him and that he should have been more careful in the region. The efforts to find the two were started by Indigenous peoples in the region. UNIVAJA, an association of Indigenous peoples of the Javari Valley, mourned the loss of two partners in a statement Wednesday, adding they only had help and protection from local police. As federal police announced they would hold a news conference, colleagues of Pereira called a vigil outside the headquarters of the Brazilian government's Indigenous affairs agency in Brasilia. Pereira was on leave from the agency. Pereira, 41, and Phillips, 57, were last seen on their boat in a river near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. That area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Developments began moving Wednesday when federal police officers took a suspect they didn't identify at the time out on the river toward search parties looking for Phillips and Pereira. An Associated Press photographer in Atalaia do Norte, the city closest to the search zone, witnessed police taking the suspect, who was in a hood. On Tuesday, police said they had arrested a second suspect in connection with the disappearance. He was identified as Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, 41, a fisherman and a brother of Pelado, who police already had characterized as their main suspect. Police investigators said Wednesday that de Oliveira had not confessed to any participation in the crime, but added they had evidence against him. Indigenous people who were with Pereira and Phillips have said that Pelado brandished a rifle at them on the day before the pair disappeared. Official search teams concentrated their efforts around a spot in the Itaquai river where a tarp from the boat used by the missing men was found Saturday by volunteers from the Matis Indigenous group. Authorities began scouring the area and discovered a backpack, laptop and other personal belongings submerged underwater Sunday. Police said that evening that they had identified the items as the belongings of both missing men, including a health card and clothes of Pereira. The backpack was said to belong to Phillips. Police previously reported finding traces of blood in Pelado's boat. Officers also found organic matter of apparent human origin in the river that was sent for analysis. Authorities have said a main line of the police investigation into the disappearance has pointed to an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley reserve, which is Brazils second-largest Indigenous territory. Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the federal Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, took part in several operations against illegal fishing. In such operations, as a rule the fishing gear is seized or destroyed, while the fishermen are fined and briefly detained. Only the Indigenous can legally fish in their territories. The crimes motive is some personal feud over fishing inspection, Atalaia do Nortes Mayor Denis Paiva speculated to reporters without providing more details. While some police, the mayor and others in the region link the pairs disappearances to the fish mafia, federal police have not ruled rule out other lines of investigation, such as narco trafficking. Torres, the federal police officer, reiterated that point Wednesday night, saying he could not discuss specifics of the investigation. We are working with several lines of investigation, he said. After the news of the recovery of human remains, Phillips' wife, Alessandra Sampaio, said the find puts an end to the anguish of not knowing Dom and Brunos whereabouts. Now we can bring them home and say goodbye with love," Sampaio said in a statement. Today, we also begin our quest for justice." Maisonnave reported from Manaus and Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. VETERANS FUNDRAISER A fundraiser will be held at the Bloomington Texas Roadhouse as part of their Dine to Donate program. Ten percent of purchases made at Texas Roadhouse between 3 and 10 p.m. on June 23 will be donated to Hooah, an organization whose mission is to lend support to forward deployed servicemen and women, their stateside families, and returning veterans, with a high level of understanding, compassion and empathy. A special QR code coupon must be presented at Texas Roadhouse to have the 10% of purchase donated to Hooah. Contact Kevin Keller of the Marine Corp League at 618-554-1540 to obtain the QR code coupon, or visit the McLean County Veterans at Facebook.com/McLeanVAC. PTSD AWARENESS MONTH June is National PTSD Awareness Month and June 27 is National PTSD Day. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation has a respectful and informative website commemorating PTSD Month and Day. Nearly 3 million service members served in Vietnam and most returned home. Since then, however, thousands of Vietnam veterans have battled PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD has impacted their lives and the lives of their families in many ways. Veterans who served in Vietnam returned without any welcome home recognition of their service or their sacrifices. Many of our fellow citizens called them names, spit upon them and behaved despicably toward them. Bloomington-Normal finally had a Central Illinois Vietnam welcome home parade on May 23, 1987. Why did it take 12 years for our residents to show these soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airmen the respect they earned for fighting valiantly in a war that they were not allowed by our government to win? Perhaps dealing with PTSD would have been easier and quicker for those who did their duty if those who did not serve had been more supportive of those who did. Think about what might have been. Browse "PTSD Month" to learn more about the war and how it affected those who served. SUSPENSION OF ANNUAL REVIEW OF CAREGIVER PROGRAM VA has a program to assist veterans and family caregivers by providing resources, education, support, a financial stipend, health insurance and beneficiary travel to caregivers of eligible veterans. Veterans who sustained or aggravated a serious injury (now includes serious illness) in the line of duty on or before May 7, 1975, or on or after Sept. 11, 2001, may be eligible. Eligibility for the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers requires the veteran to have a single or combined service-connected disability rating by the VA of 70% or more; or need personal care services for a minimum of six continuous months based on any one of the following: an inability to perform an activity of daily living or a need for supervision, protection or instruction. The VA is suspending the normal annual reassessment for participants of the PCAFC program while the VA continues its review of the program. This suspension applies to all veterans and family caregivers participating in the program. Additionally, VA will not discharge or reduce stipends based on a reassessment. However, the program staff will continue to initiate reassessments for veterans and family caregivers for certain purposes, such as when a veteran or caregiver requests to be considered for an increase in stipend level or if there is evidence of an increased need for personal care services. Appeal and review options for those who disagree with a PCAFC determination remain the same. Be aware: Any review at the request of the veteran or the caregiver could result in in the benefit remaining the same, being increased or being reduced, depending on the facts of the individual case. Jerry Vogler is superintendent of the McLean County Veterans Assistance Commission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 EAST ST. LOUIS Two children were injured in a drive-by shooting near 15th Street and Bond Avenue in East St. Louis early Sunday. Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots, and when the rapid succession of bullets ceased, police found two children, a 3-year-old and an 11-year-old, with bullet wounds. Both were in a car with a woman at the time of the shooting. Ranadore Foggs, East St.Louis assistant chief of police, said the 11-year-old is listed in stable condition, and the 3-year-old is in critical condition. Both children were taken to Children's Hospital in St. Louis for medical treatment, he said. There was no immediate information available on the female driver. Foggs said police received a call at 12:20 a.m. reporting the drive-by shooting at 15th Street and Bond Avenue. At the scene, "witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots when the victim's vehicle, while traveling on 15th Street, was struck," Foggs said. The woman and two children were inside the car. East St. Louis police and Illinois State Police Public Safety Enforcement Group officers are investigating. No additional information is available at this time. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Absa Bank has set out to undo the most critical issue facing traders and small businesses in Ghana today - access to finance. There is no doubt about it; SMEs contribute over 80% to the countrys GDP growth. These businesses are the bedrock of economic stimulation, advancement and stability. Ghanas history and its performance to date is in some way attributable to the enterprising resourcefulness of its SMEs especially micro-traders, artisans and small set-ups. However, unlike their counterparts in large institutions, multinationals and other corporate setups, access to finance continue to be a critical bottleneck. In cases where access to finance becomes available, the rates are extremely high and exorbitant, which affects the willingness to apply or access. The situation gets trickier when for specific loans, the insistence on collaterals is enforced to cut off a section of these small business operators. Many advocates have called for a second look at the economic regime and relaxed complications to enable such businesses to thrive. The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), the mother body for most traders and retail businesses have often bemoaned the lack of flexibility in the financing regime and has called for the government and the private sector to do something about it. It is in this light, that Absa Bank Ghana partnered with the Mastercard foundation under the Young Africa Works (YAWS) scheme to fund and train 5,000 locally-owned businesses with the aim of creating 50,000 jobs in Ghana. The 5-year (2020-2025) strategic partnership between Absa Bank Ghana and the Mastercard Foundation (MCF) has a goal to create dignified and fulfilling jobs for young men and women in Ghana. The project also supports MSMEs through capacity building, training and lending. As part of implementing its capacity-building mandate, YAWS will assign Business Development Service (BDS) providers to these individual SMEs to identify the gaps in their business operations and proffer bespoke training and solutions in addressing them. After the training, these businesses would be further assessed for lending purposes in order to ensure the sustainability of their establishments. The other day in Accra, in front of over 350 members of GUTA, Absa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the executives of GUTA, outlining in great detail the terms of the partnership, including the nature of businesses that qualify to access loans under the YAWS scheme. Absa bank has even gone above its call of duty to defray a lot of associated costs that affect businesses when they access loans in Ghana. For example, the MOU allows businesses under GUTA to access loans of up to GHC500,000 without collateral and GHC1,000,000 without collateral to women-owned businesses, with an additional 1% discount for all eligible businesses. What Absa Bank has done is a welcome gesture in the governments drive to empower and sustain these businesses in advancing the countrys economic growth. I want to urge the traders and business folk gathered here to focus on how to carefully manage the returns on your business in order to ensure sustainability and continuity. Let us refrain from unnecessary spending on perishable items and instead reinvest in the business, said Deputy Minister, Honorable Nana Ama Dokuah, who was the special guest of honour at the MOU signing ceremony. The faces of the traders at the ceremony reflected a high sense of optimism and excitement about the prospect of seeing their businesses transform with the partnership. To add to the energy in the room, videos of former loan recipients sharing testimonies of their transformation were shared on the screens by Absa Bank. These videos did a lot in reinforcing the viability of the partnership and a call to action. Commenting on the collaboration with GUTA, Managing Director, Abena Osei-Poku, with excitement in her voice, highlighted what the association with GUTA means for the bank. I hope that by the end of this session and the signing of the MOU, you will be left in no doubt about Absas commitment to stand beside you, in ensuring that your success and growth are guaranteed, making you ready to participate fully in the huge opportunity that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCTA) presents. We hope to use this avenue to firmly entrench our position as the go-to bank for all your needs and expectations. So, whether you are a micro-level business operator or fall in the category of a medium-sized business in Ghana, you need not be burdened by the inadequate access to funds for expansion and diversification. The Absa Mastercard Foundation partnership falls right into the heart of your specific need and is the panacea for overcoming the future challenges in the sector. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Two people were killed and six were injured when suspected militants opened fire on a bus in southwestern Rwanda, Rwandan police said. Saturday's attack, which killed the bus driver and a passenger, was carried out by the National Liberation Front (FLN), the armed wing of the anti-government Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), the police said in a statement. "Armed thugs, suspected to be remnants of FLN operating from across the border, shot at a public passenger bus," the Rwanda National Police said late on Saturday. The police were tracking down the assailants in the incident on the Nyambage-Rusizi road in the district's Nyungwe Forest, they added. The government has said the FLN had launched attacks from the Nyungwe forest area close to the Burundi border in 2018. In April, the Rwandan government upheld a 25-year prison sentence for Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed in the movie "Hotel Rwanda" sheltering hundreds of people during the 1994 genocide, for his involvement with MRCD. He was convicted in September on eight terrorism charges, which he denies. Source: Reuters Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Director-General (DG) of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, has urged all self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector to take full advantage of the scheme by insuring their total incomes earned with the Trust. He said it had become necessary to extend coverage to the informal sector workers not only to increase the active membership and contributor base of the scheme but also to ensure that every worker in Ghana enjoyed social protection. That, he said, would help reduce poverty and over-dependence on family relations and friends at old age. Dr Ofori-Tenkorang gave the advice last Thursday at a stakeholder meeting with leaders of churches and Christian organisations to find ways to expand and deepen coverage of the basic national social security scheme of self-employed workers. Presently, over 14,000 self-employed workers contribute to the SSNIT Pension Scheme. This low coverage is attributed to the nature of the economy, where most people are engaged in their businesses and do not see the need to enrol onto the SSNIT scheme, he said. The meeting forms part of a series of stakeholder engagements to seek their buy-in and support to extend coverage of the SSNIT scheme to the self-employed and workers in the informal sector. It brought together representatives of the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Church of Pentecost, Methodist Church and Action Chapel. Benefits Explaining some benefits of the SSNIT scheme and the value it provides to members, he stressed that once a member qualifies for a pension, the person receives a monthly pension for life subject to an annual increase. The SSNIT Scheme offers unique benefits and provides value that no other pension product offers. The scheme gives superior value to invested members contributions. The Trust pays minimum pension by subsidising pensions for pensioners whose salaries were woefully low during active service. The scheme pays invalidity pension regardless of age and with minimal contribution, and also the SSNIT Scheme provides a life policy by paying survivors when a member passes on, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said. Laudable initiative The former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Most Rev. Dr Aboagye-Mensah, lauded the management of SSNIT for spearheading such an initiative to extend coverage of the SSNIT scheme to self-employed workers. He explained that although some ministers retired and received a monthly pension from SSNIT which was augmented by in-house benefits paid by the church, most of its members, largely the self-employed, were not under any structured social security scheme. He said the church had a responsibility to promote the holistic development of Christians in the country by ensuring that adequate preparation was made for a better life when people retired from active service. Most people believe the SSNIT Scheme is for formal sector workers only. In the past, SSNIT has not reached out enough but I am happy we have this engagement today, he said. Source: Graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Efforts by the government to boost the agricultural industry in the country have not yielded the desired results because commercial banks have failed to play their expected roles by giving out substantial loans to farmers. The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said although the government was doing its best to boost food production by subsidizing the prices of agricultural inputs, such as chemicals, the banks had failed to give enough loans to complement that effort. That, according to the minister, had made the prices of foodstuffs and other agricultural produce high on the market. Consequently, the government would soon get Parliament to come up with legislation to compel commercial banks in the country to allocate 20 per cent of their loan portfolio to farmers, he said. Dr Akoto gave the hint when he visited some areas in the Eastern Region to interact with farmers to find out the challenges they went through and whether there had been shortage of foodstuffs in those areas. Tour The minister was accompanied by his deputy, Yaw Frimpong Addo, high officials of the ministry and regional and district directors of Agriculture on the tour. The delegation visited, among other facilities, the Legacy Seed Processing Company at Otareso, near Koforidua, where seeds are stored, processed and treated; the Idros Farms at Kwame Duodu; the Pinora Zonal Enterprise near Adeiso, which produces fruit juice for export only, and TQ Farms, Akim Krodua near Asamankese, producers of cereals, cassava and coconut. They also visited Sahmen Farms at Mepom near Asamankese, which produces hybrid coconut seedlings, as well as coconut fruits and poultry products. Legislation Dr Akoto said to resolve the issue of financial challenges farmers faced, legislation was being sought to compel commercial banks to give out at least 20 per cent of their loan portfolio to farmers. That, he said, would boost food production and at the same time make the prices of food affordable to Ghanaians. The minister, who spoke passionately about the issue, emphasised that in India, for instance, over the last 30 years, it had been mandatory for banks to allocate a certain amount of their lending money to farmers to support agriculture in that country. "What we need to do as a country is force commercial banks, through legislation, to allocate resources towards supporting farmers and agriculture as a whole," he advocated. Economy will suffer The minister stressed that if that was not done, agriculture, which is the backbone of the Ghanaian economy, would continue to suffer, adding that the ministry was not a financial institution but a policy-making one. Dr Akoto, who indicated that there was no shortage of farm produce in the country, however, pointed out that the prices of food items had increased. He attributed the high cost of food items to the high cost of inputs, such as chemicals, poultry feed and the increasing price of fuel which had also affected the transportation of food items from the farm gate to the market centres. He explained that the factors that had led to the increase in the prices of food items were beyond the control of the government, which was doing its best to ensure that the prices would be affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian. "This situation can be reversed if the banks start giving farmers loans because most of the farmers, especially poultry farmers who normally produce birds up to 150,000, have now reduced the number drastically because of lack of funds," the minister said. With regard to the global shortage of fertilizer, the minister said Ghanaian farmers had now resorted to the application of organic fertilizer, which had addressed such a situation. At the Idros Farms, the owner, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, who was the Best National Crop Farmer in 2021, told the Daily Graphic that his outfit was putting up a food processing factory for the area, in line with the government's One-District, One-Factory initiative, explaining that he had vast land for that purpose. Stakeholders on seeds Earlier, a meeting involving regional and district agricultural directors, agric extension officers, seed growers and input seed dealers was held at the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, where a presentation was done by the Regional Director of Agriculture, Henry Crentsil. Mr Crentsil disclosed that there had been a boost in food production this year, adding that the government's PFJ had contributed immensely towards the success story this year. Source: Graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Pope Francis has fuelled speculation that he could resign after postponing a trip to Africa and announcing an unusual meeting of cardinals. Hobbled by pain in his knee and forced to use a wheelchair in recent weeks, the 85-year-old pontiff postponed a July trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan last week. He also announced an unusual decision to hold a consistory to name new cardinals during a Vatican vacation month and arranged meetings to ensure his reforms stay intact. The extraordinary consistory will be held on August 27, a slow summer month at the Catholic headquarters, to create 21 new cardinals - 16 of whom will be under the age of 80, thereby eligible to elect his successor in a future conclave. Since becoming pope in 2013, the Argentine pontiff has created 83 cardinals in a move to shape the future of the Catholic Church, in part to counter Europe's historically dominant influence, and to reflect his values. On August 28, Francis will then pay a visit to L'Aquila and the tomb of Celestine V - the first pope to have resigned from the papacy, in the 13th century. He then joins the world's cardinals - many of them meeting their peers for the first time - in two days of discussions over the reform of the Roman Curia, which Francis announced in March with the unveiling of a new constitution. Francis' shake-up of the Roman Curia attempts to shift the Church back towards its pastoral roots, allows lay Catholics to head Vatican departments and creates a dicastery specifically for charity works among other reforms. The moves have triggered intense speculation about his plans for the future, including the most radical - that he was planning to step down. The resignation of a pope was once almost unthinkable until Benedict XVI renounced his reign in 2013, citing his declining physical and mental health. In 2014, a year after being elected to replace Benedict, Francis himself told reporters that were his health to impede his functions as pope, he would consider stepping down too. 'He (Benedict) opened a door, the door to retired popes,' the pontiff said then. More recently in May, as reported by various Italian media, Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops: 'Rather than operate, I'll resign.' But Vatican insiders do not yet think Francis is on the verge of handing over the papal keys. One source told AFP: 'In the pope's entourage, the majority of people don't really believe in the possibility of a resignation.' Rumours within the insular Roman Curia - the Catholic Church's powerful governing body - are nothing new, and often fuelled by those with an interest, said Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi. 'These rumours are encouraged by the pope's opponents who are only eager to see Francis leave,' he told AFP. A trip to Canada at the end of July is still on the pontiff's schedule, and the pope continues to receive injections in his knee and physical therapy, according to the Vatican. As a child, Francis had one of his lungs partially removed. Today, besides his knee issue, he suffers recurring sciatic nerve pain. Rumours of resignation also flared last year after Francis underwent colon surgery, prompting him to tell a Spanish radio station that the idea 'hadn't even crossed my mind'. Politi said of the latest resignation rumours: 'At this stage, it is a question of being realistic and not alarmist.' He said it was 'hard to imagine Francis would resign while the Synod of Bishops - an initiative meaningful to Francis that is intended to study how the Church moves forward in a more inclusive way - is ongoing, due to complete in 2023. Alberto Melloni, a professor of Christianity and secretary of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna, told AFP 'preposterous' conjectures had been made about the pope's health and his intentions. 'These are things in which there is a desire to understand, to speculate, but there is little to say,' he said. Source: Dailymail.co.uk Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Madam Emma Adwoa Appiaa Osei-Duah, has urged businesses along drains to take responsibility for their cleanliness. She stressed that this would ensure that no filth streams into the sea and other water bodies. Madam Appiaa Osei-Duah made the call while speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Zoomlion-Media Walk for a clean environment in Aburi in the Eastern Region at the weekend. The Media Walk for a Clean Environment, which was organised by the management of Zoomlion, was aimed at creating awareness of the need to safeguard and preserve the environment. Led by Ghanas Fitness Ambassador, BeadeBully, and well patronised by media personnel, the walk started from Ayi Mensah Toll Booth and ended at the Aburi Presbyterian Park. According to Madam Appiaa Osei-Duah, inasmuch as walking was beneficial to the body, regular cleaning of drains was equally important to keep the environment clean. "If you create waste then you should be able to manage it from entering the sea since that can be injurious to the health of living organisms in the sea and other water bodies," she advised. She said creating waste without managing it spelt doom for the sustenance of lives in water bodies, hence charged Ghanaians to desist from throwing waste into the drains and gutters. The Zoomlion Corporate Affairs Director indicated that the introduction of dustbins in houses and at vantage points across the country were crucial measures targeted at mitigating indiscriminate littering and throwing of refuse anywhere. She expressed her outfit's appreciation to Ghanaian communities for gradually embracing the wind of charge by owning bins. The Zoomlion Ghana Limited walk is an annual activity which helps clients, staff members, subsidiary companies, partners and company leadership to meet and interact, get to know each other for an improved working relationship. It further enables the staff of Zoomlion to keep healthy and continue to give off their best. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video More than 700 houses were submerged in different communities in the Central Region by floods on Saturday. A couple of bridges and roads also were destroyed, thereby making the road network impassable. One of such bridges is the one over River Surowi at Jukwa on the Cape Coast-TwifoPraso road; Jukwais in the Hemang Lower Denkyira District. A prison officer who tried to assist someone in wading through the flood waters died as he was swept away by the flood. The floods resulted from the Kakum and Surowi rivers over-flowing their banks due to heavy rainfall in the area. At Simiw in the Komenda-Edina-Egyuafo-Abrem (KEEA) municipality, over 50 mud houses were destroyed by the floods. The displaced were currently housed in classrooms and churches or with relatives and friends. Some affected areas are Simiw, Nkontrodo, Ntranoa, Abina, Atonkwa, and Ankaful in the Elmina Municipality and Amamoma and Kwaprow in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The house of the Chief Executive Officer of Exim Bank, situated some metres away from the bridge, was flooded, with his vehicles submerged by the raging water. At Ankaful, the Prisons Quarters were submerged by the floods, and desperate officers who were there called for help. The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, toured some of the affected communities with officials of the organisation. His entourage also included the Central Regional Minister, Mrs. Justina Marigold Assan, Head of Local Governance Service, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, and officials of the KEEA Municipal Assembly. In his remarks after the tour, Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh stated that the flooding and its associated effect were unfortunate. He explained that the floods in the region so far were not man-made and expressed the need for people to take precautionary measures. He urged Ghanaians to be careful with their sanitation by desisting from throwing rubbish into drains, including gutters. He said the country should expect more rains in the coming days, so there was a need for them to take precautions. Mr. Agyemang-Prempeh asked those living in flood-prone areas to move to safer grounds. He later presented some relief items to those affected by the floods. The Central Regional Minister, Mrs. Justina Marigold Assan, in her remarks, said the situation was very problematic. She expressed appreciation to NADMO for the swift response by attending to the displaced residents of affected communities. Meanwhile, the bridge at Jukwa is currently being repaired. Ghanaian Times witnessed a contractor and his workers feverishly repairing the bridge to ensure traffic flow on that stretch of the road. A release by the Ghana Highway Authority on Saturday directed motorists and commuters heading towards Cape Coast from Twifo or vice-versa to use alternative routes such as Cape Coast-Yamoransa -AssinFosu-TwifoPraso roads. The traffic has been diverted or reversed, and with the help of announcements made by residents in the nearby communities, no motorists got stranded at the location of the broken bridge. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An English tutor at the Islamic Senior High School (SHS) in the Ashanti Region, Kofi Antwi, is seeking justice for what he alleged was police brutality meted out to him in the Islamic SHS and police clash. He currently cannot see as his head and face have been bandaged due to the assault meted out to him in the melee that ensued last Monday was battered by crowd-control Police until he fell and was even denied access to the hospital. Narrating his ordeal to the media as the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament visited the school on a fact-finding mission on Friday to ascertain what led to the fracas, the tutor, who now walks with assistance, said all he set out from home that day to do was to teach. "I was coming to teach because I had classes in the morning. So when I got to the entrance, I realised the students were on the street. I inquired and was told they were demonstrating to demand speed ramps due to the incessant knockdown of colleagues. "So I stood there and said they have a genuine concern. That's all I said, and the Police claimed I incited them to pour on the streets. They (Police) used the butt of their guns to hit me several times before dragging me to the police station," Mr. Antwi recounted. With a white bandage wrapped around his head and covering both eyes, he questioned why authorities had to wait for students to demonstrate over the erection of speed ramps after several appeals to the Department of Urban Roads. "Students should not have to be on the street before things are done right. I am not happy the demonstration came off, but the students were justified; though bleeding from the brutalities of the armed policemen, my prayer to them was to take me to the hospital yielded no result. "When we were even going to the police station, I was telling them that I was severely wounded because of the bruises, but they never took me seriously; though treated and discharged, the effect of the manhandling by the Police has left him in pains. I feel severe headaches and pains in both eyes and body, and as you can see, I cannot walk without assistance, and I do not know when they will heal," he added. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has thanked Ghanaian health workers for the resilience theyve shown in helping the government fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He said their efforts have been tremendous. He, however, stated that we could not deny the fact that the pandemic exposed the infrastructure deficits in our healthcare system. Nevertheless, we have leveraged the University of Ghana Medical school as a referral centre through responsive planning to treat and manage complicated cases, he said at the commissioning of Phase II of the UGMC last week. The move, he said, helped save many lives, adding that the centre took care of some 700 COVID-19 patients. He commended the staff and management for their contributions to managing the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the UGMC is symbolic of the governments determination to provide Ghanaians with a befitting quaternary health facility, providing world-class health services to all residents in Ghana and beyond. Phase II, he said, was made possible through the two hundred- and seventeen-million-dollar (US$217 million) facility secured from the Bank of Hapoalim in Israel. The grant of this facility testifies to the strong and productive relations that exist between the Republic of Ghana and the State of Israel. The University of Ghana Medical Centres mainstay is to deliver health care at the subspecialist or quaternary level and, thus, play a pivotal role in managing complicated referrals from tertiary and regional hospitals within the country. It also has provision for walk-in patients, who seek specialist or consultant attention, he posited. Source: rainbow radio Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has cautioned against a fraudulent recruitment exercise on a fake Facebook account bearing the name of one Kwame Asuah Takyi. The suspect, according to the service, uses the telephone number 0559248677. In a statement, GIS noted it is not recruiting or has hired any agent or persons to conduct recruitment on its behalf. The use of social media especially Facebook to solicit for persons to join the Service is not part of the process of an official GIS recruitment drive. Therefore the public is hereby cautioned not to fall prey to these fraudsters who are only in to extort them of their monies, part of the statement warned. The service has assured it is ready to recruit, it will, first of all, advertise in the national dailies giving requirements and procedures to be followed. Until such an announcement is made we wish to advise prospective job applicants to ignore any such Facebook recruitment. Again job applicants are being warned to desist from chatting with WhatsApp accounts with pictures of Ministers of State and Members of Parliament among others offering them protocol placement in the security services with demands for payments of various forms of mobile money payments, it added. Meanwhile, members of the public have been entreated to report all such demands to the Police or the nearest Immigration Office. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thonket Group of Companies, Anthony Adu Nketia, has proposed a stronger collaboration between industry and academia to produce appropriate graduates to meet the demands of the job market. He said currently, many unqualified graduates were not fit for purpose, adding that it was time the narrative was changed. Currently, businesses will have to retrain graduates with appropriate technology, which is becoming a drain on our coffers and increasing our overhead cost, Mr Nketia said at the 13th Congregation of the Ghana Baptist University College (GBUC) at Abuakwa in the Atwima Nwabiagye District of the Ashanti Region. A total of 479 students graduated from the university, including 256 from the Business School, 119 from the School of Theology and Ministry and 61 from the School of Arts and Social Sciences Education. The graduation ceremony was on the theme: Is the current educational system adequate for the needs of the industry? Knowledge sharing He said there were a lot of research materials at the various universities that were only collecting dust and added that it was time for knowledge sharing between academia and industry. The business Mogul said the industry was ready to sponsor tailor-made research in specific areas to promote productivity and food safety in Ghana. The business industry should be developed as a system to build the capacities of students even before they graduate with regular attachments so that by the time they graduate, they will be ready for the job market, he said. He urged graduates to work harder and utilise their ability and the knowledge acquired at school in the development of the nation. Appeal The Chancellor of the GBUC, Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, appealed to the government to give more attention to the private universities just as it did to the public universities in terms of support. The dealer and distributor of groceries said to make university education more relevant to the industry, there was the need to reshape most of the lecturers through scholarships to pursue PhDs to build their human capacities. Innovation The President of GBUC, Prof. Joseph Oteng-Adjei, hinted at the introduction of innovative academic programmes to meet the current industry needs. He said the university was facing acute budgetary deficits and cash flow due to low enrolment. The president of the university called on the government and other stakeholders to help ensure that private universities remained relevant. Plans He said plans were afoot to establish a School of Technology and Agriculture to run programmes in Computer Sciences, ICT, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Waste Management and Agriculture. Prof. Oteng-Adjei said management was to collaborate with churches and other interest groups to invest in hostel facilities to accommodate students. Already, the university has a collaboration with the International Baptist Universities and the Georgia Allied Health Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, to gain accreditation to run as a centre for National Council for Licensure Examinations for nursing students. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video There was drama at the District Court in Accra (Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit) hearing the case involving a 47-year-old businessman, who allegedly attempted to use his daughter for rituals to get rich. After the proceedings Monday (June 20), the suspect, Evans Oppong Kyekyeku, pounced on journalists who were taking videos outside the courtroom. Why are you taking pictures of me, are you ?, the suspect said amid rants and insults on journalists. The timely intervention of the prosecutor and some police officers, prevented the suspect who was in handcuffs, from physically attacking a court reporter from EIB network, Murtala Inusah. One of Oppongs sympathisers also fumed, You cant do this in Germany. Proceedings Meanwhile, at Mondays proceedings, the court presided over by Ama Adomako Kwakye declined to admit the suspect to bail. The accused, who has been provisionally charged with preparation to commit crime to wit murder, was remanded to re-appear on July 4, 2022. According to the court, it does not have jurisdiction to grant bail to the accused person. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Afriyie Owusu Akoto, has underscored that the Akufo-Addo governments support for farmers in the country is unmatched since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution. According to Dr. Akoto, this is evident in the many agricultural-friendly policies including the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and fertiliser subsidy introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration to assist farmers to boost production. The Minister made the statement while addressing farmers at Kwame Doudoo in the Eastern Region while embarking on a working tour. The government was doing everything possible to make farmers feel comfortable, he said. He also seized the chance to deny flatly the statement in certain quarters that there was a food shortage in the country. There is no food shortage in the country following my visit to 5 regions. Rather prices of food have gone up and with even poultry feeds for farmers high in the market, he clarified. He reiterated that his Ministry was not a financial institution but acts on a principle that guides farmers to ensure they produce enough to feed the nation. He was full of praise for Mohammed Ibrahim, a farmer at Kwame Doudoo who owns the largest palm farm in the region which also includes a fish pond and a maize farm. Earlier, the Minister visited Legacy Square, a company that produces chemicals for seedlings to grow well. Welcoming the Minister, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Legacy Square, Mr. Amos Azinu, said his outfit has been in operation for about 7 years. He indicated that hunger was deadlier than a pandemic, thus calling on farmers to collaborate with the MoFA to ensure a better Ghana. Other places Dr. Akoto and his team visited were Pinora, a suburb of Asamankesse, where farmers here produce all kinds of juices, and Sahmen Farms, also in Asamankesse He rounded up his tour in the region with a visit to Kodua close to Asamankesse. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, the Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has said none of the flood disasters that ravaged many communities in several districts of the Central Region Saturday was manmade. He attributed the situation to climate change, describing it as a downright natural disaster. He warned that the country was going to experience more rains in the coming days and, therefore, citizens should desist from building in waterways and improve their sanitation systems. Mr Prempeh made the observation when together with Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister, Nana Dr Ato Arthur, Head of Local Government Service, officials from the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality and other government officials, visited some affected areas to assess the extent of damage caused by the floods. The visit was also to offer some support to victims of the disaster. However, many victims of the floods have debunked his claims and told the GNA that an unannounced spill-over from the Brimsu dam by the Ghana Water Company Limited was the cause of the disaster and called for compensation. Mr Hugh Hanson, a businessman, who resides at Elmina, said he lost everything and called for support. Madam Naomi Kakraba, a trader, who was in tears, told the GNA how the water destroyed their belongings and they had to be evacuated by boat to a safer place. The GNA observed that rivers around the Brimsu dam catchment area and main drains were all chocked with sand and weeds while some people had built on waterways and buffer lands meant for the expansion of roads. Many homes were flooded, scores of buildings were flattened, hundreds of families have been displaced with one person confirmed dead as a result of the floods and many people were seen trying to salvage their little belongings left. In addition, some critical roads have been rendered unmotorable by the floods, which destroyed bridges and covered some portions of the road. Affected communities include Abina, Simiw, Nkontrodo, Atonkwa and Ankaful, Abakam, Kwaprow, Amamoma, CP and Berease and some residents lost everything to the floods. The team also visited Jukwa, where repair works were ongoing on the bridge linking Cape Coast and Twifo Praso, which was broken into two by the floods. Mr Prempeh urged citizens to be on guard against imminent disasters. It is raining heavily in West Africa., it is expected that flood waters from Burkina Faso will descend to Ghana and so we should all be careful, he noted. For her part, Mrs Assan described the scenes as worrying and heartbreaking and entreated everyone to be very cautious and put immediate measures in place to safeguard their lives and property. It is so pathetic, a lot of people have been displaced and we had to rush in quickly. We called on NADMO and the swiftness with which they attended to our distress call is so amazing and so we are very grateful to them. But the most critical issue is that one person has lost his life. This is so huge a loss to the whole country, she said and expressed the governments commitment to salvage the situation as soon as possible. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has criticized the Akufo-Addo-led administration for "dragging" some revered men of God into the national cathedral brouhaha. The construction of the cathedral has been backed by the church with some pastors forming the board and list of trustees. However, the facility has created lots of controversies in the country with some wondering why the state should fund it. Sammy Gyamfi reacting to this on Peace FM's "The Platform" program said: "I'm a staunch Christian and growing up we had men of God we really cherished and adored like Archbishop Duncan Williams, Apostle Onyinah, Agyin Asare, Dag Heward-Mills; they're our heroes and they're revered worldwide...I'm pained that Akufo-Addo wants to tarnish their image by dragging them into this whole mess." "Please don't tarnish their image... leave them out of your chaos...it looks like govt wants to use this national cathedral as a ruse to steal. Christians must not allow govt to smear these men of God otherwise it'll be a dent on Christianity," he added. Listen to him in the video below Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Dr. Smart Sarpong, a Senior Research Fellow of the Kumasi Technical University, has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make it explicit when the fuel prices will stop increasing. Contributing to Friday edition of Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo", Dr. Smart Sarpong sounded fed up with the government blaming Ukraine and Russia conflict for the recurrent increases in petroleum products. Fuel prices have currently increased to over 10 cedis per litre following previous increases that resulted in transport fares shooting up by 20 percent. Dr. Sarpong wondered till when should Ghanaians keep enduring these hardships and when they should expect an end. "Yes, you didn't cause the Ukraine/Russia war, we agree. COVID is an act of God, we agree. So? So, are we going this way forever? Because it looks like it keeps going on and nobody is telling us anything. The solutions or what we hear when we ask these questions are that there is hardship in every country. That is true...but you are the government, so what is in it for us? Must we continue to weep?", he questioned. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Courtyard by Marriott Phuket Town has announced the appointment of Pamela Ong as its General Manager. Formerly Hotel Manager, she was promoted to this senior role on May 29th, 2022. A highly skilled hospitality professional with more than two decades of experience in Southeast Asia, Pamela has a proven track record of strong leadership and delivering outstanding results. She first joined Marriott International in 2001 as Director of Sales & Marketing of Miri Marriott Resort & Spa in Malaysia, before transferring to The Stones Hotel Legian Bali, Autograph Collection in Indonesia. Pamela moved to Thailand in 2017, initially as Director of Sales & Marketing at two properties Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit and Marriott Executive Apartments Bangkok, Sukhumvit Thonglor before being promoted to the key role of Hotel Manager with Le Meridien Chiang Mai. Having moved to Courtyard by Marriott Phuket Town in 2020, she oversaw the successful opening of the property as Hotel Manager before achieving her first General Managers role. A highly motivated executive with a commitment to excellence, Pamela completed her Marriott Elevate General Manager program in 2018 and is also a BMSC Sales University certified trainer. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, exploring new cultures and spending time with her family. For more information about Courtyard by Marriott Phuket Town, please call +66 (0) 76 643 555. President Jair Bolsonaros government has contributed to the acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon, threatening various Indigenous peoples in the region. Credit: Shutterstock Forests throughout the world are shrinking year after yearand Brazil is the epicenter. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than a quarter of the Amazon rainforest will be devoid of trees by 2030 if cutting continues at the same speed. If nothing is done to stop it, an estimated 40% of this unique forest will be razed by 2050. Beyond the material and environmental consequences, this deforestation also threatens human rights, including the rights of marginalized communities to life, physical integrity, a reasonable quality of life and dignity. Brazil is one of the most worrying cases in this regard. As a Ph.D. student in political science, my research interests include climate justice, the energy transition, the green economy and international environmental politics. Chainsaw massacre Article 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples rules that these communities fully possess the "the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources." This article is not being respected by the Brazilian government in the Amazon. Although the country had pledged to significantly reduce deforestation and limit clear-cutting to 3,925 square kilometers, data from Human Rights Watch shows that chainsaws have razed nearly 13,000 square kilometers of tropical forests, making communities of Indigenous peoples even more vulnerable. The rate of deforestation in these territories increased by 34% between 2018 and 2019, despite Brazil's commitment in 2009 to reduce it by 80%. This has led to the forced displacement of communities over hundreds of kilometers, as well as major health problems and a loss of reference points. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 13,235 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest was clear cut between August 2020 and July 2021, an 22% increase, compared to the same period in the previous year. This coincides with Jair Bolsonaro's accession to power. In the month of January 2022 alone, 430 square kilometers of tropical forest was destroyed, five times more than in January 2021. Threats and assassinations Multiple abuses have been documented in Brazil since the beginning of colonization, including the illegal encroachment of the Brazilian state on Indigenous territories. Under Bolsonaro, the number of criminal networks contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon has multiplied. Organized crime views the large timber and agriculture industries as opportunities to move and launder money. The groups illegally exploit forest land, then hide drugs in timber shipments destined for Europe or Asia. Experts qualify this illegal activity as "narco-deforestation." Numerous illegal gold and mineral extraction sites are also operating in the Amazon, and the companies running them often make threats to the Munduruku that live there. People and activists who have protested the ongoing deforestation have been threatened, harassed and killed. In 2019, the NGO Global Witness recorded 24 deaths of environmental activists and land defenders, almost all occurring in the Amazon. This puts Brazil in third place among the countries with the highest number of deaths of environmental defenders, after Colombia and the Philippines. There are reminders of this in the news. Bruno Araujo Pereira, a defender of environmental and Indigenous rights, and British journalist Dom Phillips have been missing since June 5, in an area called the Javari Valley, which has a reputation of being "lawless." According to a local organization, the two had received death threats shortly before disappearing. Brazilian police first said search teams had discovered their belongings and later that bodies were spotted in the area of their disappearance. Police reported on June 15 they had found human remains while searching for the pair and that a fisherman who had fought with the pair had confessed to their killing. The number of deaths of people involved in environmental and territorial defense may be greatly underestimated, as data are not available and transparent for all countries. Women and children, the main victims of deforestation A recent United Nations report reveals a strong correlation between worsening climate change and deteriorating human rights around the world. Deforestation disproportionately affects Indigenous communities, especially women and children. It increases the pressure already placed on women to feed their children and families, while limiting their access to essential goods, including medicine. Indeed, the health of these communities depends on access to natural medicinal products found in biodiversity. The Amazon is a major reservoir of substances used in the manufacture of several pharmaceutical products available on the South American continent. Nearly 80% of the population in developing countries relies on natural medicinal products for their primary health care. In the majority of communities, it is also women who are responsible for cultivating the land and providing transportation and water treatment. Children are equally at risk. For example, a study conducted in sub-Saharan African countries shows a link between the loss of forest cover and the deterioration of health conditions of the youngest. Malnutrition, caused by reduced availability of fruits, vegetables and nuts, can affect children's growth. The exposure to smoke from the multiple fires in the Amazon is also likely to cause respiratory problems and even more serious conditions in children. More farming, more deforestation Deforestation in Brazil offers a preview of the impact that climate change will have on human rights, both in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. In addition, due to the war in Ukraine, Brazil is looking to fill the food gap on world markets with crops such as wheat and grain. Brazil's contribution is appreciated by countries such as Sudan, Pakistan and Haiti, which are among those most affected by the food crisis. But increased production may dangerously accelerate deforestation and human rights abuses can be expected to increase. One thing is certain, one of the lungs of our planet is seriously ill and time is running out. Explore further Amazon deforestation hits monthly record in Brazil This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A prime spot on Randolph Street in the West Loop that has been empty for two years is showing signs of life. The former Bad Hunter space has been transformed into Nisos Mediterranean, a massive two-story, 9,000-square-foot restaurant. It is set to open July 8. The ambitious restaurant is the work of Parker Hospitality, which is best known for The Hampton Social. That Instagram-friendly concept, with its call for rose all day, first opened in River North back in 2015. It expanded quickly, with multiple locations in Chicago and the suburbs, plus outposts in Nashville and Orlando. Two additional locations in Florida, Delray Beach and Miami, are set to open soon. Advertisement On the phone, Parker Hospitality CEO and founder, Brad Parker, acknowledged there would be a big difference between The Hampton Social and Nisos. I admire a person like Rich Melman, Parker said of the founder of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group. He is the creator of major brands. After a big success, it gives you the ability to do passion projects. The evolution was to get into the fine dining space. [ Review: Sugar Moon, an experimental baking studio, makes one of the best caramelized crust pizzas in Chicago ] Initially, Parker wanted to open an Italian concept, but that changed after an extended tour of Europe in 2016. I spent a month traveling and eating around Italy and Greece, he said. He was stuffed and broke when he arrived at his last stop on the Greek island of Mykonos. He considered skipping Principote Mykonos, run by chef Avgeria Stapaki, before eventually giving in and having the best dinner of the trip. Advertisement Chef Avgeria Stapaki outside the Nisos Restaurant in Chicago on June 17, 2022. Nisos is an ambitious new Mediterranean restaurant. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) I was blown away, he said. It was this huge restaurant that was packed, and the food was special, but also simple and fresh. It really sparked this thing in me, where I knew this is what I want to do. Parker could have simply taken notes and found a chef back in Chicago to replicate the food. He convinced chef Stapaki to move here instead. She was ready. It wasnt a difficult decision, Stapaki said. I came to Chicago because America has no limit for my career. This is going to be my restaurant. Though Stapaki is Greek, she and Parker both avoid calling Nisos a Greek restaurant, in favor of the more general Mediterranean. Ive worked all over the Mediterranean, Stapaki said. Ive worked in Italy, Spain, France and Greece, and I want to bring in all of these experiences. [ Judson & Moore distillery finally opens after a decade of planning and a fire, the pandemic and an untimely death ] Along with serving dishes traditional to the Mediterranean, Stapaki is importing around 40% of the food from the area. Im bringing in all of the fish from the Aegean Sea, she said. Itll be caught in the morning, flown over here, and the next morning, itll be in my kitchen. This catch will be presented in a fresh fish station, where guests can choose their own fish and watch it be weighed and cooked in front of them. Nisos takes the place of Bad Hunter, which was actually one of the first restaurants Stapaki visited in Chicago. Brad wanted to take me to Au Cheval for the burger, but there was a huge line, she said. While they waited, they decided to grab cocktails at Bad Hunter, and Stapaki was immediately smitten. I told him, Oh my god, I love this restaurant, Stapaki said. Now we are here. The official menu hasnt been released yet, but itll feature dishes like sea bass carpaccio, octopus with fava beans and shallot chutney, and red snapper with fregola. There are also a number of classic Mediterranean dishes, but they will probably look different from what youd expect, Parker said. Youve never seen moussaka like this, he said. I couldnt even imagine it would look this good. Nisos Restaurant in Chicago, June 17, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) Wines will come mainly from Greece and Italy, but Stapaki said shes excited to be closer to some domestic California wines. Shes also looking forward to bringing over a few Greek beers, like Yellow Donkey beer from the Santorini Brewing Company. The cocktail menu, created by The 7 Jokers, an acclaimed Athens bar, will feature 13 drinks inspired by Homers Odyssey. Advertisement [ Review: Sochi Saigonese Kitchen is a Vietnamese restaurant of subtle surprises in Lakeview ] Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > For the space, Parker brought in OV & Co., a California-based designer. We had a vision of what we wanted, but we really wanted to bring an extra eye on this, Parker said. If you walk into this restaurant, it will transform you. You should really feel like you arent in Chicago anymore. Its been a long process, Parker said. After first meeting Stapaki in 2016, it took years to set up all the details for her to move to Chicago. The pandemic delayed the opening by a couple years. But hes excited to finally show off the project. We have amazing talent behind this, he said. Every inch of this restaurant has had love and attention poured into it. Nisos Mediterranean will open July 8. You can make reservations on Resy. 802 W. Randolph St., nisosmediterranean.com nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain With climate change rapidly warming the world's oceans, the future of the Arctic Ocean looks grim. Climate models show that parts of the Arctic that were once covered in ice year-round are warming so quickly that they will be reliably ice-free for months on end in as few as two decades. The Arctic's changing climate will endanger countless species that thrive in sub-zero temperatures, scientists say. Another critical consequence of melting ice in the Arctic? The potential for shorter, more eco-friendly maritime trade routes that bypass the Russian-controlled Northern Sea Route. In a new study, a pair of climate scientists at Brown University worked with a legal scholar at the University of Maine School of Law to predict how Arctic Ocean ice melt could affect the regulation of shipping routes over the next few decades. They projected that by 2065, the Arctic's navigability will increase so greatly that it could yield new trade routes in international watersnot only reducing the shipping industry's carbon footprint but also weakening Russia's control over trade in the Arctic. The study was published on Monday, June 6, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "There's no scenario in which melting ice in the Arctic is good news," said Amanda Lynch, the study's lead author and a professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown. "But the unfortunate reality is that the ice is already retreating, these routes are opening up, and we need to start thinking critically about the legal, environmental and geopolitical implications." Lynch, who has studied climate change in the Arctic for nearly 30 years, said that as a first step, she worked with Xueke Li, a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, to model four navigation scenarios based on four likely outcomes of global actions to halt climate change in the coming years. Their projections showed that unless global leaders successfully constrain warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next 43 years, climate change will likely open up several new routes through international waters by the middle of this century. According to Charles Norchidirector of the Center for Oceans and Coastal Law at Maine Law, a visiting scholar at Brown's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and one of the study's co-authorsthose changes could have major implications for world trade and global politics. Norchi explained that since 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has given Arctic coastal states enhanced authority over primary shipping routes. Article 234 of the convention states that in the name of "the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution from vessels," countries whose coastlines are near Arctic shipping routes have the ability to regulate the route's maritime traffic, so long as the area remains ice-covered for the majority of the year. Norchi said that for decades, Russia has used Article 234 for its own economic and geopolitical interests. One Russian law requires all vessels passing through the Northern Sea Route to be piloted by Russians. The country also requires that passing vessels pay tolls and provide advance notice of their plans to use the route. The heavy regulation is one among many reasons why major shipping companies often bypass the route's heavy regulations and high costs and instead use the Suez and Panama canalslonger, but cheaper and easier, trade routes. But as the ice near Russia's northern coast begins to melt, Norchi said, so will the country's grip on shipping through the Arctic Ocean. "The Russians will, I'm sure, continue to invoke Article 234, which they will attempt to back up with their might," Norchi said. "But they will be challenged by the international community, because Article 234 will cease to be applicable if there's no ice covered-area for most of the year. Not only that, but with melting ice, shipping will move out of Russian territorial waters and into international waters. If that happens, Russia can't do much, because the outcome is driven by climate change and shipping economics." According to Lynch, previous studies have shown that Arctic routes are 30% to 50% shorter than the Suez Canal and Panama Canal routes, with transit time reduced by an estimated 14 to 20 days. That means that if international Arctic waters warm enough to open up new pathways, shipping companies could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about 24% while also saving money and time. "These potential new Arctic routes are a useful thing to consider when you recall the moment when the Ever Given ship was stranded in the Suez Canal, blocking an important shipping route for several weeks," Lynch said. "Diversifying trade routesespecially considering new routes that can't be blocked, because they're not canalsgives the global shipping infrastructure a lot more resiliency." And it's better to ask questions about the future of shipping now, Lynch said, rather than later, given how long it can take to establish international laws. (For context, she said, it took 10 years for world governments to negotiate the Convention on the Law of the Sea.) Lynch hopes that kicking off the conversation on the Arctic's trade future with well-researched scholarship might help world leaders make informed decisions about protecting the Earth's climate from future harm. "Flagging these coming changes now could help prevent them from emerging as a crisis that has to be resolved rapidly, which almost never turns out well," Lynch said. "To actually craft international agreements with some forethought and deliberation is certainly a better way to go." Explore further Unsustainable Arctic shipping risks accelerating damage to the Arctic environment More information: The interaction of ice and law in Arctic marine accessibility, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The interaction of ice and law in Arctic marine accessibility,(2022). doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202720119 In this photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, Jason Nez, center, talks to wildland fire personnel working a blaze in northern Arizona in 2021. Nez is a Navajo archaeologist and firefighter who advises fire officials on how to protect archaeological resources. Credit: Paul Dawson/U.S. Forest Service via AP As Jason Nez scans rugged mountains, high desert and cliffsides for signs of ancient tools and dwellings unique to the U.S. Southwest, he keeps in mind that they're part of a bigger picture. And, fire is not new to them. "They have been burned many, many times, and that's healthy," said Nez, a Navajo archaeologist and firefighter. "A lot of our cultural resources we see as living, and living things are resilient." As a pair of wildfires skirt this mountainous northern Arizona city, the flames are crossing land dense with reminders of human existence through centuriesmultilevel stone homes, rock carvings and pieces of clay and ceramic pots that have been well-preserved in the arid climate since long before fire suppression became a tactic. Today, firefighting crews increasingly are working to avoid or minimize damage from bulldozers and other modern-day tools on archaeological sites and artifacts, and protect those on public display to ensure history isn't lost on future generations. "Some of those arrowheads, some of those pottery sherds (broken ceramics) you see out there have that power to change the way we look at how humans were here," Nez said. The crews' efforts include recruiting people to advise them on wildlife and habitat, air quality and archaeology. In Arizona, a handful of archaeologists have walked miles in recent months locating evidence of meaningful past human activity in and around scorched areas and mapping it for protection. This undated photo provided by the National Park Service shows centuries-old pottery on display at Wupatki National Monument outside Flagstaff, Arizona. The monument and artifacts have been evacuated twice in spring 2022 because of wildfires. Credit: National Park Service via AP Just last week, a crew spotted a more than 1,000-year-old semi-buried dwelling known as a pit house. "We know this area is really important to tribes, and it's ancestral land for them," said U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and tribal relations specialist Jeanne Stevens. "When we do more survey work, it helps add more pieces to the puzzle in terms of what's on the landscape." It's not just the scattered ruins that need protecting. The nearby Wupatki National Monumenta center of trade for Indigenous communities around the 1100swas evacuated because of wildfire twice this year. Exhibits there hold priceless objects, including 800-year-old corn, beans and squash, along with intact stone Clovis points used for hunting that date back some 13,000 years. Before the first wildfire hit in April, forcing the evacuation of the monument and hundreds of homes outside Flagstaff, there was no set plan on how quickly to get the artifacts out because wildfire wasn't seen as an imminent threat to Wupatki. In this photo provided by Darvin Descheny, from left to right, Chris Shaw, Tea Kaplan, Gwenn Gallenstein and Alexandra Covert carry boxes of artifacts that were evacuated from Wupatki National Monument for safekeeping at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona, on June 14, 2022. The monument and artifacts have been evacuated twice in spring 2022 because of wildfires. Credit: Darvin Descheny/Museum of Northern Arizona via AP "Now with climate change, conditions have become different, hence a new plan," monument curator Gwenn Gallenstein said. Gallenstein assembled nested boxes with cavities for larger items and foam pouches for arrowheads and other smaller artifacts. She had photographs for each item so whoever was tasked with the packaging would know exactly where to put them, she said. Gallenstein created a training plan on how to pack up ceramic pots, bone tools, sandals, textiles woven from cotton grown in the area and other things before another large wildfire broke out June 12 and the monument was closed again. No one expected to put the plan into action so soon. The fires have so far avoided the facility. Several boxes of items that trace back to what archaeologists say are distinct Indigenous cultures were taken to the Museum of Northern Arizona for safekeeping. Some Hopi clans consider those who lived at Wupatki their ancestors. Navajo families later settled the area but slowly left, either voluntarily or under pressure by the National Park Service, which sought to eliminate private use of the land once it became a monument in 1924. This 2021 photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, shows Michael Terlep, left, and Jason Nez at the Honanki Ruins Heritage Site near Sedona, Arizona. The archaeologists were assessing the risk of wildfire and potential impacts if it reached the site. Credit: U.S. Forest Service via AP The monument has some 2,600 archaeological sites across 54 square miles (141 square kilometers), representing a convergence of cultures on the Colorado Plateau in the Four Corners where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. The region includes the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Hopi mesas, volcanic cinder fields, the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the U.S. and the San Francisco Peaksa mountain sacred to 13 Native American tribes. "That gives you an idea of the density of the cultural history here, and that continues outside the national monument boundaries into the national forest," said Lauren Carter, the monument's lead interpretive ranger. The Coconino National Forest on the southern edge of the plateau has surveyed just 20% of its 2,900 square miles (7,510 square kilometers) and logged 11,000 archaeological sites, Stevens said. Forest restoration work that includes mechanical thinning and prescribed burns has given archaeologists an opportunity to map sites and log items. More discoveries are expected because of the current wildfires, especially in the more remote areas, Stevens said. The arid climate has helped preserve many of the artifacts and sites. But it's also the type of environment that is prone to wildfires, particularly with a mix of fierce winds and heat that were all too common in the U.S. West this spring as megadroughts linked to climate change baked the region. Stevens recalled working on a wildfire in 2006 in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona and a prison crew coming across a great kivaa circular stone structure built into the earth and used for ceremonies. "That was something that was really notable," she said. "Where we've been having fires lately, we do have a lot of survey and a lot of knowledge, but we're always ready for that new discovery." This photo shows the remains of a multilevel stone dwelling at Wupatki National Monument outside Flagstaff, Arizona, on Feb. 17, 2014. The monument has been evacuated twice during spring 2022 because of wildfires. Credit: AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca Nez, too, has made rare finds, including two Clovis points and village sites on a mountainside that he wasn't expecting to see. "There's going to be pottery sherds, there's going to be projectile points," he tells firefighting crews and managers. "In Native cultures, those things are out there, and we respect them by leaving them alone." Explore further Arizona wildfire near Kitt Peak observatory 40% contained 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Experimental workflow. (a) Cas9-gRNA is added to the plasmid sample. If the AMR gene is present, Cas9 makes a double-stranded excision, resulting in plasmid linearization. (b) Glass coverslips are functionalized with a mixture of silanes with amine and vinyl terminal groups. DNA molecules are stained with YOYO-1 and stretched by capillary force between the silanized coverslip and a glass slide. (c) Image processing to detect molecules. A Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) filter is used for edge detection and molecular length, width, eccentricity, and straightness filters are used to accept or reject the detected molecules. Examples of molecules not accepted are marked with yellow (too wide), blue (too curved) or green arrows (overlapping molecules), respectively. (d) Representative images of molecules observed during imaging. Molecules i-iv (red bar) are rejected and molecules v-x (green bar) are accepted. (e) Intensity profile for molecules in (d) along the dotted yellow line. Intensity is higher where two strands of the circular plasmid are localized together. Scale bar 15 m. (f) Length vs. intensity plot for a sample carrying a single plasmid. Data for Cas9 targeting the blaCTX-M gene is shown as red dots and control as black dots. (g) Length histograms of the data in (f). Credit: Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13315-w Which antimicrobial resistance genes are present in bacteria, for example in a hospital ward? For laboratories with limited financial resources characterizing bacterial DNA is difficult, as this often requires expensive equipment. Researchers at Chalmers have now developed a method that can detect specific bacterial genes that encode resistance using standard microscopes, which are already used to diagnose tuberculosis in low-income countries. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major health threats globally, as common infections no longer respond to antibiotics. This may result in severe illness and death, for example in neonatal sepsis, i.e., severe bacterial blood infections in new-born children. The genes conferring resistance to bacteria, for example by breaking down antibiotics, are often found on plasmids, the circular DNA molecules that do not belong to the chromosomal bacterial DNA. Plasmids can transfer between bacterial strains and species and can thus spread rapidly in a bacterial population. Microscope already present in many labs "Effective and simple methods are needed to characterize bacterial plasmids and detect resistance genes when an infection spreads in hospitals. This is a problem for laboratories with limited resources as existing methods require expensive equipment," says Fredrik Westerlund, Professor of Chemical Biology at Chalmers. Thanks to a tuberculosis diagnosis program, many laboratories in low- and middle-income countries are already in possession of standard fluorescence microscopes. This was the starting point for Fredrik Westerlund's research group. They based their newly developed method on these microscopes, which are present in the hospital laboratory of their collaboration partners in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. Linear DNA molecule can be detected To find specific genes, the researchers use the so-called gene scissors, CRISPR-Cas9, which can recognize and cut DNA strands at any predetermined sequence, so unique that specific genes can be found. "If a resistance gene is present on the plasmid, it will be cut by Cas9. The DNA is then stretched on a glass slide and imaged with fluorescence microscopy, and the linear molecule can be detected. The images for analysis, can be acquired by a regular smartphone, which you can easily attach to the microscope eyepiece," says Gaurav Goyal, a postdoc in the research group. 'Any microbiological lab can perform this plasmid analysis' Gaurav Goyal explains that the method is currently intended for epidemiological studiesto characterize bacterial plasmids and to understand the spread of antibiotic resistance. It might for example be relevant to examine how many new-borns in a hospital ward that carry bacteria with resistance genes. In the long run, it could also be used for diagnosis. "We started to develop the method for laboratories with limited resources, but any microbiological lab can perform this plasmid analysisand get relevant results. In addition to finding resistance genes on plasmids, the method can also be used to determine the size and the number of the plasmids in a sample. Our method is simple and faster than other methods, which can be useful in modern microbiology labs in high-income countries too," says Fredrik Westerlund. The research was published in Scientific Reports. Explore further Drug resistance molecule can spread though bacterial 'communities' More information: Gaurav Goyal et al, A simple cut and stretch assay to detect antimicrobial resistance genes on bacterial plasmids by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, Scientific Reports (2022). Journal information: Scientific Reports Gaurav Goyal et al, A simple cut and stretch assay to detect antimicrobial resistance genes on bacterial plasmids by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13315-w Key moments during BepiColombos second Mercury flyby on 23 June 2022. The spacecraft will skim the surface at an altitude of about 200 km at its closest approach, at 09:44 UTC (11:44 CEST). Many of the in situ instruments will be on and collecting data as usual, and BepiColombos three monitoring cameras will also be activated. The images will be downlinked during the afternoon of 23 June and released over the following days. Credit: European Space Agency The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is gearing up for its second close flyby of Mercury on 23 June. ESA's spacecraft operation team is guiding BepiColombo through six gravity assists of the planet before entering orbit around it in 2025. Like its first encounter last year, this week's flyby will also bring the spacecraft to within about 200 km altitude above the planet's surface. Closest approach is anticipated at 09:44 UT (11:44 CEST). The primary purpose of the flyby is to use the planet's gravity to fine-tune BepiColombo's trajectory. Having been launched into space on an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou in October 2018, BepiColombo is making use of nine planetary flybys: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit against the enormous gravitational pull of our Sun. Even though BepiColombo is in "stacked" cruise configuration for these brief flybys, meaning many instruments cannot yet be fully operated, it can still grab an incredible taste of Mercury science to boost our understanding and knowledge of the solar system's innermost planet. A sequence of snapshots will be taken by BepiColombo's three monitoring cameras showing the planet's surface, while a number of the magnetic, plasma and particle monitoring instruments will sample the environment from both near and far from the planet in the hours around close approach. "Even during fleeting flybys these science 'grabs' are extremely valuable," says Johannes Benkhoff, ESA's BepiColombo project scientist. "We get to fly our world-class science laboratory through diverse and unexplored parts of Mercury's environment that we won't have access to once in orbit, while also getting a head start on preparations to make sure we will transition into the main science mission as quickly and smoothly as possible." A unique aspect of the BepiColombo mission is its dual spacecraft nature. The ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, Mio, will be delivered into complementary orbits around the planet by a third module, ESA's Mercury Transfer Module, in 2025. Working together, they will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star. Dual observations are key to understanding solar wind-driven magnetospheric processes, and BepiColombo will break new ground by providing unparalleled observations of the planet's magnetic field and the interaction of the solar wind with the planet at two different locations at the same time. The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Mercury on 1 October 2021 as the spacecraft flew past the planet for a gravity assist manoeuvre. The image was taken at 23:41:12 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Modules Monitoring Camera 2 when the spacecraft was 1410 km from Mercury. Closest approach of 199 km took place shortly before, at 23:34:41 UTC on 1 October. This image is one of the closest acquired during the flyby. The cameras provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The magnetometer boom of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and part of the body of the spacecraft are also visible in the image. Close to the edge of the image is the 342 km Raphael crater, which has smaller, younger craters on its floor. Nearby, the Flaubert crater has a cluster of central peaks rather than the single central peak typical of somewhat smaller craters. Central peaks are a result of elastic rebound of the target area when hit by a high-speed impactor. Data from BepiColombos orbital tour of Mercury will enable us to better understand impact cratering. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO On course for slingshot Gravitational flybys require extremely precise deep-space navigation work, ensuring that a spacecraft passes the massive body that will alter its orbit at just the right distance, from the correct angle and with the right velocity. All of this is calculated years in advance but has to be as close to perfect as possible on the day. Getting into orbit around Mercury is a challenging task. First BepiColombo had to shed the orbital energy it was "born" with as it launched from Earth, which meant it first flew in a similar orbit to our home planetand shrinking its orbit down to a size more similar to Mercury's. BepiColombo's first flybys of Earth and Venus were thus used to "dump" energy and fall closer to the center of the solar system, while the series of Mercury flybys are being used to lose more orbital energy, but now with the purpose of being captured by the scorched planet. For this second of six such flybys, BepiColombo needs to pass Mercury at a distance of just 200 km from its surface, with a relative speed of 7.5 km/s. In doing so, BepiColombo's velocity in relation to the Sun will be slowed by 1.3 km/s, bringing it closer towards Mercurial orbit. "We have three slots available to perform correction maneuvers from ESA's ESOC Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany, in order to be in precisely the right place at the right time to use Mercury's gravity as we need it," explains Elsa Montagnon, Mission Manager for BepiColombo. "The first such slot was used to tune the desired flyby altitude of 200 km over the planet's surface, ensuring the spacecraft would not be on a collision course with Mercury. Thanks to the meticulous work of our Flight Dynamics colleagues, this first trajectory correction executed very accurately such that further slots were not needed." On its seven-year journey to Mercury, the European-Japanese mission BepiColombo takes advantage of the gravity of Earth, Venus and Mercury to adjust its trajectory and reach its final orbit. Launched in 2018, the spacecraft performs overall nine gravity assist flyby manoeuvres (depicted in this animation), before entering orbit around the Solar System's innermost planet in December 2025. Credit: ESA - European Space Agency, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO Selfie-cam is go During the flybys it is not possible to take high-resolution imagery with the main science camera because it is shielded by the transfer module while the spacecraft is in cruise configuration. However, BepiColombo's three monitoring cameras (MCAMs) will be taking photos. Because BepiColombo's closest approach will be on the planet's nightside, the first images in which Mercury will be illuminated are expected to be at around five minutes after close approach, at a distance of about 800 km. The cameras provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, and are positioned on the Mercury Transfer Module such that they also capture the spacecraft's solar arrays and antennas. As the spacecraft changes its orientation during the flyby, Mercury will be seen passing behind the spacecraft structural elements. The first images will be downlinked within a couple of hours after closest approach; the first is expected to be available for public release during the afternoon of 23 June. Subsequent images will be downlinked throughout the remainder of the day and a second image release, comprising multiple new images, is expected by Friday morning. All images are scheduled to be released to the public in the Planetary Science Archive on Monday 27 June. For the closest images it should be possible to identify large impact craters and other prominent geological features linked to tectonic and volcanic activity such as scarps, wrinkle ridges and lava plains on the planet's surface. Mercury's heavily cratered surface records a 4.6 billion year history of asteroid and comet bombardment, which together with unique tectonic and volcanic curiosities will help scientists unlock the secrets of the planet's place in solar system evolution. Explore further ESA orbiter will encounter Mercury October 1 In this photo provided by Wonders of the Mekong taken on June 14, 2022, a man touches a giant freshwater stingray before being released back into the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A local fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the record for the world's largest known freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward. Credit: Chhut Chheana/Wonders of the Mekong via AP The world's largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States. The stingray, captured on June 13, measured almost 4 meters (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly under 300 kilograms (660 pounds), according to a statement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project. The previous record for a freshwater fish was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, the group said. The stingray was snagged by a local fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. The fisherman alerted a nearby team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project, which has publicized its conservation work in communities along the river. The scientists arrived within hours of getting a post-midnight call with the news, and were amazed at what they saw. "Yeah, when you see a fish this size, especially in freshwater, it is hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned," Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan said in an online interview from the University of Nevada in Reno. The university is partnering with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and USAID, the U.S. government's international development agency. In this photo provided by Wonders of the Mekong taken on June 14, 2022, a team of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers, along with Fisheries Administration officials prepare to release a giant freshwater stingray back into the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A local fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the record for the world's largest known freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward. Credit: Chhut Chheana/Wonders of the Mekong via AP Freshwater fish are defined as those that spend their entire lives in freshwater, as opposed to giant marine species such as bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between fresh and saltwater like the huge beluga sturgeon. The stingray's catch was not just about setting a new record, he said. "The fact that the fish can still get this big is a hopeful sign for the Mekong River, " Hogan said, noting that the waterway faces many environmental challenges. The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is home to several species of giant freshwater fish but environmental pressures are rising. In particular, scientists fear a major program of dam building in recent years may be seriously disrupting spawning grounds. "Big fish globally are endangered. They're high-value species. They take a long time to mature. So if they're fished before they mature, they don't have a chance to reproduce," Hogan said. "A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. They're impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species." In this photo provided by Wonders of the Mekong taken on June 14, 2022, a team of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers, along with Fisheries Administration officials prepare to release a giant freshwater stingray back into the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A local fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the record for the world's largest known freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward. Credit: Chhut Chheana/Wonders of the Mekong via AP In this photo provided by FISHBIO taken on June 14, 2022, village residents watch as a team of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers, along with Fisheries Administration officials prepare to release a giant freshwater stingray back into the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A local fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the record for the world's largest known freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward. Credit: Sinsamout Ounboundisane/FISHBIO via AP In this photo provided by FISHBIO taken on June 14, 2022, a team of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers, along with Fisheries Administration officials measure the length of a giant freshwater stingray from snout to tail before being released back into the Mekong River in the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A local fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the record for the world's largest known freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward. Credit: Sinsamout Ounboundisane/FISHBIO via AP The team that rushed to the site inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish before releasing it. The device will send tracking information for the next year, providing unprecedented data on giant stingray behavior in Cambodia. "The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years," Hogan said. "It's found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. We don't know about its life history. We don't know about its ecology, about its migration patters." Researchers say it's the fourth giant stingray reported in the same area in the past two months, all of them females. They think this may be a spawning hotspot for the species. Local residents nicknamed the stingray "Boramy," or "full moon," because of its round shape and because the moon was on the horizon when it was freed on June 14. In addition to the honor of having caught the record-breaker, the lucky fisherman was compensated at market rate, meaning he received a payment of around $600. Explore further It was this big! Cambodian fishermen hook giant endangered stingray 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain With the Colorado River's depleted reservoirs continuing to drop to new lows, the federal government has taken the unprecedented step of telling the seven Western states that rely on the river to find ways of drastically cutting the amount of water they take in the next two months. The Interior Department is seeking the emergency cuts to reduce the risks of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country's two largest reservoirs, declining to dangerously low levels next year. "We have urgent needs to act now," Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for water and science, said during a speech on Thursday. "We need to be taking action in all states, in all sectors, and in all available ways." Trujillo's virtual remarks to a conference at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder underscored the dire state of the river under the stresses of climate change, and the urgency of scaling up the region's response to stop the reservoirs from falling further. She provided details about the federal government's approach to the crisis two days after Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced that major cuts of between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet will be needed next year to keep reservoirs from dropping to "critical levels." For comparison, California, Arizona and Nevada used a total of about 7 million acre-feet of Colorado River water last year. State officials and managers of water agencies have yet to determine how they could accomplish such large reductions in water use. Finding ways of achieving the cutbacks will be the focus of negotiations in the coming weeks between representatives of the seven states and the Biden administration. "The Colorado River Basin faces greater risks than any other time in our modern history," Trujillo said. "There is much more work to be done in the basin because the conditions continue to worsen and deeper shortages are projected," Trujillo said. "We need to do more than we've ever done before." After more than 22 years of drought compounded by warmer temperatures with climate change, Lake Mead and Lake Powell have declined to their lowest levels since they were filled. The two reservoirs now sit nearly three-fourths empty, at just 28% of full capacity. The latest projections from the federal government show that absent large shifts in water use, the reservoirs are expected to continue dropping over the next two years. Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border, is forecast to decline more than 30 feet by March, putting the water level about 16 feet from the point at which Glen Canyon Dam would no longer generate electricity. The surface of Lake Mead, the country's largest reservoir, now stands at 1,045 feet above sea level. It's forecast to drop more than 26 feet by July 2023. If Lake Mead were to keep dropping, the level would eventually approach a danger zone at 895 feet, below which water would no longer pass through Hoover Dam to supply California, Arizona and Mexicoa level known as "dead pool." Trujillo said she remains optimistic "that we can get through this." But she also said it's a "very, very sobering situation." The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains and is a vital source for about 40 million people and farmlands from Wyoming to Southern California. The Colorado has long been heavily overused, with so much water diverted to supply farms and cities that the river's delta in Mexico dried up decades ago, leaving only small wetlands. The flow of the Colorado has declined nearly 20% since 2000. Scientists estimate that about half the decrease in runoff in the watershed has been caused by higher temperatures linked to global warming. And this heat-driven drying, which scientists describe as "aridification," is projected to worsen as temperatures continue to climb. The amount of runoff flowing into Lake Powell this year is estimated to be just 59% of average. "We are facing the growing reality that water supplies for agriculture, fisheries, ecosystems, industry and cities are no longer stable due to climate change," Trujillo said. Last year, the federal government declared a shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, triggering cutbacks in water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. Farmers in parts of Arizona have left some fields dry and fallow, and have turned to pumping more groundwater. The cuts have yet to limit supplies for California, which uses the largest share of Colorado River water. But that could soon change as federal officials push all seven states to participate in diverting less water. The Interior Department could unilaterally impose cutbacks, but Trujillo said the goal is to work with the states to develop plans for scaling back diversions. "We have the responsibility and the authority to take the action that we need to take to protect the system," Trujillo said. "We know we will be served better if we take action collectively." Agriculture consumes about 80% of the water that's diverted from the river, much of it to grow crops like alfalfa, which is used to feed cattle and exported in large quantities. Because agriculture represents such a large share of water use, farming areas will bear a sizable portion of the water-saving burden. Some previous deals have involved paying growers who volunteer to temporarily leave portions of their land dry. On average, cities across Southern California that are supplied by the Metropolitan Water District typically get about one-fourth of their water from the Colorado River. But this year, with the drought restricting other supplies from the State Water Project, the region is on track to receive about one-third of its water from the Coloradoan amount that will now be constrained by the order to conserve more. Trujillo said federal, state and local officials will evaluate options to "develop the additional conservation that we are going to need." American officials also met with their Mexican counterparts this week, she said, to discuss how to cooperate. Trujillo said she wants the region to avoid a chaotic response. "Our collective goal is to be able to very quickly identify and implement strategies that will stabilize and rebuild the system, so that we don't find ourselves constantly on the brink of a crisis," Trujillo said. Last month, the Interior Department intervened to protect the water level of Lake Powell. The agency announced a plan to release 500,000 acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir upstream and leave an additional 480,000 acre-feet in Lake Powell by reducing the quantity released from Glen Canyon Dam. Trujillo said the measures aimed to guard Glen Canyon Dam's ability to generate hydropower, keep water supplies flowing to nearby communities and protect infrastructure at the dam. She said in a recent letter to state officials that if Lake Powell were to drop below its minimum level for producing power, the dam's facilities would face "unprecedented operational reliability challenges." Below that level, water could still be routed through four 8-foot-wide pipes, the dam's river outlet works. But the capacity to release water would be reduced. And officials aren't sure how the dam's infrastructure would fare at those levels. Trujillo wrote that Glen Canyon Dam "was not envisioned to operate solely through the outlet works for an extended period of time and operating at this low lake level increases risks to water delivery" and infrastructure, issues that "raise profound concerns regarding prudent dam operations, facility reliability, public health and safety." Speaking to the conference, Trujillo said extra water is being held in Lake Powell to protect the dam and ensure it can continue to function reliably. Larger water reductions are needed for the same reason, she said, to "protect that basic infrastructure" so it will continue to "operate in the manner that it was designed." The river was divided among the states under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which allocated the water among states in the river's Upper Basin (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) and states in the Lower Basin (Arizona, Nevada and California). Separately, a 1944 treaty established how much water Mexico would receive. The way the compact divided the river, splitting 15 million acre-feet between the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin states, is now colliding with the reality that the river's average yearly flow since 2000 has been about 12.3 million acre-feet, and in recent years has dwindled further. While grappling with the immediate crisis, representatives of the seven states are also preparing to negotiate new rules for dealing with shortages after 2026, when the current rules expire. The federal government will issue a notice this month as it begins accepting input on those post-2026 rules. Trujillo said officials will consider the effects of climate change and the reduced flows in the river. There are 29 federally recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin, and tribal leaders have pushed to be included so they can play a larger role in talks on the river. Trujillo said officials have been meeting with tribes and will have a "process that is more inclusive going forward to ensure that our tribal communities are engaged at a greater level than ever before." In seeking solutions, Trujillo said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is involved and "we have the attention and support from the White House." Trujillo said substantial funding is available to help under the $1.2-trillion infrastructure law, which included $8.3 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation. She said funds can be used to repair infrastructure, improve water efficiency and bolster the response to shortages by helping local entities develop water-saving programs. Trujillo said federal officials don't have any "pre-baked" formula for coming up with the necessary water reductions. "We're going to have to be very creative and develop a large list of potential options," she said. "We're going to likely be in a situation of doing things we've never done before. And we'll have to have guts to be able to move forward." Explore further As drought crisis deepens, government will release less water from Colorado River reservoir 2022 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The connection start-up entrepreneurs and potential mentors build during their very first "date" plays an important role in determining whether a mentoring relationship develops. Speed datingan exercise where you can meet a room full of people in a short space of timeis an exciting activity in and of itself. However, whereas you often don't receive immediate feedback from your date, the reality is very different for many early-stage entrepreneurs. A new study, led by Bayes Business School, explored the early interactions between start-ups and people they have never met before. While existing research shows that feedback helps entrepreneurs develop themselves and their business, it does not explain what influence it has on the future relationship between the entrepreneur and the stranger they are getting feedback from. Analysis of 54 speed dates revealed that these first meetings can turn into long-term mentoring relationships depending on the nature of the feedback, the way potential mentors use their expertise, and whether there is any early commitment to feedback. There are numerous factors as to whether entrepreneurs were likely to propose a follow-up meeting with a potential mentor. These were: The nature of the feedback: while feedback often failed to give any novel insights, unwanted feedback that comes out of the blue wasn't effective eitherthe best option was spontaneous feedback related to something discussed earlier in the conversation (e.g., "you said you want to expand to 25 cities in the next three monthsI think you should consider X") The expertise displayed by the mentor: entrepreneurs liked mentors who gave expert advice, but only when linked to something they brought up earlier and when the mentor also acknowledged the expertise of the entrepreneur (e.g., such as asking the entrepreneur about their thoughts on the matter, the progress they made so far, or the specific context/industry they work in) Whether entrepreneur and mentor commit to feedback early on: whenever an early feedback exchange was abandoned (because mentors didn't answer entrepreneurs' questions or entrepreneurs evaded unsolicited feedback), responses to later feedback were not positive, even if that feedback was in line with points 1 and 2. Report author Dr. Ruben van Werven said the findings could be impactful for the managers of start-ups, or those who receive feedback from strangers, such as early workplace buddies. "With more and more people becoming entrepreneurs, getting feedback from strangers, and having a need for a mentor, is important to understand better how entrepreneurs meet their mentors. "Our research shows that skills relevant in speed dating, such as building on what the other person says and avoiding the temptation to show how knowledgeable you are, are key to turning a first meeting into a long-term relationship." "The relational dimension of feedback interactions: A study of early feedback meetings between entrepreneurs and potential mentors" will be published in The British Journal of Management. Explore further People underestimate others' desire for constructive feedback More information: Ruben van Werven et al, The Relational Dimension of Feedback Interactions: A Study of Early Feedback Meetings Between Entrepreneurs and Potential Mentors, British Journal of Management (2022). Ruben van Werven et al, The Relational Dimension of Feedback Interactions: A Study of Early Feedback Meetings Between Entrepreneurs and Potential Mentors,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12615 Assam was reeling under severe flooding. At least 26 more people have died in monsoon flooding and lightning strikes in India, as millions remained marooned in the country and neighboring Bangladesh, authorities said Monday. Floods are a regular menace in India and Bangladesh, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency, ferocity and unpredictability for the two countries' 1.6 billion people. In India's northeastern state of Assam, three people were killed in landslides while six others died in flood waters, disaster management authorities said. In the eastern state of Bihar, lightning triggered by storms killed at least 17 people, according to local disaster management minister Renu Devi. Assam continued to reel under severe flooding, with 5,140 villages across the state's 33 districts submerged by surging waters. More than 100,000 villagers are taking refuge in relief shelters. The state was first hit in April when pre-monsoon rains arrived, causing floods that killed 44 people. The floodwaters receded after a few weeks, only to rise again in June at the start of the annual monsoon season and taking the state toll to 71 so far. In neighboring Meghalaya state, at least 16 people have been killed since last Thursday after landslides and surging rivers that submerged roads. More than 100,000 villagers are taking refuge in relief shelters in Assam. Monsoon storms have also unleashed devastating floods in Bangladesh that have left millions stranded and killed dozens so far. On Monday, flood water was gradually receding from the northeastern district of Sylhet, though millions are still marooned, said Mosharraf Hossain, the chief administrator of the district. "The relief shelters are full of affected people. There's a huge crisis of food and drinking water. Many are scared to return home while many lost their houses in floodwater," he told AFP. People used boats to wade through a road in a flooded area in Companiganj. But the receding water is flooding districts further downstream in Habiganj and Brahmanbaria, officials said. In Jamalpur district, an eight-year-old girl was swept away by strong currents from her inundated backyard and later found dead, police officer Aminul Islam told AFP. Heavy rainfall also continued in the southeastern Chittagong Hills districts leading to waterlogging in the port city and exacerbating risks of landslides. 2022 AFP Credit: Kunal Kalra on Unsplash The largest ever analysis of Tasmanian devil genetics has found protected populations are as robust as wild ones, raising hopes for the endangered species' survival. Last year a number of threatened species recovery plans were removed by the former government; now new research shows "insurance populations"isolated from threats to prevent extinctionscould help preserve many animals. Specifically, one of the largest wildlife genetic studies in the world has found that insurance populations of the endangered Tasmanian devil, in zoos and on Maria Island off the east coast of Tasmania, are as genetically diverse as wild populations. This means insurance animals are as healthy and likely to reproduce and can be reintroduced into the wild, bolstering the species' numbers. The research, published iScience, is led by the University of Sydney's Wildlife Genomics Group, in collaboration with the Tasmanian government's Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. At their height, Tasmanian devilswhich are only found in their namesake statewere found at densities of 1.3 devils per km2. Populations across most of the state have declined by an estimated 80% since 1996 due to a contagious cancer, devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). The disease is not the only issue facing devils: they are also threatened by roadkill, habitat destruction, and climate changes. Although there have been no local extinctions as a result of DFTD, populations remain sparse. The fact that the insurance population animals are as genetically robust as the wild ones shows specific breeding strategies are effective, study co-author Dr. Carolyn Hogg says. "The consistency is likely thanks to our ongoing strategic management of the insurance population, which includes over 37 zoos, as well as devils on Maria Island. "By integrating orphan joeys that have been exposed to DFTD in the wild, we have ensured we have captured any genetic changes as a result of the disease." James Biggs, Director of Conservation and Population Management, Zoo and Aquarium Association, who manages the protected Tasmanian devil population, said: "This program demonstrates the role and value of zoos in buying time for a species until the primary threats are addressed, and wild populations can be restored." Dr. Hogg added that the breeding strategy can be applied to other endangered species and is therefore a useful tool to address the global biodiversity crisis. "We have already applied it to species which are part of different safe haven (fenced site) populations on the Australian mainland, such as bilbies and woyliesan extremely rare, small marsupial," she said. Around 1 million species already face extinction worldwide, many within decades, according to the recent Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment report. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia leads the world in mammal extinctions. Capturing devils for genetic analysis. Credit: Dr Carolyn Hogg/USYD Testing the devils Between 20122021, the researchers examined more than 1,300 wild and insurance population Tasmanian devils. They were collected from 31 sites across the species' rangeover 64,519 square km. They analyzed both genome-wide diversity and the diversity of over 500 critically important genes associated with immunity and reproduction and found no substantial differences between wild and insurance animals. Additionally, they found that, despite prior University research that suggested low genetic diversity in the species, there are in fact six genetically diverse groups of devils spread throughout Tasmania. "Improving gene flow between these regions may lead to improved genetic diversity in the species," Dr. Hogg said. The researchers commenced trial releases of insurance population devils in 2015. With the new study's results in tow, they will continue to monitor animals' health and genetics for at least four to six yearsequivalent to two to three generations of devils. The world's largest carnivorous marsupial, the endangered Tasmanian devil is found only on the island state of Tasmania. It was once prevalent throughout Australia but is thought to have become extinct on the mainland around 400 years ago due to predation by wild dogs. The devils' feisty name is courtesy of early European settlers, who observed them angrily fighting for mates and defending themselves against predators. Explore further Contagious form of cancer drives Tasmanian devils to become antisocial More information: Katherine A. Farquharson et al, Restoring faith in conservation action: Maintaining wild genetic diversity through the Tasmanian devil insurance program, iScience (2022). Journal information: iScience Katherine A. Farquharson et al, Restoring faith in conservation action: Maintaining wild genetic diversity through the Tasmanian devil insurance program,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104474 Penn sociologist Regina Baker. Credit: University of Pennsylvania To understand modern racial inequalities, historical context is crucial. That's according to new research from Penn sociologist Regina Baker published in the American Journal of Sociology. Baker found that in Southern states with a strong historical racial regimea notion she conceptualized and then measured using a scale she createdBlack populations today experience worse poverty. These states also have a wider poverty gap between Black and white populations. "In general, Black people are more likely to be poor than white people," says Baker, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. "Living in a state that has a stronger historical racial context exacerbates that poverty." 'I was meant to dig deeper' Baker grew up in Georgia, and both her parents came from South Carolina. "The South has always been of interest to me," she says. In graduate school, she knew she wanted to research poverty and inequality, but she didn't home in on what would eventually become this research until one particular news article got her thinking. The piece ranked states in many categories, from poverty to child well-being and health care. "For nearly every category, so many of the states at the bottom were in the South," she says. She wondered why, yet looking through the previous literature got her nowhere; little sociological research existed on poverty in the contemporary South. She happened upon a paper from respected sociologist Ronald C. Wimberley making a plea to colleagues to do more research about the South and to use their expertise to better understand social problems like impoverishment through a Southern lens. "Here I am reading this article. I had all these questions in my mind about why the Southern states were coming up in indicators as being worse off. There was this call for work on the South and for sociologists from the South to do more of this work. It just seemed like I was meant to dig deeper," Baker says. "That's what really got me interested in focusing on this topic specifically." Building an empirical study Given the dearth of previous research, Baker opted to take a novel approach, conceptualizing and constructing a measure of what she called the "historical racial regime," or HRR. It built on the commonly held sociological notion of the "U.S. racial regime," which Baker describes in the paper as "a system of rule based on race that essentially functions to sustain racial inequality." The HRR concept went a step beyond. In particular, Baker developed the HRR scale to measure past manifestations of the U.S. racial regime across time. She incorporated various historical state-facilitated institutions that shaped the lives of people who lived there, starting with slavery. "Slavery itself is one institution, a crucial one, but there are also others that states put into place, mechanisms of inequality that contributed to racial inequality," Baker says. Here, she mentions facets of Jim Crow like sharecropping, disenfranchisement, and segregation. Using historical state-level data around each of these, plus slavery, she built the HRR scale. "Scholars have said that history matters but rarely test it or show it," she says. "For instance, they may theorize about the role of racism in America or about white supremacy in racial inequality, but then they're not able to test it." Baker decided to change that. Because Southern states vary in their level of such institutional state mechanismswhich could have implications for their legacy and racial inequality in povertyBaker set out to assess the relationship between HRR, poverty, and racial inequality in poverty in the contemporary American South. She incorporated 15 states into her study: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. For each, she tabulated a score using the HRR scale. To ensure she was focused on modern-day poverty, she selected the time frame from 2010 to 2018. Then she looked at U.S. Census Current Population Survey data for more than 525,000 individuals from the Luxembourg Income Study database. From there, she plotted poverty data and HRR data together to examine the relationship between a state's HRR score, poverty levels, and gaps for people living there today. What she found, and the implications Baker says she noticed a link almost immediately. "Plotting those data was telling in and of itself, suggesting there's an association there," she says. "This historical manifestation of a racial regime seemed to matter much more for Black people than white people and especially for the poverty gap between them." Further, more advanced statistical analysis confirmed the preliminary findings, even after accounting for several individual-level variables like family structure, employment status, and education level. "After controlling for those, some that plausibly mediate the relationship between HRR and poverty, I still found this significance of HRR, where the likelihood of poverty for Black people today and Black-white inequalities in poverty are exacerbated," Baker says. These results challenge the enduring racial inequality narrative "that it's all about the individual, especially family structure and single motherhood," she says. They also suggest that the steps previously taken to ameliorate poverty that focus primarily on the individual aren't very effective; if they had been, she says, this racial inequality would not endure. In the future, Baker says she hopes to use the HRR concept to understand the role of historical racism for other outcomes, as well as broaden it to other populations and parts of the country. Ultimately, she envisions such information could help reshape how the United States confronts poverty and racial inequality. "We can't fully understand the context of modern-day poverty or inequality if we don't consider the role that history played. We can't act like the past doesn't matter if we want to move forward," Baker says. "We can't just think about the individual in a vacuum; we must think about the broader context in which individuals live, not just the micro but also the macro and how they help inform each other. Only then can we think more purposefully and creatively to address these enduring issues." Explore further Few Americans see race as key factor in environmental inequality More information: Regina S. Baker, The Historical Racial Regime and Racial Inequality in Poverty in the American South, American Journal of Sociology (2022). Journal information: American Journal of Sociology Regina S. Baker, The Historical Racial Regime and Racial Inequality in Poverty in the American South,(2022). DOI: 10.1086/719653 WASHINGTON Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they may subpoena former Vice President Mike Pence and are waiting to hear from Virginia Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, about her role in the illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election. Lawmakers indicated they will release more evidence about Donald Trumps alleged effort to defraud supporters by fundraising off false claims of a stolen presidential election. They also pledged to provide pertinent material to the Justice Department by the end of the month for its criminal investigation. The department complained in a letter last week that the committee was complicating its investigation by not sharing transcripts from its 1,000 interviews. Advertisement Were not taking anything off the table in terms of witnesses who have not yet testified, said Rep. Adam Schiff, who described a Pence subpoena as certainly a possibility. We would still, I think, like to have several high-profile people come before our committee, said Schiff, D-Calif. Advertisement For example, the committee has been able to document most of Trumps end of his call to Pence on the morning of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-president made his final plea for Pence to stop the certification of Joe Bidens victory when Pence presided over the Electoral College count in Congress. Members have not yet documented directly what Pence said in response. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., recently said the committee was still engaging with Pences lawyers, while also suggesting it may not be necessary for him to appear because of testimony from many of Pences closest aides. Committee members also hope to learn more about Ginni Thomas own effort to keep Trump in office and the potential conflicts of interest posed on her husband as a result on Jan. 6 cases that come before the Supreme Court. Virginia Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2017. The chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection says that the panel will invite Virginia Thomas for an interview. (Susan Walsh/AP) Republican state Rep. Rusty Bowers, the Arizona House speaker, is scheduled to testify at the committees hearing Tuesday focusing on state officials who were contacted by Trump and the White House as Trump tried to overturn the results. Bowers is likely to be asked about emails he received from Thomas urging him and other state officials to set aside Bidens 2020 win and choose their own set of electors. We have questions for her and we may have questions for him as well, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Thomas has publicly indicated that she cant wait to appear before the committee after receiving their request by letter last week. Along with emailing Arizona officials, Thomas, who attended a rally Trump held just before the Capitol riot, also had written to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after the election encouraging him to work to overturn Bidens victory. Emails recently obtained by the committee also show Thomas had email communications with John Eastman, the lawyer who played a key role on behalf of Trump in efforts to pressure Pence to overturn the election. I think the committee will be interested, in among other things, whether this was discussed with Justice Thomas, given that he was ruling on cases impacting whether we would get some of this information, Schiff said. Advertisement This past January, Thomas was the lone member of the court who supported a bid by Trump to withhold documents from the Jan 6. committee. Lofgren said the committee would release additional evidence it has gathered on the big rip off, in which the committee alleges Trump may have committed fraud by fundraising by making a false claim the election was stolen. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said that in the end, the public will have a clear picture of a failure of the oath by Trump. I think what were presenting before the American people certainly would rise to a level of criminal involvement by a president, he said. Kinzinger also said that he and his family have received threats because of his role on the committee. He spoke of his concern that theres violence in the future. ... And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we cant expect any differently. Schiff appeared on CNNs State of the Union, Lofgren was on CBS Face the Nation and Kinzinger spoke on ABCs This Week. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The majority of farmers surveyed in Bangladesh, Rwanda and Zambia are willing to pay for visits to CABI-led Plantwise plant clinics, which help diagnose potentially devastating crop pests and diseases as well as ways to mitigate impacts on yields. An international team of experts led by Adewale Ogunmodede, Junior Agricultural Economist based at CABI's center in Egham, UK, found that 64% of farmers surveyed are willing to pay an amount sufficient to cover the operational costs of plant clinics. This is so that they can continue to receive advice to help increase their yields and livelihoods. The researchers, which also include those from CABI's center in Switzerland; Cranfield University, UK; the University of Ibadan, and Olabisi Onabanjo University, both in Nigeria, learned that farmers are willing to pay 0.27 USD, 0.85 USD and 2.225 USD per visit respectively. Data was obtained from 602, 637 and 837 households between 2018 and 2019 in Bangladesh, Rwanda and Zambia. Farmers who had previously visited a plant clinic were surveyed and focal pests were fruit flies on pumpkin in Bangladesh and fall armyworms (Spodoptera frugiperda) on maize in Rwanda and Zambia. The researchers, whose research is published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, also learned that only a few farmersranging from around 1% in Rwanda to 16% in Zambiawere not willing to contribute financially towards the sustainability of the plant clinics. The plant clinic extension approach is part of the global Plantwise program managed by CABI, and supports smallholder farmers by providing face-to-face crop pest diagnosis and management advice to farmers. The first plant clinic was opened in Bolivia in 2003 before spreading to 35 developing countries where around 5,000 plant clinics have been established to provide free pest diagnostic and advisory services. There are currently 30 plant clinics and over 200 plant doctors in Bangladesh, 66 plant clinics in Rwanda staffed by 350 plant doctors and 121 plant clinics and 350 plant doctors in Zambia. Mr Ogunmodede said, "External funders are now paying for the plant clinic operations, which raises worries about their long-term viability if the funding stops. "These findings imply that farmers value the services provided by plant clinics and are inclined to contribute financially towards their sustainability. It would be helpful to pilot fee-paying plant clinic services to gauge farmers' actual willingness to pay. "Our findings also suggest that in some contexts, more educated and wealthier farmers, as well as members of farmer associations, could be targeted to pay the actual per-user cost of maintaining plant clinic services." The scientists also suggest that poor and older households could be permitted to pay subsidized fees in order not to be excluded from fee-based plant clinic services. Dr. Justice Tambo, co-author and socio-economist at CABI's center in Switzerland, said, "Future research would be worthwhile to explore the farmers' most preferred payment methods, thereby encouraging more farmers to participate in the payment system. "For example, Cartmell has reported that in Latin America, the sustainability of plant clinics is achievable through payment of levies to farmer associations that offer plant clinic services." The researchers conclude that their willingness to pay estimates only cover the costs of running plant clinics already established. They suggest that funding commitments from national or local implementing organizations would be needed to cover the expenses associated with establishing the plant clinics. This includes plant clinic staff training, data management, and the purchasing of clinic equipment, such as portable microscopes or hand lens tablets, and tents. One approach, the scientists say, to cover the initial setup costs and contribute towards the sustainability of plant clinics, would be to integrate this extension model into national or local government agricultural policies or extension strategies. Explore further Plantwise plant clinics help promote sustainable crop pest management in Rwanda and Zambia More information: Adewale M. Ogunmodede et al, Farmers' willingness to pay towards the sustainability of plant clinics: evidence from Bangladesh, Rwanda and Zambia, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (2022). Adewale M. Ogunmodede et al, Farmers' willingness to pay towards the sustainability of plant clinics: evidence from Bangladesh, Rwanda and Zambia,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2022.2082018 Provided by CABI DALLAS After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said its important that people learn the history behind it. We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again, said Lee, whose 2 1/2-mile walk through Fort Worth symbolizes the 2 1/2 years it took for enforcement in Texas of President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in the Southern states. Advertisement A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation last year making June 19 the nations 12th federal holiday, Americans across the country gathered this weekend at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about the past and addressing racial disparities. Many people celebrated the day just as they did before any formal recognition. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the state two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War. Advertisement Great nations dont ignore their most painful moments, Biden said in a statement Sunday. They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do. A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with the day than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew a lot or some about the holiday compared with 37% a year ago in May. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of the history taught in schools increased from 49% to 63%. Opal Lee pushes one of her great granddaughters in a stroller as she waves to musicians playing along the route during the 2022 Opal's Walk for Freedom on Saturday, June 18, 2022, in Fort Worth. Lee, often referred to as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth" led her annual two-and-a-half-mile walk, representing the number of years after the Emancipation Proclamation before enslaved people in Texas learned they were free. (Smiley N. Pool/AP) Yet many states have been slow to designate it as an official holiday. Lawmakers in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off. Celebrations in Texas included one at a Houston park created 150 years ago by a group of formerly enslaved men who bought the land. At times, it was the only public park available in the area to Blacks, according to the conservancys website. They wanted a place that they could not only have their celebration, but they could do things other things during the year as a community, said Jacqueline Bostic, vice chairwoman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy and the great-granddaughter of one of the parks founders, the Rev. Jack Yates. This weekends celebration included performances from The Isley Brothers and Kool & The Gang. In the weeks leading up to Juneteenth, the park hosted discussions on topics ranging from health care to policing in communities of color to the role of green spaces. As more people learn about Juneteenth, we want to harness that and use this moment as a tool to educate people about history and not just African American history but American history, said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy. Those participating included Robert Stanton, the first African American to serve as director of the National Park Service, and Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, who grew up in the historically Black neighborhood where the park is located and whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer two years ago sparked protests around the globe. Advertisement In Fort Worth, celebrations included the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, named for the Black cowboy who is credited with introducing bulldogging, or steer wrestling. The rodeos president and CEO, Valeria Howard Cunningham, said children often express surprise that there are real Black cowboys and cowgirls. More young people have become involved in planning Juneteenth events, said Torrina Harris, program director for the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the holidays birthplace. Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on the different practices or norms that are contradicting the values of freedom and consider how to challenge those things, Harris said. Some of the largest celebrations in the U.S. not only touch on the history of slavery in America, but celebrate Black culture, businesses and food. In Phoenix, hundreds of people gathered for an annual event at Eastlake Park, which has been a focal point for civil rights in Arizona. The recently crowned Miss Juneteenth Arizona used her platform to speak about how she felt empowered along with her fellow Black women during the state pageant, which is part of a nationwide competition that showcases and celebrates the academic and artistic achievements of Black women. Its a moment to build up sisterhood, its not about competing against each other for a crown, its about celebrating Black womens intelligence and staying true to ourselves, said Shaundrea Norman, 17, whose family is from Texas and grew up knowing about Juneteenth. Advertisement Kendall McCollun, 15-year-old Teen Miss Juneteenth Arizona, said the holiday is about the fight for social justice. We have to fight twice as hard to have the same freedoms that our ancestors fought for hundreds of years ago, she said. Its important we continue to fight for my generation, and this day is important to celebrate how far weve come. Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report. Mumphrey reported from Phoenix and is a member of The Associated Press Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her at https://twitter.com/cheymumph. The re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, raised $1,162,939 in the first quarter of this year. Stefanik did not raise it all alone. The campaign paid out nearly $135,000 during the quarter to telemarketing firms for fundraising calls, her campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission. The largest of the payments was $130,410 to Direct Response LLC of Phoenix. The campaign also paid $4,394 to FLS Connect of St. Paul, Minnesota, a firm that specializes in identifying new conservative donors, and $170 to 1360 LLC of Chicago. In other regional political news: House security U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, objects to House members being required to walk though magnetic security devices in order to enter the House floor. They have magnetometers outside the House floor for members of Congress to walk through. I believe these are unconstitutional in the sense that you cant block elected members of Congress from going in to vote, Stefanik said in an interview June 11 on the John Solomon Reports podcast on the JustTheNews politics website. A magnetometer is a device that measures the strength and direction of magnetic fields, and has security applications to detect guns. Stefanik suggested that requiring House members to pass through magnetometers is an example of how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has attempted to politicize House security. AFL-CIO scorecard A new AFL-CIO labor issues congressional scorecard is out, based on key House votes during 2021. Among New Yorks House delegation, scores largely break down along party lines. U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, received a 100%, the highest score possible, for 2021, bringing his cumulative career score to 98%. 2021 scores for Democrats in New Yorks House delegation ranged from 95% to 100%. 2021 scores for Republicans in New Yorks House delegation ranged from 5% to 23%. U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, received a 9% score for 2021, bringing her cumulative career score to 37%. Social justice bill U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, on Twitter Wednesday praised social justice legislation that passed the House along party lines to require the Federal Reserve Board to support the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in employment, income, wealth and access to affordable credit, and to report on disparities in labor force trends. The legislation H.R.2543 passed the House by a 215-207 vote, with no Republicans voting in favor and three Democrats voting against, according to the Library of Congress government information system. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted against the legislation. Education choice U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, on Friday announced that she co-sponsored legislation that Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Indiana, introduced to indirectly subsidize the cost for parents who enroll their children in schools other than the public school district where the family lives. The legislation would establish a $10 billion annual federal tax credit program as an incentive for individuals and business to contribute to scholarship funds for public and private schools. Scholarships would cover expenses including tuition, fees, books, materials and equipment for students who attend a public or private school. Educational choice is a critical way to provide the best opportunities for our students, and this bill will allow families to determine the highest quality and most suitable education for their children, Stefanik said in a news release. She said alternative education opportunities are particularly important in rural communities. Importantly, this legislation can equip students in rural communities with additional supports to supplement their learning in the local school, bringing new opportunities to families that have traditionally lacked educational options. I will continue to empower parents to be able to choose what is best for their childrens education, regardless of ZIP code. Maury Thompson covered local government and politics for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He continues to follow regional politics as a freelance writer. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 GREENWICH The unveiling of a new historical marker at Susan B. Anthonys childhood home Saturday was the occasion not only for celebration of the famous suffragists legacy but also a reckoning of how far the site has come since the house was saved from a foreclosure auction in 2006. Anthony, as recounted by re-enactor Barbara Skiff during the dedication ceremony, spent her formative years at the house in Battenville, where her Quaker father managed a textile mill across what is now Route 29. The family lived there from 1832 until a financial panic in 1839, when the family went bankrupt. The house and all the family possessions were auctioned off. Watching the auction, Anthony realized that my mother owned nothing. All of her belongings were sold to pay my fathers debts, Skiff said. That, plus unequal treatment of women and girls at the mill and at the one-room school Anthony attended, set her on a lifelong course to secure equal rights for women. Anthony advocated for womens suffrage for more than 50 years, said Linda McKenney, portraying the adult Anthony in a long black dress and Anthonys distinctive red shawl. There is still so much more to do to secure equality, rights, and opportunities for everyone. Failure is impossible! McKenney said, echoing Anthonys famous slogan. Alane Ball Chinian, regional director for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, credited Debi Craig, past president of the Washington County Historical Society, with obtaining funds for the marker from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, as well as years of effort to ensure preservation of the house and grounds. This day is entirely her doing, Chinian said. She has fought tirelessly for preservation of this house. Today is a testament to the success of her work. Craig said she learned of the houses history as a girl, when her father told her that she could vote because of Anthony and that the house hard by the state highway was the house where Anthony grew up. Dad instilled a love of history in me, Craig said. Colleen Jenkins, an area resident who is a direct descendant of Anthonys great friend and ally Elizabeth Cady Stanton, brought a copy of a cast of Anthonys and Stantons clasped hands. The original was made in 1895, toward the end of their long lives. Its a wonderful symbol of who they were, Jenkins said. The two women were very different but met by chance and worked together for 50 years. They found a common cause, Jenkins said. She challenged the people who came to the event to form a book club to read a biography of Anthony and Stanton, which she had brought, and then become docents when the house is ready to open to the public. We have to breathe life into this house, Jenkins said. Chinian credited three strong women, in addition to Craig, with saving the house from ruin: then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, and former state Senator Betty Little, R-Queensbury, who secured state funding to stabilize the deteriorating house and begin developing the site as a state historic resource. The state acquired the house for $1 in 2006 after Helise Flickstein, who also attended the event, persuaded the mortgage holder to donate it to the state. A $695,000 project in 2020 repaired the roof, masonry and structure, removed mold, and improved drainage at the site. The state acquired the 1805 tavern immediately east of the Anthony property the same year. The state will spend $63,000 for architectural plans to restore the Anthony houses interior and $1 million to restore the tavern and create off-street parking, Woerner said. The steep site has almost no parking attendees Saturday were bused from Greenwich Central School. By 2026, when America celebrates its 250th anniversary, well have an important site that speaks to the evolution of womens and workers rights, abolition, and the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, Woerner said. We will turn this into a destination site. Were making incremental progress, Chinian said. Recent projects included bringing internet service to the tavern and safely relocating a colony of 45,000 honeybees, she said. Eight descendants of Anthonys maternal grandmothers family, the Reads, and one descendant of Anthonys paternal grandmothers family, the Anthonys, attended the event. Brother and sister Susan and David Read, who introduced themselves as Anthonys first cousins four times removed, and Cambridge village Mayor Carman Bogle, related to the Anthony side of the family, pulled the green cloth off the new marker. The cream and lilac metal sign identifies the site and notes that its part of the National Votes for Women Trail. A QR code invites visitors to learn more about Anthony and womens suffrage at the organizations website. The William G. Pomeroy Grant Foundation, which paid for the sign, helps people celebrate their communitys history by commemorating people, places, things or events that happened between 1740 and 1922. Since 2006, the foundation has funded more than 800 markers in 59 New York state counties. The state stopped placing historic markers in 1939, Craig said. Craig said she submitted a grant proposal to the foundation in 2019, but processing was delayed by COVID. The Washington County Historical Society learned the application had been accepted in late 2021. David Pitlyk from the Office for Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation placed the post for the marker earlier this month. Love 7 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 CAPE MAY People from throughout the region came together over the weekend to celebrate Juneteenth and the long, storied history behind a new museum. The Harriet Tubman Museum of Cape May marked its first anniversary in Rotary Park on Sunday, while commemorating the Juneteenth holiday. About two dozen residents gathered during an idyllic afternoon to hear leaders in education, history and government discuss the importance of Juneteenth and Black history in Cape May, South Jersey and across the United States. A variety of musical guests ornamented the celebration, drawing in the attention of attendees and passers-by, including the Pan-African Rhythm Cooperative. We have to understand that the freedom that we have, the freedom that we all share is important, the Rev. Harold H. Harris said in an introductory speech. Today is about a day of freedom. The celebration centered on new efforts in Cape May and throughout the state to teach and commemorate Black history most notably, the Harriet Tubman Museum just across the street from Rotary Park. The museum formally opened to the public on June 19, 2021, in synchronization with the Juneteenth holiday that year. Museum Executive Director Cynthia Mullock said the opening of the museum was a community effort, crediting the Macedonia Baptist Church, which had leased the property where the museum is housed. Noting it was Fathers Day, she also thanked her father, Bob Mullock, whom she called the visionary behind the museum. It is such a thrill to be here and to see so many people who have been committed to the project of the Harriet Tubman Museum from the very beginning, she said. Today we celebrate the community, today we celebrate Juneteenth, today we celebrate the first anniversary of the museum in operation. The Harriet Tubman Museum features exhibits detailing the history of the Black community in Cape May and the citys role in the abolitionist movement before the Civil War. There are also displays about slavery in New Jersey, the Underground Railroad and the museums namesake Harriet Tubman, who local historians say lived in the city for at least one summer. In 2020, the museum was listed on Smithsonian Magazines lists of most anticipated museum openings and ranked No. 5 on USA Todays top-10 new museums. Mullock also commended other efforts in the state to advance lessons about Black history, namely a bill in the legislature that would chart a New Jersey Black Heritage Trail. State Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, R-Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, spoke at the celebration about the trail and said there was a need to respect Black history year-round. There should be a celebration 365 days in the year, McClellan said. I think more people should come and celebrate the history that we have here. Families and officials Jeff Hebron had family, both his uncle and his father, playing music at the anniversary celebration. Having grown up in South Jersey, Hebron said he came from Baltimore to spend both Juneteenth and Fathers Day with his family. Jeffs uncle Rastabla Hebron said, I think the event was a success. I consider this to be an overall success for the community, for the state, for the Harriet Tubman Museum and to celebrate Juneteenth. There was hope in the city that the new commemorations would affect meaningful change in the city. Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock said the city could boast of leaders who were working to make their community better. Im a firm believer that positive change begins in the hearts and minds of those who are in attendance today, Fashaw said. We must continue to teach our youth, educate ourselves and be a part of a better way, not just the same old same old. That is an injustice that I will not let continue under my watch. Police Chief Dekon Fashaw, while praising the work of his officers, acknowledged that law enforcement around the country had a responsibility to better advance racial equality. He said he was hopeful efforts like the museum could help advance needed change. New Jersey educators came to the event and said they were encouraged by the museum and the work to connect students with Black history and Juneteenth. Museum Trustee Lynda Anderson-Towns, who had taught at the Middle Township School District, spoke to the importance of school teachers in effecting change, saying they moved the world. She introduced former Middle Township High School teacher Teddy Bryan, who delivered a speech at the event about the history of Juneteenth, recounting the stories of those who had struggled for freedom. We have a number of holidays that celebrate different aspects of our freedom, Bryan said. Juneteenth celebrate that those principles life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness would finally begin to be applied to all Americans. Juneteenth reminds us of the very essence of what it is to be free, Bryan added. Make sure for the center of this day for all of us, we take time to think about the meaning of freedom. A long journey Karann Murphy, a Cape May resident and retired teacher from Radnor High School in Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania, was in attendance and said the celebration felt like an important milestone. She said had been the only Black teacher at Radnor for years and began organizing a Juneteenth celebration more than 19 years ago. We started in 2003, and next year it will be 20 years and now its a federal holiday, Murphy said. So Im just kind of excited about that. Stephanie James Harris, also spoke at the event, praising the legacy of Juneteenth and the struggle for freedom. Until two weeks ago, James Harris was the director of the Amistad Commission, a part of the state Department of Education that studies how to implement lessons about Black history into the curricula of every school district in the state. What I really feel is the real heart of this holiday is the agency that comes after, James Harris said. Its really about community, its about agency, its about places where people decided that their actualized freedom would be embraced. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, announcing the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas. It was 2 years after President Abraham Lincoln had issue the Emancipation Proclamation and several months after the end of the Civil War. Juneteenth first became a federal holiday last year, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The city of Pleasantville and the regional Coalition for a Safe Community will be hosting a public cookout Tuesday at Langston Avenue Park from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. People will be able to come by to pick up food as well as community resources. Resources will be there and provided to help people get back on track, Coalition for a Safe Community President Perry Mays said. The event is meant to bring together several regional organizations to help connect attendees to useful health care, financial and legal resources, Mays said. The disruptions to peoples livelihoods caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has made reestablishing these connections more important than ever, he said. Some of the days service providers will include AtlantiCare, the Hope One van from the Atlantic County Sheriffs Office and South Jersey Family Medical Center. Pleasantville police will be on site cooking food for the event and the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office will be there as well. Mays said the event could help law enforcement improve its relationship with the broader community. Mayor Judy Ward said the event has been in the works for months. She said it will be an important effort to connect people to community resources about which they may not be aware. A lot of people really just dont know where to turn, Ward said. Theyll be able to get the resources they need (at the cookout) to follow up on that may be helpful to them at another time. Pleasantville Public Schools acting Superintendent Karin Farkas also spoke positively about the upcoming cookout during her superintendent report on June 14. People who go to the event will also be able to receive COVID-19 tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently designates Atlantic County as having a high-level of COVID-19 spread, according to a risk formula whose inputs include hospital admissions, hospital capacity and new COVID-19 cases. Universal indoor masking is recommended for people in high-level areas, and those who are at high risk of severe complications from COVID-19 are urged to take additional precautions. Cases in the state are nevertheless generally on the decline and the rate of transmission in New Jersey Sunday was 0.82. A rate of transmission less than 1 indicates that COVID-19 spread is decelerating. Mays said that the cookout Tuesday will be the first of four hosted by the Coalition for a Safe Community, which is active in Atlantic, Cape May and Salem counties. The next one will be in Atlantic City on July 18. There will be two others in Atlantic City and Egg Harbor City whose dates are still to be determined. The rain date for the Tuesday cookout, according to a flyer for the event, is the next week on June 28. Contact Chris Doyle: cdoyle@pressofac.com Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A fast-moving fire in Wharton State Forest had destroyed more than 11,000 acres of woodlands by Monday afternoon, but fire officials are hopeful they can contain the blaze by Tuesday or Wednesday. By then, the fire, which was spotted 10 a.m. Sunday, will have claimed approximately 15,000 acres of state forestry, making it the worst since 2007. No injuries or property damage had been immediately reported, although fire officials said Monday they were working to protect 18 structures threatened by the blaze. The fire was first reported by a spotter manning a tower. Early efforts to contain the blaze failed, likely due to poor conditions, including getting access to the fire, conditions and a stiff wind, New Jersey Forest Fire Service Incident Commander John Earlin Jr. said. The conditions were dangerous and the fuel was dry and we had to step back and use an indirect attack to be able to contain the fire, Earlin said. With conditions getting worse throughout the day, the fire crews, rather than try to meet the fire head, worked around, trying to starve it of fuel and heat. Some water has been transported into the woods to help douse the blaze, and burnout techniques are being used to destroy materials that could help keep the wildfire alive. By Monday afternoon, officials were optimistic they had turned the corner on the fire, even while acknowledging more forest would burn before it was completely out. Right now we have crews out patrolling and mopping up and continuing burnout operations to strengthen our containment lines, Earlin said. At 8:00 p.m. Monday, about 12,000 acres had been claimed, and the blaze was 70% contained. Local fire departments were helping state crews in the forest. The cause of the blaze is still being investigated, but natural causes have been ruled out. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette doesnt believe the fire was intentionally set. I dont think anyone wants to see thousands of acres of our Pinelands go up in smoke, but our actions have consequences, LaTourette said, acknowledging the fire may have resulted from human error. The commissioner said with summer, the increase of man-made fires poses more threats. He stressed that extra precautions should be taken to prevent a catastrophe. It places us within our power to avoid circumstances like this, LaTourette said, commending firefighters work to limit the fires spread and protect homes and valuable public assets, such as the historic Batsto Village. From the time it was spotted, the fire grew quickly. Its size tripled overnight from Sunday into Monday. State Fire Warden Greg McLaughlin said firefighters expect to it to be fully contained by Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather. Bringing it under control, however, may take a few extra days. At least one campground was evacuated, but no injuries have been reported. Estimates of damage were not available. Parts of Washington Township, and Shamong in Burlington County, as well as Hammonton and Mullica Township have fire burning within their town limits. Smoke could be seen in Galloway Township and further south, and ash drifted from the sky in towns miles away, carried by the northwest winds. Smoke could be seen from Atlantic City and Ocean City, around 25 to 30 miles away. The smoke was so dense, it registered on weather radar. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean and eastern Burlington counties Monday evening. The DEP monitor in Brigantine reported an air quality index between 150 and 200. Thats defined as unhealthy, the third worst of six categories. The DEP defined an area from Stafford Township to Wharton State Forest to Mays Landing to Sea Isle City as having unhealthy air quality. Other surrounding stations in Millville and Toms River were in good air quality all day long. Detours and road closures were in place throughout Atlantic and Burlington counties to keep motorists away from the hot spots, while making access easier for emergency personnel. Route 206, a major connector for South Jersey to Trenton, was closed between Chew and Atsion roads. Bruce Jensen, a 50-year volunteer with the Weekstown Fire Department, was at home with his wife around 9 p.m. Sunday when he was summoned to the woods to fight the fire. He said it was the worst hes seen since 1963, when a similar fire struck a portion of the same forest. Blackness filled the already-dark woods when he and his colleagues entered the forest. He was inside combing the treacherous area until about 1 a.m. Monday. I had to follow the truck in front of me with its flashing lights and then watch the edge of the road, said Jensen, 78, of Weekstown, while at his part-time job Monday morning. Rhiannon DeLuca, 20, was working her server job at Sweetwater Marina & Riverdeck when a large plume of smoke emerged from the woods across the river, diverting diners attention from the bar. The bar sliding garage doors were open Sunday, as they usually are, to create an open-air atmosphere inside. Last night when we were leaving, there was a lot of smoke in here, said DeLuca, of the Nesco section of Mullica Township, while seated at a bar top on her break Monday. At one point, the falling ash grew thick enough that it had to be wiped off tables. Haley Wild, DeLucas colleague, was working inside the kitchen Sunday night. I smelled something burning, I could have sworn that our kitchen was on fire, said Wild, 20, of Mullica Township. I kept saying it for hours, then I learned there was a fire outside. Six structures in the Paradise Lakes Campground in the forest were among those threatened by the fire, which prompted evacuations there, officials said. Batsto Village and all of the associated hiking and biking trails are closed to visitors. Sweetwater Marina and Riverdeck, right across the river from the blaze, is closed as employees slowly clean up the establishment. Numerous campgrounds were closed, including Mullica River Campground, Lower Forde Campground and the Mullica River Trail. The combination of unusually dry air for June and gusty winds helped to spread the wildfire. Furthermore, the ground is dry, with fuel moisture levels in the orange stage, the second highest of three warning stages, at Oswego Lake, near the origin of the fire, according to the climatologists office. Contact Joe Martucci: 609-272-7247 jmartucci@pressofac.com Twitter @acpressmartucci Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Joe Martucci Meteorologist It's great to forecast for you in N.J., where I was born and raised. I earned my degree from Rutgers and have been at The Press since Fall 2017. I'm honored to be a 10 time N.J. Press Association award winner and a South Jersey "Top 40 Under 40". Follow Joe Martucci Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today The army of perennial doomsayers about the financial condition of Social Security had to be a little crestfallen after the release of the program trustees annual report recently. Thats because the report documented that the programs condition had actually improved in the last year, if modestly. More to the point, the trustees data underscored that the cost of maintaining Social Security benefits at current levels, or even expanding and improving them, is well within the capacity of the American economy at least to the end of this century, which is as far as the trustees looked. To be more specific, the trustees project that the depletion of the Social Security trust funds would take place in 2035 up from 2034 as calculated in last years report. At that point, enough money would be coming, mostly from payroll taxes, to cover 80% of then-scheduled benefits, up from the 78% projected a year ago. The improvement was due in part to the unexpectedly powerful economic rebound after the brief pandemic-related slowdown in 2020. This slight improvement didnt stop news organizations and budget deficit hawks from sounding their customary alarms. The Washington Post editorial board warned of the Social Security and Medicare disaster looming ahead. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a hive of budget hawks, warned that the latest Social Security projections show the program is quickly headed toward insolvency. The committee has always been closely linked to a foundation established by the billionaire investor Peter G. Peterson, whose hostility to Social Security was a byword. The most important figures in the 268-page trustees report may be those squirreled away in an appendix on page 218. These figures project the cost of Social Security as a percentage of gross domestic product that is, as a share of the U.S. economy. They show that the program is eminently affordable indeed, that there will be plenty of headroom in the economy, thanks to its continued growth, to expand the program and increase benefits. This year, the trustees reckon, Social Securitys combined costs for retirees, those with disabilities and their dependents will come to about 4.98% of an economy valued at $25 trillion. Through the turn of the century, that percentage will peak at 6.18% in 2075, when GDP is estimated to be more than $208 trillion, then will fall to about 5.87% in 2100, when GDP is projected to be $574.5 trillion. Is this unaffordable? Not by international standards. Some of our closest allies in the developed world spend much more than we do on public retirement and disability programs Japan spends 10.5% of its GDP, France 15.3% and Germany 12.5%. Is spending as much as 6.18% of GDP unsustainable? Given that the U.S. has spent much more on unproductive programs in recent history, that wouldnt seem so. Military spending reached 9.4% of GDP in 1967, during the Vietnam War, without raising cries that the country was going bankrupt. Defense was still consuming 6.8% of GDP in 1982, seven years after that war ended, and even today counts for about 3.7% of GDP. Somehow, defense spending is treated in Washington as sacrosanct, while the support of seniors, those with disabilities and their families is a threat to the national wealth. The notion that we cant afford Social Security and Medicare is a shibboleth of conservatives, Republicans and their anti-tax constituencies. In 2018, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., identified entitlements thats Washington-speak for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as the real drivers of the debt and called for them to be adjusted to the demographics of the future. Translation: He wanted to cut benefits. A year later, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said members of Congress should hold discussions about Social Security behind closed doors ... so were not being scrutinized by this group or the other. And yes, legislation is always easier when it takes place out of public view. Then theres Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., whose Rescue America manifesto calls for sunsetting every federal program, including Social Security, after five years. His plan advocates requiring Congress to issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt. Since those programs can go bankrupt only if Congress connives for that to happen, this is a curiously tautological mandate. Scott, by the way, is the Senates richest member, with a personal fortune estimated in 2020 at nearly $260 million. This discussion is really about politics and values, not about affordability, says Eric Kingson, chairman and co-founder of the advocacy group Social Security Works. That point is lost on too many commentators in the media. The Washington Posts editorial board bolstered its alarmist headline with the ludicrous assertion that the vast expansion of outlays for the elderly projected for Social Security and Medicare would hollow out the governments ability to spend on education, infrastructure, anti-poverty programs and other investments in children and working-age adults. The Post repeated the contention, without examining it, that any plausible future settlement would require some mix of modest benefit adjustments and tax hikes. (Whats a benefit adjustment? If the editorialists mean benefit cuts, they should say so. This is how conservative attacks on the welfare of ordinary Americans suddenly become plausible. McConnell, as it happens, had things backward when he implied that the demographics of the future justified reducing benefits. The demographics of the future pointed to increased economic inequality, which makes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid more important to the average American, not less so. Thats the point of efforts in Congress to expand and increase Social Security benefits, as would be done by a bill dubbed Social Security 2100, introduced by Rep. John B. Larson and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats from Connecticut. The measure would increase benefits across the board by an average 2%, set a minimum retirement benefit at 25% above the federal poverty line and extend dependent benefits for students up to age 26 (the current cutoff is 19), among other improvements. On the revenue side, the bill would eliminate, over time, the existing cap on wages subject to tax, which is $147,000 this year a level that in effect gives the 1% a pass on their obligation to support this universal system. (The payroll tax is 12.4% up to that wage cap, shared equally by employer and employee.) More could be done to provide additional revenue for Social Security. One option would be to make all income, not just wages, subject to the Social Security tax, thus bringing the capital gains and dividends that make up a disproportionate share of income for the wealthiest Americans into the revenue stream. That option doesnt get talked about much, perhaps because politicians know that the wealthy would go to the mat to protect their capital gains from higher taxes. Whats unnerving about discussions of Social Securitys future in recent years is the emerging assumption that doing something about the programs fiscal situation requires a combination of higher revenues and cuts in benefits. Although the first is imperative, the latter option must be taken off the table. The most misleading claim by those advocating fixes is that they must be done now because waiting will only make the required reforms more stringent. This makes absolutely no sense. Making the program fully solvent for the next 75 years, the CRFB asserts, would require a 3.24 percentage point increase in the payroll tax today but 4.07 percentage points if delayed until 2035. The program could be fixed supposedly, by a 20% benefit cut across the board today, but 25% if deferred to 2035. That means depriving workers of more than a decade of benefits or charging them more than a decade of higher taxes, just to make the ultimate changes more politically palatable. Workers dont gain a thing in those scenarios. It should be obvious that these are fixes for Social Security in the same sense that one fixes a cat or mobsters fix a stool pigeon the improvements arent felt by the targets, thats for sure. There are sound reasons for shoring up Social Securitys financial condition. They get sounder every day as the wealth of the 1% continues to outstrip the income of ordinary families and household resources fall further behind whats needed for a sustainable, comfortable retirement. Social Security is the most successful program in American history, and surely the most popular. Part of the reason this program needs to be understood as a public utility and a public good is that its one of the few things we all agree on, pretty much, and we badly need that today, Kingson told me. The calm that comes from this years trustees report is a reminder that we all have a stake in this system, and it works well. The family of the late R. Richard Bittner, a widely known Quad-City attorney, is in a dispute over his will. Bittner, 90, died in 2019. He had represented Palmer College, chaired various banks and served as chief executive officer for the Bechtel Trusts, a fund that's given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Quad-City charities and community projects. The new YMCA in downtown Davenport bears Bittner's name. 'He was a do-er': Dick Bittner's legacy lives on in Quad-Cities It was the summer of 2005, and supporters of the way-over-original budget Figge Art Museum were in a bind. Court records show that one of his sons, attorney Jeffrey Bittner, challenged the Scott County District Court's determination that Richard Bittner left his IRA to his widow, Joan Bittner, rather than to a family trust or marital trust. The IRA is valued at more than $3.5 million, according to court records, and is the largest of his assets. Jeffrey Bittner appealed the district court's judgment that declared his mother the sole beneficiary of his later's father's IRA. An appellate court last week upheld the district court's ruling. The case relied on Richard "Dick" Bittner's 2014 will, which established that his widow was the beneficiary of his IRA and established two trusts: The R. Richard Bittner Family Trust and the Joan Y. Bittner Marital Trust. The younger Bittner argued that his mother is not the only beneficiary, but the court said the elder Bittner's last will and testament made clear that she is. The three other Bittner children agreed with the co-executor in the matter, U.S. Bank, that their mother is primary beneficiary. U.S. Bank no longer is serving as co-executor for the trusts but remains as custodian of the IRA. Before his death, Richard Bittner named Jeffrey Bittner as CEO of the Bechtel Trusts. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the younger Bittner intends to seek an Iowa Supreme Court review. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The park was founded in 1870 by German immigrants who were members of the Schuetzengesellschaft as a place for target shooting. But right from the start it was more than that. Soon the 23-acre site at 700 Waverly Road was home to a dance hall, music pavilion, bowling alley, roller coaster, small zoo and picnic grounds. Lots of people, primarily Germans, gathered there for socializing. The popularity of the park began to decline around 1917 when anti-German hysteria surrounding World War I restricted activities of German Americans, including speaking their language in public, according to Quad-City Times archives. The park took another hit in 1919 when Prohibition outlawed beer sales that had been a major source of income for park upkeep. And, as first-generation Germans became second- and third-generation, the ties to the old ways were replaced by other pursuits. The park closed in 1922 and a year later was sold to the Chiropractic Psychopathic Sanitarium, a group of chiropractors who attempted to treat mental illness and various disorders with chiropractic adjustments. Park buildings were torn down. The Davenport Shooting Association continued to use the park for many years after the sale but then moved to a new range near Princeton. In 1960, much of the property was sold to the Good Samaritan Society of Fargo, N.D., for what has become a senior living complex offering independent and assisted living as well as skilled nursing care. The rebirth of the park began in 1995 when Davenport resident Kory Darnall, a student of history and of German language and culture, was doing research on German immigrants and kept finding mention of Schuetzen Park. What was this park, he wondered. He investigated further and visited the site. By then all that was left of the one-time social hotspot was a weedy, overgrown woods with just one original building, a trolley pavilion made of poured concrete that was vandalized and in bad shape. Darnall launched an effort to restore the park, establishing a nonprofit organization called the Schuetzen Park Gilde that could apply for grants and whose members could help support efforts in money and labor. Thereafter, year by year, grant by grant, and donation by donation, the park was restored. Invasive plants were cleared from the woods, a pond that helps with stormwater management was made and walking trails were built. The trolley pavilion was restored and several new structures were added, including a stage for musical performances, an enclosed picnic shelter with a warming kitchen, a large stone fireplace and an outdoor toilet building. Of the parks original 23 acres, all are now owned by the Schuetzen Park Gilde, minus those where the Good Samaritan buildings sit. The gilde also has acquired additional land that wasnt part of the park but that is contiguous, bringing its total acreage to 28, Darnall said. The total cost of land acquisition, pavilion restoration and construction of new buildings has easily been $500,000, Darnall said. The park has been designated as a city of Davenport historic landmark and it is once again a place where people gather to have a good time and to enjoy nature. As Darnall says, its useful again. It also preserves a significant slice of German-American and Quad-City history. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The family of the late R. Richard Bittner, a widely known Quad-City attorney, is in a dispute over his will. Bittner, 90, died in 2019. He had represented Palmer College, chaired various banks and served as chief executive officer for the Bechtel Trusts, a fund that's given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Quad-City charities and community projects. The new YMCA in downtown Davenport bears Bittner's name. Court records show that one of his sons, attorney Jeffrey Bittner, challenged the Scott County District Court's determination that Richard Bittner left his IRA to his widow, Joan Bittner, rather than to a family trust or marital trust. The IRA is valued at more than $3.5 million, according to court records, and is the largest of his assets. Jeffrey Bittner appealed the district court's judgment that declared his mother the sole beneficiary of his later's father's IRA. An appellate court last week upheld the district court's ruling. The case relied on Richard "Dick" Bittner's 2014 will, which established that his widow was the beneficiary of his IRA and established two trusts: The R. Richard Bittner Family Trust and the Joan Y. Bittner Marital Trust. The younger Bittner argued that his mother is not the only beneficiary, but the court said the elder Bittner's last will and testament made clear that she is. The three other Bittner children agreed with the co-executor in the matter, U.S. Bank, that their mother is primary beneficiary. U.S. Bank no longer is serving as co-executor for the trusts but remains as custodian of the IRA. Before his death, Richard Bittner named Jeffrey Bittner as CEO of the Bechtel Trusts. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the younger Bittner intends to seek an Iowa Supreme Court review. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 3 Angry 5 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WASHINGTON Within days, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision that could severely limit the federal governments authority to reduce carbon dioxide from power plants pollution that is dangerously heating the planet. But it is only a start. Advertisement The case, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, is the product of a coordinated, multiyear strategy by Republican attorneys general, conservative legal activists and their funders, several with ties to the oil and coal industries, to use the judicial system to rewrite environmental law, weakening the executive branchs ability to tackle global warming. Coming up through the federal courts are more climate cases, some featuring novel legal arguments, each carefully selected for its potential to block the governments ability to regulate industries and businesses that produce greenhouse gases. Advertisement The West Virginia vs. EPA case is unusual, but its emblematic of the bigger picture. AGs are willing to use these unusual strategies more, said Paul Nolette, a professor of political science at Marquette University who has studied state attorneys general. And the strategies are becoming more and more sophisticated. The plaintiffs want to hem in what they call the administrative state, the EPA and other federal agencies that set rules and regulations that affect the U.S. economy. That should be the role of Congress, which is more accountable to voters, said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a leader of the Republican group bringing the lawsuits. But Congress has barely addressed the issue of climate change. Instead, for decades it has delegated authority to the agencies because it lacks the expertise possessed by the specialists who write complicated rules and regulations and who can respond quickly to changing science, particularly when Capitol Hill is gridlocked. A group of tourists stop to take photos of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington on May 11, 2022. (Shuran Huang/The New York Times) West Virginia v. EPA, No. 201530 on the court docket, is also notable for the tangle of connections between the plaintiffs and the Supreme Court justices who will decide their case. The Republican plaintiffs share many of the same donors behind efforts to nominate and confirm five of the Republicans on the bench John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Its a pincer move, said Lisa Graves, executive director of progressive watchdog group True North Research and a former senior Justice Department official. They are teeing up the attorneys to bring the litigation before the same judges that they hand-picked. The pattern is repeated in other climate cases filed by the Republican attorneys general and now advancing through the lower courts: The plaintiffs are supported by the same network of conservative donors who helped former President Donald Trump place more than 200 federal judges, many in position to rule on the climate cases in the coming year. At least two of the cases feature an unusual approach that demonstrates the aggressive nature of the legal campaign. In those suits, the plaintiffs are challenging regulations or policies that dont yet exist. They want to preempt efforts by President Joe Biden to deliver on his promise to pivot the country away from fossil fuels, while at the same time aiming to prevent a future president from trying anything similar. The Stakes for Climate Victory for the plaintiffs in these cases would mean the federal government could not dramatically restrict tailpipe emissions because of vehicles effect on climate, even though transportation is the countrys largest source of greenhouse gases. Advertisement The government also would not be able to force electric utilities to replace fossil fuel-fired power plants, the second-largest source of planet-warming pollution, with wind and solar power. And the executive branch could not consider the economic costs of climate change when evaluating whether to approve a new oil pipeline or similar project or environmental rule. Those limitations on climate action in the United States, which has pumped more planet-warming gases into the atmosphere than any other nation, would quite likely doom the worlds goal of cutting enough emissions to keep the planet from heating up more than an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with the preindustrial age. That is the threshold beyond which scientists say the likelihood of catastrophic hurricanes, drought, heat waves and wildfires significantly increases. The Earth has already warmed an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius. If the Supreme Court uses this as an opportunity to really squash EPAs ability to regulate on climate change, it will seriously impede U.S. progress toward solving the problem, said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University. The ultimate goal of the Republican activists, people involved in the effort say, is to overturn the legal doctrine by which Congress has delegated authority to federal agencies to regulate the environment, health care, workplace safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more. Known as the Chevron deference, after a 1984 Supreme Court ruling, that doctrine holds that courts must defer to reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes by federal agencies on the theory that agencies have more expertise than judges and are more accountable to voters. Judges are not experts in the field and are not part of either political branch of the government, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion for a unanimous court. Advertisement But many conservatives say the decision violates the separation of powers by allowing executive branch officials rather than judges to say what the law is. In one of his most famous opinions as an appeals court judge, Gorsuch wrote that Chevron allowed executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power. The constitutional dispute is not necessarily political, because the Chevron deference applies to agency actions in both Republican and Democratic administrations. But conservative hostility to the doctrine may be partly rooted in distrust of entrenched bureaucracies and certain kinds of expertise. The month after Trump took office, his chief strategist at the time, Steve Bannon, summed up one of their top objectives as the deconstruction of the administrative state. The Chevron deference has long been a target of conservatives, according to Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who worked in the Trump White House. The originalist crew has been steadily moving toward significantly rewriting Chevron for years, he wrote in an email. They are about to be rewarded with a substantial and material victory. Filling the Bench The roots of that victory were planted in 2015, when Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., became the Senate majority leader and led his party in a sustained campaign to deny President Barack Obama the opportunity to appoint federal judges. He refused to confirm nominees, waiting for a Republican administration to fill the courts with judges who shared his belief in minimal government regulation. He was also motivated by the dying coal industry in Kentucky, which could be wiped out by new EPA rules aimed at slowing pollution from fossil fuels. Advertisement Fighting the EPA is Mom and apple pie in Kentucky, said Neil Chatterjee, McConnells former energy policy aide. McConnells effort ensured that Trump inherited not just an open Supreme Court seat but 107 additional judicial vacancies. Then in stepped Leonard Leo. At the time, Leo was executive vice president of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that helped secure the appointments of Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court and that has served as the ideological and tactical engine behind efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some of the many donors to the Federalist Society include Koch Industries, which has fought climate action; the Sarah Scaife Foundation, created by the heirs to the Mellon oil, aluminum and banking fortune; and Chevron, the oil giant and plaintiff in the case that created the Chevron deference. Leo worked with Don McGahn, Trumps White House counsel and another longtime Federalist Society member, to vet and recommend judicial candidates to the president. Advertisement McGahn was forthright about his criteria. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2018, McGahn was asked about the White House focus on undoing Chevron. Well, its not a coincidence, he said. Its part of a larger, larger plan, I suppose. There is a coherent plan here where, actually, the judicial selection and the deregulatory efforts are really the flip side of the same coin, McGahn added. Leo also helped steer the Judicial Crisis Network, a nonprofit advocacy group that ran campaigns to help Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett reach the Supreme Court, and to install dozens of other like-minded judges on lower courts. In total, Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices, 54 appeals court judges and 174 district court judges. By comparison, Biden has, to date, appointed 68 federal judges. Tangled Connections In 2020, Leo stepped down as head of the Federalist Society to run CRC Advisors, a right-wing political strategy firm. In that role, he has operated at the center of a constellation of advocacy groups and undisclosed donors that share a similar goal: Use the courts to advance conservative and libertarian causes. One of CRC Advisors biggest clients is the Republican Attorneys General Association. Another is the Concord Fund, the advocacy group that is the latest incarnation of the Judicial Crisis Network. The fund is also the largest financial backer, by far, of the Republican Attorneys General Association. Advertisement Since 2014, the Judicial Crisis Network, now the Concord Fund, has poured more than $17 million into the campaigns of the Republican attorneys general. In the current electoral cycle, the Concord Fund has contributed $3.5 million, several times more than the next biggest donor, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with $800,000. The identities of the funds donors are hidden from the public; the fund is not legally required to disclose them. Relationships among untraceable money, politicians and the judiciary are not unusual. Like its Republican counterpart, the Democratic Attorneys General Association is a political action committee that raises money to help members win elections. The attorneys general in both parties pursue cases that are aligned with the interests of their donors and constituencies. During the Trump administration, Democratic attorneys general repeatedly, and often successfully, fought dozens of Trumps policies, particularly his weakening of environmental rules. But legal experts say that the Republican attorneys general and their allies have taken such strategies to a new level, in their funding and their tactics. Theyve created out of whole cloth a new approach to litigating environmental regulations, and theyve found sympathetic judges, said Richard Revesz, a professor of environmental law at New York University. Leo and McGahn did not respond to requests for interviews. McConnell declined an interview request. Advertisement Neomi Rao, 49, is typical of the judges given lifetime appointments by Trump with support from Leo and his network. Following discussions with McGahn, Rao was nominated in 2018 to replace Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after he was elevated to the Supreme Court. The D.C. Circuit Court is considered the second-most powerful court in the country because it hears challenges to federal environmental, health and safety regulations. Rao had never served as a judge and had never tried a case. But she had impeccable conservative credentials and a dislike of government regulation. A member of the Federalist Society since 1996, Rao had clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and worked in the George W. Bush administration. She taught at George Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia Law School and founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State, which gathers critics of federal regulation. She told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she had consulted with Leo before founding the center and later met with representatives of the Koch Foundation. In 2017, she was tapped by Trump to run the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an obscure but powerful office through which proposed federal regulations must pass. From that perch, she oversaw an aggressive regulatory rollback, including the weakening or elimination of more than 100 environmental rules. Raos office sometimes pushed the Trump team to go even further. When Trumps first EPA chief proposed to weaken regulation of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks from oil and gas wells, Raos office suggested loosening the rule even further, allowing more pollution into the atmosphere. Advertisement At least two climate cases are pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which has eight judges appointed by Democratic presidents; nine judges chosen by Republicans, including three Trump appointees; and one vacancy. Another Trump appointee on that bench is Justin Walker, a former protege of McConnells and a fellow Kentuckian who wrote a 2021 dissenting opinion in the West Virginia v. EPA case in which he argued that the agency lacked the authority to regulate pollution that causes climate change. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has seven judges appointed by Democratic presidents and 19 chosen by Republicans, including six Trump appointees. It is where the Republican attorneys general have filed a challenge to the governments ability to consider the economic cost of climate change when making environmental decisions. On that bench is Andrew Oldham, a Trump pick who was once deputy attorney general of Texas. In that role, he worked on the West Virginia v. EPA climate case and said in a 2016 speech that climate regulation and the EPA itself are just utterly and fundamentally illegitimate. To the same panel, Trump appointed Don Willett, a former fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative research organization that has received substantial funding from Charles and David Koch and aims to explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels by arguing that they shield the poor from higher energy costs. Rao, Walker, Oldham and Willett did not respond to requests for interviews. Advertisement A New Legal Approach Of the 27 Republican attorneys general, a core group from fossil fuel states is leading the coordinated legal challenges: Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, Daniel Cameron of Kentucky, Todd Rokita of Indiana, Ken Paxton of Texas and Landry from Louisiana. They meet regularly among themselves and with the oil, gas and coal industries, Landry said in an interview. It would be great if we could see an overturning of Chevron, he said. The West Virginia case is largely concerned with a line of attack related to Chevron, also rooted in arguments about the separation of powers, which holds that Congress should use plain and direct language if it is to authorize sweeping actions by administrative agencies that could transform the economy. What were looking to do is to make sure that the right people under our constitutional system make the correct decisions, Morrisey, who argued the West Virginia v. EPA case before the Supreme Court, said during a public appearance in Washington in February. These agencies, these federal agencies, dont have the ability to act solely on their own without getting a clear statement from Congress. Delegation matters. Lined up behind the West Virginia power plant suit is another case in the D.C. Circuit Court brought by 15 attorneys general challenging a 2021 federal rule designed to cut auto pollution by compelling automakers to sell more electric vehicles. Paxton calls the auto pollution rule a war against fossil fuels that will harm the livelihoods of hardworking Texans. Advertisement Should that challenge succeed, more than a dozen Democratic-governed states are expected to impose tougher state-level auto pollution standards. But the Republican attorneys general have already filed a suit in the D.C. Circuit court seeking to block states authority to do that. Another case pending in two circuit courts challenges the way the federal government calculates the real-life cost of climate change. If the attorneys general succeed in blocking the use of that metric, they could strip the federal government of its legal defense for almost any future climate policy. That case has been filed by 10 attorneys general in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The same case has been filed by 13 attorneys general in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota. The AGs have a big advantage here, where they can forum-shop and choose the most favorable venues for their litigation, Nolette said. And they can break up into a multistate coalition to do more arguments in front of more judges. That increases their odds for success. While no single case is aimed at overturning Chevron, a string of victories would essentially hollow it out. Sally Katzen, co-director of the Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic at New York University School of Law, said that a Supreme Court victory this month for the Republican attorneys general and their allies would just be a taste of whats to come. Advertisement The Federalist Society has put a lot of time and energy into this and a lot of intellectual power, said Katzen, former head of the White House office of regulatory affairs in the Clinton administration. All that effort has paid off. But I dont think this is the culmination of their agenda. I think its just the beginning. c.2022 The New York Times Company A stolen 2004 Honda CRV crashed into a north Davenport duplex Sunday, totaling the vehicle while the occupants fled, police said. Police received a call about the Honda crashing into 6405 Western Ave. at 7:57 p.m. The owner of the vehicle, Josh Mahieu, came to the scene and said the vehicle was stolen from the driveway of his Davenport home at about 10 p.m. Saturday. We were sitting in the backyard, Mahieu said. We had a fire going. I didnt even know it was stolen until about 11 p.m. My friends car was parked behind my car, so I couldnt figure out how they got it out of the driveway, he said. Whoever stole it had to run over a Mediacom pedestal to get it out of the driveway, he added. Mahieu said he bought the CRV in 2004 brand new and it had run well without any problems. When he went to his vehicle about 11 p.m. Saturday, he couldnt find it. He checked the garage even though he was sure he hadnt put it in there. The crash totaled the vehicle, crushing the front end and causing the exhaust system to fall off. Mahieu said there were several young adults or teens walking in his neighborhood hed never seen before earlier Saturday. They may have been casing the neighborhood, he added. He said he would check with his neighbors to see if anyone had a camera that might have captured them as they walked the neighborhood. I even asked them how they were doing, but they didnt answer me, he said. Police ask anyone with information about this incident to call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125, Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app or submit a tip online at qccrimestoppers.com. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 8 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Eudell Watts III rarely misses library board meetings. Over the almost 19 years he's served as a Rock Island Public Library board of trustee, vice president and president, not much has stopped Watts from working through agendas with the board. It was just his luck that the board decided to name the new Rock Island Public Library branch after him and his mother, Lorene Evans Watts, at the first meeting he missed in years. "When they told me, it floored me I was speechless," Watts said. The Rock Island Public Library Watts-Midtown Branch will have a home in the Two Rivers YMCA facility at 2715 30th St., which is under construction. The location formerly housed the Tri-City Jewish Center. 'There is this kind of joyful anticipation:' Quad-Cities Jewish congregations join under one roof Congregation Beth Israel at the Tri-City Jewish Center and Temple Emanuel moved into a single new location Thursday, looking to support each other while not merging into one group. The Watts family's connection with the Rock Island Public Library stretches back decades, beginning with Watts' mother, Lorene Watts. She was a teacher with a voracious love of books and passed that love on to her children. When school was out, Lorene Watts would tutor students for free a practice that kept many kids from being held back or falling behind, Watts said. She and her husband, Eudell Watts Jr., would share food or clothing with those in need, Watts' sister, Marie Grigsby, said. Watts recalled a story a man told of Lorene Watts giving him silverware, which she then taught him how to use. Lorene Watts was appointed to the library board by former Mayor James Haymaker in 1968 and served through 1973, holding positions of secretary and vice president. She was involved with the personnel, finance, books and periodicals and Operation Read committees within the board. She also served as secretary of the Rock Island Human Relations Commission from 1960 to 1965. She died May 31, 1976. "She went about her work quietly; she was humble," Watts said. "She never in her wildest dreams would expect a thank you or any kind of accolade for doing what she called the right thing." Watts was appointed to the board of trustees in 2003 by former Mayor Mark Schwiebert, serving as a board member, vice president and president. But that's not where his involvement with the library ends. After a woman contacted Watts around 10 years ago and told him about the help she received from his mother and how she was doing some good works in her name, Watts worked with the Rock Island Public Library Foundation to create the Lorene Evans Watts Memorial Fund for Childrens Materials. The endowment fund goes toward buying children's books and other supplies, and is currently worth more than $50,000. Knowing his mother had been on the board, Watts said he was honored to have been asked to join, but he had no idea he'd be on the board for so long. Now with Watts in his third term as trustees board president, the library has become a big part of his life. He also serves on the library foundation board of directors and participates in fundraising opportunities. "I love the place. Everybody here is just fantastic. They're coming in the door; they all smile all the time," Watts said. "They're just really fantastic group of people." The news was a pleasant surprise for the whole family, Grigsby said. Many family members are teachers like her mother, whose own father was also a teacher. All this has created a legacy in Rock Island, Rock Island Public Library Director Angela Campbell said, of kindness and a helping hand to those who need it. Two Rivers YMCA, library raise $7.8 million for new Rock Island center Under warm sunny skies, about 60 people gathered on Tuesday at the site of the former Tri-City Jewish Center, Rock Island, to hear an update o "The family is just embedded in the community," Campbell said. "Thanks to Lorene and Eudell, they've helped so many people just in different ways ... Eudell will help out in any way he can on anything." Watts said he initially tried to convince board members to choose a different name until he heard it was going to honor his mother as well as him. Grigsby said her mother would be honored by the naming, but more so by the library's expansion and its work with children. "She'd be very happy that all this was going on for the kids, their literacy," Grigsby said. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Health officials are warning about the dangers of extreme heat after an incident over the weekend where a baby was left in an overheated vehicle. Temperatures in the Quad-Cities are expected to approach 100 degrees this week. Genesis Medical Center emergency physician David Dierks suggests that everyone especially vulnerable populations such as the elderly, small children and those with preexisting conditions stay out of the heat. Health professionals also recommended that small children and pets are not left in vehicles, as temperatures can rise very quickly. If for any reason one must leave a child inside of a vehicle, leave a phone in the car. Health officials also recommend frequently checking on especially vulnerable friends, relatives and neighbors. Drinking lots of water is absolutely essential, with one principle being to drink 8 ounces of water for every 20 minutes of activity outdoors. Eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day is also recommended. Think you're overheating? Find shade or air conditioning, and in extreme cases with symptoms such as disorientation or nausea, seek medical treatment. On especially hot days, it is important to always be in possession of a phone for communication in cases of emergency. Do yard work early in the morning or late in the day. Avoid dehydrating beverages such as those that contain caffeine or alcohol, and take breaks after spending time outside. Dierks final tip is to make sure to protect skin by wearing sunscreen and reapplying as needed. People must also be cognizant of the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Cool, moist, pale or flushed skin; rapid, weak pulse; headache; nausea or vomiting; dizziness and exhaustion are all symptoms of heat exhaustion. Telltale signs of heat stroke include hot, red skin; changes in consciousness; and rapid, shallow breathing. In the case of heat exhaustion, body temperature may be normal or rising. In the case of heat stroke, body temperature can be 105 degrees or more, with skin feeling dry unless one is sweating from heavy work or exercise. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Massage therapists are trained to help patients manage and relieve physical pain. But what happens when clients have emotional pain, too? Curious? Read on then check out thebodyspaonline.com to learn more or to book an appointment to experience it yourself. This is a concept that Tara Mechaley has traveled the world to explore. Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Peru, Africa, Hawaii and more: wherever Mechaley has studied, she found diverse cultures sharing physical (healing-safe) touch as a common practice for both ailments. Touch is the oldest known medicine, said Mechaley, owner of The Body Spa and Cryo located in Rapid City, South Dakota. Its the basis of so many medical and healing practices around the world. The healing touch having someone who is there specifically to take care of you is a very powerful tool. Mechaley and her staff educate their clients on how pain, stress and mental health are all closely connected and how lack of treatment can cause issues to compound, affecting quality of life and creating larger issues. Depression is considered a mental illness, said Mechaley. The physical touch of massage may alleviate some of that heaviness and restore feelings of connectivity to ones body again instead of remaining lost in distant thoughts. Massage is regarded as having measurable therapeutic benefits. One study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience found that on average massage increases levels of serotonin by 28% and dopamine by 31% and decreases cortisol levels by 31%, which could explain why people who receive massage report a decrease in depression and anxiety. Another study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that massage therapy is significantly associated with alleviating depressive symptoms. But massage helps with more than just depression. Patients struggling with fatigue, fibromyalgia and inflammation, chronic pain or autoimmune diseases also can benefit from The Body Spa and Cryos holistic approach. Not beauty. Not wellness. Lifestyle as part of a whole health regimen. Our therapists have access to tools that help give our clients the means to be able to continue the lifestyle they enjoy. All therapists are trained to employ a variety of tools and tactics to help guests feel their best, yet they are still encouraged to bring their own specific skill sets to the practice. No two guests are the same, so practitioners assess needs wholly and individually before recommending treatments to complement those needs. The Body Spa and Cryo employs five additionally trained massage therapists as well as other professionally trained staff to deliver a number of other treatments including whole body red light (cold laser) therapy, whole body cryotherapy, targeted Cryo for animals and human pain management, Cryo slimming, infrared sauna and more. Im always growing, evolving, looking to bring something new to Rapid City that will help our community, Mechaley said. The Body Spa and Cryo helps the community in other ways as well. We donate to our community and other organizations that are making a difference in wellness. And we always try to keep prices reasonable so those who need our services can afford them, she said. Mechaley and her team also donate their services when able to the Sacred Mountain Retreat Center in Deadwood, South Dakota. This center helps injured veterans, first responders and immediate family members of a fallen service member, known as Gold Star families, heal from trauma and depression through exposure to nature, alternative healing methods and communication. All sessions are customized, and The Body Spa and Cryo practitioners are happy to work in tandem with doctors to make sure patients are getting the best possible care. My number one rule is that when a client walks out of the spa, they know that someone cares about them, said Mechaley. Its a ripple effect. If you help a person, and they can then learn to take care of themselves, theyre going to be able to help others as well. For more information, to buy gift certificates or to book an appointment, visit thebodyspaonline.com. You may also call the spa at 605-391-1678 with any questions. This content is provided for informational purposes only by the advertiser and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Please consult your healthcare provider for medical advice. Any views, thoughts or opinions in this paid post belong solely to the advertiser and do not represent the views of Brand Ave. Studios or its parent company. This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 PIERRE It has been roughly 21 months since a vehicle driven by South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed pedestrian Joe Boever of Highmore. What follows is an overview of the events that followed, taken from various news sources. The long road to its first impeachment of a statewide elected official started on U.S. Highway 14. It began on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, when Ravnsborg, driving his personal vehicle to Pierre from a political event in Redfield, struck and killed Boever as he walked along the north shoulder of the road, facing traffic. Ravnsborg called 911, explaining that he did not know what he hit. A search of the scene, in the dark, did not reveal what the vehicle hit. Ravnsborg drove the Hyde County sheriffs personal vehicle home, returning to the accident scene the next day to find Boevers body. Ravnsborg was charged with two misdemeanors: an illegal lane change for driving on the shoulder of the highway and illegal use of an electronic device while operating a vehicle. Through his attorney, Ravnsborg pleaded no-contest to both charges and was fined $500 for each offense. He never appeared in court. Aside from the judicial outcome, Gov. Kristi Noem, who, like Ravnsborg is a Republican, has been adamant that Ravnsborg should resign. On Feb. 23, 2021, Noem offered a formal statement calling for the attorney generals resignation. The next day, Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Pierre, introduced a resolution in the Legislature seeking Ravnsborgs impeachment. During a special session in November 2021, the House voted 58-10 to create a select committee on investigations to decide if Ravnsborgs conduct in Boevers death involved impeachable offenses. The committee eventually voted 6-2 to issue a majority report saying that the attorney generals actions didnt warrant impeachment. The Republican majority on the committee reasoned that Ravnsborgs accident didnt take place during the performance of his duties as attorney general and, consequently, didnt rise to the level of impeachment. A minority report by the committees two Democrats called for impeachment. Despite the results of the majority report, on April 12, the House voted to issue two articles of impeachment. To move on to the next phase, the vote on the articles of impeachment needed a majority and it got just that with a 36-31 vote. One count calls for Ravnsborgs impeachment because of the crimes related to Boevers death. The second count says Ravnsborg misrepresented what happened in the 911 call and during the investigation of the accident. That count also asserts that the attorney general used the resources of his office for his personal benefit during the investigation. In accordance with the state constitution, once the House voted to impeach Ravnsborg, he was suspended from his duties as attorney general. The Senate trial on June 21 and 22 will determine Ravnsborgs fate. The attorney general will be represented by attorney Michael Butler of Sioux Falls. The prosecutors for the impeachment trial will be Pennington County States Attorney Mark Vargo and Clay County States Attorney Alexis Tracy. The states constitution requires that a two-thirds majority of senators 24 of 35 must vote to uphold the articles of impeachment. A two-thirds majority vote upholding one or both counts would lead to another vote on whether Ravnsborg should be permanently barred from holding elective office. That vote also requires a two-thirds majority. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 One of four escaped inmates who walked away from a federal prison satellite camp in Hopewell has turned himself in, authorities said Monday. Tavares Lajuane Graham, 44, showed up back at the facility early (Sunday) morning and was taken back into custody, said Kevin Connolly, a supervisor with the U.S. Marshals Service Capital Regional Fugitive Task Force, which is assisting in the search and capture of the missing inmates. Still at large are Corey Branch, Lamonte Rashawn Willis and Kareem Allen Shaw, who were discovered missing from the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburgs satellite camp in Hopewell around 1:45 a.m. Saturday. These are walkaways ... the information is that they left around 10 p.m. Friday, so they had a couple of hours before they were detected, Connolly said. The satellite camp, which houses low-risk inmates in a dormitory, is adjacent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum-security facility at 1100 River Road in Hopewell, known as the Federal Correctional Institution Low. The U.S. Marshals, as they normally do, have obtained all of the background information on these individuals from the facility, the ATF and DEA. ... Were following up on leads on these remaining three, Connolly said. The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $2,000 per escapee for information leading to their capture, Connolly said. Tips can be provided to the U.S. Marshals Service on the agencys app, USMS Tips, or at usmarshals.gov/tips. The U.S. Marshals Service will charge all four inmates with escaping from a federal prison, which if convicted carries a punishment of up to five years in prison. So they will have new charges, in addition to the federal sentences theyre serving down there, Connolly said. Graham was sentenced in the Eastern District of North Carolina to 10 years for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 28 grams or more of cocaine base, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Branch, 41, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to more than 13 years for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm by a felon. Willis, 30, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to 18 years for possessing and concealing a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Shaw, 46, was sentenced in the Western District of Virginia to more than 16 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a measurable quantity of heroin. Shaw, 46, was sentenced in the Western District of Virginia to more than 16 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a measurable quantity of heroin. Mondays Google Doodle commemorating Juneteenth featured an illustration by Richmond father-and-son artists Jerome and Jeromyah Jones. Monday was a federal holiday celebrating Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, which was June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and notified enslaved African Americans that they were free. The Joneses were commissioned to produce the illustration featured as the Google Doodle, said Jeromyah Jones. The search engine often chooses a piece of art to illustrate one of that days holidays or anniversaries. Although our composition was first launched after 3 p.m., on June 19th, we were filled with jubilation to wake up on June 20th and see our painting that Google commissioned us to illustrate, the Joneses said Monday in a joint statement by email. We painted the inspiration that comes from the education of emancipation that occurred two years after President Lincolns proclamation. That is why we call our Google Doodle Painting in The Footsteps of Our Freedom. In a Google interview accompanying the Doodle, the Joneses said working on the Juneteenth illustration meant a lot to them because its a great milestone in the African American struggle for liberation. This notification that our ancestors received 157 years ago is an essential catalyst for contemplating what freedom looks like for us today as a people, they said in a Q-and-A interview. The celebration is a special commemoration because it highlights good news for a change that was given to a people who were once in chains. They said they were inspired by the commonalities of the two holidays in close proximity to one another: Fathers Day and Juneteenth. The hand in the background symbolizes the descendants of those who were emancipated on June 19, 1865, and the children of fathers in the generations that follow, they said. The brush is a metaphoric representation of the bridge that connects the roots to their fruits. Painting in the footsteps means we are giving color to the past so that the legacy will be visible to every child in class. The red, black and green Sankofa bird looking back is symbolic of opening the history book in our laps to close the generational gap. The Joneses displayed a sample of their paintings on Saturday during the Juneteenth Celebration at Henrico Countys Dorey Park. A painter for more than 40 years, Jerome Jones specializes in original portraits, landscapes and still-life paintings. His work, according to the teams website, is in the collections of Stevie Wonder, Evander Holyfield and Michael Jordan. He received his degree in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1980. On their website, Jeromyah Jones is described as a visionary for justice, writer of truth, painter of life, and poet of love who is painting in the creative footsteps of his father. He holds a degree in comprehensive arts from Hampton University. Actor, author and activist Molly Ringwald will visit Richmond on Saturday to headline an event in support of the re-election campaign of state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield. The event will be held at Studio Two Three, 3300 W. Clay St., from 3 to 5 p.m. Tickets are available at bit.ly/rvaringwald. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Canita M. jumps double dutch during Juneteenth celebrations on June 19, 2022, at the newly renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) The smell of barbecue and the sound of jazz music wafted through the air as people picnicked on a green lawn, and kids jumped on a bouncy house and slid down an inflatable slide. Some kids eagerly waited in line with their parents so they could go horseback riding. Others walked around booths, fanning themselves as temperatures reached the 80s and the sun beat down on their shoulders. The stands displayed shirts and jewelry, promoted mentoring programs, offered beauty products and more. Advertisement This was the Juneteenth scene on Sunday afternoon at the recently renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. Shettima Webb, a small-business owner, spoke about celebrating Juneteenth as a Black woman. Advertisement Murals are on display during Juneteenth celebrations on June 19, 2022, at the newly renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Its like a mixed bag you feel sad because theres a reminder, wow, in this country there was slavery, but then you also celebrate the strides that has happened as well, Webb said. We dont forget where we come from, but we also want to acknowledge where we are going, so Juneteenth is important for everybody, not just Black people. The holiday celebrates the announcement made on June 19, 1865, to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, that slavery had been abolished after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed 2 years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln. On Sunday, the block party was full of musical performances, lively conversations and good food. Chance the Rapper, born and raised in Chicago and slated to perform at night, co-sponsored the event. The musician was walking around during the afternoon, mingling with visitors and taking pictures. People take photos with Chance the Rapper during Juneteenth celebrations on June 19, 2022, at the newly renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot made an appearance early on, taking the stage to reflect on the importance of Juneteenth for the first time recognized as a municipal holiday. Juneteenth every year should be a call to action, Lightfoot said. A call to make sure that were doing everything that we can to make sure that our young people in particular understand their history and that we recommit ourselves to righting historic wrongs and uplifting the equality of life of our communities. She also discussed the significance of Fathers Day, which coincided with Juneteenth this year. Black fathers are important. Black fathers arent always given their due, she said, taking a moment to thank her father. Lets make sure that we remember Juneteenth, that we celebrate our heritage every day and that we say Thank you to our fathers. Advertisement Hailey Smothers, left, 9, and Londyn Smothers, 7, pet Sky the horse during Juneteenth celebrations on June 19, 2022, at the newly renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Tiffany Richardson, 39, said seeing so many people and groups showed how the day went beyond African American history. So, its like a celebration of so many different things, you know? Small businesses, African Americans, Americans, she said. Its just so dope. She said she was part of the Chicago metropolitan alumnae chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which was co-sponsoring the block party with the Black Mall, which provides digital marketing solutions for Black businesses. A few block party participants wore head wraps with vibrant patterns and matching earrings, which they had bought from Webb, the business owner who makes jewelry and described herself as an accountant by day. The Black Mall invited small, Black-owned businesses together to participate in the event. People enjoy live music during Juneteenth celebrations on June 19, 2022, at the newly renamed DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Reflecting on the need for Black businesses to help each other, Webb said her venture, M.E. Marketplace, is an incubator for 10 Black-owned businesses to practice cooperative economics in Forest Park. Bringing so many people together for a day of celebration took a lot of preparation and cooperation, said Kim Dulaney, vice president of education and programs at the DuSable Museum. Advertisement It is absolutely a communal labor of love, she said. Happy Juneteenth. A party with a purpose, right? Dulaney said. Remember the reason for the holiday. A governors appointee to the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board publicly disparaged people on Twitter and trolled accounts with obscenities, writing that Vice President Kamala Harris sucked the right d--- to advance in her career. Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed Casey Flores to the board, which includes 21 citizens who advise the governor on LGBTQ+ policy issues. Flores is active in the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that represents LGBTQ conservatives. The appointment begins July 1. The governors press secretary this month referred reporters to Flores as someone who can defend Youngkins position on LGBTQ+ issues. Listen, people tweet, Flores said in an interview when asked about his tweets. After reviewing them, he said Monday, The tweets were funny. I needed a good laugh. He said the tweets in question were not reflective of his broader postings on Twitter about such things as the economy, global affairs and China, and not how I talk to people normally. He said he will change his tone on social media now that the governor has appointed him and will be a professional on the board. I have a more public obviously more public role now and I have no problem with toning it down, he said. The Richmond Times-Dispatch is using dashes to represent some of the vulgar words in the tweets. In his posts, Flores called a person on Twitter a fat, racist, self-hating white and a fat, racist slob in January, and wrote to him, you cant even find your own d---. In March, Flores called someone who said the fight for gay rights wasnt over, a p----. He trolled Twitter accounts of elected officials, responding to a 2021 tweet from President Joe Biden about COVID-19 in 2021 with Please shut the f--- up. He responded to a 2020 tweet from Pete Buttigieg, now the U.S. secretary of transportation, with F--- off. In 2021 when a gay man on Twitter wrote to Flores that Log Cabin Republicans did not represent the typical gay experience, Flores responded, Shut the f--- up. Commenting on a story in January about climate change protesters blocking a road in Washington, D.C., Flores wrote, Id actually beat the s--- out of them. Wouldnt hesitate. Flores March 2021 tweet about the vice president was in response to a news story about her. She sucked the right d---, locked black people up for weed, and kicked her feet up while her staffers slaved away but ok, Flores wrote. Three weeks ago, he responded to a tweet about Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, by saying: This b---- is a groomer but well be hearing so much more from her. He accused other people and institutions of racism, including the cable network CNBC, Asian countries generally, Joy Behar of The View, and state Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton. In the interview, Flores defended his comment on Asian countries. Have you ever been to an Asian country? ... you would probably agree with me, he said. Its not a secret that they dont like immigration. ... China is the most racist country on earth. Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay Coles James, the Youngkin Cabinet member who oversees appointments, said she spoke with Flores about his tweets and reminded him that he now represents the governor. He apologized and said he certainly did understand and he would mediate his language as appropriate going forward, she said. He has a stellar and outstanding career and is a strong advocate and I think has a voice that needs to be heard. She said Flores age was one factor. Sometimes with younger people, they dont understand that tweets and comments like that not only represent themselves but if youre going to be an appointee represents the person who appointed you, James said. Sometimes my values and language that I use, young people today dont adhere to those same standards. Flores is 31. James said that as a Log Cabin Republican, Flores will be a great voice to have on the LGBTQ+ advisory board: Someone who is advocating on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community as well as understanding Republican values and principles. Youngkin is replacing five members of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board whose terms expire July 1. The board, which was created in 2021 to focus on policy related to LGBTQ people, is focused on education and the workforce, health care, housing and safety. LGBTQ communities are under rising attack by right-wing hate groups. A new report from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project released during Pride Month said there was an increase in 2021 in political violence and demonstrations against LGBTQ people and that 2022 is on track to be worse. In the interview, Flores said of the LGBTQ+ movement, Theres not a right that we dont have. He said he wants Youngkin to know that. He doesnt need to be forced to comply with the LGBT agenda, Flores said. The totalitarian LGBT agenda that refuses to accept anything less than total capitulation. They keep making new issues up, thats the thing. ... You can never keep track. Totalitarianism is government by strong central rule that attempts to control and direct all aspects of individual life through coercion and repression, according to Britannica. Flores said that on the board, he will advocate for the religious liberty of Virginians and wants to look into possible funding for free health care clinics that do blood testing. Leslie Caughell, a political scientist at Virginia Wesleyan University, said Flores tweets were immature, among other problems like advocating misogyny and insulting someones appearance. He bandies about the term racist in ways that are disconnected from its meaning and undermine the true significance of the problem of racism, she said in an email. Mr. Flores methods of civic engagement stand as a reflection on the governors own values if he appoints him. It has been almost one year since the ugly U.S. departure from Kabul. Yet tens of thousands of Afghans who were promised special immigrant visas (SIVs) meant for those who worked for U.S. soldiers and civilians remain trapped under terrifying Taliban rule. Even for those eligible for SIVs, it could take years if ever to be issued one, given the glacial pace of the process. Hunted by name by the Taliban, many applicants might be dead or imprisoned long before their number comes up. As the United States (rightly) rolls back bureaucratic red tape to welcome Ukrainians as temporary refugees, it is shameful to abandon those Afghans to whom we made promises. We left far too many behind, I was told by Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., an Iraq War veteran at the forefront of pushing for legislation to speed up the process. It is taking far too long to save people who are depending on us. Contrary to popular belief, many of the roughly 120,000 Afghans evacuated from the Kabul airport during the chaotic U.S. exit were not those who were promised SIVs. Large numbers were people who managed to push their way into the airport, or had connections with the U.S. or Afghan military inside of the airport. Other lucky Afghans were rescued by impromptu operations, organized by networks of U.S. humanitarian organizations, journalists and U.S. military veterans working to get staff or translators through Taliban and U.S. military checkpoints, and into the airport. To recall those desperate days in August, I highly recommend the forthcoming book The Fifth Act: Americas End in Afghanistan, due out Aug. 9. Its author, Elliot Ackerman, a decorated veteran of five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was drawn into one of those rescue networks. He brilliantly describes the harrowing rescue efforts, which he ties into the larger tragedy of the Afghan War. Everyone scrambled to get out people they knew, Ackerman recently told me, referring to operations by U.S. veterans. The people who got out had the right contact list on their cellphone, he added. U.S. military veterans were being asked to play a Schindlers List game, deciding who gets help and who gets left behind. Betraying the SIV applicants, Ackerman says, is a betrayal of our values. We could expedite the visa process. But the administration just wants the SIVs to go away, allowing infinitesimal numbers in. The numbers certainly support that conclusion. The State Department estimates as many as 160,000 Afghan allies, along with immediate family members, are eligible for SIVs, according to a Politico report. The eligible group including military translators, left-behind embassy staff members, staff members for U.S. Agency for International Development projects, and techies who helped U.S. contractors doesnt even include the many thousands more judges, prosecutors, womens rights activists and journalists who worked on U.S.-funded projects but arent eligible for SIVs. Yet State Department flights which the Taliban still allow to depart from Kabul Airport evacuate only around 350 Afghans weekly; all evacuees must have SIV applications that are in the final stages of processing. They are flown to Doha in Qatar for that final processing, before admission to the U.S. That leaves untold thousands of Afghans under severe Taliban threat because they were closely associated with Americans; their names often are on electronic employment lists that the Taliban retrieved. One example: A family Ive been trying to help, is headed by a leading Afghan judge with stellar credentials and a recommendation by a U.S. general he worked with. The generals support has not accelerated his case. The Taliban is searching for the jurist, so he and his family are living in hiding. The children are unable to go to school, and the family is fearful even to go outside to shop for food. Their money is running out. Three family members are SIV-eligible, including a womens rights activist. Yet they all are only at the beginning of the visa process. The family is in such danger that I cannot use their names. Another option that should be available to the jurists family which now is being used to expedite the arrival of Ukrainian refugees is humanitarian parole status. This waives normal visa requirements and allows a temporary stay in the U.S. Under this option, Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion can remain in the U.S. for two years, if sponsored by relatives or other U.S. citizens. In the Ukrainian case, I was told by Adam Bates, a lawyer with the International Refugees Assistance Project, the administration did workarounds to let previously unknown Ukrainians enter in weeks. Why not let known Afghans in? If sponsors were needed, many U.S. veterans could be found to host their former Afghan translators while they waited for SIV approvals. Yet according to Moulton, of around 45,000 Afghan applications for humanitarian parole, 2,500 have been considered and denied, and only around 270 have been conditionally approved. The different treatment of Ukrainians and Afghans cant be attributed simply to red tape in processing the latter. True, there is a pressing need to simplify the overly complex SIV process, and to increase the number of processing personnel. But nothing will truly change without specific direction from the White House. When you look at how fast the Ukrainian situation was put in operation, said Bates, I dont know how you can justify the Afghan situation. There is a lack of will to get this done coming from the White House. The Ukrainian situation shows what happens when the administration is truly committed to processing admissions, Bates said. Where there is a will, there is a way. Roanoke police are investigating a shooting that occurred Saturday night and sent one person to the hospital At approximately 11 p.m., police said they received reports of shots fired and a person with a gunshot wound in the 900 block of Kellogg Ave. in the city's northwest quadrant. While en route to the scene, officers were notified that an adult male with gunshot wounds had arrived via personal transport at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Officers who went to the hospital were told the victim sustained non-life threatening injuries. Police said they found evidence of a shooting in the Kellogg Ave. area, but located no additional victims. The preliminary investigation indicates all parties that were involved in the incident were known to one another, the department said. Details about the shooting remain limited and no arrests have occurred, police said Sunday afternoon. The department is asking anyone with information about the incident to call 344-8500 or text 274637 beginning with RoanokePD. Calls and texts can remain anonymous. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The process for eventually finding Montgomery County Public Schools next superintendent cleared its latest step earlier this week with a series of four public forums and 17 focus group meetings that were organized to gather community feedback. The gatherings were run by a pair of consultants with GR Recruiting, the firm MCPS is paying $20,000 to help with its superintendent search. The forums took place at each of the four high schools on Monday and Tuesday evenings. The first two forums on Monday took place at Auburn and Blacksburg high schools, while the other two events the following day occurred at Eastern Montgomery and Christiansburg high schools. The consultants asked attendees at each of the forums a series of just over a dozen questions that covered topics such as major challenges facing the district, the divisions strengths and traits members of the community would hope to see in the new MCPS chief. Lane Plugge, one of the consultants with GR Recruiting, said its common for the firm to organize events such as the ones they recently hosted across Montgomery County as part of its other searches. He, however, said what set the recent MCPS forums somewhat apart from others the firm has conducted was the amount. I think thats because of the uniqueness of the Montgomery County schools, Plugge said shortly after the end of the CHS forum. Plugge said the firm learned that each of the districts four communities have unique traits that they wanted to ensure was understood. The focus group meetings, Plugge said, covered similar topics as the forums but were each narrowed to specific groups such as students and school employees including central office staff. Were hoping the input we get from these public forums and focus groups will match up with the surveys that we get, he said. The distinct traits of each of the Montgomery County school strands were touched on a few times during the forums. At least a few attendees pointed out that different political affiliations and viewpoints are either dominant or significant in each of those communities and that school board members depending on exactly which areas they represent often reflect much of those stances. In fact, several people who attended the forums told the search firm consultants that one challenge the new superintendent will need to be able to grasp and navigate is the ideological divisions on the board. Those divisions have often played out publicly, particularly since the start of the pandemic just over two years ago. Issues the school board was sharply divided on included the reopening of the schools during the first year of the pandemic and the taking up of new policies for transgender students, a matter that was prompted by the previous passage of state legislation. In fact, many students and community members, particularly in the Blacksburg strand of schools, have kept LGBTQ-related issues at the forefront with public comments over the past several months on whether pride flags should be allowed in the classrooms. The topic of measures for students who are part of groups such as the LGBTQ community was brought up during the forums. One question the consultants posed was which groups or organizations the new superintendent should make a priority to reach out to. Forum attendees brought up teachers, students and as some at CHS pointed out even the business and faith communities. Teachers were noted by some as among the districts strengths and one of the reasons for a superintendent to want to come work at MCPS. Some forum attendees also spoke about a need to improve the trust in teachers and their experience in the classroom with others specifically voicing a preference that the future superintendent have a both primary and secondary education background. Anna Vijayan, a parent who attended the forum at Auburn High, was among those who spoke about a need to place greater trust in teachers. Vijayan described the recent gathering as a way to have a conversation and hear different perspectives. I hope, and I expect the search firm will bring all those pieces of information together and report it fairly to the school board, so the opinions are summed up fairly so the board can make a good decision, she said. Paul Deck, a parent who attended the Blacksburg High forum, said he understands its part of the firms duties, but that he still feels its a good idea to reach out to the community to learn about qualities and experience theyre looking for in a new superintendent. Deck said he was glad to hear the consultants talk about hearing some ideas they hadnt heard about before. A few ideas like that are worth a lot, Deck said. And thats a good enough reason to have a session like this. Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The ambassador of the bananas came to talk with the community of oranges to see how the two fruits could peacefully coexist on the imaginary island of Fruitopia. Sydney Werness, 17, a junior at Patrick Henry High School, was the banana ambassador who met the oranges to discuss life on their diverse yet segregated island. The whole exercise was part of a role-playing game among members of Roanokes expanding refugee and immigrant populations that taught methods for communicating across language and cultural barriers and forming communities, like a real-life Fruitopia. Words of Dari, Swahili, Spanish and English weaved together as students talked and worked with art supplies and fruit to create personalities for their imaginary communities. A frowny face was made from pipe cleaners on a banana. Feathers popped out from the head of an orange with googly eyes. More than 20 high school and college students gathered at Belmont Library on a Saturday afternoon in May to participate. Some were refugees, others grew up in Roanoke. Many had never met before. Each fruit group faced challenges in their homeland, which led them to Fruitopia alongside other fruit groups that had persecuted them. The project mimicked the immigrants own experiences of leaving home and seeking refuge in a new country. The activity was organized by Hardwired Global, a nonprofit organization based in Richmond that is traveling throughout the commonwealth this year, targeting areas with high refugee populations, and using their simulation workshop to support social integration of refugees and newcomers into schools and communities. They are partnering with resettlement organizations, including Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Roanoke which, as of May , has helped resettle 438 refugees to the Roanoke area since 2019. Victoria Tiggas, outreach and development officer with Hardwired Global said the goal of the workshop is to promote pluralistic societies where people can go beyond simply coexisting with others who might be very different and engage with those people more fully. So for example, here [during the Roanoke workshop] we have Afghan refugees, we have some Hispanic refugees, and we also have Congolese refugees, Tiggas said. So, even between those refugee groups, they will have to engage with one another here in their community and in their schools, and we want them to feel comfortable doing that. Tiggas said fruit is used as an analogy to help students feel more comfortable discussing hard topics such as pluralism, acceptance and tolerance. Throughout the simulation, they work through fears and misconceptions that they have with one another, they break those down, and then they rebuild them into a more positive view or perception of the other fruit. Even the ones that persecuted them back in their home. Four hours later, a roomful of students that began mostly silent, erupted with excitement. Members from the different fruit groups put fears and prejudices aside to discuss attributes each group had that could help contribute to the community. Werness, the banana ambassador, wanted to attend the workshop to learn more about the different cultures that she sees at school. I learned how different my life has been from the newcomers life, said Werness, who was born in Roanoke. Ive learned their stories. Josette Iradukunda, 24, one of the oranges, talked about her own life, moving around for 15 years as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been ravaged with civil war for over two decades. Just be you and grip opportunities, advised Iradukunda, talking to fellow oranges Negina Rasoli, 20, and Marjan Sharifi, 22, both refugees from Afghanistan. Iradukunda came to Roanoke in March 2021. I understand because, in Congo, we lost a lot of people, said Iradukunda about the ongoing civil war in her homeland. She lost many of her own family members. We had to split and when we are running away everyone is running for their life, she said. Its so frustrating. Yeah, its frustrating, agreed Rasoli who said she came to Roanoke in October 2019, fleeing Afghanistan just after finishing high school in an unsafe area controlled by the Taliban, and having to leave some family members behind. Right now its going wonderful for me because its almost three years Ive been here, Rasoli said. But the first one and a half years was too hard for all my family members. Rasoli currently works at a textile company and will attend Virginia Western Community College in the fall. She hopes to be a surgeon someday. Werness said she liked the simulation because it was fun and informative. My high school is very diverse, but so separate, Werness said about Patrick Henry. She said she is not uncomfortable reaching out to students who came from other countries but that she can be hesitant because she is unsure what to ask. But she said she does try. I think its really important to understand and empathize with everyone, she said, to learn about different cultures and where they came from, and just to make everyone feel comfortable and accepted. The workshop ended with the citizens of Fruitopia mingling and sharing what they learned from each other. Tina Ramirez, executive director with Hardwired Global, concludes that all fruits have seeds on the inside and that it is not ideal to simply coexist with one another. She said she hoped the simulation taught the group that through interaction, different cultures can learn from each other and people need other people to survive. Does this orange have to believe the same thing that the banana believes in order to get along with the banana? Ramirez asked. A resounding No, is the response from the room. In your schools you have people that are different from you and not just newcomers and Americans, you have people that believe and act and have lots of different ideas from you. Is it possible to live together, is it possible to get to know them? Yes, replied the group. Heather Rousseau, a photojournalist for The Roanoke Times since 2015, is the 2021-22 Secular Society Fellowship recipient. Her work is focused on refugees and immigrants in the Roanoke region. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Tri-County Lakes Administrative Commission approved some changes to navigation around Smith Mountain Lake last week in an effort to improve safety around the lake. A long-discussed no-wake zone at The Point at Mariners Landing in Huddleston was unanimously approved last week by commission members. Efforts have been ongoing since 2020 to slow down boat traffic around the communitys nearly 200 boat slips. Mariners Landings application requested six no-wake buoys around the multiple boat slips at The Point. With the approval by TLAC, the application will now go to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources for a final vote. TLAC also approved an application by The Dock at SML in Penhook to make changes to its no-wake zone including an additional no-wake buoy. The marina currently has only one no-wake buoy more than 150 yards from the dock. What we wanted to do was to have a modification to put two no-wake buoys out there just because people have a tendency to disregard one, Chris Baker, marina manager, said at the commissions June 14 meeting. Baker presented the TLAC board with another concern regarding the addition of several orange buoys from a private dock neighboring the marina. He said the buoys, set at 75 feet from the private dock, are making navigation difficult in the cove. With the orange buoys impeding boat traffic, Baker asked if the application could be altered to move the marinas no-wake buoys closer to the marina at about 50 or 60 yards. He said the current location of the buoys at nearly 150 yards out was likely not its original location and was likely much closer when it was first put in place. I think it would cause the boaters to use a little bit more patience if we moved them back a little, Baker said. Neil Holthouser, Appalachian Power representative on the TLAC board, said the buoys seen around many private docks on the lake are not allowed and made a note of the buoys near the marina. He said a permit from Appalachian Power to build a dock below the 800-foot contour of the lake does not include personal buoys. When someone puts swim buoys out, they are throwing their arms around a greater geography than they are permitted, Nolthouser said. We do encourage people to come to TLAC if there is a wake issue or safety issue. While there was some discussion of delaying the application and sending it back to the navigation committee for further review due to the new request to move the no-wake buoys closer in, the TLAC board agreed to move forward to allow the marina to have the new buoys in place sooner this summer. The recommendation for approval by TLAC for the no-wake buoys modifications at The Dock at SML will also go to DWR for final approval. The addition of a shoal marker in the Penhook area of the lake near channel marker B1 was also approved on June 14. According to a report from the navigation committee, the location where the shoal marker will be placed is as shallow as 2 feet in some places. There are vessels that try to go through there and it is just not safe, said Lorie Smith, TLAC chairman. The new shoal marker was unanimously approved by the TLAC board and will go to DWR for a final vote. Applications for no-waksurfing zones were also discussed by TLAC. There is currently only one application for a no-wakesurfing zone in the Merriman Run area of the lake. A public hearing for the no-wakesurfing zone is tentatively set for July 19 at 6 p.m. at the TLAC office, but is subject to change. The date will be finalized in the next two weeks and advertised in local newspapers. Smith said TLAC staff has spent a lot of time on the application to assure that everything is in order since this will be the first test for the new no-wakesurfing zones approved last year. This is our first application, Smith said. This is a very sensitive matter. We need to get this right. TLAC also welcomed a new executive director at the June 14 meeting. Kristina Sage was hired to the position following the retirement of Paula Shoffner in March. Sage has had previous involvement with several lake boards. She has previously served on both the TLAC and Smith Mountain Lake Association board. She also previously ran Bay Rock Marina in Hardy. Its great to be here, Sage said. Its great to be back. Sages first day in the position was June 13. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Lisa Nicholson is doing the same job for state government that she has done since 2008, while working from home four to five days a week. Nicholson, 53, is an information technology specialist who manages grant funding for local public safety communications agencies. She works from home because she has two well-documented medical conditions multi-organ sarcoidosis and narcolepsy with cataplexy that her doctors have confirmed are permanently disabling but dont prevent her from doing her job remotely. But now the South Richmond resident is fighting to maintain a workplace medical accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act so she can continue working from home at least four days a week under a new state teleworking policy. Gov. Glenn Youngkin is imposing the policy on all employees of executive branch state agencies, effective July 5, to return them to the office after working remotely for more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing changed, she said of her medical status and job duties. Nicholsons predicament raises concerns about how Youngkins policy treats state employees with documented disabilities under the ADA, especially if they have proved they can perform essential functions of the job with some accommodations, such as working remotely. The only thing thats different in Nicholsons job is that she was transferred with her entire division from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management on July 1, 2020, under a state law adopted by the General Assembly that year. She has the same duties and supervisor, whom she said is fully aware of her medical disabilities. Her new agency contends that Nicholsons ADA accommodation, allowing her to work remotely and use special equipment, expired during the transfer and must be renewed with medical documentation before she can be approved for a new telework agreement. Ultimately, her request to continue teleworking four to five days a week would be subject to approval by the governors chief of staff, Jeff Goettman, who would have to sign off on any request for an employee to work remotely more than two days a week. I think thats ripe for challenge legally, said Harris Butler, a Richmond lawyer with a 40-year career representing employees in employment disputes, in an interview about the governors telework policy. Butler, who is not involved in Nicholsons case, said an employer can periodically review an existing medical accommodation, but would run a legal risk by changing or canceling it. If the job functions do not change and if an employee has been successful in performing the functions of the job under accommodations, the employer has a very high burden, he said. Steven Traubert, director of litigation at the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, agreed that the legal standard is high for an employer that changes the rules for a disabled employee who has performed essential job functions with accommodations. Youre putting more of a burden on an employee just to do their job, Traubert said. The Youngkin administration says it is wholly committed to abiding by ADA and providing necessary accommodations for our employees with disabilities, said spokesperson Macaulay Porter, who said the new teleworking procedures require a submitted request but in no way contradict ADA. In an email on Thursday, Porter said, If previous ADA accommodations were granted, they will be honored. The Department of Emergency Management, also known as VDEM, declined to discuss Nicholsons case, which it considers a confidential personnel matter. Disabling conditions Many state employees have reacted with dismay to Youngkins telework policy, which the governor announced May 5, giving workers two weeks to submit requests to work remotely. State agency heads can approve no more than one day of telework a week under the policy. A Cabinet secretary would have to review requests for two days a week, while Goettman would have the final call for more than two days. The Virginia Governmental Employees Association has asked the administration to delay implementation of the policy until Sept. 12, citing a survey of more than 400 employees noting concerns, including exposure to COVID, challenges with child care and accommodations for people with disabilities. The folks who have ADA issues are likely the most impassioned about the position they find themselves in, said VGEA lobbyist Dylan Bishop. Nicholson submitted her teleworking request by the May 20 deadline set by the governors office. Stephanie Asbell, the agencys human resources director, informed Nicholson on May 26 that the department did not have a completed request for accommodations under the ADA. Asbell said the Department of Human Resource Management, the central state personnel agency that had administered personnel policies for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA, had informed Nicholson last October that her previous ADA accommodation had expired on June 30, 2020, when her division transferred to VDEM. The HR director provided Nicholson with forms to request a new accommodation and certify her medical conditions. Without these documents, we are unable to consider your request, Asbell said. Nicholson submitted a new request for medical accommodations on Wednesday, even though she considers the requirement to submit new medical documentation unlawful under the ADA. She has already twice documented her medical conditions when she was at VITA, first in 2008 and then again in 2016, after then-Chief Information Officer Nelson Moe restricted the use of telework, with exceptions for people who lived more than 65 miles from their offices. Dr. Shawn McLane, her pulmonologist who first diagnosed the sarcoidosis almost 14 years ago, on Tuesday certified her medical conditions and need for accommodations. The patients disabling conditions include an autoimmune condition with a broad spectrum of symptoms of varying severity that impact multiple organs and bodily function, to include chronic pain, cognitive impairments and disabling fatigue, said McLane, who has practiced for 23 years at Pulmonary Associates of Richmond and Bon Secours St. Marys Hospital. The patients disabling conditions are lifelong, and only quality of life mitigating measures are available, he said. The doctors report details Nicholsons initial diagnosis of pulmonary sarcoidosis in October 2008. Her condition affects both lungs and multiple organs. Her secondary condition, narcolepsy with cataplexy, is a neurological sleep disorder with side effects that include the involuntary loss of control over limbs. It was diagnosed in 2010 as a secondary medical condition that is also chronic, lifelong, and permanent, the report states. Due to the patients chronic, lifelong conditions, and in consideration that she has a respiratory autoimmune condition that places her at the highest risk level for severe COVID-19 symptoms, hospitalization, and/or death, coupled with episodic immunosuppressant mitigation [though medications], it is being requested that the patient continue to work from the home office environment a minimum of four days a week to limit physical mobility, have consistent access to mitigating measures that afford the best quality of life for her primary condition, and that limits exposure to an ongoing deadly virus, the report states. The Department of Human Resource Management approved Nicholsons previous medical accommodation in 2016 under a memorandum of agreement between VITA and the personnel agencys shared services center, which provides personnel support to participating agencies. Shared Services Manager Patricia Waller informed Nicholson in October, when the employee was seeking approval of a special mobile phone screen necessary to do her work, that the accommodation was not intended to be a permanent accommodation and had expired in mid-2020. Nicholson said Curtis Brown, then director of VDEM, interceded to approve her request for the accommodation for special technology, and she assumed the matter was settled. Nicholson also said she is working under the same supervisor at VDEM as she did at VITA Dorothy Spears-Dean, deputy state coordinator for the division that includes E-911 and geospatial services. She said Spears-Dean knows about the disabling conditions. Scott Grimes, chief deputy commissioner of the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, said a workplace accommodation complies with the ADA as long as it enables the employee to perform the essential functions of the job, but may not be the exact accommodation that an employee wants or prefers. Therefore, accommodations under the ADA, even for permanent disabilities, can be reviewed at any time, particularly when the employee moves to a new agency or a new manager, Grimes said in an email statement. Unnecessary, unsafe Nicholson said returning to regular hours in the office is neither necessary for her job nor safe for her health. The dangers became apparent last month after she attended the E-911 Stakeholders Summit held at a hotel in Midlothian on May 11. Members of the state E-911 Services Board and related committees attended the annual meeting. Five days later, Nicholson received an email from Asbell, the HR director at VDEM, notifying her that a person who had attended the summit had tested positive for COVID over the weekend. Capt. Thomas Bradshaw, a member of the E-911 board and communications director for Virginia State Police, received a similar notification the next day. Two days after being notified of the positive case, Nicholson said she attended a statewide conference in Virginia Beach, where she said an associate told her that multiple people had tested positive for COVID after the summit. She said she was alarmed because she had been using immunosuppressant medications at the time of the summit and three members of her family also have medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the coronavirus disease. The Virginia Department of Health, which said it had not been notified of COVID cases related to the summit, later said it could not confirm an outbreak of the disease, which would entail at least three positive cases attributable to the event. We could not ascertain the connections between other cases and the event in question, said Dr. Alexander Samuel, director of the Chesterfield Health District, which includes the hotel where the summit took place. Its possible individuals used home testing to determine their COVID status, which would be invisible to our [epidemiological] team. Chesterfield is also home to VDEM headquarters. Currently, the county has a high level of community spread of COVID, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. VDEM spokesperson Lauren Opett had no comment on COVID cases potentially related to the summit, but said the agency regularly reviews guidance from the CDC, state health department, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, and other sources for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace. Nicholson contends that the previous accommodation remains valid because her medical history hasnt changed and she is able to perform her job remotely. She works with seven regional VDEM employees whom she said work from their homes and 120 local public safety communications agencies. I could do that in the middle of the street with Wi-Fi, she said. Terry Hall, director of the York-Poquoson-Williamsburg Regional 911 Emergency Communications Center, attended the summit as a member of the boards funding and legislative committees. He said he is aware of two people who attended the summit and subsequently tested positive for COVID, but couldnt say whether the cases were linked to the meeting. As we return to work and COVID is still out there, anywhere you go theres an exposure, Hall said. Traubert, at the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, said the pandemic has changed traditional assumptions about the workplace. If we have learned anything from COVID, its that a lot of jobs can be done remotely that werent before, he said. Mondays Google Doodle commemorating Juneteenth featured an illustration by Richmond father-and-son artists Jerome and and Jeromyah Jones. Monday was a federal holiday celebrating Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day," which was June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and notified enslaved African-Americans they were free. The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed two years earlier. The Joneses were commissioned to produce the illustration featured as the Google Doodle, said Jeromyah Jones. The search engine often chooses a piece of art to illustrate one of that day's holidays or anniversaries. In a Google interview accompanying the Doodle, the Jones said working on the Juneteenth illustration meant a lot to them because its a great milestone in the African-American struggle for liberation. This notification that our ancestors received 157 years ago is an essential catalyst for contemplating what freedom looks like for us today as a people, they said in the Q-and-A interview. The celebration is a special commemoration because it highlights good news for a change that was given to a people who were once in chains." They said they were inspired by the commonalities of the two holidays in close proximity to one another: Fathers Day and Juneteenth. The hand in the background symbolizes the descendants of those who were emancipated on June 19, 1865, and the children of fathers in the generations that follow, they said. The brush is a metaphoric representation of the bridge that connects the roots to their fruits. If we were to give our Google Doodle a title we would call it Painting in The Footsteps of Our Freedom. Painting in the footsteps means we are giving color to the past so that the legacy will be visible to every child in class. The red, black, and green Sankofa bird looking back is symbolic of opening the history book in our laps to close the generational gap. The Joneses displayed their paintings on Saturday during the Juneteenth Celebration at Henrico Countys Dorey Park. A painter for more than 40 years, Jerome Jones specializes in original portraits, landscapes and still-life paintings. His work, according to the teams website, is in the collections of Stevie Wonder, Evander Holyfield and Michael Jordan. He received his degree in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1980. On their website, Jeromyah Jones describes himself as a visionary for justice, writer of truth, painter of life, and poet of love who is painting in the creative footsteps of his father. He holds a degree in comprehensive arts from Hampton University. The duo was interviewed on NBCs Today show in July 2020 as part of a series spotlighting fathers across the country making a difference in their childrens lives. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) About the same number of people voted in this years South Carolina Republican primary as voted in the last midterm primary in 2018. But Democrats had about 60,000 fewer voters in their primary this year, according to state Election Commission data. Final turnout for Tuesdays vote was about 17% of registered voters, or 564,000 ballots cast out of 3.3 million registered voters in South Carolina. Republicans maintained their turnout level in 2022 despite a governors race that wasnt nearly as competitive as Gov. Henry McMasters race in 2018. Democrats had competitive governor races in both 2018 and 2022. Just under 181,000 votes were cast in the partys race for governor this year, some 60,000 fewer ballots than four years earlier. The turnout in Florence County exceeded the states average of 17 percent. Florence County showed a 21% voter turnout with 17,923 of the 84,826 registered voters casting their ballots. Darlington Countys voter turnout was 20.6% with 8,537 of the countys 41,342 registered voters going to the polls. The most votes cast in a mid-term June primary remains in 2010, when more than 623,000 votes were cast. It also remains the heaviest Republican turnout. Primaries always have low turnout compared to general elections. In 2020, 72% of South Carolinians some 2.5 million voters cast ballots in November when the president and other candidates were on the ballot. "Mass Incarceration Retards Racial Integration" | Main | "That is Enough Punishment: Situating Defunding the Police within Antiracist Sentencing Reform" May 14, 2021 Split Mississippi appellate court upholds, against Eighth Amendment challenge, an LWOP habitual-offender sentence for marijuana possession As report in this AP piece, the "Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted of a marijuana possession charge because he had previous convictions and those made him a habitual offender." Here is bit more about the ruling from the AP: Allen Russell, 38, was sentenced to life in Forrest County in 2019 after a jury found him guilty of possession of more than 30 grams (1.05 ounces) of marijuana. In Mississippi, a person can be sentenced to life without parole after serving at least one year in prison on two separate felonies, one of which must be a violent offense. Russell was convicted on two home burglaries in 2004 and for unlawful possession of a firearm in 2015. By law, burglary is a violent offense in Mississippi, whether or not there is proof that violence occurred. That was not the case when Russell was sentenced for home burglary in 2004. Then, burglary was only considered a violent crime if there was proof of violence. The law changed in 2014. In his appeal, Russell argued that a life sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is grossly disproportionate to his crime of marijuana possession. The Court of Appeals disagreed in its majority opinion, stating that Russells life sentence is in accordance with Mississippi law. Russell is not being sentenced solely for having marijuana, but for being a habitual offender, the judges said. But several dissenting judges argued that the court can and should make exceptions. The purpose of the criminal justice system is to punish those who break the law, deter them from making similar mistakes, and give them the opportunity to become productive members of society, Judge Latrice Westbrooks wrote. The fact that judges are not routinely given the ability to exercise discretion in sentencing all habitual offenders is completely at odds with this goal. The full opinions in Russell v. Mississippi, NO. 2019-KA-01670-COA (Miss. Ct. App. May 11, 2021), are available here. Here is the start and another part of the majority opinion: A Forrest County jury found Allen Russell guilty of possession of marijuana in an amount greater than 30 grams but less than 250 grams. The Forrest County Circuit Court sentenced Russell as a violent habitual offender under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-83 (Rev. 2015) to life imprisonment in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) without eligibility for probation or parole. On appeal from the circuit courts judgment, Russell argues that his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is grossly disproportionate to his felony conviction. Finding no error, we affirm.... Here, the States evidence established that Russell had two prior separate felony convictions for burglary of a dwelling, for which he was sentenced to and served over one year in MDOCs custody on each conviction. The State also presented evidence that Russell was later convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to ten years with eight years suspended and two years to serve, followed by five years of post-release supervision. Based on such evidence, the circuit court justifiably found Russell to be a violent habitual offender under section 99-19-83 and sentenced him to life imprisonment in MDOCs custody without eligibility for probation or parole. Because Russell has failed to prove the threshold requirement of gross disproportionality, and because his habitual-offender sentence fell within the statutory guidelines, we conclude that his sentence constituted a constitutionally permissible punishment for his most recent crime . . . . Miller, 225 So. 3d at 16 (17). We therefore find this issue lacks merit. One of the dissents begins this way: In Solem v. Helm, 466 U.S. 277 (1983), the United States Supreme Court held that a life without parole sentence for a recidivist criminal convicted of a relatively low-level felony violated the Eighth Amendment. In terms of the gravity of his present offense and the extent and seriousness of his criminal history, I cannot draw any material distinction between Allen Russell and the defendant in Solem. Thus, I conclude that we are bound under Solem to vacate Russells life without parole sentence. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent Because I was stunned to see an LWOP sentence for marijuana possession and due to the description in the opinion concerning how the defendant was found in possession of marijuana, I did a little bit of extra research about Allen Russell. Though not mentioned in this appellate ruling, this local article from late 2017 reports that Russell was being arrested on murder charges at the time he was found to be in possession of marijuana. Though I could find no report of Russell being convicted of (or even tried on) a homicide charge, I am inclined to suspect that this background may have played at least some role in how Russell was initially charged by prosecutors and ultimately sentenced for his marijuana possession. I presume that this case will now be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court and perhaps the US Supreme Court if the Mississippi courts continuing to uphold this extreme sentence. I would think that, if the Eighth Amendment is to place any limit at all the length of prison sentences imposed on adult offenders, an LWOP sentence for possessing a small amount of marijuana ought to be subject to very serious scrutiny. And yet, SCOTUS has a history of upholding extreme recidivism-based sentences (Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003), being the most recent example), and so the past and present work of the Supreme Court in this arena should not provide much basis for Russell to be especially optimistic regarding further appeals. May 14, 2021 at 12:05 PM | Permalink Comments My Internet research led me to find the inmate whose case I worked on in approximately 2007, who had received the illegal life sentence in Tampa for "distribution of heroin resulting in death", even though the person he distributed the heroin to did not die and is himself serving a long sentence for further distributing a portion of the heroin he received. It appears that after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the legal interpretation of the words "resulting in death" in its decision in Burrage v. United States, 571 U.S. 204 (2014), this inmate, James Terry, was able to file a 2241 Habeas Corpus Petition (thru the Savings Clause of section 2255) in U.S. District Court in Arizona, where he was then incarcerated. See, James Terry v. Warden, USP - Tuscan, Arizona, Mr. Shartle, Case No. CV-15-00107-TUC-CKJ (EJM). The 25-page long (and very informative) Magistrate's Report and Recommendation can be found at Doc. #44 in that case file. The Defendant, James Terry, won his 2241 Petition and was released from prison in December 2017, after serving more than 20 years in prison on his conviction, for distributing a small quantity of heroin to someone who did not die. My reading of the Report and Recommendation reveals that some details from my memories of working on his case in prison in 2007 are not accurate; but I am glad he finally got back on that life sentence and was released from prison. It's a long, hard fight, from inside a prison, when you have the 6,000 pound Gorilla of the U.S. DOJ and an Order of Judgment and Commitment on your back. This inmate would not have won without the work of many jailhouse lawyers over a 20-year period of time. Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 14, 2021 4:11:13 PM Doug, you really should look at this case on PACER, James Terry v. J.T. Shartle, Case No. 4:15-CV-00107 (U.S. District Court for Arizona at Tuscan). Doc. # 63 is the Government's "Emergency Motion to Grant Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus", and Doc #68 is the Court's dispositive Order, reducing the life sentence to the statutory maximum of 20 years (which Mr. Terry had already more than served) and adding 3 years of Supervised Release. Doc. # 52 is the pro se inmate's "Petition in Opposition of Respondent's Objection to the Magistrate's Report and Recommendation", where he just destroy's the Government's position, and finally gets the Judge and the AUSA to understand that he is only legally responsible for distribution of heroin to the person he distributed it too; he is not responsible for further distribution to others by the person he distributed to, where there was no agreement for such further distribution. The Tampa Grand Jury declined to indict him for conspiracy. The subsequent distribution to 2 persons who died is not his legal responsibility, because he did not know about or agree to any subsequent distribution. This was a crazy case, and he was erroneously given a life sentence because one of the people who died was the son of a woman who had worked in the Tampa U.S. Attorney's Office for more than 20 years. Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 14, 2021 7:01:24 PM "more than 30 grams" Nice use of "more" here. One can say "a bit over an ounce" or ... "Possession (and use) of up to three ounces by anyone 21 and over became legal immediately on Wednesday." [per the new New York policy] This also stood out a bit for me: "The State also presented evidence that Russell was later convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to ten years with eight years suspended and two years to serve, followed by five years of post-release supervision." Even those strongly support of gun rights often are okay with strong penalties for those who possess as a felon or some comparable situation. This underlines that keeping guns from those not allowed to have them is important for a variety of reasons. The public safety concern is there. But, if possession is going to result in long prison sentences like this, it would be for a general civil liberty position a good idea to have good background checks and so forth. If guns are not wrongly transferred to people who don't have them, they would not have at times extreme criminal penalties assigned to them. Many don't have much sympathy, but realistically, when you have so many guns, there is more likely criminal use. The gun on some level is not as uniquely horrible to warrant more penalty than it might be in other situations. This shows how criminal justice is such an interrelated thing. It is backwards to after the fact punish (again often in troubling ways) and not do more to deter in the front end. Or, one can just handwave the cost of long prison sentences as one more cost of mismanaged gun policy as suicides, accidents involving children, police related homicides and so forth. Posted by: Joe | May 15, 2021 12:48:22 PM Post a comment Wildlife technician Grace Budde was driving down a trail in Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie to check on some snake monitoring equipment when a sandhill crane flew 2 feet in front of her. A trumpet sound reverberated through the air. The adult crane was doing its unique distress call, warning its offspring, known as a colt, of a potential threat. Advertisement So, I stop and I look around, trying to find this brick-red, small sandhill crane colt. Maybe I could see it, she said. They blend in really well. Im not sure its a shot in the dark. Two sandhill cranes, just three days old, maneuver through the grass in East Manatee County, Florida. (Grant Jefferies/Bradenton Herald) Then I see this fuzzy little brown bird right along the trail, and I know immediately, Budde said. They have a very special coloration, theyre big, they have really long legs. Advertisement This was the first confirmed sandhill crane colt sighting at the Will County prairie in Wilmington since Midewin was established in 1996, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Though adult sandhill cranes have been regularly summering at Midewin since 2015, according to Jim Herkert, this was the first confirmation of breeding there. Were like OK, they should be breeding, whens the year? And yeah, this is the year, so thats a great sign, said Herkert, a retired ornithologist who studied birds at Midewin and the former executive director of the Illinois Audubon Society. Wetland protection and restoration, as well as hunting regulation, has helped the species rebound in the upper Midwest, said Anne Lacy, senior manager of the North America Program at the International Crane Foundation. So, from those remnants a few birds that were breeding in Michigan and Wisconsin they have been kind of expanding out ever since, Lacy said. Its very much a conservation success story. The birds that are breeding now in Illinois, very successfully, are a testament to that success. More sandhill cranes have started living in Illinois close to the Wisconsin border in recent years, especially in McHenry and Lake counties. Seeing sandhill crane colts is not as rare an occurrence there. I have a friend who works up in Lake County and I told him about it and he was like, Whats the big deal? We practically trip on them up here, said Mike Redmer, supervisory natural resources manager at Midewin. But to Midewin, it is a big deal. The sighting is evidence that the sandhill crane population has been expanding from northeastern Illinois into the southern part of the state, Herkert explained. Advertisement Indeed, Midewins size which stretches some 18,000 acres means the cranes could have been breeding there sooner, which Redmer said they had expected for a while, but the cranes would have been easy to miss. Sandhill cranes can be spotted flying over the Chicago area when they migrate south toward Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in the fall and back northward in the spring their necks stretched straight out, their 4-foot frames a gray or buff brown color against the blue sky, their calls ringing like a trumpeting sound. Theyll migrate over Chicago, like downtown, the Loop, in large numbers and even people that arent birders will look up and go What is that bird? Herkert said. There is something special about sandhill cranes, Lacy said. Standing tall, the cranes can almost look you in the eye. And the way pairs bond and the parental care they exhibit warm many peoples hearts. The colt sighting at Midewin offers plenty of reasons for bird enthusiasts and experts to be hopeful. Its confirmation that Midewin can provide a breeding habitat for sandhill cranes, Budde said. So, not only is it a good habitat for a sandhill crane to find food, but they can pair, they can get together, and then they can nest successfully. Advertisement And despite concerns that bird populations have declined by the billions in the last decades, Herkert pointed out, the cranes gradual and decadeslong comeback means that efforts at conservation and restoration have been fruitful. More highlights from lots of great new Inquest essays | Main | "The Trump Clemencies: Celebrity, Chaos, and Lost Opportunity" June 20, 2022 Mississippi Supreme Court upholds, against Eighth Amendment challenge, mandatory LWOP habitual-offender sentence for marijuana possession Last year in this post, I reported on a Mississippi state intermediate appeal court ruling that upheld a mandatory life without parole sentence for possession of over 30 grams of marijuana because the defendant was a violent habitual offender under Mississippi law. Last week, the Supreme Court of Mississippi, by a 6-3 vote, affirmed this sentence in Russell v. Mississippi, No. 2019-CT-01670-SCT (Miss. June 16, 2022) (available here). Here is the start and some concluding parts of the majority opinion: This certiorari case considers whether Allen Russells life sentence without the possibility of parole for possession of marijuana, as an habitual offender under Mississippi Code Section 99-19-83 (Rev. 2020), violates his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The Court of Appeals stalemated five to five, resulting in an affirmance of the judgment of the trial court. Russell v. State, No. 2019-KA-01670-COA, 2021 WL 1884144, at *3 (Miss. Ct. App. May 11, 2021). We affirm Russells sentence.... In the limited scenario in which the mandatory sentence facing a defendant under Section 99-19-83 is life without parole and the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced, unenhanced, is a nonviolent crime that carries a minimal-maximum sentence (i.e. less than ten years), trial judges should specifically consider all matters relevant to the sentence as contemplated in Presley to determine the issue of gross disproportionality and the constitutionality of the sentence as to that particular defendant. Presley, 474 So. 2d at 620.... None of this benefits Russell. We reiterate, once again, that the burden is upon the defendant to show that the sentence mandated by the legislature is unconstitutional as to that particular defendant. Because Russell presented no evidence, the only substantive evidence before the court were the prior convictions.... The record is replete with additional evidence, as documented in the separate opinion of the chief justice. We would refer the reader to the chief justices separate opinion for a thorough recounting of the details surrounding Russells arrest. However, it is pertinent to note that the arrest came while law enforcement was attempting to serve another drug related warrant on Russell as well as execute a search warrant on his premises. The search warrant came about as a result of Russells being developed as a suspect in a murder in a hotel room where a medical document naming Russell was found.... In Russells case, the trial judge followed our procedure and the law, Russell presented no evidence related to the Solem factors and the trial judge sentenced Russell to the only sentence available. Therefore, we affirm. The lengthy separate concurring opinion is an interesting read that seeks to highlight "Solems weaknesses." Here is how it concludes: Based on both this Courts precedent and the rulings of the United States Supreme Court in Rummel, 445 U.S. 263, Harmelin, 501 U.S. 263, Andrade, 538 U.S. 63, and Ewing, 538 U.S. 11, Russells sentence as an habitual offender was not grossly disproportionate. His sentence meets the prescribed statutory punishment. There is no legal basis to vacate Russells sentence. It is neither cruel nor unusual. As Russell has failed to prove that the threshold requirement of gross disproportionality was offered and met, because his sentence fell within the statutory requirement, and because his sentence is a constitutionally permissible sentence, we should affirm Russells conviction and sentence. The short dissenting opinion includes this point in making the case Solem ought to help Russell: Recent developments in Mississippi and elsewhere concerning the treatment of marijuana possession arguably provide a material difference between Solem and Russell that favors Russell as to the objective factors. In the past year, the state of Mississippi joined many of its sister states in adopting a medical marijuana program. Pursuant to the bill creating the program, the difference going forward between going to jail for possessing 2.5 ounces of marijuana and owning it legally would be a prescription. See S.B. 2095, 2022 Miss. Laws. For better or for worse, the adoption of a medical marijuana in Mississippi is in keeping with a nationwide change on the treatment of marijuana in the law. An April 2021 law journal article points out that thirty-six states now have medical marijuana programs, and fourteen states and the District of Columbia now allow its recreational use. Paul J. Larkin, Jr., Cannabis Capitalism, 69 Buff. L. Rev. 215, 216-217 (2021). Less than thirty years ago, however, all states and the federal government outlawed its distribution. Id. Whether it be wisdom or folly, the above-described move toward decriminalizing the use of marijuana considered in light of the first objective Solem factor, i.e., the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty, surely weighs in favor of Russell. There appears to be no similar widespread movement to legalize uttering a no account check[.] Solem, 463 U.S. at 281. June 20, 2022 at 10:11 AM | Permalink Comments What sheer insanity. 30 grams is slightly more than 1 ounce (28 grams) of marijuana. Despite the defendant's long criminal history, it makes no rational sense to give him a mandatory life sentence without parole for a small (personal use) quantity of marijuana. This case reminds me of a young man (22 years old) I met at U.S.P. - Big Sandy in Inez, Kentucky, who grew up in a public housing project in Southwest D.C. He was serving a mandatory life sentence under section 851 for a series of felony drug convictions he received between ages 18 and 20; but the total amount of drugs involved in his drug crimes was 8 ounces of marijuana and 3 grams of heroin. He could easily live for more than 60 years in Federal prison, at a cost to the taxpayers of $3 million. For a 20 year old mon, that mandatory life sentence didn't make rational sense either. These laws must be changed. Posted by: Jim Gormley | Jun 20, 2022 3:04:49 PM If the defendant could bestir himself to follow the law like the rest of us have to, rather than do whatever he feels like, he wouldn't be in this fix. That he is in it is his own doing, not that of the Big Bad System. His record tells us he won't learn from leniency (which he got on one of his prior felonies). Too bad. It's a harsh sentence, you bet, but when the defendant has this many opportunities to live a normal life and kisses each one of them goodbye, he made his own bed. Time to stop complaining. Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 20, 2022 7:54:47 PM Post a comment 20 (Golden Balloons) A select group of US companies are well-known for paying out dividends over many decades. The popular stocks include Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Procter and Gamble (NYSE: PG). Coca-Cola has increased its dividend over six decades while Procter and Gamble has done so for 66 consecutive years. The problem, of course, is that Singapore income investors need to cough up a 30% withholding tax on dividends received from US companies. This is where Singapore stocks shine by being able to pay a higher dividend yield compared to its US counterparts. Back home, youd be surprised to know that several companies have a long history of paying out dividends through good times and bad. While Singapore is a young nation compared to the US, the city state is home to businesses that have remained resilient through booms and busts, all while churning out a steady stream of passive income for investors. Here are three stocks that have paid out dividends for two decades or more. Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68) Singapore Exchange Limited, or SGX, is Singapores sole stock exchange operator. The group has consistently paid out a dividend over the years and has done so since its fiscal 2001 ended 30 June 2001. At the start, the dividend per share stood at S$0.055 and since increased its dividend payout to S$0.32 for FY2021. SGX enjoys a natural monopoly and continues to generate healthy revenue and free cash flow through different economic cycles. The bourse operator believes that it occupies an investment sweet spot by having exposure to Asian opportunities along with interesting growth areas such as ETFs and ESG. The group released a respectable set of earnings for its fiscal 2022s first half ended 31 December 2021. Revenue was flat year on year at S$522 million while net profit was down 9% year on year to S$219 million due to higher expenses. Despite the lower net profit, SGX continued to pay out a dividend of S$0.08 for its second quarter, maintaining its trailing 12-month dividend of S$0.32. Story continues SGX has completed its acquisition of MaxxTrader last year and its foreign exchange electronic communication network has also gone live. The group is also linking up with India, Thailand and Shenzhens stock exchanges to provide a wider breadth of investment options for its clients. VICOM Limited (SGX: WJP) VICOM is a provider of inspection and testing services for vehicles and in fields such as mechanical, biochemical, and civil engineering. The group was incorporated in 1981 and listed on the exchange in 1995 and is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (SGX: C52). VICOM is a free cash flow machine and the group has been paying out a dividend since the turn of the century. The total dividend back in the fiscal year 2000 (ended 31 March 2000) was S$0.00925 after adjusting for the 4-for-1 stock split in 2020. For FY2021, VICOM paid out a total dividend of S$0.0828, representing nearly a nine-fold increase in annual dividend over the past 21 years. Things are looking up for the testing and inspection specialist as the business is set to improve along with the reopening of Singapores economy. Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63) Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, or STE, is a technology, defence and engineering group that serves customers in the aerospace, smart city, and public security sectors. STE was listed back in December 1997 and has, incredibly, been paying out an annual dividend for the last 24 years. Temasek Holdings is the engineering groups largest shareholder with a 51.7% stake as of February 2022. STE continues to do well, judging its latest fiscal 2022s first quarter (1Q2022) business update. Group revenue saw a 13% year on year rise to S$2 billion, with all three divisions seeing year on year revenue rises. The engineering giant clinched S$2.4 billion of new contracts in 1Q2022, bringing its order book to a new record-high of S$21.3 billion. The board has approved an interim dividend of S$0.04 per share per quarter, taking the prospective full-year dividend to S$0.16, up from S$0.15 a year ago. In our special FREE report, Top 9 Dividend Stocks for 2022 and 3 Tactical Shifts to Maximise Your Profits, were revealing 3 special categories of stocks that are poised to deliver maximum growth in 2022 and beyond. Our safe-harbour stocks are a set of blue-chip companies that have been able to hold their own and deliver steady dividends. Growth accelerators stocks are enterprising businesses poised to continue their growth. And finally, the pandemic surprises are the unexpected winners of the pandemic. Download for free to find out which are our safe-harbour stocks, growth accelerators, and pandemic winners! CLICK HERE to find out now! Follow us on Facebook and Telegram for the latest investing news and analyses! Disclaimer: Royston Yang owns shares of Singapore Exchange Limited and VICOM Limited. The post 3 Singapore Companies That Paid Dividends for 20 Years or More appeared first on The Smart Investor. Weebit Nano Ltd HOD HASHARON, Israel, June 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Weebit Nano Limited (ASX:WBT; Weebit or the Company), a leading developer of next-generation memory technologies for the global semiconductor industry, announces its participation at Leti Innovation Days, CEA-Letis annual 3-day flagship event being held June 21-23, 2022, in Grenoble, France. During the New Paradigms for Computing Workshop, Weebits VP of Marketing and Business Development Eran Briman will present, ReRAM Moves from Lab to Fab, highlighting the range of applications that can benefit from the low power consumption, low cost, high temperature reliability and process simplicity of Weebit ReRAM. Mr. Briman will also participate in a panel discussion with other session presenters, including executives from CEA-Leti and STMicroelectronics, discussing, What Future and Drivers for More Moore in Europe? The workshop will be held on Wednesday, June 22nd from 2:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. CEST. Weebit will also participate in the CEA-Leti Partners Corner at the event exhibition, where the company will feature a demonstration of its ReRAM. To arrange a meeting with Weebit representatives onsite at the event, email info@weebit-nano.com. To register for the Leti Innovation Days event, visit: https://leti-innovation-days2022.inviteo.fr. About Weebit Nano Limited Weebit Nano Ltd. is a leading developer of next-generation semiconductor memory technology. The companys ground-breaking Resistive RAM (ReRAM) addresses the growing need for significantly higher performance and lower power memory solutions in a range of new electronic products such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, smartphones, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 5G communications and artificial intelligence. Weebits ReRAM allows semiconductor memory elements to be significantly faster, less expensive, more reliable and more energy efficient than those using existing Flash memory solutions. As it is based on fab-friendly materials, the technology can be quickly and easily integrated with existing flows and processes, without the need for special equipment or large investments. Story continues See www.weebit-nano.com and follow us on https://twitter.com/WeebitNano. Weebit Nano and the Weebit Nano logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Weebit Nano Ltd. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. For further information please contact: Investors Eric Kuret, Market Eye P: +61 417 311 335 E: eric.kuret@marketeye.com.au Media Australia Tristan Everett, Market Eye P: +61 403 789 096 E: tristan.everett@marketeye.com.au Media US Jen Bernier-Santarini, Weebit Nano P: +1 650-336-4222 E: jen@weebit-nano.com Watch now: Mum documents battle against Crohn's disease on TikTok A mum with Crohn's disease has become a TikTok sensation after sharing videos of her stoma bag in a bid to normalise the condition. It's been mere weeks since recruitment consultant Natalie Parr, 26, had life-changing surgery to have a stoma fitted to collect her waste, after years of suffering with persistent problems because of the inflammatory bowel condition. Parr says: The first video I posted now has over 32,000 views and the comments are all so supportive. After the hardest and scariest time of my life, being away from my family and particularly my little boy, a whirlwind of crazy up and down emotions and then the healing, I decided pretty quickly that this was something I didnt want to hide or be ashamed of. Read more: Everything There Is to Know About Crohn's Disease, the Digestive Disorder on the Rise Natalie Parr says she didn't want to hide her condition away. (PA Real Life) Natalie Parr has become a TikTok star sharing the reality of life with a stoma bag. (PA real Life) I didnt want to stop feeling like myself, or feeling like I should hide away or have to change my whole wardrobe to accommodate this huge change. I want to show my son that its okay to be different and to be proud of who you are no matter what. Of course, Im still coming to terms with my new body. Some days are harder than others and the wish to be normal creeps in. I intensely miss the body I used to know, but Im learning slowly to love my new body for all that it means and all that it gives me. Read more: From Nurse To Patient: My Journey With Crohns Disease Parr's pain returned after having son Teddy. (PA Real Life) Parr, who lives in Wickford, Essex, with her boyfriend, Danny Hollowbread, 29, and their son, Teddy, two, believes she first experienced symptoms of Crohns when she was just 13. For the next five years, my symptoms got progressively worse," she says. It reached the point where I was needing to run to the toilet about 30 times a day, but I put off telling anyone about it. At the time, I was an awkward teen and felt embarrassed. I also had a feeling that something was seriously wrong and I was scared of the outcome, so I put my head in the sand. Story continues After various tests, she was diagnosed with Crohns disease, aged 18. Natalie spent weeks in hospital where doctors advised her to have a stoma fitted. (Collect/PA Real Life) Read more: Woman gives birth after inoperable brain tumour diagnosis at 20 weeks' pregnant Its an auto immune condition, which means whenever I get a cold or a bug that should last a couple of days, Ill be ill for two weeks, sometimes to the point where I end up in hospital," she says. Armed with a diagnosis, Natalie was prescribed medication to combat the pain she was experiencing, but she says getting her drugs right was very much a question of trial and error. Some things worked better than others but in 2017, when I was 21, my bowel perforated and Danny had to rush me to hospital," she explains. We had only been dating for a few months at the time and, while I had explained my condition to him, it was the first time he saw just how badly it affected me. When we got to the hospital a doctor told him that if he hadnt brought me in that night, I might not have made it to the next day. After spending a few nights in hospital, she recovered at home and was prescribed new medication which seemed to rid her of her ailments. The drug completely took away all symptoms and for three years I felt like I didnt even have Crohns Disease, which was amazing," she says. During that time, in 2020, Parr gave birth to her son, Teddy. It was after giving birth that the pain started to return. It would flare up and came back stronger, but this was during the start of the pandemic, so I struggled to get further tests done," she explains. It took a while as I had to wait for things in the world to return to normal but, last year, doctors started discussing the possibility of me having a stoma. Read more: Rebel Wilson's real reason for weight loss: 'I thought of a future child's needs' Natalie is now three weeks post-op. (Collect/PA Real Life) Natalie admits she was reluctant at first to go ahead with the procedure. But in April she had a major flare up. She adds: I was in hospital for weeks while they tried to get me better and being away from my boyfriend and our little boy for that long was awful. It was getting worse and worse and there was a moment when one of my doctors said to me, I cannot keep seeing you in hospital, we need to do something about this. The pain meant that I was struggling to do all the things I wanted to do with my baby. I couldnt always play with him or be as present with him as I was in so much agony. I knew something had to drastically change. Read more: Duchess of Cambridge tackles depression and anxiety in mums with new role: 'No mother immune' Natalie Parr says boyfriend Danny has been a huge support. (PA Real Life) Read more: Fabulous fifties: Brits feel sexiest at 53, new research reveals At the end of May, Parr finally went in for the life changing procedure to have a stoma bag fitted. It was a very emotional thing to go through and it was quite scary to have an operation knowing my body would change because of it, but I feel very positive about the outcome," she explains. Danny has been amazing and took over the care of Teddy while I went through the operation. It is just three weeks since she had the four-hour operation and already she acknowledges that the results have been life changing. Im still recovering and sore from the surgery, but the actual pain I used to experience due to my condition has completely gone, she says. Its felt like a miracle cure, I cant believe it just vanished overnight. The pain I would feel on a daily basis was becoming unbearable. Id eat a mouthful of food and have to rush to the toilet. I just wasnt coping with the condition anymore. I have to have another big operation in the next year or two to remove part of my bowel, but Im hoping that Ill be given the green light by my doctor to have another baby before having the second op, as were keen to expand our family. In the meantime, Parr is eager to project a positive message about stomas, by posting videos showing hers on Facebook and TikTok and helping to raise awareness of Crohns. She is taking part in the Crohns and Colitis UK Walk It fundraiser, for more information visit: www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk Additional reporting by PA. STORY: "Bee" as she is known, is one of the Thais wholeheartedly welcoming the government's decision to de-list it as a narcotic. She was a recreational pot smoker but now brews cannabis in an infusion and has been using cannabis oil for the last three years to cope with pain and anxiety due to cancer. It's also effective in dealing with fatigue, insomnia, vomiting and appetite loss from chemotherapy which she started in January, as the side effects are milder than commercial drugs, says the 42-year-old. Thailand, which has a tradition to use cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue authorized medicinal use in 2018. It is now the first Asian country to legalize the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks and this means people like Bee can get steady, good-quality supplies for a cheaper price. Before, finding cannabis was sometimes hit-or-miss. "Sometimes, you lose the money to the dealer because sometimes, the police might have caught them on the way. Now, you don't have to lose money. Sometimes, people also cheated you because you know nothing about it (cannabis)," says Bee, who shreds the dried plant and boils it to make the infusion, filling her one-bedroom apartment with its distinctive smell. Bee said she felt like a "lab rat" previously because she was uncertain about the potency of the cannabis she obtained and how to tailor the dosage for herself as this differs between individuals. It was also costly to buy slightly more reliable imported cannabis buds, which could cost up to 700 baht ($20) before the reform. Prices now are around 350 baht ($10) per gram, according to Bee. Thai lawmakers are still debating a draft cannabis regulation bill meaning there is still confusion about how it can be legally used. A draft bill is making its way through parliament but is months away from becoming law. After de-criminalizing, the central government has been issuing piecemeal rules to try to bring order to cannabis use. Story continues "You need education, you need to study how to use it, the right way. Otherwise, it can be harm(ful), it can be dangerous as well," says Bee. Smoking pot in public can violate health laws, however, and the possession and sale of cannabis extracts containing more than 0.2% of its psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is also not allowed. Other restrictions include banning it from schools. Retailers are now required to provide clear information on usage of cannabis in food and drinks. Thailand has said previously it hopes legalizing the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks will help the agriculture and medical research sectors of the economy. KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) The leaders of a southeast Alaska borough plan to hear a proposal that would cut library funding over the library's story time event hosted by a drag queen. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly plans on Monday to consider whether to place on the fall municipal ballot the proposal, which was offered by former Assembly member John Harrington, the Ketchikan Daily News reported. Citizens can ask to have items placed on the assembly agenda for consideration. Harrington, in a written sponsor statement, said the goal of the proposal is to "stop library programs aimed at preschool and primary school aged children (3 to 9 years old) related to sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity, thus leaving that discussion if needed to the parents. It is also hoped that it will let the kids be kids for a few more years. The statement adds that the "best outcome would be if a reasonable settlement can be reached with the library in a timely period so that the initiative process can be avoided. The Ketchikan City Council last week rejected, 5-2, a motion to cancel a drag story time event at the public library. Councilmember Janalee Gage at that time defended the library event, saying: When kids see various individuals leading healthy lives, regardless of whether theyre LGBTQ+ or even disabled they see that anything is possible, that you can be whatever you choose to be." She said removing the event would be a direct violation of the Ketchikan anti-discrimination ordinance and a civil rights violation. The proposal before the borough assembly seeks to end a contract with the city of Ketchikan that funds about 38% of the librarys operating budget through a property tax. Ketchikan Public Library Director Pat Tully said losing that much funding would be devastating. Wed really have to think very hard about what it would be possible to do with a 38% budget cut, Tully said. A borough memo notes that if voters were to support cutting the funding as proposed, the borough could still support library options using other powers or funding mechanisms. The memo states that Harrington also has applied for an initiative petition, another process for trying to put the question before voters. That request is being reviewed, the memo states. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 SIOUX CITY -- Call it the case of the dueling doctors. After prosecutors on Monday recalled a pediatrician to rebut the testimony of a pathologist called by Tayvon Davis' defense team, the defense notified the court that it intended to call its expert back to the stand to counter Monday's medical testimony. The catch: he's not available until Wednesday morning, causing another delay in a trial in which jury selection began June 7. There was no testimony Friday because Dr. Suzanne Haney, the state's rebuttal witness, was not available. When jurors were dismissed last week, they were told Monday likely would be the last day of evidence and they might receive the case for deliberations by the afternoon. "The timing of things in this trial has not at any time progressed as we said it would," District Judge Tod Deck told jurors before dismissing them Monday morning after less than an hour of witness testimony. The latest delay will make it possible for the defense to recall Dr. Thomas Young, a private forensic pathologist from Kansas City, Missouri, who testified Thursday before the defense rested its case. Young said medical evidence and statements Davis has made can explain Maelynn Myers' injuries were accidental and not abusive, contradicting many of the conclusions previously offered by Haney and the medical examiner who did the autopsy. Davis, 26, of Sioux City, is charged in Woodbury County District Court with first-degree murder, child endangerment resulting in the death of a child and multiple acts of child endangerment. Prosecutors believe he injured Maelynn numerous times in the days leading up to Aug. 22, 2018, when Davis and Maelynn's grandmother rushed the unresponsive 19-month-old to a Sioux City emergency room. She was transferred to Children's Hospital in Omaha, where she never regained consciousness and died three days later. An Iowa state medical examiner detailed the child's injuries, which included bleeding throughout the brain, a left kidney dying because the blood vessel leading to it had been torn, hemorrhaging in both eyes, the girl's abdomen and in the muscles at the back of her neck. X-rays showed healing fractures in the tibias of both legs and two vertebra. All had fresh fractures in the healing bone material. At least three ribs were fractured. Maelynn also had bruises on her forehead and the small of her back. Maelynn's death was ruled a homicide caused by complications from blunt-force injuries. Davis told investigators he dropped Maelynn after giving her a bath on Aug. 22 and she stopped breathing. His attempts at CPR were unsuccessful, but she was revived in the emergency room. Haney, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital who examined Maelynn, previously testified the girl's injuries were too severe to be caused by being dropped, and CPR also was an unlikely cause. Returning to the witness stand Monday, Haney said Young's assertions that many of Maelynn's injuries could have been caused by Davis' attempts to administer CPR do not measure up to findings from numerous studies. She also disagreed with Young's explanation that hemorrhaging in Maelynn's eyes resulted from blood vessel damage caused by reperfusion, a condition in which blood supply to the body stops, then starts again. Haney said studies show eye hemorrhaging from reperfusion is different than if caused by traumatic injuries. The girl's arm and leg fractures were typical of twisting and pulling injuries such as being yanked, Haney said, not CPR or frantic handling of the little girl while she was unconscious, as Young testified. Young also said Maelynn's broken ribs were the result of CPR. Haney said a child's bones are more flexible than an adult's and can bend much farther without breaking, making it unlikely they were fractured during CPR. Haney maintained her opinion that Maelynn's injuries were caused by a force comparable to a car crash, not failed CPR or a low-distance fall in the bathroom. "It is not the result of a low-distance fall," she said. It's possible closing arguments will take place Wednesday and the case then submitted to the jury. If found guilty of first-degree murder, Davis would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DES MOINES -- District Judge Patrick Tott, of Sioux City, is among five applicants for an upcoming Iowa Supreme Court vacancy. Tott, who is the chief judge of the Third Judicial District, will interview with the State Judicial Nominating Commission on Monday. He was appointed to the district court bench in September 2014 by then-Gov. Terry Branstad. Other applicants interviewing Monday are Timothy Gartin, an Ames lawyer; William Miller, a Des Moines lawyer; District Judge Alan Heavens, of Garnavillo; and Iowa Court of Appeals Judge David May, of Polk City. The interview schedule and applications will be posted on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website at https://www.iowajnc.gov/state-commission. The public may submit written comments about the applicants' qualifications to commission members via email no later than 11:59 p.m. Thursday at the email addresses on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website and by email to the commission's secretary at sjnc@iowa.gov. Applicants' interviews in the Iowa Supreme Courtroom in the Judicial Branch Building in Des Moines are open to the public. The interviews will be live-streamed and videos archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel until the new justice is named. The commission will forward the names of three applicants to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who will have 30 to appoint the new justice to replace Brent Appel, who is retiring on July 13. SIOUX CITY After the death and burial of Sgt. Charles Floyd, Lewis and Clark spent a night beside the Floyd River before continuing upstream. East of Floyd Boulevard, approximately where the expedition team stayed for the night, a memorial rock is being painted with the story of Floyd, Lewis and Clark from Aug. 20, 1804 to Aug. 21, 1804. Dan Whitlock, a member of the Sergeant Floyd Tri-State Chapter and the Lewis and Clark Trail Foundation, said the campsite in Sioux City has been known for years. After Sgt. Floyd was buried on the then-unnamed Floyd Bluff, Lewis and Clark boarded their boats and went a short distance upriver before camping near what is now called Floyd River, according to their journals. The land to the west of the Floyd River where the campsite was believed to be was owned by The Andersons fertilizer supplier, Whitlock said. When the city started the Chris Larsen Riverfront Development Project, the city was able to obtain that section of land. Now that property that we know is close, if not the exact place Lewis and Clark camped, is part of the park, he said. Whitlock began asking the city how they were going to honor the site around two years ago. The city had planned on putting up a sign, but Whitlock felt more could be done. He proposed hiring Ray Bubby Sorensen II -- the artist who created the Freedom Rock project -- to create something similar to honor Floyd, as well as Lewis and Clarks campsite. Whitlock said it would be another way to encourage people off of the highway and teach about Floyd, Lewis and Clark. We could provide more information and make another stopping point, he said. The city agreed to the project. The boulder, found near Anthon, was installed in October and Sorensen was able to start painting on June 13. Sorensen has been working on the project from around 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day since arriving. Titled the Floyd River Campsite Rock, there are five images on the boulder: Floyds sickness, his burial, the Lewis and Clark campsite, a portrait of Floyd and an American flag with 15 stars and stripes. (In the period between about 1795 and 1818, the flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes, despite the country having had more than 15 states beginning with the admission of Tennessee in 1796. The number of stripes went back to 13 in 1818.) Whitlock said the painting is expected to be finished by June 20 with informational signage to be installed at a later date. He hopes to have everything in place for an Aug. 20 dedication ceremony. The project is estimated to total around $35,000 to $40,000, Whitlock said. It is being completely paid for by the Sergeant Floyd Tri-State Chapter. He said they have raised $33,770 from private donations, company donations and grants from the Lewis and Clark Trail Foundation, Missouri River Historical Development and Fund for Siouxland. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Chicago Election Board Chair Marisel Hernandez recently included an unusual warm weather addendum to her regular pre-election pitch encouraging voters to cast ballots in the upcoming Illinois primary: Do so before you leave town. If youre planning on a summer vacation in the coming weeks, choose to vote by mail, she said. Advertisement Hernandezs vacation plea shows how the shift of the primary election from its usual March perch to June 28 has created a new set of complications for election officials and candidates trying to get people to the polls. It is the latest Illinois has held a primary since at least the Great Depression forced back over three months because 2020 U.S. Census Bureau numbers needed for redistricting were late and arrives less than a week before the Fourth of July holiday. Advertisement So even though Illinois voters are faced with pivotal primary races for governor, secretary of state and U.S. congressional seats, as well as scores of down-ballot races, it raises the question: Do voters even know Election Day is coming up, or are their minds already drifting to Wisconsin Dells? Early voting numbers so far show Chicago totals lagging behind the most recent midterm. In order to compare with early voting in previous midterms, for the 11 days when early voting was conducted only at a downtown polling place, 1,127 votes were cast this year, according to the city Board of Elections. In that same time in the 2018 midterms, 2,066 votes were cast. On the first day of citywide early voting this year, 2,337 votes were cast. On 2018s first citywide day, 3,991 votes were cast. A person walks by a Chicago Board of Elections' Loop Super Site on June 13, 2022. The location is open for early voting. (Raquel Zaldvar / Chicago Tribune) Hernandez said she expects voter turnout to end up at or around the usual low number for a nonpresidential midterm primary elections. I do think that even though people may be on summer vacation, that weve gotten the word out, that theyve taken this into consideration, she said. Election officials point out that with fewer people working downtown and more voters becoming familiar with the vote-by-mail process, many of those in-person voters in prior years could simply be tossing their completed ballots in the mailbox. In DuPage County, Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said her office has already received over 31,900 applications for mail-in ballots, compared with 5,453 such applications prior to the 2018 midterm primary. Advertisement With applications still coming in, the 2022 Primary Election will move into third place for mail ballot applications, behind the 2020 General with 212,903 and 2018 General with 42,338, Kaczmarek said in an emailed response. Thats despite the fact theres no Democratic primary fight for governor, like there was in 2018 when J.B. Pritzker fended off five challengers, including state Sen. Daniel Biss and Kenilworth developer Chris Kennedy. Instead, a nasty, expensive Republican gubernatorial face-off is drawing most of the attention. That race has evolved into a largely two-man campaign between state Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. Others running are business owner Gary Rabine of Bull Valley, venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo and Hazel Crest attorney Max Solomon. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Near Peoria, early voting and requests for vote-by-mail ballots in Tazewell County are running just a bit behind 2018, according to Clerk John Ackerman. While he expects the final numbers for those votes to be right about the same number or higher than the last midterm, thats likely to mean overall lower voter turnout in the election, Ackerman said. We would expect to see growth in those areas, and we likely wont this election, Ackerman said. The whole election cycle is thrown off because of the late June primary, he said. Advertisement Kevin Campbell casts his vote at a Chicago Board of Elections' Loop Super Site on June 13, 2022. (Raquel Zaldvar / Chicago Tribune) There are variations in voter interest across the state, proving that old axiom that all politics is local. In Downstate Sangamon County, which includes the city of Springfield, county Clerk Don Gray said attention to several primary contests is driving increases. Requests for vote-by-mail ballots are up 60% compared with the 2018 midterms and are even 34% higher than for the 2020 presidential primary, Gray said. He pointed to high voter turnout for two hotly contested congressional primaries that touch parts of the county. Theres the newly drawn 13th Congressional District, which has no incumbent on the ballot but features four Republican hopefuls and two Democrats in the respective primaries. And the 15th Congressional District has a Republican primary faceoff between U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville and U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland. Theyre running against each other because the congressional districts were redrawn following the census. That race is obviously getting a lot of money and attention, Gray said. Advertisement Former President Donald Trump is traveling to Illinois on Saturday to campaign for Miller. Meanwhile, the hotly contested Democratic primary to succeed retiring Secretary of State Jesse White holds special significance around Springfield, where lots of employees of that office work, Gray said. And then were just seeing people getting more used to vote by mail and early voting, and more confident in it with each election, Gray said. jebyrne@chicagotribune.com SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Council will be asked Monday to adopt an ordinance that prohibits individuals from keeping animals in a vehicle or the bed of a parked truck in ambient temperature that exceeds 79 degrees Fahrenheit, unless the animal is enclosed inside the vehicle with the air conditioning turned on. Chris Wall, of the Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue Center, said the change to the city code isn't being proposed in response to any increase in people leaving animals in their vehicles on hot days. "I think that the message, in all honesty, is getting through to people," he said. "We are getting calls for them. But, typically, what has happened is by the time we get there, the people have gone." The current city code has a nonspecific requirement that animals not be kept in vehicles during conditions of "temperature extremes." According to city documents, the proposed ordinance is adapted from a similar code in Stillwater, Oklahoma, a place that often experiences higher summer temperature extremes. It will supply police and animal control personnel with an "enforceable, quantifiable threshold condition" to determine a violation, the documents state. "Excessive heat is open to interpretation," Wall said. "What they've done now is they're bringing in a 79 degree Fahrenheit ambient temperature outside, so everybody's in the same ballpark. Everybody's on the same page." Under the current city code and the proposed amendment, any peace officer or animal control officer is authorized to use whatever force is reasonable and necessary to remove any animal from a vehicle or other enclosed space whenever it appears that the animal's life or health is endangered by extreme temperatures or lack of ventilation. The officers would not be liable for any damages caused to the vehicle or other enclosed space. "It becomes a priority 1 situation if there's any animal in distress in a vehicle. That's pretty much drop what you're doing and get to that call," Wall said. Wall said he couldn't recall any situations last year, or so far this year that involved Sioux City animal control officers or police officers having to break out a vehicle's window in order to rescue an animal from the heat. He said anyone found in violation of the proposed ordinance would receive a municipal infraction penalty. A first offense would be $100 plus costs, for a total of $195. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Despite Western arms, Ukraine is outgunned in the east BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) Despite the heavy influx of weapons from the West, Ukrainian forces are outgunned by the Russians in the battle for the eastern Donbas region, where the fighting is largely being carried out by way of artillery exchanges. While the Russians can keep up heavy, continuous fire for hours at a time, the defenders cant match the enemy in either weapons or ammunition and must use their ammo more judiciously. One problem is that Western defense industries can't turn out weapons fast enough. Another is that the Ukrainians need training on Western-supplied hardware. Nobel sold for Ukrainian kids shatters record at $103.5M NEW YORK (AP) Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov says he was not expecting the medal he was auctioning off to help Ukrainian child refugees sell for the record amount of $103.5 million. Bidding in the auction ended in New York on Monday, which is World Refugee Day. The sale shatters the old $4.76 million record for a Nobel. The identity of the buyer isn't immediately known. Muratov was awarded the medal in October 2021. He helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid a Kremlin clampdown after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden says decision on gas tax holiday may come this week REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) President Joe Biden says hes considering pressing for a holiday on the federal gasoline tax. That could possibly save U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon. Biden told reporters Monday that his decision could come by the end of the week. The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. Taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel help pay for highways. Report: Police in Uvalde had rifles earlier than known UVALDE, Texas (AP) Documents examined by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV show armed police officers stood in a Uvalde elementary school hallway with at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the school, where he killed 21 people, 19 of them children. The outlets' report, which did not indicate the source of the documents, nevertheless intensifies the anguish and questions over why police didn't act sooner to stop the May 24 slaughter in the Robb Elementary School classroom. The outlets reported that gunfire could be heard as much as 29 minutes before officers entered the classroom and killed the gunman. Shots for tots: COVID vaccinations start for little US kids The nations youngest children are getting their chance at vaccines for COVID-19. Shots began Monday at a few locations, though they were expected to ramp up after the Juneteenth federal holiday. The Food and Drug Administration cleared vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer last week and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the final signoff over the weekend. Roughly 18 million youngsters under 5 are eligible. For the little kids, Pfizers vaccine is three shots and Modernas is two shots. Getting some parents on board may be a challenge given disappointing vaccination rates in school-age kids. 'It always wins': North Korea may declare COVID-19 victory SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Only a month after North Korea acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak was sickening its people, the country may be preparing to declare victory. The daily updates from state-controlled media say cases are plummeting. Its propaganda insists North Korea has avoided mass deaths despite desperately poor health care and what outsiders see as a long record of ignoring its peoples suffering. Some experts believe the next step will be a declaration of victory over the virus credited, of course, to Kim Jong Uns strong and clever guidance. A declaration now isn't a foregone conclusion, though. North Korea may seek better timing while using its anti-virus measures to maintain control over its people. Georgia's Raffensperger among witnesses for next 1/6 hearing The House Jan. 6 committee is expected to hear testimony from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to find 11,780 votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Bidens election victory. Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizonas Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be the key witnesses when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection resumes on Tuesday. The focus will be on how the former president and his allies pressured officials in key battleground states with schemes to reject ballots or entire state tallies to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna settle before trial's sequel LOS ANGELES (AP) A settlement agreement has been reached on the eve of a second trial pitting the Kardashian family against former reality TV star Blac Chyna. Jury selection had been set to begin Monday in the trial over Chynas allegations that her former fiance Rob Kardashian maliciously posted nude photos of her in 2017 after their tumultuous breakup. But court documents show the parties told the judge a settlement deal had been struck. A judge had separated Chyna's allegations against Rob Kardashian from her defamation allegations against his mother and sisters, which got their own trial. The Kardashians won that case when jurors found they hadn't done Chyna harm. Crypto investors' hot streak ends as harsh 'winter' descends NEW YORK (AP) The wealth-generating hot streak for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has turned brutally cold. As prices plunge, companies collapse and skepticism soars, fortunes and jobs are disappearing overnight, and investors feverish speculation has been replaced by icy calculation, in what industry leaders are referring to as a crypto winter. On Monday, the price of bitcoin traded at $20,097, more than 70% below its November peak of around $69,000. Experts say the selloff signals growing trepidation on Wall Street and Main Street about the crypto industrys fundamentals, which right now are looking shaky. Lightning bounce back, beat Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Anthony Cirelli, Nicholas Paul and Corey Perry also scored to help the two-time defending champion Lightning bounce back after playing poorly while losing the first two games on the road. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots. Stamkos, Paul, Maroon and Perry scored in the second period, when the Lightning chased Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper while pulling away to trim their series deficit to 2-1. Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for the Avalanche. Game 4 is Wednesday night. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls for him to publicly demand the United States drop its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange. His government has been under mounting pressure to intervene since Britain ordered Assanges extradition on spying charges. Albanese said Monday his government would aim to engage appropriately with our partners. The Australian government earlier said Assanges case has dragged on and should be brought to a close. American prosecutors say Assange helped a U.S. intelligence analyst steal classified material that WikiLeaks later published. Assanges lawyers say his actions were protected by the U.S. Constitution. An appeal of the British government's decision could extend the case for years. BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union's top diplomat said on Monday he has written to all African foreign ministers to explain that the bloc's sanctions on Russia are not responsible for the looming global food crisis, and pledged to work out ways for exports of food and fertilizers to reach their continent. The EU has not banned exports of Russian food or fertilizers to non-EU nations as part of its sanctions package. Earlier this month, the chairman of the African Union, Senegals President Macky Sall, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the fighting in Ukraine and Western sanctions had worsened food shortages, and appealed to other countries to ensure grain and fertilizer exports from Russia and Ukraine arent blocked. Russia is blockading Ukrainian exports," Josep Borrell said after a meeting of EU Foreign Affairs ministers. Not us. Russia is destroying ports, and destroying food stocks, destroying transport infrastructure." Russia's war against Ukraine has been preventing some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from getting to the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia. Borrell said it is a deliberate attempt (by Russia) to create hunger in the world," adding that the Kremlin's attempt to blame Western sanctions for the crisis was just propaganda." Sall also complained that the collateral effects of the EU decision to expel many Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system will hurt African countries' ability to make payments for food imports. Borrell said he understands the concerns of African leaders about the consequences of EU sanctions. If there is a problem, we will solve it," he said. But I have to know the problem. Not the whole financial system of Russia is de-Swifted." Meanwhile, Borrell said the bloc is ready to look into whether sanctions imposed on Belarus before the war targeting exports of potash a common fertilizer ingredient can affect its distribution across the world. In addition, Borrell said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will send letters to all financial and economic actors to explain what they can do under the sanctions regime. Because our sanctions don't forbid them to participate on the trade on food, fertilizers with Russia and third countries," he said. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LONDON (AP) Beijing's crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong has been a lot worse than expected, the last British governor of the city said Monday as he launched a new book to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the former British colony's handover to Chinese rule. Chris Patten, who led Britain's last government in Hong Kong before the Asian financial hub was returned to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, said it was heartbreaking to see its transformation. I thought there was a prospect that (China) would keep its word, and Im sorry that it hasnt, he said in London. I just find it intensely difficult. I do believe that Hong Kong is a great city, I hope it will be a great city again. But he added that he wasnt too optimistic. Ill believe that things are changing when some of those whove gone into exile in the last few years start to want to go back to China, to Hong Kong, he told The Associated Press. And that isnt happening at the moment. Hong Kong, Britain's last significant colony, reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 under a one country, two systems principle that was supposed to preserve for 50 years its rule of law and civil liberties including freedom of speech and assembly not found elsewhere on mainland China. But Beijing has dramatically intensified its crackdown on dissent in the city since 2019, when massive pro-democracy protests triggered violent clashes between activists and police. Since authorities introduced a wide-ranging national security law in 2020, dissenting media have been shut down and over 150 people have been arrested on suspicion of offences including subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion to intervene in the citys affairs. Reflecting on his time in the city and what happened after the British left, Patten said that by and large, Hong Kong remained pretty much the same for a decade after the handover until Xi came to power. He said (Chinese President Xi Jinping) and his goons were terrified by anti-government protests in Hong Kong, and that he was surprised and distressed by the extent to which Beijing disregarded the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the treaty that set the conditions of Hong Kong's handover to Chinese rule. Im surprised that Xi Jinping has taken steps which are I think so, so bad for Chinas medium and long term interests, not only in managing the economy, but also in managing Chinas soft power around the world ... which is dissipating very rapidly, Patten said. Patten described as ludicrous how authorities in Hong Kong are reportedly planning to introduce new school textbooks claiming the city was never a British colony. He joked that his new book, a collection of his diary entries during his time as governor from 1992 to 1997, showed that I do exist and I'm not a figment of my imagination." As previous Chinese emperors and dictators have done, you can bury the scholars, but you cant bury their history," he said. Asked about his view on Chinas military ambitions over Taiwan and whether that may result in a situation comparable to Russias war in Ukraine, Patten said he hoped Xi realizes what an incredibly dangerous enterprise it would be to assault Taiwan. I guess Xi will look at how the world has reacted to the invasion of Ukraine with some concern, he said. But the fact that we are talking about it right now has made me rather worried. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) Lithuania on Monday defended its decision to bar rail transit from Russia to a Russian Baltic Sea exclave of goods hit by European Union sanctions, in a move that drew Moscow's strong anger amid high tensions in the region. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his country was simply implementing sanctions imposed by the EU, of which it is a member. He said the measures implemented Saturday were taken after consultation with the European Commission and under its guidelines. Sanctioned goods (will) no longer be allowed to transit Lithuanian territory, Landsbergis added. Goods on the list include steel, but are set to be broadly expanded to cover items from coal to alcoholic drinks. The Kaliningrad exclave, home to some 430,000 people, is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, another EU country, to the south and isolated from the rest of Russia. Trains with goods for Kaliningrad travel via Belarus and Lithuania. There's no transit through Poland. Russia can still supply the exclave by sea, without falling foul of EU sanctions. Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lifts the ban, with the Foreign Ministry in Moscow saying that if transport links are not restored in full Russia reserves the right to take action in defense of its national interests. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly denounced the unlawful ban. This decision, indeed unprecedented, is a violation of everything and then some. We understand that it is connected to the relevant decision of the European Union to extend the sanctions to transit (of goods). This we also consider unlawful, Peskov told reporters on Monday. The foreign ministry summoned Lithuanias chief diplomatic representative in Moscow for a formal protest and alleged the Baltic nation was acting in breach of international agreements. Lithuania has not had an ambassador in Moscow since April, when it downgraded diplomatic ties in protest at the killing of civilians in Ukraine by Russian troops after the Feb. 24 invasion. Lithuania later summoned the Russian envoy in Vilnius to tell him the ban was in line with EU sanctions, and that there was no blockade of Kaliningrad. The EUs top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Lithuanias move should not be compared to the situation in Ukraine. The rest of the world will not be affected by what is happening in Kaliningrad, but the rest of the world is very much affected by what is happening in Ukraine, he said. Borrell added that Lithuania did not take any unilateral national restrictions and denied that land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia had been stopped, or banned. There is no blockade, Borrell said. He added that the transit of passengers and goods that are not sanctioned is continuing. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: Russia has no right to threaten Lithuania. Moscow has only itself to blame for the consequences of its unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, Lithuanian customs said the sanctions, which took effect in mid-June, were part of the fourth EU sanctions package imposed on March 15. Lina Laurinaityte Grigiene, a customs spokeswoman, said affected items include Russian steel that cannot be transported over the territory of European countries. "The land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia is not stopped or blocked. All goods that are not under sanctions travel freely, she said. She added that starting July 10, similar sanctions will be implemented on concrete and alcohol goods, from Aug. 10 on coal and from December no Russian oil will be allowed into EU territory. Anton Alikhanov, the governor of the Russian exclave, has estimated that the ban would affect some 50% of all goods flowing towards Kaliningrad by rail. He also said he would call on Russian authorities to take measures against Lithuania and would seek to have more goods sent by ship. Kaliningrad, which is home to the Russian Baltic Fleet, is Russias only ice-free Baltic port. Moscow has also deployed there nuclear-capable Iskander missiles. As part of its economic sanctions, the EU has imposed a number of import and export restrictions on Russia. The bloc said it has been careful not to harm the Russian population with its packages of measures and therefore excluded products related to health, pharma, food and agriculture. The list of sanctioned products include up to 90% of oil imports, coal, steel, iron, wood, as well as caviar and vodka. Bans are implemented by the EUs customs authorities. Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this report. Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Pakistans newly elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has appeared in court in connection with an old corruption case. His lawyer says the court on Monday granted Sharif exemption from further appearances in person in the hearings. The case dating back four years is related to Sharifs alleged links to a multi-million dollar housing scam in the eastern city of Lahore. The lawyer described the proceedings as a politically-motivated case, adding that Sharif was implicated in the case falsely, by the government of his predecessor, Imran Khan. He said he hopes for a full acquittal. Russian attacks are laying down a curtain of fire across areas of eastern Ukraine where pockets of resistance are denying Moscow full military control of the region. A regional official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that everything that can burn is on fire. Russias war has caused alarm over food supplies from Ukraine to the rest of the world and gas supplies from Russia. It has also raised questions about security in Western Europe. The Russian military currently controls about 95% of the eastern Luhansk region. Separately, John Kirby, a national security spokesman for the White House, said it was appalling that the Kremlin suggested two Americans captured by Russian forces in Ukraine could be sentenced to death. NEW YORK (AP) The Nobel Peace Prize auctioned off by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel. A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, could not confirm the identity of the buyer but said the winning bid was made by proxy. The $103.5 million sale translates to $100 million Swiss francs, hinting that the buyer is from overseas. I was hoping that there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount, Muratov said in an interview after bidding in the nearly 3-week auction ended on World Refugee Day. Previously, the most ever paid for a Nobel Prize medal was $4.76 million in 2014, when James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962, sold his. In 2013, the family of his co-recipient, Francis Crick, received $2.27 million in bidding also run by Heritage Auctions. Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlins clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine. It was Muratovs idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. Muratov has said the proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Just minutes after bidding ended, UNICEF told the auction house it had already received the funds. Online bids had begun June 1 to coincide with the International Childrens Day observance. Many bids came by telephone or online. The winning bid, tendered by telephone, catapulted the bidding from the low millions to astronomical levels. Muratov had left Russia on Thursday to begin his trip to New York City, where live bidding began Monday evening. Early Monday, the high bid was only $550,000. The purchase price had been expected to spiral upward but not over $100 million. I cant believe it. Im awestruck. Personally, Im flabbergasted. Im stunned. I dont really know what happened in there, said Joshua Benesh, the chief strategy officer for Heritage Auctions. We knew that there was a tremendous groundswell of interest in the last couple of days by people who were moved by Dimitrys story, by Dimitrys act of generosity, that the global audience was listening tonight, he said. Muratov and Heritage officials said even those out of the bidding can still help by donating directly to UNICEF. Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines. The two journalists, who each received their own medals, were honored for their battles to preserve free speech in their respective countries, despite coming under attack by harassment, their governments and even death threats. Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratovs medal would be worth about $10,000. Muratov has been highly critical of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war launched in February that has caused nearly 5 million Ukrainians to flee to other countries for safety, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. Independent journalists in Russia have come under scrutiny by the Kremlin, if not outright targets of the government. Since Putin came into power more than two decades ago, nearly two dozen journalists have been killed, including at least four who had worked for Muratov's newspaper. In April, Muratov said he was attacked with red paint while aboard a Russian train. Since its inception in 1901, there have been nearly 1,000 recipients of the Nobel Prizes honoring achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and the advancement of peace. In a story published June 20, 2022, about the auction of a Nobel Peace Prize, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the medal won by Francis Crick was sold in 2017. It was sold in 2013. Associated Press writer Andrew Katell contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Incoming HK chief says team united, loyal 08:30, June 20, 2022 By SHADOW LI in Hong Kong ( China Daily Chief Executive-designate of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region John Lee Ka-chiu (fourth from left, front) and principal officials of his governing team meet the media in Hong Kong after the State Council approved the nominations of the officials on Sunday. [CALVIN NG/CHINA DAILY] Incoming Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu pledged on Sunday that the city's newly appointed governance team will sincerely listen to and communicate with the public, bear in mind their interests, and address the people's concerns. In debuting with his new team of principal officials, Lee thanked the central government for accepting and approving his nominations, as well as its trust and support for him. Lee said the team is united and loyal and will be result-oriented with an emphasis on team spirit and execution while sharing ideals of governance, vowing to stay committed to serving the people, enhancing the efficiency of administration, as well as reaching out and listening to the public. Earlier on Sunday, the State Council, China's Cabinet, appointed 26 principal officials of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, based on Lee's nominations. The 26-strong lineup of principal officials is scheduled to assume office on July 1 with Lee. The new governing team will also be the biggest since the city's return in 1997, with the government being expanded from the current 13 bureaus to 15 and the addition of three deputy secretaries to the three top-rank secretaries who are in charge of administration, finance and justice respectively. The incoming team comprises civil servants with extensive experience in government, professionals, and those who are skilled in their own sectors. The current director of the Chief Executive's Office, Eric Chan Kwok-ki, 63, has been appointed the chief secretary for administration. Chan joined the Immigration Department in 1982 and was promoted to serve as director of Immigration from 2011 to 2016. Cheuk Wing-hing, who had served in multiple posts in the government, will assume the post of deputy chief secretary. Paul Chan Mo-po, 67, will remain as the financial secretary, with the incumbent Secretary for Development, Michael Wong Wai-lun, as the deputy financial secretary. Paul Lam Ting-kwok, 54, will take over the post of secretary for justice. Practicing lawyer and lawmaker Cheung Kwok-kwan, 47, will join the team as the deputy secretary for justice. Both are newcomers to the governing team. Apart from Lam and Cheung, four more newly appointed officials are new faces from outside the government, including liver transplant expert and the current Hospital Chief Executive at The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital Lo Chung-mau, who will be secretary for health; and Alice Mak Mei-kuen, who has been appointed secretary for home and youth affairs. Lee said the new appointees are recognized by their peers and chosen for their extensive experience in their respective fields. The governing team will include five women, making up a quarter of the teamthe highest number of female members in a governance team since the handover. Incumbent Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung and Secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai will stay on their posts. Lee also thanked Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the current team of civil servants for helping in the transition process. In two separate statements, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region respectively congratulated the new-term governing team. Both offices said the team meets the central government's political requirements of HKSAR government's principal officials as a patriotic, professional, diverse, responsible team with international vision. They said they hoped the new-term government can fully and accurately implement "one country, two systems", help the city further integrate into the nation's development, tackle the most-concerned issues faced by the people, and enhance the city's international competitiveness. Carrie Lam, in a statement, expressed hopes for the new-term government to act in concert to enable Hong Kong to forge ahead toward development and prosperity. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) The states wealthiest man, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, is again exerting influence in a race for an Illinois Supreme Court seat during an election cycle that could give Republicans a high court edge. Griffin has funneled $6.25 million to an independent expenditure committee that two years ago spent millions in a successful effort to unseat a Democratic high court justice by linking him unfavorably to former House Speaker Michael Madigan. Advertisement The committee this time around already has spent more than $200,000 in the Republican primary, and Griffin said in a statement that Illinois residents deserve fair and objective judges rather than the hand-picked candidates of Mike Madigan. The Democratic primary includes a candidate who has received political help from members of Madigans organization in the past. But Madigan, who faces federal corruption charges, has lost his most powerful party roles and theres no evidence yet he has a hand in the race. Advertisement Four Republican and three Democratic candidates are seeking to win their partys nominations in the June 28 primaries to fill a newly redistricted seat that is open due to the retirement of Republican Justice Robert Thomas, a former Chicago Bears kicker. The district includes Lake, McHenry, DeKalb, Kane and Kendall counties, and the candidates are a mix of lower-court judges and career politicians. Three come not recommended for the states highest court by the Illinois State Bar Association. There are no contested primaries for a second Supreme Court seat up for election this year, which is held by a Democratic justice in a district that includes DuPage, Will and Kankakee counties. The elections for two seats in November present the possibility that the courts 4-3 Democratic majority could shift in favor of the GOP. The general election is when Griffins money could come into serious play. The hedge fund executive, who has already spent $50 million to back Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin for governor, has once again poured money into Citizens for Judicial Fairness, a conservative independent expenditure committee. Two years ago, the committee helped unseat Justice Thomas Kilbride by spending more than $4.3 million on campaign mailers, ads, phone calls and text messages portraying Kilbride as a Madigan lackey. Griffin contributed $4.5 million to the organization during that election. Lavish spending in judicial races, which legislators have attempted to address, is a recent phenomenon in Illinois, according to Kent Redfield, a University of Illinois professor emeritus of politics, and could erode public trust in the fairness and legitimacy of the judiciary. The more that judicial elections look like any other election, the more that citizens will view judicial decisions as being the product of a partisan, money-driven, interest group dominated politics, Redfield said. Its bad for the judiciary, its bad for the public support of liberal democratic institutions. The Democrats The three candidates running in the Democratic primary are Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering and sitting judges Elizabeth Liz Rochford and Rene Cruz. Advertisement Rotering has been the nonpartisan elected leader of the North Shore suburb since 2011. She previously was a City Council member in Highland Park and worked as an attorney handling health care cases. Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering on March 31, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Rotering said in an interview that she is not a litigator but has been a practicing attorney over the last three decades, handling matters including corporate transactions and real estate, and filling a quasi-judicial role as an elected official. Rotering was found not recommended for the states highest court by the Illinois State Bar Association after participating in the groups in-depth review process. The bar association does not publicly disclose its reasoning for its ratings of candidates outside Cook County, and Rotering said she is unsure why the bar group did not recommend her. But she said believes her 16 years as a public official running public hearings, applying rules and procedures and ensuring due process for her constituents has prepared her well for a place on the states highest court. In 2018, Rotering ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for attorney general. According to a review of Roterings candidacy petitions from that race, which are required by candidates seeking elected office, several 13th Ward Democratic Organization allies of Madigan helped in gathering signatures, including Hugo Chavez, Raymond Nice and James Gleffe. Rotering said she has no relationship to the former speaker. When youre getting thousands of signatures, people try to help you out by sharing them with others. You get your petitions out into the field, and then it sort of takes on a life of its own, she said. I dont know how they got into their hands. Were still trying to figure that out. Advertisement Rotering is endorsed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as well as pro-abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood Illinois Action and Personal PAC. Former House majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie and Andrea Zopp, a former deputy mayor to Rahm Emanuel, have donated to Roterings campaign fund. Lake County Associate Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Rochford. (Campaign photo) Rochford was appointed as an associate judge in Lake County in 2012. She was a Cook County assistant states attorney in the appellate, misdemeanor and felony review divisions in the late 1980s before going into private practice, where she handled wills, trusts, and real estate matters. Rochford currently handles guardianship cases in probate court, and was in the family division before that. She was found highly recommended by the Illinois State Bar Association and is endorsed by major labor groups including Teamsters Joint Council 25 and the Illinois AFL-CIO. Over the last two decades Rochford donated more than $15,000 to now-indicted Chicago Ald. Ed Burke. Rochford said Burke and her late father, former Chicago police Superintendent James M. Rochford, had a relationship through their work for the city. She said she attended Burkes annual fundraising party, but has not written any checks since federal agents raided Burkes office in November 2018 as part of a federal corruption probe. Rochford said she is passionate about improving mental health services in the courts and has begun improvements efforts locally. Mental health issues are going to be one of the biggest challenges facing both courts and communities as we go forward, Rochford said. Rochfords election committee is leading the Democrats in fundraising, with more than $245,000 available at the end of the March reporting period, and another roughly $400,000 raised since then. Advertisement Kane County Judge Rene Cruz. (Rene Cruz) Cruz is the presiding judge of the misdemeanor and traffic division in Kane County. He became an associate judge in 2012, overseeing family court, and was appointed by the state Supreme Court as a circuit court judge in 2016. The Illinois State Bar Association gave him a recommended rating for the Supreme Court seat. Cruz, Kane Countys first Latino judge, said his prior work and personal experiences will bring diversity to the bench that will improve the judiciary. He said his experience as a defense attorney helped him improve misdemeanor and traffic court operations by not requiring defendants to appear at nonsubstantive court hearings, as long as they face nonviolent charges. I didnt want to force individuals to have to take a day off work, sit on a Zoom call or come into court and wait while they pay their attorney. Theyre losing money, and then theyre risking losing their jobs at the same time, Cruz said. My perspective is that I work for the users of the system. The Republicans The Republican primary candidates are former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran, Lake County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Shanes, state Appellate Judge Susan Hutchinson, and Kane County Circuit Judge John Noverini. Curran made an unsuccessful bid to oust Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in 2020. During his 12 years as the elected sheriff in Lake County, the department dealt with periods of scandal and tumult. Some sheriffs deputies issued a vote of no confidence in Curran near the end of his tenure in 2018, and the county settled a wrongful death suit for nearly $2 million after a man died following a scuffle with guards in 2011. Advertisement Former Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran on March 3, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Before becoming sheriff, Curran was a Lake County prosecutor and an assistant attorney general for the state of Illinois. Hes now in private practice, handling criminal and civil cases. Curran first ran for sheriff as a Democrat, and donated to the campaign of former Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Mike Madigans daughter, in the early 2000s. In 2008, he switched political parties, saying he thought Democrats had a culture of corruption. He also said he couldnt remain a Democrat because he is anti-abortion. Citizens for Judicial Fairness, the group funded by Griffin, has spent nearly $50,000 on campaign mail opposing Currans primary bid. The recently appointed chair of Citizens for Judicial Fairness, D.J. Eckert, did not respond to requests for comment. Curran said he was not sure why Citizens for Judicial Fairness was opposing his run, although he acknowledged that he is not a typical Republican, having long believed in unions while also agreeing that the criminal justice system makes mistakes and that police departments need reforming. The Illinois State Bar Association found Curran not recommended for the Supreme Court. Curran said hasnt given the rating much thought and that he has extensive jury trial experience through his work as a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer. Citizens for Judicial Fairness has spent $171,000 on TV ads supporting Shanes, state campaign finance records show. Advertisement Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes on Aug. 19, 2016. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) In addition, Shanes election committee has stockpiled the most money of the Republican candidates, with almost $245,000 on hand at the end of March and another $63,000 raised since then. He was endorsed by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, and was found highly recommended by the Illinois State Bar Association. He spent more than a decade working as a Lake County assistant states attorney prosecuting criminal defendants before becoming an associate judge in 2007. He was appointed to fill a circuit court vacancy by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2010, then was elected to the seat in 2012 and retained in 2018. As deputy chief judge in Lake County, Shanes said he hears felony and law division cases, including murders, shootings and sexual assaults as well as complex civil matters. The Supreme Court is not the place for on-the-job training, Shanes said, touting his own experience on the bench. Shanes said his work with the Illinois Judicial Conference has prepared him for the justice seat. He was appointed to the conference by the Illinois Supreme Court, and works with other justice administrators to provide recommendations for improving the justice system statewide. Advertisement Appellate Court Judge Susan Hutchinson. (Campaign photo) Hutchinson, a judge on the 2nd District Appellate Court, was found highly recommended by the Illinois State Bar Association. Hutchinson has been on the bench since 1981, first as an associate judge in McHenry and Lake counties and since 1994 as an appellate judge. Prior to her time on the bench Hutchinson worked as a McHenry County assistant states attorney in the civil division. She was the first female judge in the 19th circuit, which then included Lake and McHenry counties. Hutchinson authored the appellate court opinion reversing the conviction of Juan Rivera, who served 20 years in prison for the rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl in Waukegan but was cleared through DNA testing. The city of Waukegan settled Riveras wrongful conviction suit for $20 million in 2015. Hutchinson, the only appellate court judge in the race, said her years reviewing lower court rulings have prepared her for the next level. I think there is, I wont say a learning curve, but it is important that you understand the levels that you will be governing, so to speak, Hutchinson said. She would like to see improvements in court administration around access to court. She said she found the legislatures recent redistricting of the states judicial court system, which affected the Illinois Supreme Court and appellate courts, very disturbing for reasons including that it forced litigants in places like Rockford to travel to Springfield for appeals. Advertisement Kane County Circuit Judge John Noverini. (Campaign photo) Noverini oversees traffic and misdemeanor cases at the Elgin branch court. Noverini was found not recommended by the Illinois State Bar Association because he refused to participate in the evaluation process. In an interview, Noverini called the bar association a left-leaning organization that represents attorneys, making it a clear conflict of interest to participate in the evaluations. He also took issue with several questions regarding efforts to improve diversity on the bench, which he said he found inappropriate. The bar association evaluates judicial candidates qualifications by reviewing decisions that were overturned by higher courts and interviewing candidates, attorneys and others in the legal field who have firsthand experience working with candidates. Noverini ran for a seat on the circuit court in Kane County in 2008 as a Democrat. Prior to that he held a seat on the Kane County Board as a Republican. He was also the chair of the Dundee Township Republican Party before running for judge. He said that he ran as a Democrat for judge in 2008 because redistricting made it difficult for a Republican to win in his subcircuit race. At the time, he told the Daily Herald that the partys leadership had lost its way and had become disconnected from average voters. Noverini said that the primary problem with our society today is fatherlessness. From the bench, he said, he sees that people are stuck in the welfare system, and that the majority of people going to prisons and jails are from homes without fathers who could teach children about work ethic. Advertisement This election cycle, trust me, people realize this is big, Noverini said. You can flip the Supreme Court from 4-3 Democrat to 4-3 Republican, the Democrats wont control one branch (of government). Running unopposed in their parties primaries for Kilbrides seat are Appellate Judge Mary OBrien on the Democratic side and Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Burke, a Republican who was appointed to fill Thomas seat but then saw his district shift through legislative remapping. Spending and other issues Two recent pieces of legislation could affect future spending in judicial races. A law that recently went into effect prohibits out-of-state donations to judicial races. And a bill Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed in May caps donations from individuals in judicial races. Griffins hefty donations to Citizens for Judicial Fairness, which has an Illinois mailing address, may be prohibited in the future under the new law. The recent legislation states that independent expenditure committees created to support or oppose judicial candidates cannot accept more than $500,000 per individual donor each election cycle, with excess donations going straight to the Illinois treasurer. A separate issue in the race relates to judicial canons that state candidates for the bench should refrain from making statements that commit or appear to commit the candidate with respect to cases, controversies or issues within cases that are likely to come before the court. Rotering, Rochford and Curran have in the past donated money to advocacy groups doing work around the issue of abortion. Advertisement Most of the primary candidates expressed concern about the politicization of the judicial branch and a growing mistrust of an impartial judiciary. Hutchinson said the candidates should be above the fray of this political activity. She said she watched the Kilbride race in 2020 and thought the judge was unfairly attacked. Were the ones that can stop certain things in their tracks, and for people to think that its politically based is not good for us, at all, Cruz said. ehoerner@chicagotribune.com GARDINER, Mont. (AP) Most of Yellowstone National Park should reopen within the next two weeks much faster than originally expected after record floods pounded the region last week and knocked out major roads, federal officials said. Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said the world-renowned park will be able to accommodate fewer visitors for the time being, and it will take more time to restore road connections with some southern Montana communities. Park officials said Sunday they'll use $50 million in federal highway money to speed up road and bridge repairs. Theres still no timetable for repairs to routes between the park and areas of Montana where the recovery is expected to stretch for months. Yellowstone will partially reopen at 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than a week after more than 10,000 visitors were forced out of the park when the Yellowstone and other rivers went over their banks after being swelled by melting snow and several inches of rainfall. Only portions of the park that can be accessed along its southern loop of roads will be opened initially and access to the parks scenic backcountry will be for day hikers only. Within two weeks officials plan to also open the northern loop, after previously declaring that it would likely stay closed through the summer season. The northern loop would give visitors access to popular attractions including Tower Fall and Mammoth Hot Springs. Theyd still be barred from the Lamar Valley, which is famous for its prolific wildlife including bears, wolves and bison that can often be seen from the roadside. That would get 75 to 80% of the park back to working, National Park Service Director Charles Chuck Sams said Sunday during a visit to Yellowstone to gauge the floods effects. It will take much longer possibly years to fully restore two badly-damaged stretches of road that link the park with Gardiner to the north and Cooke City to the northeast. During a tour of damaged areas on Sunday, park officials showed reporters one of six sections of road near Gardiner where the raging floodwaters obliterated most of the roadway. Muddy water now courses through where the roadbed had been only a week ago. Trunks of huge trees litter the the surrounding canyon. With no chances for an immediate fix, Sholly said 20,000 tons of material were being hauled in to construct a temporary, alternate route along an old road that runs above the canyon. That would let employees who work at the park headquarters in Mammoth get to their homes in Gardiner, Sholly said. The temporary route also could be used by commercial tour companies that have permits to lead guided visits. We've gotten a lot more done than we thought we would a week ago, Sholly said. It's going to be a summer of adjustments. Montana counties have been tallying the damage. Some of those hardest hit in the disaster far from the famous parks limelight are leaning heavily on one another to pull their lives out of the mud. In and around the agricultural community of Fromberg, the Clarks Fork River flooded almost 100 homes and badly damaged a major irrigation ditch that serves many farms. The town's mayor says about a third of the flooded homes are too far gone to be repaired. In Red Lodge, nearly 150 homes were damaged or destroyed after Rock Creek escaped its banks last week. In Park County which includes Livingston, Gardiner and Cooke City a preliminary assessment of 437 structures found three residences were destroyed, 76 had moderate to major damage and another 126 had minor damage. Eight bridges and seven roads were destroyed, while 16 commercial buildings suffered moderate to major damage, officials said. Stillwater County officials were still tallying the damage there on Monday, even as heavy rains hit over the weekend, causing the rivers to rise again, said Rich Cowger, the fire chief in Columbus. One house at the confluence of Rosebud Creek and the Stillwater River near Absarokee remained threatened on Monday, Cowger said. If that house goes out, it's a direct threat to county infrastructure," he said. People also want to remove logjams upstream, but that could also create downstream problems, he said. Not far from the riverbank in Fromberg, Lindi O'Brien's trailer home was raised high enough to avoid major damage. But she got water in her barns and sheds, lost some of her poultry and saw her recently deceased parents' home get swamped with several feet of water. Elected officials who showed up to tour the damage in Red Lodge and Gardiner Montana tourist towns that serve as gateways to Yellowstone havent made it to Fromberg to see its devastation. O'Brien said the lack of attention is no surprise given the town's location away from major tourist routes. She's not resentful but resigned to the idea that if Fromberg is going to recover, its roughly 400 residents will have to do much of the work themselves. We take care of each other," O'Brien said as she and two longtime friends, Melody Murter and Aileen Rogers, combed through mud-caked items scattered across her property. OBrien, an art teacher for the local school, had been fixing up her parents' home with hopes of turning it into a vacation rental. Now she's not sure it's salvageable. When you get tired and get pooped, it's OK to stop, O'Brien said to Murter and Rogers, whose clothes, hands and faces were smeared with mud. A few blocks away, Matt Holmes combed through piles of muck and debris but could find little to save out of the trailer home that he shared with his wife and four children. Holmes had taken the day off, but said he needed to get back soon to his construction job so he could begin making money again. Whether he can bring in enough to rebuild is unclear. If not, Holmes said he may move the family to Louisiana, where they have relatives. I want to stay in Montana. I don't know if we can, he said. Hanson reported from Helena. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 OMAHA Police are investigating a pair of early morning shootings, including one that injured three people near a bar in Omaha's Old Market Saturday. Officers initially responded to a report of shots fired at Gate 10 just before 1 a.m., according to a news release from the Omaha Police Department. Officers soon learned that a vehicle reportedly involved in the shooting was seen leaving the area. Police pursued the vehicle to 42nd and Dodge streets, where they found two people with gunshot injuries, according to police. The two, 31-year-old George Thompson and 27-year-old Jordan Thompson, were taken to Nebraska Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. A third person, Detail Johnson, 28, arrived at Nebraska Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries and said he was also at Gate 10, according to police. Officers later responded to a reported shooting near 12th and Castelar Streets around 4:20 a.m., according to police. The person injured in the shooting, Delray Bradshaw, 25, left the scene before officers arrived. He arrived at Nebraska Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries shortly after the 911 call, according to police. Both shootings remain under investigation. Police ask anyone with information regarding either incident to call Omaha Crime Stoppers at (402)444-7867. Tips also can be provided at www.omahacrimestoppers.org or on the P3 Tips mobile app. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Iowa deer hunters will be allowed to use semi-automatic weapons including AR-15 rifles to kill deer in more parts of the state during a newly created antlerless season in January under a bill signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Iowa lawmakers passed the bill in May and it was signed by Reynolds on Friday. Advocates say the new law will help control the deer population and respond to complaints that excess deer eat corn and are hazardous to motorists. Iowa has had January deer hunting seasons in the past but they were limited to a few counties where the deer population was more of a problem. The bill is expected to expand the January hunt counties from five to as many as 15, depending on rules from the Department of Natural Resources. The top prosecutor in York County has gotten the ax from the Board of Commissioners after losing his federal lawsuit seeking to block the move. John Lyons had been county attorney there since Dec. 31, 2019, when the board appointed him to serve out the rest of then-County Attorney Christopher Johnson's term when he resigned. York County Board Chairman Randy Obermier said they made it clear to Lyons that he would be required to devote his full attention to the legal work of York County, and Lyons agreed. So it created a dust-up when, on July 19, 2021, he asked to be allowed to serve as Clay County Attorney, too. When the board unanimously rejected his request, Lyons entered into a contract with Clay County a day later anyway. And the board gave him notice they were pursuing his termination. But before the board went forward, Lyons sued to block them. Hamilton County District Judge Rachel Daugherty granted his motion for a temporary injunction blocking them from firing him. Then, the case moved to federal court. On May 27, U.S. District Judge John Gerrard vacated the injunction and dismissed Lyons' lawsuit. In his decision, Gerrard said the question here was whether a person appointed to the vacated or unelected office of county attorney also accedes to the title of county officer? Lyons and the Nebraska County Attorneys Association, which wasn't part of the case but supplied a friend-of-the-court brief because of its strong interest in the general subject at issue, argued that there was no distinction between an elected and appointed county attorney. "But that argument is not accurate on its face," the judge wrote. "An elected county attorney is chosen by the electors in the county." Gerrard said state law provides that an appointed county attorney gains the office by way of a contract with the county board, and that contract specifies the terms and conditions. "Legislative protection for an elected county officer preserves the will of the voters from what may potentially be an arbitrary political removal. But that interest is not present when an appointed officeholder is removed by the same body that appointed him, and defined the terms and conditions of his appointment pursuant to a contract, in the first place," he said. At a meeting May 31, four days after the decision, the board voted unanimously to terminate Lyons effective immediately. At a special meeting last week, they appointed Gary Olson to serve in the role until the end of the year. He is the lone candidate running for the position in November. Lyons, who did not challenge Olson for York County Attorney, continues to work as the Clay County Attorney. Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Vinton Public Library has lost two directors in two years as city residents have complained about the library's display of LGBTQ books and books about President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Most recently departing the library was Renee Greenlee, its director for six months. Her experience was as the children's and family services library assistant at the Marion Public Library and she also had worked at the Hiawatha Public Library and the Kirkwood Community College library. Greenlee, who left the Vinton post in May and started a new job at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, declined to comment about why she left the Vinton post. The Vinton library's board of trustees accepted Greenlee's resignation earlier this month in front of 100 residents. During the meeting, around a dozen people spoke in support and against Greenlee. LGBTQ books Some residents have accused the library and its previous directors of having a "liberal agenda" due to its hiring of openly LGBTQ staff members and the display of books on LGBTQ topics. They argued books about religion should be displayed equally. In March, Brooke Kruckenberg of Vinton said the library had a "liberal agenda" based on book choices and the hiring of Greenlee and her staff, as reported by Vinton Newspapers. She and her mother, Deb Hesson, argued for more Christian content. "It appears that there is a slow, quiet agenda moving into our local library culture through the staff hiring decisions and the books that have crept in our children's section of the library," Kruckenberg said at the March meeting. "I don't believe the library is representing our town well with hiring a majority of staff who are openly a part of the LGBTQ community." Greenlee at that meeting said of the almost 6,000 children's materials in the library, seven included headings of LGBT, gay or transgender and 173 were based on Christian life. While the library board members accepted Greenlee's resignation, they also adopted an ethics statement and new rules for the board's public comment period. The ethics policy says, in part, that board members will respect colleagues' opinions and will not be swayed by public pressure or fear of criticism, Jimmy Kelly, the library board's chairman, told the Des Moines Register. "The purpose is to assure our next director we are supportive of the tasks they need us to undertake," Kelly said. "And that we understand our role as a board and take that seriously." McMahon tenure Vinton, a town of around 5,000 and the county seat of Benton County, also saw another director, Janette McMahon, resign in July 2021. She now is director of the DeWitt Public Library in Clinton County. McMahon told The Gazette last week she had a good library staff in Vinton, and some library board members who "were utterly fantastic" and others who "were a challenge." "Not everyone was as supportive as others when the library needed to stand up for inclusion and diversity in its materials," she said. McMahon said she also received complaints about children's books on display, including "Joey," written by First Lady Jill Biden, and "Superheroes Are Everywhere" by Vice President Kamala Harris. However, no formal complaint was made about those books. "That puts library directors in an interesting position because if no one fills out a reconsideration form, there's no way for a library to respond," she said. "I'm a firm believer that everyone can have a right to their own opinion, but they don't have a right to tell others what they can or cannot read." Instead of filing a formal complaint, some people would check out the books and not return them, McMahon said. "Which is theft of materials," McMahon said. "Then we had to go through a process to get them back. ... We know the folks that had them out had been making complaints to other city officials and people around me without going through an actual process." Some residents also argued the library should have more books about former President Donald Trump on display, McMahon recalled. "The Kamala (Harris) book was given to the library when she spoke there, and the 'Joey' book was a purchase request" from a library patron, McMahon said. "It was not deliberate. "I can't buy what doesn't exist, and there weren't quality books about Trump. It's a long process to choose materials typically. We pay attention to reviews and publishers and our collection needs as a whole. We don't just say what looks good on Amazon." McMahon said the way she was treated in Vinton quickly became more personal and uncomfortable, to the point she was no longer happy living in that community. "When they refuse to make a formal complaint and not go through the process, it becomes side conversations constantly, and you can't even stand up for yourself because you don't know where it comes from," she said. "It's personal, and it's not even about the job and that's not OK. "When I had had enough, we couldn't function correctly as a library, so I decided to find a community that better fit me as a librarian and my standards for library ethics." Vinton library board members did not respond by the weekend to a request for comment. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 While all eyes have been glued on the war in Ukraine, North Korea has been busy. Kim Jong-uns weapons scientists have test-launched 31 ballistic missiles so far this year compared with 25 in all of 2019, which was a record-setter up till then. On June 5 alone, they fired eight short-range missiles, all successfully, in the space of a mere 35 minutes. They also seem to be preparing to detonate a nuclear bomb, which would break a four-year moratorium that theyve observed on testing nukes. Advertisement Yet at the same time, North Korea is in the throes of a COVID crisis, with no vaccines or mask mandates to counter it. Its closed-border policy of the past two yearsput in place to prevent an outbreakhas triggered a food shortage. And at a party conclave last week, Kim reshuffled his national-security team, suggestingwell, its not clear what. But one possibility is that it signaled a renewed appetite for negotiations and possible desire for international assistance, even if some of his fiery rhetoric suggested otherwise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some have seen Kims activitiesthe surge in missile tests, the possible revival of nuclear tests, the possible gambit for more aidas a response to our own activities or as a dramatic way of seeking attention. But more likely, its just Kim being Kim, tossing up his mix of aggressive actions and appeals for help, with the implicit threat that if he doesnt get help, hell behave more aggressively still. Advertisement Advertisement Back in January 2021, at the 8th Congress of the Korean Workers Party, Kim laid out a policy of retrenchmentan end to his experiments with reform, the re-ascension of politics over economics, and the re-assertion of power to meet power. Key to this agenda was an elaborate list of new weapons systems, including nuclear weapons. Since then, his weapons scientists have been going down the list, ticking off every project. This started before Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. While the public rollout of this effort coincided with the defeat of Donald Trump, who saw Kim in an absurdly rosy light, a 2020 United Nations report concluded that Kim continued his missile activity, without any slowdown, during Trumps term. Daniel Sneider, lecturer of East Asian Studies at Stanford University, told me, There hasnt been a shift. Advertisement Advertisement The war in Ukraine may have affected Kims actions in one sense. The intensifying hostility between the U.S. and Russia, as well as the continued chill with China, has widened his latitude. In May, both Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have levied more sanctions against North Korea for a recent missile test. Both of Kims main allies have long been ambivalent about his aggressive actions, but theyre fine with more missile tests if they deepen the insecurity of the U.S. and our allies in the region. (Will their attitudes shift if North Korea resumes testing nuclear bombs? The answer, Sneider says, will tell us whether Russia and China are still responsible nuclear powers.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement None of this much alters North Koreas ability to attack the United States. They have tested six intercontinental ballistic missiles this yearnot enough for the missiles to be reliable by American standards, but if Kims goal is simply to deter the U.S. from invading North Korea, he probably has enough. However, he has been testing a lot more short-range missileswhich could hit South Korea, Japan, and U.S. military bases in the regionand the newer models, which are propelled by solid fuel, are more accurate and reliable. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, finds the pace and sophistication of these new weapons a little alarming, as they suggest Kim may seem them not merely as deterrents but as weapons he might someday use. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lewis colleague, Joshua Pollack, says they might be accelerating the program as a sign of sincere paranoiato show that North Korea isnt weak, so dont mess with us.* Either way, the possibility of mutual miscalculation is concerning. Almost immediately after North Korea rapidly test-fired eight short-range ballistic missiles earlier this month, the U.S. and South Korea responded by firing eight short-range ballistic missiles of their own even more rapidlyin the space of 10 minutesin what a U.S. diplomat in Seoul called a swift and forceful response. Most of us may have let North Korea drift from our minds, but those in charge of monitoring all threats are watching carefully and acting promptly. Advertisement In this sense, North Koreas stepped-up aggressiveness may be a separate miscalculation. In part as a response to these moves, South Koreas conservative party was returned to power in elections last month. While the previous president, Moon Jae-in, was desperate for detente with the north at almost any price, the new president, Yoon Suk Yol, has no interest in reviving talksand is much more keen to solidify South Koreas alliance with the United States. Advertisement Advertisement One day before North Koreas eight-missile-test day, the U.S. and South Korea held a joint naval exercise for the first time since Trump canceled them back in 2018. The exercise took place near Okinawa, Japan, quite a distance from North Korea; the missile tests had to have been planned well before then, so couldnt be seen as a reaction. Still, Kim and his adviserswho worked hard to sever ties between Washington and Seoul while Trump and Moon were in officesurely took notice. Advertisement For the first time, maybe ever, South Korea is viewing the regions politics in global terms, Sneider told me. Its leadersand also Japans, who are also shaken by the geopolitical shiftswill attend NATOs summit at the end of the month. This will be the first time that Americas European and Asian allies have met together in a security meeting. In this sense, Russias and Chinas toleranceeven encouragementof Kims hijinks may have been a miscalculation as well. Even so, there is at least one intriguingly hopeful sign. At a party conclave last week, Kim overhauled his national-security team, naming Choe Son Hui as his foreign minister. Cho is seen as an America specialist; she has taken part in negotiations with the U.S. and other Western nations before. This could be a sign that Kim is interested in reviving negotiations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Kim also said at the party congress a year-and-a-half ago that North Korea would need nuclear weapons as long as there is imperialism on this planet, and he deemed the U.S. as the biggest enemy to the development of our revolution. A State Department spokesman said last month, on the eve of Bidens trip to Asia, that the president remains open to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions as long as the talks were serious. However, U.S. officials have also said the goal of serious talks must be complete, verifiable, irreversible disarmament. If Biden is still serious about that, and if Kim still believes he needs nukes as long as imperialism (meaning the United States) is on this planet, then talks seem rather futile. Maybe one side or the other can budge, but its not clear what would budge themespecially as long as Washington is still enmeshed in a neo-cold war with both Russia and China. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Biden took office a year-and-a-half ago, he thought that he could leave behind the ancient squabbles of the Middle East, restore U.S. ties with a peaceful Europe, and focusto the extent foreign policy needed focuson the new Indo-Pacific alliance with Japan, Australia, and India. He didnt anticipate the biggest war in Europe since 1945, Afghanistans return to the dark ages, Irans renewed effort to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levelsand now the resumption of what looks like North Koreas nuclear quest. Presidents can try to set their agenda, but the rest of the worldand the world right now is particularly unrulygets a vote. Irene recently came to therapy because her anxiety had been revving up, resulting in sleepless nights, difficulty concentrating, and isolating. I cant tolerate all of the meanness in the world, she said. For years, she had been markedly distressed by the political climate, and the recent war in Ukraine has made that worse. Further probing revealed that Irene (not her real name) had survived a personal war. Growing up, she had been emotionally abused by her mother. She called me stupid and told me how worthless I was, Irene disclosed. As she confessed her secret, an out-of-place smile appeared on her face, but not before a fleeting expression showed her true emotion. Her wrinkled-up nose and protruded lower lipthe facial expression emotion researchers refer to as the gape facebetrayed her unconscious disgust toward her mother. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As trauma psychotherapists, we know that helping patients process painful emotions is crucial for recovery. However, research shows that disgust is often overlooked in therapy, to the detriment of the patient. Disgust is important to understand for trauma treatment, especially in the face of current events like the pandemic, political unrest, the rise in hate crimes against people of color, and war. Named by neuroscientists as one of humans first evolving emotions, disgust is a natural response to poisonous stimuli like rotten foods, infectious diseases, and unsafe environments. In this way, disgust helps us ward off illness and danger. However, what many people dont realize is that this emotion also arises when were violated, oppressed, and abusedall forms of trauma that can lead to anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Advertisement Advertisement For trauma survivors, disgust exerts a force to be experienced (named, felt, listened to, and released). But when people come in for therapy, they dont disclose their disgust by name. They cant, because its buried by defenses to block it from conscious awareness. All that the survivors feel are symptoms like anxiety, depression, and low self-confidence. Had Irenes father or another close family member validated her anxiety by acknowledging her mother was wrong and had behaved in abusive ways, Irene may have felt seen. But victim blaming and minimizing can cause survivors like Irene to criticize and shame themselves, leading them to internalize disgust. Unlike discarding spoiled food, disgust-induced trauma cannot be escaped, and the unspeakable sense of disgust often shows up in the body. Like Irene, many patients exhibit the gape face. Others disclose distressing compulsions like repeated hand-washing or showering. Still others just show up with anxiety and depression. Advertisement Advertisement In some cases, patients will project their disgust toward others onto their therapists with statements like Youre probably so grossed out by what Im saying, or I dont want to say anything else, because I dont want to traumatize you. These words are clues that they perceive disgust coming from their therapist, rather than within themselves. Behaviors like these are emotional armor, which works to protect us from overwhelming emotions. Advertisement Advertisement To help patients like Irene, we use a trauma therapy called accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (known as AEDP). Developed in 2000 by psychologist Diana Fosha, this newer model of psychotherapy combines affective neuroscience, trauma theory, attachment theory, and rapid transformation theories. This type of emotion-focused therapy gets to the root problem, using the catalytic power of core emotions like disgust, sadness, anger, and joy to turbocharge brain change, also known as neuroplasticity. This stands in stark contrast with medicating symptoms of mood disorders or using behavioral tools to change thinking and behaviors. Advertisement Advertisement Working with painful emotions can feel like being asked to touch a burning flame, which is why the first step in trauma therapy is to help patients feel safe and remind them that theyre in control. For instance, we say, If there is something I ask that doesnt feel right, will you let me know? Advertisement Advertisement To maintain safety, AEDP therapists watch for when anxiety is rising outside the patients window of tolerance. We track the patients physical movements, because as author and trauma psychotherapist Babette Rothschild says, the body remembers. For instance, when patients like Irene sigh or wring their hands, we know anxiety is risingand we need to bring it back down before continuing with any disgust processing. We might ask: Can you tune in to that big sigh? What is it telling us? Can you notice your hands? If they could speak, what would they say? Advertisement Trauma therapists listen with our eyes as well as our ears to seize glimmers of emotions and notice the defenses that patients are unaware of. When delivered with compassion and curiosity and without judgment, this type of emotional attunement fosters deep trust and confidence. When patients like Irene share a painful memory, they may unknowingly laugh or talk very quickly. This is understandable; defenses like laughter helped us survive. Ultimately, though, processing the underlying core emotions can help people relinquish maladaptivealbeit protectivecoping mechanisms. Advertisement To do so, we draw attention to patients nonverbal communication by gently pointing out the discrepancy between laughter and the upsetting memory. Then we invite them to slow down and notice the emotions that are rising to the surface. As you slowly scan your body below the neck, what do you notice? we ask. Advertisement Advertisement Patients may point to their stomachs, aware that theyre nauseous or feel like throwing up. Such clues can help patients identify and name the disgust thats driving their physical symptoms. Once the patient names a feeling like nausea, we ask, Is there an emotion word that goes with that feeling? If the patient struggles to name the emotion, we thread together the clues theyve provided by referencing how their bodies do the talking. We might say, When you spoke about your mother, your nose wrinkled up like you were smelling something bad. It was a look of disgust on your face. With prompting, patients can often uncover the emotion, arriving at an aha moment. It is disgust! they might say. Advertisement Not even all therapists receive a formal education in how emotions work in the mind and body, much less your average patientso its unsurprising many patients believe that feeling sad, angry, or disgusted means theyre weak in some way or hurting the person responsible for their trauma, whom they may also love. However, the process of naming and describing emotions and sensations, which scientists call affect labeling, calms the nervous system, research has found. In one study, participants were shown various photos of people expressing negative emotions, and researchers used brain imaging to examine the impact of participants naming these emotions. The result? Labeling helped temper immediate emotional reactivity. Emotions researchers have also found that putting words to feelings fosters long-term benefits. For instance, people who completed 16 sessions of AEDP therapy had fewer symptomssuch as depressionand more positive emotionssuch as self-compassionand these effects held steady 12 months after treatment ended. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As trauma therapists, we recognize Irenes downcast head as emerging shame, and we normalize simultaneously experiencing many emotions that may be opposite in nature, like disgust and love. Each emotion needs to be listened to, honored, and processed separately. We tell our patients: Feelings just are! They do not mean youre a bad person. Its so natural to feel disgust in response to the traumas youve been through. Often, we ask, Do you think you can move aside self-judgment so we can honor these important emotions? When patients like Irene nod Yes, we know its a green light to continue with emotion processing. When possible, we help patients connect the feelings in their bodies to the object of disgust. We invite them to be open to any associations coming from the body, such as images, memories, and impulses. Advertisement When Irene said she felt nauseous, she was encouraged to breathe deeply, name the emotion, and stay with the sensations to notice the impulsethe adaptive action tendency that the emotion evokes. In this moment, Irene was able to connect her feeling of disgust with the abuse she suffered from her mother, and she recognized the impulse to push her mom away. Advertisement To help clients further process this emotion, we might ask, If disgust could take shape and do what it wants to your mother in a fantasy (not a dress rehearsal for reality), what would it do? This question sets in motion a fantasy portrayala technique that helps patients release core emotions like disgust by accessing the impulse and enacting the emotions adaptive action. Advertisement In this case, Irene saw herself shoving her mother hard and telling her how hurt she was by her insults and threats. Supportively, we invite the client to imagine (in their fantasy) how the hurtful person responds to their words. With a wince, Irene said her mother looked shocked. Advertisement As her facial expression changed, Irene was asked to notice what shifted. Can you check back in to the feeling of disgust and notice what is happening now? Irene shared that her nausea had disappeared. She also spoke of the sadness she noticed for her mother, as well as for herself. Mourning for the self, a form of grief over what was lost because of the traumas inflicted, is a key part of trauma healing. Advertisement Having felt and processed disgust from past abuses, Irene could more easily name and recognize this emotion. For example, she went on to be able to recognize that it was disgust she felt when she saw footage of innocent people killed in the Ukraine war. As a result, her symptoms abated. She still experienced the emotions, but now she could make healthy use of disgust. She decided to limit exposure to violent news images, channel her disgust about racism into anti-racist work, and set firmer limits for how she would be treated by family members. With newfound awareness of disgust, Irenes anxiety was replaced with greater vitality, an increase in self-confidence, and an ongoing curiosity about her emotional world. State of Mind is a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University that offers a practical look at our mental health systemand how to make it better. The Tri-County Lakes Administrative Commission approved some changes to navigation around the lake at its June 14 meeting in an effort to impr ARCHIVED - DANA arrives and sends temperatures plummeting: Spain weather forecast June 20-23 A cold weather front will put an end to one of the earliest and most extreme heatwaves ever seen in Spain The heatwave which has scorched virtually all of Spain for the last week is finally coming to an end as a DANA storm sweeps across the peninsula, lowering temperatures as it passes and bringing abundant rain to the northern part of the country. This episode of extreme heat, according to Aemet, began to subside on Sunday June 19 when the entry of a cold air mass from the Atlantic caused a sharp and generalised drop in temperatures, with many regions registering up to 12C less on the thermometers than the previous day. Monday June 20 and Tuesday June 21 showers and some heavy rain are forecast in the north with slightly cloudy skies in the rest of the country that could give way to some light rain in the late afternoon. Temperatures will continue to be between 5C and 10C above normal in eastern Cantabria, the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands, while Forandshowers and some heavy rain are forecast in the north with slightly cloudy skies in the rest of the country that could give way to some light rain in the late afternoon. Temperatures will continue to be between 5C and 10C above normal in eastern Cantabria, the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands, while Alicante and much of the Valencian Community will continue to sizzle in temperatures above 30C. Likewise in the Region of Murcia , temperatures will remain at an extremely high 37C. In contrast, temperatures in Galicia, Castilla y Leon, Extremadura and Western Andalucia will be up to 10C lower than normal for this time of year. The instability in the northern part of the country will continue on Wednesday June 22 but skies will remain clear in the south and the Balearic Islands. Continuing the trend of Monday and Tuesday, temperatures will be higher than usual for the most part but cooler along the western coast. Little change is expected on Thursday June 23 but the temperatures will continue to decline for the most part, with the mercury hovering around the low 30s in Alicante and Murcia, dropping to a comfortable 28C in Malaga. It will remain cloudy along the Mediterranean coast while Saharan dust that will turn into muddy rain is forecast for much of the Balearic Islands. Image: Aemet North Chicago police are investigating the death of man who was fatally shot Sunday evening in a parking lot. Authorities said they responded at about 11:20 p.m. to the 1100 block of North 10th Street to reports of shots fired. They found a man laying in the lot with a gunshot wound. Advertisement He was transported to a hospital in critical condition, but subsequently died, police said. His identity has not been released, but police said he was 33 and a North Chicago resident. Advertisement North Chicago police requested the assistance of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. Anyone with information is asked to contact the North Chicago Police Department or leave an anonymous tip with Lake County CrimeStoppers (847) 662-2222 or http://www.lakecountycrimestoppers.com/ Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Slovakias court map is being redrawn, although not exactly in the way that Justice Minister MARIA KOLIKOVA originally intended. After a lengthy legislative process and some major disagreements between coalition partners, the Justice Ministry is now ready to turn the new map from plan into reality. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement In an interview with The Slovak Spectator, Kolikova describes the forthcoming changes and the effects she hopes they will bring, and addresses concerns about the unpredictability of the legislative process under the government of which she is a member. Lawyers and investors have long complained about the unpredictability of the legislative process. You yourself strongly criticised the recent fast-tracked procedure used to pass the package of measures tabled by Finance Minister Igor Matovic. But the same process has been used to approve other laws, including your own court map, where some changes were made only shortly before the vote in parliament. Has this coalition given up using the standard legislative process? I would avoid talking about fast-tracked procedures linked to the pandemic and public health protection that required quick and effective measures. These affected health protection as well as securing the work of companies that did not have the possibility of online meetings of their statutory bodies and so on. The truth is that now we are facing a legislative measure that, I am convinced, coarsely negates the measures we have agreed on for passing laws, even though the conditions for a fast-tracked procedure have not been fulfilled. That is why I stood up against it. It is obviously unusual for a minister to speak up in parliament against another minister, but I believe that it was necessary since the comments of other ministers were not taken into account due to the speed of the process, regarding the impacts on everyone and the financial costs that it entails. I understand that the business community is disturbed when they see the legislative and executive branches of government act as though they can just do what they like to carry out any idea if they think it is good. Well, they can but through the standard legislative process. But this is not the only example; it has happened repeatedly. Is this even an issue within the coalition: are the coalition partners interested in getting back on track with using standard legislative procedures? Public-service television needs a breath of fresh air, experts say. News: Receive notifications about new articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Eight men are running for the post of the public-service general director. Outgoing Jaroslav Reznik is one of them. (Source: Sme - Jozef Jakubco) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. MPs are to elect the head of the public-service broadcaster. Thousands of teachers made their views known by demonstrating in the streets of Bratislava. Parliament will consider whether to overturn a presidential veto; Matovic wants no compromise. The bear scare is real, but not data-based. Facebook banishes a major Slovak disinformation spreader. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Coalition has a lot to prove in RTVS vote The election of a new head for the public-service broadcaster RTVS, after one term under Jaroslav Reznik, is an important moment for the institution, as well as for the ruling coalition. Reznik is running for re-election, but has earned little acclaim in the post from the professional community. Parliament first elected him to the top post at RTVS under the last Smer-led government amid controversy, with the then culture minister lobbying against him. During his tenure, the newsroom at RTVS has been through a major crisis, complete with the departure of several reporters and open letters alleging a hostile atmosphere and suppression of critics. In the process, RTVS has lost a large proportion of its most experienced reporters to other newsrooms across Slovakia. The man they criticise most is Vahram Chuguryan, the newsroom head appointed by Reznik. Chuguryan faced repeated allegations of balancing the news with disinformation and Russian propaganda narratives. He was finally forced to leave after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when he invited a well known conspiracy theorist to air his opinions on public-service television. The hospital reform, which was passed in 2021, divides hospitals into five categories. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The Health Ministry has unveiled the conditions under which hospitals will be divided into five levels as part of the hospital reform. The reform was approved by lawmakers last year. Each hospital will know its scope of institutional care, its technical equipment and staffing, Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) said on June 20. He added that patients will thus know where exactly they should be hospitalised with their diagnosis and receive the best help. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The decree includes a list of 63 programmes (e.g. urgent medicine and neurosurgery), which each hospital will offer as mandatory, supplementary or optional, and describes 1,460 medical services, the TASR newswire wrote. The ministrys decree, for example, defines maximum waiting times for surgeries. Read also Read also Hospital reform unveiled, ministry plans to cut down on acute beds Read more The complex material has been submitted to the interdepartmental review, which should end in mid-July. People should see the first real changes following the reform in early 2024. No hospital will be closed, the ministry said multiple times in the past. Interview with Justice Minister Maria Kolikova and unemployment in Slovakia is the lowest since Covid-19 hit Slovakia. News: Receive notifications about new articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Good evening. The Monday, June 20 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes. Kosice refuses to give up house Jakab's Palace, a historical monument in Kosice. (Source: TASR) Due to constant legal disputes, Kosice has not been able to make Jakab's Palace, a 1903 building, available to the public for 21 years. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Its owners, who live in Brazil, will soon visit Kosice. They would like to enter the place and see it from the inside, but the city may prevent them from doing so. For several decades, the city has been fighting for ownership of Jakab's Palace. The battle is lost. However, the authorities want to appeal to the Supreme Court. Jakab's Palace is the first monument visitors to the city see in the historical centre when they arrive from the main railway station. For a deeper insight into current affairs, check out our Last Week in Slovakia piece published earlier today. You can sign up for the newsletter here. More stories from The Slovak Spectator website: FEATURE STORY FOR MONDAY Banska Stiavnica changed this Israeli painter's life Israeli artist Menachem Edelman-Landau recounts his experience linked to the town of Banska Stiavnica, central Slovakia, during a "fjuzn" walking tour on June 11, 2022. He ended the tour in his studio. (Source: Peter Dlhopolec for The Slovak Spectator) Menachem Edelman-Landau, a filmmaker and painter from Israel, came to central Slovakia in winter 2018 to paint a mural linked to a story that dates to ancient Greece. Instead of his one-month stay, which was his initial plan, he has been living in Banska Stiavnica for much longer. The painting is to blame, but his story only starts from there. If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you. IN OTHER NEWS: The Investments Ministry has launched a new app, "Slovakia in a Phone" , which allows users to log into Slovensko.sk, a public services website. Users can access 400 websites and services provided by different public offices, for example, to pay local taxes or obtain new travel documents. , which allows users to log into Slovensko.sk, a public services website. Users can access 400 websites and services provided by different public offices, for example, to pay local taxes or obtain new travel documents. Monika Uhlerova has been voted the new president of the Confederation of Labour Unions (KOZ). She will aim to depoliticise labour unions. She will aim to depoliticise labour unions. Education Minister Branislav Grohling (SaS) proposes raising teachers' salaries by 10 percent from July or September, and by another 10 percent from January 2023. The minister, PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO) and Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) should meet this week to discuss the matter. Last week, teachers took to the streets to fight for higher salaries. The opening of the Integration Centre of the Kosice Region in Kosice on June 20, 2022. The main goal of the centre, run by the DEDO foundation, is to help refugees, but also counselling in the social, legal or psychological field. (Source: TASR - Frantisek Ivan) President Zuzana Caputova appears to be losing support among voters. A recently published poll for TV Markiza shows that only 15 percent would definitely vote for her if a presidential election took place around this time. Up to 46 percent would refuse to support her. A recently published poll for TV Markiza shows that only 15 percent would definitely vote for her if a presidential election took place around this time. Up to 46 percent would refuse to support her. During a survey of an archeological site in the Skalica district, western Slovakia, a rare archeological object, an ax from the Early Bronze Age, was found , archaeologist Matus Sladok from the Regional Monuments Office in Trnava has said. , archaeologist Matus Sladok from the Regional Monuments Office in Trnava has said. An elevated road between the towns of Mytna and Krivan, central Slovakia, will be the longest overpass road in Slovakia after it is completed. The elevated road is part of a R2 expressway stretch, the construction of which should come to an end in spring 2024. If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. Twelve university students in Tanzania, whose faces glittered with broad smiles, on Friday gathered to compete in the 21st Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition 2022 at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The contesting students, who competed via prepared video clips, came from the Confucius Institute at UDSM, Confucius Institute at the University of Dodoma and Confucius Classroom at the State University of Zanzibar. After a two-hour grueling competition, Adam Nyenje, a second-year Chinese language student from Confucius Institute at the University of Dodoma was declared the overall winner. Nyenje will later this year travel to China to compete in an international Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition. The main purpose of the competition is to assess the proficiency of students in various skills of the Chinese language such as Chinese speech, and knowledge about China as well as a talent show. Vice-Chancellor of the UDSM William Anangisye thanked the Confucius Institute at the UDSM for hosting the competition, saying the event promotes and encourages more students who will be interested in learning Chinese and performing different talents, including Chinese culture. Anangisye believed that Chinese language learning is an effective approach to further developing Sino-African ties. He said the UDSM is offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (Chinese and English) to students who will later teach the Chinese language in primary and secondary schools across Tanzania. Wang Siping, the cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, thanked the government of Tanzania, particularly the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Confucius Institute at UDSM for supporting the promotion of the Chinese language and Chinese culture. Wang, who presented certificates to some of the winners, said the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania will support the teaching of the Chinese language in schools at all levels. The competition was also witnessed by Aldin Mutembei and Zhang Xiaozhen, both directors of the Confucius Institute at the UDSM, who presented the winners with certificates The Ministry of Water Resources said Sunday that major flooding has occurred in south China's Pearl River basin due to heavy rainfall. The floods in the basin's main rivers of Xijiang and Beijiang came just days after torrents in the region on Tuesday prompted the ministry to raise the emergency response from Level-IV to Level-III to strengthen flood prevention work. China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with Level-I being the most severe. The ministry has urged the relevant authorities to closely monitor the flood situations and has stepped flood-control efforts in rain-battered reservoirs, small and medium-sized rivers and mountainous areas. Five work groups have been dispatched to south China's Guangdong province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where the emergency response is maintained at Level-III. Given the strong downpours expected, rivers in provincial-level regions including Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang will likely see floods exceeding alert levels, with major torrents in some small and medium-sized rivers. Tom Fanning was pleased with the efforts of several of his stables two-year-olds at Mondays (June 20) Gaitway Farm qualifiers, with male pacer Southwind Sambucca and female pacer Uncontrolled picking up victories in their second trips around the training centers one-mile oval. Fanning was among three trainers to notch multiple victories with two-year-olds. Trainer Ron Burke had five two-year-old winners on the day filly trotter In Italian, male trotters Celebrity Bambino and Point Of Perfect, and male pacers Loubet and Ervin Hanover and Joe Holloway sent out two in female pacer Summer Dreams and female trotter Trick Play. Jennifer Bongiorno won the remaining of the 10 qualifiers for the two-year-olds with female pacer Beach Cowgirl. For Fanning, Southwind Sambucca (American Ideal-Sisters Delight) won in 1:55.2 with Tyler Miller in the sulky. It was Southwind Sambuccas second time out after finishing fifth in 1:59.2 last week. He is owned by David Van Wart and Fanning Racing and was bred by Southwind Farms. He was purchased for $72,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale. The family includes Fast N First, who won a 2019 Little Brown Jug elimination and finished second to Southwind Ozzi in the final. He qualified last week and I was a little bit disappointed in him, said Fanning. I dont expect much out of their first qualifiers, but I thought he would be better than what he showed. We made some changes this week, let him see a little more, and it really made a difference. He was really good. He was loaded with pace and interested the whole way. It was a big step forward. Southwind Sambucca will go to the New York Sire Stakes. Uncontrolled (Control The Moment-Scarlett O Terror) won in 1:58.1 for driver Tim Tetrick. She was third in her debut last week in 1:58.1. The homebred filly is owned by Howard Taylor and Fanning. Her family includes multiple Indiana Sire Stakes winner Brookview Bullet. She will be going up to Ontario soon to race up there in their Sire Stakes, said Fanning. Shes good. She qualified good. She was handy; Tetrick said she did nothing wrong. She was pretty comfortable winning. We were happy with her. Shes a racehorse. Also qualifying for Fanning was two-year-old female trotter Mississippi Gale (Cantab Hall-Mississippi Beauty), who finished third in her debut in 2:03. She is owned by Joe Smith and is a full sister to Smiths Mississippi Storm, a Grand Circuit winner. We qualified her very carefully, but she was very solid, pretty professional, said Fanning. We were happy with that. She trained down very well. She can trot. The lone disappointment was male pacer Fendi Hanover, who went off stride for the second week in a row. Fendi Hanover (Stay Hungry-Fashion Katie) is owned by Taylor and Falcon Racing and is a three-quarter brother to last years Governors Cup winner Early Action. Of all my babies, I thought he was by far the best, said Fanning. Last week, he got run into in the first turn. This week, he was uncooperative; wouldnt go on the gate, was trying to kick. I talked to the owner and were going to geld him. Early Action also is a gelding. I was really excited about him, Fanning continued about Fendi Hanover. He just needs to get refocused a little bit. Hes going to miss a little bit of time now, but hell still have plenty of races and hes staked up good. Yannick Gingras drove all five of Burkes winners. In Italian, the full sister to multiple Dan Patch Award winner and two-time Armbro Flight Stakes champion Atlanta, won her debut qualifier in 1:59 on June 6 and made it two-for-two with a 1:59.3 win Monday. In Italian (Chapter Seven-Hemi Blue Chip) was the sales topper at last falls Standardbred Horse Sale, going for $750,000. She is owned by Brad Grant and Howard Taylor. She was bred by Order By Stable. Also winning for the second time were Loubet, Ervin Hanover and Celebrity Bambino. Loubet (Sweet Lou-Atsallrite Hanover) won for the second time in three tries, stopping the clock in 1:53, which was Mondays fastest mile. He won his debut in 1:57.2 on June 6 despite making an early misstep, then went off stride in a second-place finish in 1:58.2 last week. He is owned by breeders Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Michelle Yanek and Phil Collura. He is a full brother to Grand Circuit winner Shes Allright and 2022 Pennsylvania Stallion Stakes winner Code Cracker. Ervin Hanover (Captaintreacherous-Eloquent Grace) made it two-for-two with a 1:56 win, with his back half in :54.4. He won in 1:54.1 in his first try June 6. He is owned by Burke Racing Stable, J&T Silva Stables, James Simpson and Weaver Bruscemi. He was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms and purchased for $115,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. His family includes millionaires Ginger And Fred and Fred And Ginger. Celebrity Bambino (Muscle Hill-Celebrity Ruth) won in 1:57.3 with a back half of :55.1 after capturing his opening qualifier on June 6 in 1:59. He is owned by Burke Racing Stable, J&T Silva Stables, Knox Services and Phil Collura. He was bred by White Birch Farm and purchased for $120,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale. His family includes Dan Patch Award winners Housethatruthbuilt and Master Lavec. Point Of Perfect (Walner-Southwind Fiat) won in 1:58.4 after finishing second in 1:59.4 on June 6. He is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Hatfield Stables, J&T Silva Stables and Knox Services. He was bred by Black Creek Farm, Northern Lane Farm, Four Corner Stables and Hickory Hollow Stables. He sold for $205,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale. His dam is a full sister to Dan Patch Award winner Southwind Frank and Grand Circuit winner Sans Defaut. Summer Dreams (Always B Miki-Arrivista Hanover) won in 1:55.4 for driver David Miller and Holloway in her second qualifying appearance. She was fifth on June 6 in 1:58.4. Summer Dreams is owned by Val DOr Farms and Ted Gewertz. She was bred by Frederick Hertrich III and sold under the name Without Exception for $65,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. She is a half-sister to multiple Buckeye Stallion Series winner Self Made and her family also includes millionaire Aracache Hanover and Grand Circuit winner Lyons Snyder. Trick Play (Trixton-Perfect Delight) made a break on June 6 but came back Monday to win in 2:00.3, again with Miller driving for Holloway. She is owned by Val DOr Farms and Ted Gewertz. She was bred by Jim Avritt Sr. and sold for $55,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. Beach Cowgirl (Captaintreacherous-Stonebridge Sundae) won in 1:55.2 for trainer Bongiorno and driver Joe Bongiorno. She finished second last week, timed in 1:56.1. Beach Cowgirl is owned by Joseph DiScala Jr., Zippett Racing Stable, Scarlett Stables and JAF Racing. She was bred by Crawford Farms and sold for $60,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale. She is a three-quarter sister to Bounty Hunter, a recent winner on the New York Sire Stakes circuit and two-time runner-up on the Grand Circuit last season. For complete charts for Gaitways qualifiers, click here. The First Mile, presented by onGait and produced by 412 Communications, provided coverage of the qualifiers live from Gaitway Farm with harness racing media veteran and series producer James Witherite serving as lead commentator. Replays are available below. (USTA) A study aimed at the Fredericksburg areas trail network is underway, and residents can give their opinions on what should be done next Monday, June 27. The $107,850 study, initiated by the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, aims to connect the separated trails to create one network. Three public meetings next Monday will address the train study and offer residents time to speak. The Fredericksburg Community Planning Department will hold a meeting to address the Bankside trail, a portion of the Virginia Central Railway trail from the downtown train station to the Chatham Bridge. Residents will be allowed to comment on the trail. The meeting will be held on the first floor of Executive Plaza at 601 Caroline St. Also next Monday, the George Washington Regional Commission and the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organizations Policy Committee will hold public comment periods on the trail issues. The GWRC meeting starts at 6 p.m., followed by the FAMPO meeting. Both meetings will be held at 406 Princess Anne St. FAMPO also is slated to vote that night on the final list of this years Smart Scale projects, the states ranking program for transportation funding. FAMPO already has endorsed a Smart Scale project aimed at improving the VCR trail. FAMPO Administrator Ian Ollis said the Smart Scale project aim is filling in all the gaps in the trail between Interstate 95 and the Fredericksburg Train Station and from the train station down the citys proposed Bankside Trail, which will connect the train station, the new Riverfront Park, and the new Chatham Bridge shared-use path into southern Stafford. The study on the trail system, which could bring drastic changes to three trail crossings, has just gotten started, Ollis said. The study will analyze the potential of building a bridge or tunnel at the current VCR trail crossings on U.S. 1 near Idlewild and at the Blue & Gray Parkway, as well as a new crossing over or under I95, near the Harrison Road overpass. Another option for that crossing would take the trail to and across the overpass. Ollis said in an email that the study could eventually bring the trail together. The VCR trail exists in the city and in Spotsylvania but the missing middle to make it into one trail is the (interstate), which cuts the trail in two, he said. If all of these projects and an additional section in Spotsylvania are approved and funded, it will create a massive bike and pedestrian trail from Gordon Road in Spotsylvania to southern Stafford (Chatham Heights and the Belmont Ferry Farm trail). Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol arrested a New York man following a crash that claimed the life of a Scottsbluff woman late Saturday evening. At approximately 11:15 p.m., NSP troopers were called to a report of a fatality crash at mile marker 83 on Interstate 80. Preliminary investigation shows that the driver of Dodge Caravan was traveling westbound when the caravan was struck from behind by the driver of a truck tractor/semi-trailer. The collision caused the Caravan to roll, ejecting a front-seat passenger. That passenger has been identified as Haroldene Rodriguez, 55, of Scottsbluff. She was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver, Leopoldo Rodriguez, 43, and two rear-seat, child passengers were transported to Sidney Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the semi, Atinder Singh, 30, of Bellerose, New York, was not injured. Authorities arrested Singh arrested on suspicion of motor vehicle homicide and careless driving. As of publication, he is being held in the Cheyenne County Jail. The crash remains under investigation, the NSP said in its release. Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Twenty-five years ago: Record & Landmark, June 20-26, 1997. In 1921, two young men attending a mortuary school in Washington, D.C., decided to go into business. Their venture, Rutledge & Bigham Mortuary, celebrates its 75th anniversary this Sunday. St. Charles Rutledge and Gadson G. Bigham, Sr., opened their business on June 22, 1922, in a frame dwelling on what was known as Bailey Corner on Garfield St. (6/20) Dr. Paul Rutherford Kearns remembered: His practice in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in Statesville covered 38 years and included extensive cancer research and development of innovative practices for womens health. (6/21) For the sixth consecutive year, Iredell Countys tax rate will remain at 45 cents per $100 valuation. Only three North Carolina counties Clay, Dare and Watauga at 43 cents, 40 cents and 43.5 cents respectively have rates lower than Iredell. (6/22) Local agricultural official on Pennsylvania outbreak of avian influenza: At the present time we have not had any outbreaks of this nature, Ken Vaughn said. Vaughn reported there are 160 poultry farmers raising 1.7 million chickens in Iredell County. (6/23) Help wanted: The Italian Oven Now Hiring Line Cooks Pizza Cooks. We offer competitive wages, advancement potential and a great working environment. Apply in person 1026 Glenway Dr. Crossroads Shopping Ctr. More Real Italian Food. Less Lira. (6/24) Photo of reunion Harmony High School Class of 1937: They are O.A. Dearman, Thelma Brown Dearman, Cloyce Renegar Bullard, Ardelia Harmon Barrier, Ralph Mullis, Huron Watts, Sophia Miller, Helen Renegar, Gwydolin Campbell Padgett, Alma Norris and Bill Douglas. (6/25) CommScope is officially making their move into Statesville. The worlds leading manufacturer of coaxial cable is purchasing a $40 million facility that will create 200 manufacturing jobs. (The company bought the former Rubbermaid plant off N.C. 90) (6/26) Fifty years ago: Record & Landmark, June 20-26, 1972. Hurst Turner Legion beat Thomasville 10-1: Tom Spencer lost his shutout as Randy Black hit a line drive between Mike Griffin and Tom Lackey. The ball rolled to the wall and under some wood slats. Statesville argued for a ground-rule double but the umpire gave Black a home run. Time was called as Lackey and Griffin threw the wood over the wall. (6/20) Hurricane Agnes dumps record rainfall on Iredell: The recording gauge at the Statesville water filtration plant measured 7.68 inches of rain from 6 p.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m today. Since the rains began Saturday, a total of 9.63 inches of rain has fallen at the water plant. (6/21) Obituary for Mack James, 51: He was a veteran of World War II and for many years an employee of G.L. Wilson Construction Co. Funeral services will be conducted Friday at 4 p.m.at Rocky Creek Methodist Church. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. (6/22) Playground news: Caldwell Park Registration for the July 3 field day is underway. More people have signed up for the pie-eating contest than any other event. (6/23) Members of the 1952 graduating class of Troutman High School held their 20th reunion June 17th. Carl A. Litaker, a former principal, was guest speaker and showed films of the 1952 class trip to Washington, D.C. (6/24) During an informal ceremony Friday, Mrs. Lee B. Jones was presented a certificate of appreciation for her many years of service at the Harmony Post Office. She retired recently following 24 years as a postal clerk. (former Geraldine Williams) (6/26) Seventy-five years ago: Statesville Daily Record, June 20-26, 1947. Iredell county has purchased T. Ward Guy, school superintendent, a new Buick for use as his official car. The automobile will replace a 1941 Ford which was sold at auction for $955. The new car was purchased for $1,318. (6/20) Tom Bunch, who is now working for the United States government in Frankfort, Germany, is the son of A.W. Bunch, of Statesville. Tom, who served with army intelligence during the war, remained over in a civilian capacity after the fighting ended. (6/21) N.C. State College: Roger Cole is one of two college students sent out to train in county agent offices. Cole is being sent here because of the well-balanced agricultural program being operated out of the local farm agent offices. (6/23) Statesville Daily Record ten old men softball team: Williard Whiffout Neighbors will start on the mound, with Lee Middlesworth at short, Sid Bost in centerfield, Clyde Gilmore on third, John Kiser at first, J.D. Chamberlain in short field, Jay Huskins on the second sack, Robert Alexander in left field, George Couch in right and Jerry Josey behind the plate. (6/24) Mrs. P.C. Warren is opening a floral shop in a new block building on the corner of Buena Vista and West Front street. Mrs. Warren is an experienced florist having had her own business several years ago. (6/25) The vanguard of 1,000 or more veterans of the 81st Wildcat Division coming here over the weekend for a Tri-State reunion are expected to begin arriving tomorrow as well as paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division, who will be featured in a parade Saturday. (6/26) One hundred years ago: The Vance hotel experienced its first full house last night, when the hotel was filled to capacity. No guests were turned away but every room was used and two-fold in cases. (6/22) The initial dance at the Vance hotel was given in the ball-room there Monday night with around thirty couples participating. (6/22) Work on the new school building at Scotts has begun in earnest. Three or four squads of men are literally making things hum. (6/22) Mr. Henry V. Furches recalls that Judge Boyd persistently frowned on the habit of calling children kids. Mr. Furches heard Judge Boyd more than once call down witnesses who used the term. Judge Boyd held that the term applied only to goats. (6/22) Messrs. Christian and Bahnson, of the Grinnel Company, Charlotte, were in the county Thursday looking over the school buildings being erected at Scotts and Sharon with the view of installing heating systems. (6/26) Charlotte Observer on new highway under construction: The established railroad and dirt road connection between Charlotte and Statesville has been 44 miles but by elimination of curves and location of new grades, the engineers have reduced the distance to 38 miles. (6/26) Bambino Bristols 3 hits led the Legion to a 9-4 win over Statesville Cotton Mills: In the ninth Bristol lambasted one of Settles pitches toward the left-field palings but about two inches of pine board held the youngster at second. The local Babe has been butting into bad luck all season on a little matter of two or three inches too much fence. (6/26) One hundred twenty-five years ago: Landmark, June 22 and 25, 1897. The severe heat and drought which prevailed in this section for a week or more, were broke by good rains in Statesville Saturday and Sunday evenings. We are sorry to learn, however, that the rains were not general. (6/22) Mr. C.W. Hyams has been elected botanist and entomologist at the State Experiment Station and assistant professor of horticulture at the A. and M. College at Raleigh. His salary will not be less than $1,000 a year and may be more. The college does not open until September but his duties at the Experiment Station may require his presence before that time. (6/22) The storm of Saturday afternoon blew down a portion of the billboards on Center street piling them across the sidewalk. (6/22) J.L. Ludlow, who is to make the survey for the proposed water works for Statesville, began work yesterday. Parties who have taken up the procuring of an injunction to restrain the mayor and aldermen from having the survey made were active yesterday but up to last evening, no definite action had been taken. (6/25) Mr. Milas Brady, of Shiloh township, has for years been a mighty man in the harvest field and only the best of them could follow him with the old time scythe and cradle. But Mr. Brady is getting old and when in town this week he told The Landmark that he cut but a small amount of wheat this year just enough to say that he had cut some. (6/25) Some home raised peaches, fine ones, were on the market yesterday and sold at reasonable prices. (6/25) Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Stolen property Longview officers Sunday arrested Jordan Hobert, 29, of Longview, on suspicion of trafficking stolen property, driving with a suspended license, operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock and violating ignition interlock restrictions on a license. Burglary and theft Longview officers Sunday arrested Gabriel Nelson, 25, of Longview, on suspicion of burglary, felony theft, misdemeanor theft, trafficking stolen property, retail theft and criminal trespassing. Harassment Longview officers Sunday arrested Okal Oldroyd, 67, of Longview, on suspicion of felony harassment and fourth-degree assault. Editors note: A software switch at Cowlitz County dispatch has prevented the agency from temporarily supplying 911 call logs and officer notes past June 6. The agency is working to create new reports to supply media outlets. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Not being able to unlock your iPhone? If you forget your password or it is showing as incorrect, then here is how you can unlock your Apple iPhone. Passwords are meant to protect your smartphones, apps, data and much more. All the iPhones and android phones now-a-days have different locking functionalities. This includes face unlock, fingerprint impression or even a simple password. Even if you do keep a biometric unlock system, you still need to have a password or passcode for your phone. But what will happen if you forget the password or passcode? If you are an iPhone user and it shows an incorrect passcode then it is time to worry, but not too much. Because, you see, there are others ways in which you can unlock and iPhone. Do remember that it will require extreme measures. Check it out here. Also Read: iPhone 13 on top as Apple beats Samsung when it comes to phone brand switchers According to Apple's support page, if you can't remember your passcode, you need to use a computer to put your iPhone in recovery mode. However, it is important to note that this process deletes your data and settings, including your passcode, giving you access to set up your iPhone again. After you erase your iPhone, you can restore your data and settings from backup. And if you did not take the backup earlier, you can set up your iPhone as a new device and then download any data that you have in iCloud. Here is how to get your iPhone into recovery mode so you can erase it and set it up again. Debris scattered by a Russian anti-satellite weapons test almost collided with the International Space Station, reveals NASA. Here is how the ISS saved itself. Space debris almost crashed into the International Space Station (ISS)! NASA revealed that the ISS had to conduct a complicated avoidance maneuver on June 16 to avoid being hit by orbital debris from a Russian anti-satellite weapons test that destroyed a satellite. Back in November 2021, Russia conducted an anti-satellite weapon test. It destroyed the Soviet-era Cosmos 1408 satellite and released more than 1,500 pieces of debris in space. After months, some pieces of that debris nearly collided with the ISS. Roscosmos, Russia's space agency used an uncrewed Progress 81 cargo ship anchored at the International Space Station to move the orbiting lab clear of fragments of space debris, while sharing a video of the whole activity on the social media platform Telegram. Russias Progress 81 cargo ship shot its thrusters for 4 minutes and 34 seconds to provide the complex and extra measure of putting some distance between the space station and the debris. Also read: Can a power plant in space send electricity back to Earth? China has a plan! SpaceX faces NASA hurdle for Starship backup launch pad as International Space Station at risk Also read: "I confirm that at 22.03 Moscow time, the engines of the Russian Progress MS-20 transport cargo ship carried out an unscheduled maneuver to avoid a dangerous approach of the International Space Station with a fragment of the Kosmos-1408 spacecraft," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on his Telegram posts. Also read: NASA finds shiny foil on Mars! What is this? While confirming the incident and the maneuver on the space station, NASA says in a blog post, "The crew was never in any danger and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within around a half-mile from the station. Last year, a piece of debris hit the robotic arm of the space station, puncturing a hole in it. The European Space Agency assesses that there are more than a million pieces of potentially damaging debris in orbit. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Greensboros North Carolina Folk Festival features the usual festival fare food, music, art and crafts but with a twist. This festival focuses on keeping alive traditions with local, national and worldwide roots. We celebrate the transmission of traditions from one generation to the next, said Amy Grossmann, president and CEO of the nonprofit festival. We showcase regional North Carolina talent, but we also have a global flare, she said. We highlight performers with different global roots and traditions. Artists may be from North Carolina, other parts of the U.S. or the world and carry on performance traditions from their home communities or countries of origin. The festival is a real celebration of people carrying cultural knowledge forward through performances and crafts they learned from their families and communities, Grossmann said. That is really the heart and soul of what we do. Four stages of diverse music After a successful pivot to a virtual event in 2020, the festival returns to downtown Greensboro Sept. 10-12 with an exciting lineup of performers including: Molly Tuttle who Grossmann described as an up-and-coming, incredible bluegrass and Americana performer Jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon who she called a legend in the jazz world Caique Vidal & Batuque/Oxente, African-Brazilian drummers The Mari Black Trio, Scottish performers from Boston, Mass. Shamarr Allen & The Underdawgs, a New Orleans funk and hip hop group Conjunto Guantanamo, Cuban performers from New York City. Theyre another great example of folks who are U.S. citizens but are carrying on performance traditions from their country of origin, Grossmann said. The public can keep up with whats on tap at the event by signing up for the festivals newsletter. A hunger to convene The pandemic has left us with a hunger to convene safely to enjoy great music and feel safe and be part of a cultural celebration again. Thats what we have to offer in Greensboro, Grossmann said. We are not ticketed; there are no gates or fences around our festival, she added. People can safely spread out, enjoy music, go to different stages and just have a really great time. Festival organizers are encouraging attendees to social distance and wear masks in places where others might convene. We are really hoping people can stay distanced and enjoy the music and enjoy a great day, Grossman said. The NC Folklife Demonstration area showcasing makers from North Carolina will be taking a break this year because of coronavirus concerns and will return next year, she said. Spinoff of national event The festival is a spinoff of the National Folk Festival, one of the countrys earliest multicultural celebrations. First produced in St. Louis in 1934, the festival used to travel to various cities. During the 1980s, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, organizer of the festival, decided to award it to one city for a three-year residency. The goal was to plant a seed for that community to carry on a legacy event after 'national moved to another community starting the residency all over again, Grossman said. Greensboro hosted the festival from 2015 to 2017. When that residency ended, national moved on, and we carried on with a legacy event we re-named the North Carolina Folk Festival, she added. Grossman is proud of the fact that admission to the Greensboro festival is free. We are 100 percent committed to keeping this festival free making sure that attendance is not limited by a persons ability to enter the site, she said. This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com. Booker T. Washington National Monument honored Juneteenth this year by educating as well as entertaining the public on Saturday. As the nations newest federal holiday, park staff shared the days long, profound history. For many African Americans, Juneteenth is considered an Independence Day, said park ranger Brittany Lane, speaking to crowd of nearly 1,000 on a radiant June afternoon. Its a day that commemorates and celebrates freedom, but as we all know, freedom is not a simple process. Juneteenths origin story speaks to the slow path of freedom for much of Americas enslaved population. While the Civil War essentially ended with the surrender of major Confederate armies in April 1865, it took another two months for the enslaved population to learn of their freedom. Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 to announce that the war was over and, as a result, those enslaved were free. That date later became known as Juneteenth. Lane told her audience at the Washington homeplace in Franklin County that the new holiday extends from past to present to future. We all, no matter our race, creed or ethnicity, have a role to play in commemorating this special day, she said. Booker T. Washington National Monument started hosting Juneteenth events at the park in 2002, two decades before the day became a federal holiday. It was canceled only one year, in 2020, due to COVID-19. In 2021, it was held as a virtual event. Booker T. Washington National Monument has been at the forefront of celebrating Juneteenth for a long time, Lane said. The park preserves the location where Booker T. Washington was born and later freed as a young boy, before he began his lifes journey toward becoming an influential American. Ranger Betsy Haynes gave a tour Saturday to discuss Washingtons path, later recounted in the educator and political leaders autobiography Up From Slavery. She described Washingtons relentless pursuit of education that led him to Hampton Institute, then a fledgling Reconstruction-era school for the newly freed. Washington later became the founder the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, now Tuskegee University, and became a national advocate of gradual social uplift for African Americans. His education model was the template for schools across the South, including Christiansburg Industrial Institute, which endured and nurtured its people until the Civil Rights Movement prompted desegregation in the mid-1960s. While Washingtons saga was unique, Haynes said he was but one among many who were freed as a result of the Civil War. This was just one story out of millions, she said. For many attendees at Saturdays event, freedom was the inspiration for celebrating Juneteenth. It was the day my ancestors were set free, said Terry Witcher, a Glade Hill resident who attends several Juneteenth events in the region each year with the Road Soldiers Motorcycle Club. Today is a day to celebrate everyone that made this country what it is today, said Rocky Mount resident Melanie Board, who attended Saturdays event with her parents. Burnt Chimney resident Tim Starkey has attended the Juneteenth event at Booker T. Washington National Monument for 20 years. He said he is looking forward to the holiday continuing to grow in popularity as more people learn about its history. I hope that it continues to get even bigger, he said. Fundraising for the Grand Island Central Catholic elementary school addition, projected to cost $9 million, is still in its silent phase, but things are certainly happening behind the scenes. That includes naming the campaign chairs for the effort: Grounded in Faith - Building Our Future Capital Campaign. GICC is working to have an elementary school join its high school and middle school at 1200 Ruby Ave. Co-chairs for the addition are John and Katie Goering, Brett and Kristen Klein, and Matt and Kristen Maser. Honorary chairs are John and Barbara Reilly, Tom and Kim Dinsdale, Mike and Jean Hamik, and Tom and Sue Pirnie. Each of these seven families are well-known within the GICC community and throughout Grand Island, said Jolene Wojcik, executive director of the Central Catholic Development Foundation. Some are GICC graduates, some sent their children here, but the common denominator is that all have been wonderful advocates and supporters of Central Catholic. Kristin Maser and her husband, Mike, have children who have attended GICC two in school and a graduate. She said Grounded in Faith is also grounded in joy. Wojcik indicated the same, saying, As weve had our first meetings and gatherings of this leadership team, theres just such a joy in the meetings. Working closely with the co-chairs are Wojcik and GICC Principal Jordan Engle. The Rev. Joseph Hanefeldt, bishop of the Diocese of Grand Island, will headline the campaigns pastoral leadership. Bishop William Dendinger, the dioceses bishop emeritus, and Bishop James Golka of the Diocese of Colorado Springs will serve alongside Hanefeldt. Golka has strong Grand Island ties. He is a GICC graduate himself, and served as pastor of St. Marys Cathedral in Grand Island before his appointment as bishop. Forming the leadership team for the capital campaign is a major step in the process. Eventually we will be out there in the public, asking for help and asking for volunteers and pledges, Wojcik said. Leaders of the project told the Independent in May construction could begin in the summer of 2023, ideally ready for pre-K and elementary students in school year 2024-2025. The addition will accommodate 280 students. While the campaign leaders are quietly working, encouragement from the community has not been quiet, Wojcik said. There are a lot of people since the Catholic elementary schools closed 1970s that have been waiting for this. The minute they heard, they said Yes. Were going to build this. A few donations have already rolled in, despite being in the silent phase, Wojcik said. As the Grounded in Faith leaders quietly organize, there is plenty of positivity. Maser said even in the silent phase, during meetings the excitement for a new Catholic elementary school in Grand Island is loud and clear. Wojcik said, It makes you feel like youre doing the right thing. Courtney Glock is vice president of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce. And at 26, she is the youngest person to serve in the role. As vice president, Glock leads the chambers workforce development efforts, with a focus on talent attraction and retention. I spearhead a lot of initiatives with local colleges to help get the word out there to market Grand Island, going to career fairs, and collecting resumes to distribute to local businesses, she said. Glock also coordinates the chambers Young Professionals program, for ages 21-40, which allows them to get involved in the community as a group. The program, which started in 2006, boasts nearly 150 members, and continues to grow. Glock has been at the Chamber for four years. She started as an intern in 2018, and was then was hired as communications and event coordinator where she coordinated volunteers for Nebraska State Fair. She has a degree in advertising and public relations and marketing from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, despite always thinking she would be a nurse or teacher. I just love helping people. I love building relationships. Those two industries really felt like they would be a good fit for me, she said. I learned about publicists my senior year of high school, did a little bit of research, and thought, maybe Ill just do something general. She began studying communications and took it further. I wanted to focus on the branding piece, she said, and creating positive reputations and representing and putting your best self forward, and thats where the public relations piece came in. Workforce development has become a passion for Glock, she said. These efforts involve creating a brand for Grand Island and sending out a message to young people: Its OK to return to back home. Im from Grand Island and went to receive my education outside of our community, and I came back, she said. Though I never necessarily expected to come back to Grand Island, I realized what kind of opportunities are in our community. Glock also discovered how easy it is for a young person to become a community leader. We have so many mentors and fantastic individuals who make up the leadership of this community, she said, but theyre all very welcoming to young people to step in and walk alongside them and eventually fill those shoes. Grand Islands young professionals, all aspiring leaders, have something in them. They have some type of investment in our community, whether they live here or work here, and they want to deepen that connection, Glock said. This is done through chamber-led tours of local businesses and lunches with CEOs and other leaders, and by volunteering for community events. I have found it absolutely important not only for our young professionals, but also for myself, to get involved in the community, Glock said. It provides me with that sense of belonging that I need as an individual to grow myself professionally here, and for that reason I dont know if I could ever see myself leaving Grand Island. Becoming the youngest vice president in the chambers history was never a part of Glocks plan. It was the chambers board and president Cindy Johnson who supported her and encouraged her to go beyond her comfort zone, Glock said. It was never something that crossed my mind. I started out as an intern here at the chamber and really got a feel for what its like to work in the business community and what it meant to be an involved leader, she said. The distinction is rewarding to Glock as both a female professional and a Grand Island native, she said. Its very rewarding that I get to be in this role and serve the community in this capacity, and that I have this level of interaction with our community, she said. Its something I dont take for granted. I appreciate every opportunity thats been given to me. I only hope that I can continue to give back to our community and show that, what theyve invested in me, I will give back to the community. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. White-tailed deer are so plentiful in Southern Illinois that seeing a group of them sauntering through a neighborhood at dusk or dawn is almost as common as seeing a squirrel. The animal is also a mainstay on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where woods and waterways meander among the academic buildings and residence halls, inviting wildlife of all kinds. The universitys bucolic setting is one reason zoologists at SIU have a long-standing partnership with state biologists, studying many aspects of the deers life, from its interactions with other species to its interface with humans. One of the latest such efforts has a doctoral student investigating how deer come into contact with one another, with an eye toward better understanding how a devastating disease spreads. Michael Egan, a doctoral student in zoology, is collaborating with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to better understand where deer are likely to come into contact and spread chronic wasting disease, an affliction of deer, elk, moose and other species in North America and beyond. Working with Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, assistant professor at SIUs Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Egan is trying to understanding where and how CWD may spread, which is important for managing the disease. The work also has taken on a more recent twist, with the researchers investigating whether deer can act as reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2 in Southern Illinois, the virus that causes COVID-19, between the typically more infectious winter seasons. Expanding knowledge CWD is spread by prions, a misfolded protein that can be transferred through direct interaction or indirectly when one deer sheds prions through feces, urine, blood or saliva and another deer comes into contact with them. Once a deer is infected, it may take more than a year to develop symptoms, which include drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic indicators. Consistently fatal, CWD can affect animals of all ages, and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. The disease is in the state, but not currently in Southern Illinois; however, it is important to study deer behavior in environments without CWD infections, Egan said. Our goal is to use GPS collars to track the movements of white-tailed deer to determine their habitat associations and where deer come in contact with each other, he said. We also want to study patterns in deer contact, like how often deer make contact with members of the same sex relative to the opposite sex, and the rate of contact within versus between social groups. A constant threat To date, wildlife officials have confirmed cases of CWD in 17 Illinois counties: Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, DeKalb, Ogle, LaSalle, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Kane, Grundy, Kendall, Du Page, Lake, Will, Livingston, Kankakee and Carroll. Deer throughout the state hold great ecological, recreational and economic value. Scientists also worry about CWDs potential ability to jump to other species, including humans. Another prion protein-related disease, so-called mad cow disease, did make that transition, with lethal results of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. So far, however, evidence indicate humans have a strong biological barrier against CWD. Sampling the population To find out more, researchers must get up close and personal with an animal known for its swift, elusive nature. Egans project is capturing deer mainly in two locations: SIUs Touch of Nature Environmental Center, south of Carbondale, and near Lake Shelbyville in Central Illinois on land owned by the Army Corp of Engineers. To capture the animals, Egan primarily uses clover traps, which are basically baited net enclosures with a trap door. Once a deer enters and the door closes behind it, the net collapses and safely secures the deer until researchers can administer tranquilizers. After the drugs take effect, Egan fits the deer with a GPS collar, takes measurements and collects samples such as blood. The researchers also use drop nets above baited areas to capture several deer at the same time. Finally, they sometimes use dart guns to administer a tranquilizer from a distance to specific types of deer adult bucks, for instance that they may need to compare behavior between the sexes. GPS collars record the position of deer every few minutes and allow us to determine where and how deer move, Egan said. Once data is collected, we use statistical models to evaluate the behavior of the deer. Mainly we look at where the deer are and what the habitat at those locations is typically like; however, we also do things like determine when deer are most active and when they come in close proximity to other deer to determine when they may be coming in contact with each other. How it works Egan is particularly interested in whether contacts among deer occur in areas deer rarely visit, rather than their normal locations. For example, a human may spend most of their time at home, but come into contact with other people most often at the gym or a bar. So deer may also spend most of their time in one habitat, but come in contact with other deer in totally different habitats, Egan said. So far, we are finding that deer may be most likely to come in contact with each other in areas they dont usually select for most strongly. Although SIU has worked for years with IDNR, Egan began his project just over two years ago. The study is central to his doctoral efforts, and the work will likely continue after he graduates in a few years. Deer and COVID-19 Researchers in other areas previously discovered that some deer were carrying the SARS-CoV-2 virus, suggesting it may pass between humans and that species. Such a dynamic could mean that deer act as a reservoir for the virus during the less infectious seasons before spreading back into the human population. To find out more, Bastille-Rousseaus began taking blood samples in 2022 specifically to test for the virus. If deer can act as a reservoir for the virus, its important to understand where deer populations are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and how it spreads in the population, Egan said. Its especially important to identify areas with the greatest risk of transmission between deer and humans. The researchers take blood from as many captured deer as possible, process the sample at SIU and then send it to a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory for testing. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 May was officially Military Appreciation Month, but in South Carolina, the military is to be celebrated every month. Not only is the direct impact around the state via bases and personnel very real, South Carolina is a great place for military retirees. The personal-finance website WalletHub found exactly that with its report on 2022s Best & Worst States for Military Retirees. To help troops plan their years after service, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 29 indicators of retirement-friendliness toward veterans. The data set ranges from job opportunities for veterans to housing affordability to quality of VA hospitals. Military retirement in South Carolina (1=best; 25=average): 8th Veterans per capita 17th percent of homeless veterans 19th Veteran job opportunities 25th Housing affordability 16th percent of veteran-owned businesses 9th Number of VA benefits-administration facilities per number of veterans The results should surprise no one. For a small state, South Carolina plays a large role with the nations military. From major bases with active-duty personnel and reservists, to defense contractors and their civilian workforce, the economic effect of the U.S. military on the Palmetto State is substantial. In its most recent joint report with the S.C. Military Base Task Force, the University of South Carolinas Moore School of Business said the annual impact of the military community is $25.3 billion over 8% of the states economy. The military is an indelible part of South Carolina, with eight major installations and our neighbor, Fort Gordon, Georgia, Dan Beatty, chairman of the task force, told The Post and Courier of Charleston. We have the 10th-largest number of military personnel of any state, and have the eighth-largest number of military retirees in the nation. The study shows the bases support 62,520 Department of Defense personnel from all the services with $2.6 billion in payroll. Some 752 firms are executing DOD contracts worth more than $2 billion. The military presence translates to 191,519 full-time jobs supported, directly or indirectly, by the military along with $10.5 billion in income for state residents, according to the report. Retired Army Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, told the Charleston newspaper that the agency advocates every day for everyone associated with the bases. Our installations are critical to our nations national security, and they bring a direct and substantial economic impact to the state. More importantly, however, those in uniform and their families bring unique experiences, skills and values into the South Carolina community. They make invaluable contributions that simply cannot be measured in dollars, he said. Military people and facilities are quite literally woven into the fabric of South Carolinas culture, and our great state would be something less than it is without them. In 2022, The Times and Democrat is continuing the "Stories of Honor" series in which we each week profile a person having served or now serving in the U.S. military. It's the fourth year for the series that will conclude in July. The profiles are an important way of saying thank you to all having served by telling the stories of those from Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties nominated by T&D readers. Our locale and South Carolina as a whole appreciate the military. And the military presence here is vital. During Military Appreciation Month and every month, we salute the military community. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Minister of Health Paulette Lenert is currently visiting Portugal to learn more about the country's liberal drug policies, decriminalisation strategy, as well as the production of medical cannabis. The Ministry of Health now plans on creating a legal frame to allow for medical cannabis to be cultivated in the Grand Duchy, announced Minister Lenert in Lisbon on Sunday evening. A legal analysis of the situation is expected to be completed by September. The politician from the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) explained that many countries that eventually moved beyond medical cannabis started with this approach, as it allows to first set up the proper control and safety mechanisms: "A third phase could then see the cultivation of cannabis for non-medical purposes in Luxembourg." Over the last two years, the Grand Duchy faced several supply issues affecting medical cannabis, which could be avoided once production is also legalised on a national level. The government will allow for people to cultivate up to fours plants at home as a first step towards the legalisation of recreational cannabis in Luxembourg. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture are currently working on regulations for cannabis seeds to guarantee certain quality standards. Aside from visiting medical cannabis plantations, Minister Lenert further inspects Portugal's substitution and addiction programmes. The country has recorded positive results from their decriminalisation policies, which is partly due to the launch of extensive addiction support programmes, explained Minister Lenert: "We also want to recognise drug addicts as patients rather than criminals." The Ministry of Education and three of Luxembourg's teachers' unions have signed a new agreement to regulate and improve work in the country's competence centres. Employees of Luxembourg's competence centres believe that their mission still needs clarification, as many points fail to be properly defined. An agreement signed between three teachers' unions and the Ministry of Education is now supposed to improve a number of issues, promised Minister of Education Claude Meisch while addressing the Chamber of Deputies last week. The unions issued a press release on Monday to underline that they also believe that the agreement will improve many aspects of work life in the competence centres, as for instance the creation of an adequate legal frame and the reduction of work hours to 30.5 hours per week. The only teachers union to not have signed the agreement, is the one operated by the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL). The Ministry for Mobility and Public Works has announced that there will be adaptations to the public transport routes and schedules in light of National Day. Most of the changes will affect public transport on Wednesday 22 June, National Day Eve. Additional shuttle buses will connect P+R locations with the Luxembourg City centre between 6pm and 10.30pm. These include the car parks in Bouillon, Howald, Kockelscheuer, and at the Stade de Luxembourg. Due to the fireworks, the tram will not operate between the Hamilius and Gare stops from 7pm to 12.20am. For a detailed overview of all changes, please consult the below summary provided by Mobiliteit.lu. Overview of route and schedule changes In the context of the National Holiday and the associated events, public transport will undergo changes in its routes and timetable. In addition, the public transport offer will be reinforced: on 22 June, the eve of the bank holidays, special services will be put in place to ensure that night owls can travel in complete safety. Please find below the details by operator: RGTR From approximately 5:00 pm until June 23, 2022, 2:00 am the following RGTR routes will undergo a schedule and route change: 122, 150, 160, 184, 202, 203, 205, 207, 212, 215, 223, 229, 260, 305, 321, 325, 330, 410, 487, 496, 611 and 750. Special bus runs will be operated on the night of 22-23 June 2022 on the following RGTR routes: 100, 120, 130, 144, 150, 160, 163, 175, 192, 194, 195, 205, 215, 240, 248, 255, 260, 290, 461 and 590. National Day 23 June 2022: On National Day, the RGTR routes will operate according to the public holiday timetable on the usual routes. The special RGTR-timetables are available under this link. AVL From about 18:00 onwards, due to the blocking of the connection between the station area and the city centre (Viaduct and Adolphe Bridge), all AVL lines will be diverted between the Central Station and the city centre in both directions via Rue de Hollerich and Route d'Esch. Some stops will be removed. In the early evening, before the events, the timetable of some lines (notably 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 30) will be reinforced, notably by the introduction of additional runs. With the exception of routes 6, 16 and 18, bus services will be suspended between approximately 10.30 pm and 11.30 pm. After the fireworks, there will be special services on most AVL lines from the city centre between 11.30 pm and around 3.30 am. P+R lines The City of Luxembourg recommends that visitors travelling by car take advantage of the following park-and-ride facilities, where buses will leave every 5 to 10 minutes between approximately 18:00 and 22:30: P+R Bouillon (line 37) to the city centre ; P+R Bouillon (line 20) to the Central Station; P+R Howald, Lux-Sud (Customs Centre) to Central Station and city centre (line 39); New: P+R Kockelscheuer Patinoire and P+R Stade de Luxembourg to the city centre (line 18) Departures from the city centre to the car parks will take place after the fireworks from the following stops: Route 37 to the Bouillon P+R: Monterey platform 5 (temporary stop along the municipal park); Route 20 towards P+R Bouillon: Gare Centrale platform 105; Route 39 towards Central Station and Howald, Lux-Sud P+R: Hamilius platform 2; Line 18 towards the P+R Stade de Luxembourg and P+R Kockelscheuer (direct line, without service to the Central Station): Hamilius platform 2. The last departure for each of these lines will be at 3.30 am. National Day 23 June 2022: On the National Day, the AVL lines will run according to the public holiday timetable on the usual routes, except between approximately 3pm and 5.30pm, during which time all lines running between the station area and the city centre will be diverted in both directions via Rue de Hollerich and Route d'Esch. Some stops will be removed. The City of Luxembourg provides the following means of obtaining more information: Website: 'nationalfeierdag.vdl.lu' Mobile application: 'city-app' Desk: 'Infobus' (Cercle Cite building, place dArmes, Monday-Saturday 8.00-18.00; Tel: 4796 2975) The special AVL-timetables of the AVL are available under this link. LUXTRAM The tram will run according to an extended timetable between the 'Luxexpo' stop and the Gare Centrale stop with a minimum frequency of 10 minutes: 03:00: last departure from the 'Luxexpo' stop in the direction of the 'Gare Centrale' stop 03:28: last departure from the 'Gare Centrale' stop in the direction of the 'Luxexpo' stop Please note that due to the fireworks display on the Adolphe bridge and its preparations, tram traffic will be suspended from 19:00 to 00:20 on the section 'Hamilius' 'Gare Centrale'. A replacement bus service (line 39) will operate between the stops 'Hamilius' and 'Gare Centrale'. National Day 23 June 2022 : On National Day, the tram will run according to the public holiday schedule. During the military parade in the Avenue de la Liberte, tram traffic will be suspended on the 'Hamilius' 'Gare Centrale' section between approximately 11:00 and 13:15, and the tram will only run on the 'Luxexpo' 'Hamilius' section and back. A substitute bus service (lines 4, 13, 18 and 39) will provide the link between the 'Hamilius' and 'Gare Centrale' stops. In addition, tram traffic will be suspended on the 'Place de Metz' 'Gare Centrale' section between 22:20 and 00:05 due to the dismantling of the official stand. A substitute bus service (lines 4, 13, 18) will be provided. The special tram timetable is available under this link. TICE Due to the National Day festivities in various municipalities in the south of the country, some streets will be closed from 22 June 2022, 09:00 until 23 June 2022, 01:00. The following TICE lines will undergo a change of schedule and route: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17. CTBT night buses will also run in the evening from 22 June 2022 to 23 June 2022. National Day 23 June 2022: On National Day, CTBT routes will operate according to the public holiday timetable on the usual routes. The special TICE-timetables are available under this link. CFL Special trains will run on the night of 22 June 2022 to 23 June 2022 on the following lines: Line 10, departure from Luxembourg station to Troisvierges at 1.10 am and 3.35 am Line 30, departure from Luxembourg station to Wasserbillig at 1.15 and 3.15 Line 50, departure from Luxembourg station to Kleinbettingen at 1h15 and 3h00 Line 60, departure from Luxembourg station to Esch-sur-Alzette at 00:02, 1:18 and 3:18 Line 60A, departure from Luxembourg station to Dudelange at 0h44 and 2h44 Line 70, departure from Luxembourg station to Rodange via Dippach at 1h40 and 3h40 National Day 23 June 2022: On National Day, CFL trains will run according to the public holiday timetable. The special CFL-timetables are available under this link. NIGHT BUS On the occasion of the National Holiday in Luxembourg City some Nightlife- and Late Night Buses will run on the night of 22 June to 23 June 2022. The special night bus timetables are available under this link. ADAPTO The transport service for people with reduced mobility will exceptionally run until midnight on 22 June 2022. For further questions, the mobility advisors of the "Mobiliteit.lu" call centre are available to travellers on 2465 2465 from Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. Applications for school districts to be part of a Wyoming Teacher Apprenticeship pilot opened Wednesday. The apprenticeship is meant to help turn around the states teacher shortage crisis. The application closes June 30. After that deadline, the Wyoming Department of Education and the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board will choose and work with three school districts over the summer to put together the pilot, which is slated to start this fall. The apprenticeship is meant to lower financial barriers and give hands-on training to people who want to be teachers. The idea is based on an existing statewide program in Tennessee. In 2019, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System in Tennessee partnered with Austin Peay State Universitys Teacher Residency Program and established a teacher apprenticeship program. This past January, the program in Clarksville-Montgomery became the first registered teaching apprenticeship in the country. Tennessee is using the apprenticeship model in Clarksville-Montgomery to develop other similar programs across the state. Of Tennessees 147 districts, 63 have similar apprenticeship programs that they've built through what's called the Grow Your Own initiative, according to a spokesperson from the states education department. Those apprenticeships, however, aren't registered. There isnt information about the effectiveness of Tennessees teacher apprenticeship over the long haul because the program is still new. Its uncertain right now how many of the apprentices will stay in Tennessee classrooms long term. But the hope is that the 650 current participants will halve the approximately 1,200 year-to-year teacher vacancies in Tennessee. Wyoming plans to follow a similar path. Wyoming Department of Education Spokesperson Linda Finnerty said in an email on Monday that the department hopes the pilot will translate to a statewide teacher apprenticeship rollout in 2023. Districts can opt to participate or not participate in this rollout, she said. That rollout will come in three phases. Adult paraprofessionals and substitute teachers who are already working in a school district can apply and get automatic entry to the program in the first phase. Theyll continue to work and get paid, with scheduled salary increases as they move through the program. The apprentices will also work with a mentor and take classes through Wyomings community colleges and the University of Wyoming. The goal is to have school districts hire these apprentices after they finish the program. Phase two is essentially the same, except that people with at least a high school diploma or GED can also be considered. Phase three will develop a pre-apprenticeship program for high school students. Through the pre-apprenticeship program, students can earn an associates degree at the same time that they graduate with their high school diploma. Those who finish the pre-apprenticeship program can then apply for the regular apprenticeship program. The apprentices will meet all Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board licensure requirements, Finnerty said in an email on Wednesday. They will be required to earn a bachelors degree if they dont have one, and will still be required to take U.S. and Wyoming Constitution classes and exams under state law. Finnerty said in an email on Monday that all three districts will follow a basic teacher apprenticeship framework, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Labor. But she added that there will be some areas where the districts can customize their programs. The team working on building the pilot, which includes the education department, the Professional Teaching Standards Board and district school board members, administrators and teachers, is planning to pull on a variety of funding sources to get the apprenticeship off the ground. Some of the funding will come from ESSER and ARPA funds, in the short term. Other more long-term sources include the School Foundation Block Grant, the Perkins Fund, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Grant and Hathaway Scholarships. It isnt clear right now how much the apprenticeship program will cost. Finnerty said in an email on Wednesday that the team working on the Wyoming Teacher Apprenticeship is currently building cost estimates. She said cost will be different based on the program the apprentice chooses, as well as how much previous coursework the apprentice has already finished. Its also unclear whether or not the identified sources of funding will cover the entire cost of the apprenticeship program and if the state might have to contribute extra funding. Finnerty said in her Wednesday email that the work group is actively addressing this question and that a determination is forthcoming. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The University of Wyoming will host a summit this week to look at expanding the geography of innovation to the Mountain West. The Mountain West Innovation Summit will bring together people from industry, academia and government to focus on topics around workforce and workplace, sustainability and new technologies, a statement from the university said. Theyll talk about and create policy recommendations meant to improve U.S. competitiveness. Todays economy is changing at an unprecedented speed, and universities, companies, states and nations are scrambling to adapt, UW President Ed Seidel said in a statement last week. Partnerships across these industry players are critical as we work to lay the groundwork for the new economy in Wyoming as a fundamental part of UWs land-grant mission. Seidel, along with Hess Corporation President Greg Hill, Idaho National Laboratory Director John Wagner and Council on Competitiveness President Deborah Wince-Smith will co-host the summit. Theyre all members of the National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers, which aims to drive long-term productivity and inclusive prosperity in the U.S. Its part of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan organization that was founded in 1986. Wince-Smith said in a statement that the U.S. is facing new realities and imperatives today. We must be more creative, more intentional in developing new models for regional and national innovation, she said. Gov. Mark Gordon, National Science Foundation Assistance Director Erwin Gianchandani and Canoo Technologies CEO Tony Aquila will speak at the summit, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Wyomings state health officer is advising parents to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 after federal regulators recommended the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for kids as young as 6 months old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday endorsed the vaccines for little kids. Prior to then, COVID vaccines were only available to children as young as 5. The recommendation makes about 35,000 Wyoming kids eligible for the vaccine, according to census data. I encourage Wyoming parents to choose vaccination for their children, State Health Officer Alexia Harrist said in a statement. We have certainly seen some children become very ill due to the virus and we also know they can spread COVID-19 to others who may be especially vulnerable to the virus and its effects. Parents should reach out to local public health offices or other approved vaccine providers to get the shot, the health department says. A Casper-Natrona County Health Department spokeswoman said last week the agency was gearing up to begin offering vaccines for little kids this week. The vaccines are available on a walk-in basis on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Vaccines for older children have been available in Wyoming and the rest of the U.S. since November. But data kept by the Wyoming Department of Health shows children are being vaccinated at much lower rates here than adults. Less than 14% of children ages 5 to 11 have been vaccinated in Wyoming since November, according to figures that run through June 13. Roughly a third of adolescents, meanwhile, have been vaccinated. In comparison, 55% of Wyoming adults and 75% of seniors have gotten the shot. Adults shots were available months earlier. The health department noted that millions of older children and adults nationwide have been safely vaccinated. Vaccines for younger kids were only approved after a clinical trial involving thousands of children. The new approval comes amid another rise in COVID cases across the country, driven primarily by an omicron subvariant. Star-Tribune staff writer Maya Shimizu Harris contributed to this report. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. THREE private sector groups, and a local non-profit organisation that focuses on transparency, yesterday said they are extremely concerned that the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act has not been fully proclaimed and implemented. Expressing the extreme concern yesterday were AMCHAM T&T, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association and the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute Flash Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday slammed the U.S.-led West for its expansionist policies that undermine national independence and sovereignty, according to Khamenei's official website. "The Americans and westerners are constantly seeking to expand their sphere of influence in various regions, including East and West Asia, and to undermine the independence and sovereignty of nations," Khamenei said in a meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the capital Tehran. The main problem with Ukraine is that "the West is trying to expand NATO as they do not hesitate to expand their influence wherever they can," he noted. The Iranian top leader urged coordination between Iran and Kazakhstan on political and economic issues. For his part, Tokayev said the bilateral documents signed "could pave the way for further expansion of relations between the two countries." Earlier in the day, the Kazakh president arrived in Tehran for a two-day visit at the invitation of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Will the 3,300 loaves of bread baked for distribution to the poor in Trinidad by the Progres Tucsonans will continue to see fare-free transit after city officials decided to extend it to the end of the year. The initiative started in 2020 as a COVID relief measure. The Tucson City Council will make a final decision in December about whether it is viable to keep the Tucson transit system free. The decision could affect those who rely on public transportation to move around the city. It helps me a lot that they dont charge, said Enrique Valenzuela, a bus user, in Spanish. Valenzuela said he has depended on public transportation for a year to commute to his work and home. Since rent and food prices have been rising, Valenzuela said that sometimes he doesnt have enough money to pay for the fare. If they start charging again, the prices wont be the same since gas prices are rising, Valenzuela said. Mayor Regina Romero and Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz sent a letter to City Manager Michael Ortega supporting his recommendation to keep fares free until the end of the year, but asked for a wide array of data over the past 10 years such as ridership data, safety and incident rates and staffing levels for bus drivers. One of the key asks is to conduct research about what other jurisdictions are doing to provide fare-free transit. Replicating those strategies could influence the councils decisions regarding funding for transit fares. The city of Tempes Orbit program provides a free neighborhood circulator shuttle, which was implemented in 2007. Orbit connects people from neighborhoods to local areas like schools, major bus routes and shopping centers. It operates year-round with a 15 minutes frequency between routes. No transit pass or ID is necessary for riders. (Orbit) provides a much-needed service to community members who are either unable to drive or choose not to drive, said city of Tempe spokeswoman for Transportation and Sustainability, TaiAnna Yee, in an email. The city of Tempe has a dedicated transit tax that funds the Orbit system. The city also partnered with Arizona State University, which pays operation costs. The city of Tucson is considering working with the University of Arizona to cover operating costs as well. Tucson, however, has more than double the City of Tempes population, according to Census data. The feasibility of a free-fare system for a much larger population is unclear. Orbit costs Tempe about $9.5 million annually, and fare-free transit is estimated to cost Tucson $10 million per year. Orbit also supports multiple city goals, such as creating a 20-minute city, where residents can take transit to meet their daily, non-work-related needs; reducing the citys carbon emissions; reducing congestion; and it contributes to our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious-injury crashes, Yee said. How to form a sustainable, clean transit system thats reliable for the Tucson community is not the only inquiry. There are also safety and security concerns from drivers and riders. Local bus drivers have called for an end to free fares. Tucsons Teamster union released a letter May 1 asking for an end to the policy, which it blamed for a spike in crime on routes. Assaults on drivers and riders tripled between 2019 and 2021 from 21 to 64 while the number of vandalism incidents increased to 146, more than double what it was before fares were paused. However, Councilmember Kevin Dahl has said that the security issues on Tucsons public transportation and the policy of providing free fares are separate issues... I dont think it (safety issues) happens more because its free. Verbal assaults between riders and drivers are low when compared to the average daily boarding, according to the citys transit administrator, Rhett Crowninshield. Ridership has been steadily increasing over the past 12 months on all three system modes Sun Tran, Sun Van and Sun Link he said. Romero said the decision about keeping the Tucson public transit system free should be data-driven. I would say that the security issues have been ongoing way before COVID, years before COVID, she said. For the past four years, Gilberto Levario, a bus user, has used the public transit system to go everywhere: work, home, grocery shopping and doctor appointments. He said fare-free transit helps those who have limited or zero income. I feel safe, I havent had any issues, he said. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Crow said she and others worked closely with Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, who recently expressed concern to new County Administrator Jan Lesher about the previous decision to opt out. "I didn't understand why we'd opted out," Grijalva said. "When I started asking questions about it, the county administrator asked the same and what was the reason." Grijalva said she didn't know if it was the change in leadership in the county that spurred the change, but she said when everyone came to the table including the county's finance and benefits departments no one could find a reason why Pima County shouldn't be providing mental health parity. "We're aware of the impacts of COVID and isolation. Now we realize how critical it is, and it's just as important to have access to mental health as dental and vision and other medical services," Grijalva said. "And my having been on the Tucson Unified School District board, I saw all the other programs we put into place over there because we know the impact COVID had on kids and staff. So it made a lot of sense to adopt a policy at the county that provided mental health parity." Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and City Manager Mike Ortega also worked closely with advocates to move the change along, according to Crow. "I have nothing but respect and good words to say about the coalition of organizations that got together to bring this to my attention. These organizations are doing incredible work for our residents," Romero said. "It took me a couple of months to make sure it was brought to the attention of the council and city manager, but it worked out perfectly because we were in the midst of budgeting." Romero said she was previously unaware that the city was opting out, but she's happy to have the opportunity to correct that decision. "It's so timely because we hear mental health concerns from so many, and we're seeing mental health issues paired with violence. That is very, very concerning for me," she said. "Every family is affected by mental and behavioral health issues. I deeply believe that this investment has to be done by the city of Tucson to make sure we have a workforce that not only themselves are healthy in terms of their mental health, but also their children and their partners." Crow said the Kennedy Forum has launched a nationwide campaign. With 35,000 non-federally funded health plans and 0.5% of those plans still opting out, groups like Mental Health America and the Kennedy Forum are working to chip away at the list, she said. "It's one of the few remaining unknown loopholes in federal law that some remaining health plans get to opt out of parity laws," she said. "It's important to think about what are the barriers that are in place, what are the impediments and what are some of the inadvertent ways that we stigmatize mental health." While federal regulations still allow the plans to opt out, when they do, their name is sent to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which publishes a list on its website of the jurisdictions that continue to opt out. Despite Western arms, Ukraine is outgunned in the east BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) Despite the heavy influx of weapons from the West, Ukrainian forces are outgunned by the Russians in the battle for the eastern Donbas region, where the fighting is largely being carried out by way of artillery exchanges. While the Russians can keep up heavy, continuous fire for hours at a time, the defenders cant match the enemy in either weapons or ammunition and must use their ammo more judiciously. One problem is that Western defense industries can't turn out weapons fast enough. Another is that the Ukrainians need training on Western-supplied hardware. Nobel sold for Ukrainian kids shatters record at $103.5M NEW YORK (AP) Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov says he was not expecting the medal he was auctioning off to help Ukrainian child refugees sell for the record amount of $103.5 million. Bidding in the auction ended in New York on Monday, which is World Refugee Day. The sale shatters the old $4.76 million record for a Nobel. The identity of the buyer isn't immediately known. Muratov was awarded the medal in October 2021. He helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid a Kremlin clampdown after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biden says decision on gas tax holiday may come this week REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) President Joe Biden says hes considering pressing for a holiday on the federal gasoline tax. That could possibly save U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon. Biden told reporters Monday that his decision could come by the end of the week. The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. Taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel help pay for highways. Report: Police in Uvalde had rifles earlier than known UVALDE, Texas (AP) Documents examined by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV show armed police officers stood in a Uvalde elementary school hallway with at least one ballistic shield within 19 minutes of a gunman arriving at the school, where he killed 21 people, 19 of them children. The outlets' report, which did not indicate the source of the documents, nevertheless intensifies the anguish and questions over why police didn't act sooner to stop the May 24 slaughter in the Robb Elementary School classroom. The outlets reported that gunfire could be heard as much as 29 minutes before officers entered the classroom and killed the gunman. Shots for tots: COVID vaccinations start for little US kids The nations youngest children are getting their chance at vaccines for COVID-19. Shots began Monday at a few locations, though they were expected to ramp up after the Juneteenth federal holiday. The Food and Drug Administration cleared vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer last week and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the final signoff over the weekend. Roughly 18 million youngsters under 5 are eligible. For the little kids, Pfizers vaccine is three shots and Modernas is two shots. Getting some parents on board may be a challenge given disappointing vaccination rates in school-age kids. 'It always wins': North Korea may declare COVID-19 victory SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Only a month after North Korea acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak was sickening its people, the country may be preparing to declare victory. The daily updates from state-controlled media say cases are plummeting. Its propaganda insists North Korea has avoided mass deaths despite desperately poor health care and what outsiders see as a long record of ignoring its peoples suffering. Some experts believe the next step will be a declaration of victory over the virus credited, of course, to Kim Jong Uns strong and clever guidance. A declaration now isn't a foregone conclusion, though. North Korea may seek better timing while using its anti-virus measures to maintain control over its people. Georgia's Raffensperger among witnesses for next 1/6 hearing The House Jan. 6 committee is expected to hear testimony from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to find 11,780 votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Bidens election victory. Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizonas Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be the key witnesses when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection resumes on Tuesday. The focus will be on how the former president and his allies pressured officials in key battleground states with schemes to reject ballots or entire state tallies to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna settle before trial's sequel LOS ANGELES (AP) A settlement agreement has been reached on the eve of a second trial pitting the Kardashian family against former reality TV star Blac Chyna. Jury selection had been set to begin Monday in the trial over Chynas allegations that her former fiance Rob Kardashian maliciously posted nude photos of her in 2017 after their tumultuous breakup. But court documents show the parties told the judge a settlement deal had been struck. A judge had separated Chyna's allegations against Rob Kardashian from her defamation allegations against his mother and sisters, which got their own trial. The Kardashians won that case when jurors found they hadn't done Chyna harm. Crypto investors' hot streak ends as harsh 'winter' descends NEW YORK (AP) The wealth-generating hot streak for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has turned brutally cold. As prices plunge, companies collapse and skepticism soars, fortunes and jobs are disappearing overnight, and investors feverish speculation has been replaced by icy calculation, in what industry leaders are referring to as a crypto winter. On Monday, the price of bitcoin traded at $20,097, more than 70% below its November peak of around $69,000. Experts say the selloff signals growing trepidation on Wall Street and Main Street about the crypto industrys fundamentals, which right now are looking shaky. Lightning bounce back, beat Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Anthony Cirelli, Nicholas Paul and Corey Perry also scored to help the two-time defending champion Lightning bounce back after playing poorly while losing the first two games on the road. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots. Stamkos, Paul, Maroon and Perry scored in the second period, when the Lightning chased Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper while pulling away to trim their series deficit to 2-1. Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for the Avalanche. Game 4 is Wednesday night. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. Gun deaths in Oklahoma have increased since a permitless carry law allowing people over the age of 21 to carry a gun without a permit or training went into effect in 2019, according to a newspapers review of data. The Oklahoman analyzed state medical examiner data. It found that Oklahoma has recorded some of its deadliest months in history since the law took effect. In the decade before permitless carry, there had only been 10 months with 70 or more firearm deaths. From November 2019 until January, there were 10 months with more than 70 gun-related deaths. Following recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and in Tulsa, Republican leaders in Oklahoma have not shown an interest in any gun control measures. The University of Alabama named 11,224 students to its deans and presidents lists for the 2022 spring semester. Kiplyn Burk and Kellen Pokoski, both of Owasso, made the deans list at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based school, and Trinity Warder, of Collinsville, was named to the presidents list, and also received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Students were named to the dean's list with an academic record of 3.5 GPA (or above) or the president's list with an academic record of 4.0 (all A's). Tom Gilbert Chief Photographer I joined the Tulsa World in 1988 after graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma. I lived in Saudi Arabia before graduating from Broken Arrow High School. I'm married to Karen Gilbert and have three grown children. Phone: 918-581-8349 Follow Tom Gilbert Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today It is hot outside, and maybe even inside, and a cold, Mexican-style lager will cool you down. Renaissance Brewing Co.'s founder and brewmaster Glenn Hall tells us about his spring and summer seasonal, El Jefe, which has an ABV of 4.9%. "It's a nice, refreshing, summertime beer," Hall said. "We put flake corn in it, so it has that Mexican-style Vienna lager taste to it. Very easy to drink." Renaissance Brewing Co., 1147 S. Lewis Ave., sells six-packs or even kegs of it. It is also available at local liquor stores. "We sell all of our beers in kegs when it's available. So, if you have a kegerator at home, you're welcome to come by and buy a keg from us to have a fresh, local beer." Right now at the brewery's taproom, the peach Gose (Beach Peach) and the sour Cherry Street Gose are available, Hall said. He added that the brewery usually has 12 to 14 beers on tap, as well as seltzer, cider and wine. Renaissance recently started serving food and is one of only a few breweries with its own kitchen. "We're serving panini all hours when we're open," Hall said. "We've got 10 different types of panini, so you can find the style and the one that's right for you. We are going to start pairing them with a beer suggestion. We haven't quite done that yet, but we're almost there for that." Hall has been busy with new products after getting a new canning line. "We got two new products in the market. We just bought a brand new canning line, so that's going to help us transition over to 12-ounce cans for the most part. The first beer that we put in a can is our Dragon's Breath, which is one of our most requested beers to be put in a can. So that's there now, so you can pick up six-packs across Tulsa now or here at the brewery," he said. They also made a beer for Port City Raceway in east Tulsa. "They do midget, outlaw racing, dirt track racing. So if you like the Chili Bowl and haven't been out there, you should go out and watch them. They have a big race there in two weeks. So we did light beer for them. This is going to be their house beer," Hall said. Past Beers of the Week: Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Trump regretted Tulsa rally: President Donald Trump expressed anger and frustration immediately following his campaign rally in Tulsa last June that did not quite unfold as expected, telling aides closest to him that it was the biggest f-ing mistake, according to excerpts of a new book by Washington Post investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. You are here: World Flash Unidentified gunmen killed three people and injured two others in recent attacks in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna, a government official said on Sunday. The bandits stormed villages on motorcycles, and an unspecified number of locals were also kidnapped by the gunmen, Samuel Aruwan, the state's commissioner for internal security and home affairs, said in a statement. Aruwan did not reveal the exact date when the attacks happened. According to the official, security patrols are conducted in the general area as investigations proceed. Gunmen attacks have been frequently reported across the most populous country in Africa for years, resulting in deaths and kidnappings of civilians as well as security operatives. Speaking to area Republicans on Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt plugged a second term for himself and the election of the down-ballot ticket running in step with him. He said his favorite bill from this years legislative session was one barring transgender female athletes from womens sports. I got interviewed by the Washington Post right after I signed it, and they were like, Governor, you signed this controversial bill. I said, First off, its not that controversial in Oklahoma, Stitt said hours before what was expected to be a charged Tulsa Public Schools board meeting on LGBTQ issues. Speaking to the Republican Womens Club South Tulsa United, Stitt lauded state education secretary and state superintendent candidate Ryan Walters, who exchanged fiery letters with the Tulsa school board over the matter, as well as Attorney General John OConnor and term-limited state representative and labor commissioner candidate Sean Roberts. Roberts and Walters were present at Mondays meeting; OConnor was not. Also present was state superintendent candidate John Cox, who is not endorsed by Stitt. All are entered in the Jan. 28 Republican primary. As governor, Stitt has forcefully advocated for more executive control of state government. Hes gotten the Legislature to dismantle several independent boards and commissions and give the governor direct appointment authority over those agency heads. Stitt outlined his approach Monday in explaining his support for Walters. In most states, the governor gets to appoint the state superintendent, he said. I was elected governor and told, Hey, go fix it. Thats why Im so high on Secretary Walters. Separately, Stitt touted sending state education dollars with students whether they transfer to other public schools or private schools. Im convinced we wont climb the ladder unless we inject more charter schools, more Christian schools, he said. Stitt compared opponents of such plans to segregation-era officials blocking Black children from all-white public schools. The governor repeated his call for legislative action to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries, which he said is among the most regressive of taxes, and to lower the state income tax 0.25 percentage points. Doing so, he said, would put Oklahomas top income tax rate among the 10 lowest in the country for states with an income tax. Stitt reiterated his objections to the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which dramatically altered criminal jurisdictions in much of eastern Oklahoma. Among other issues, Stitt is concerned that the ruling will be extended to other areas such as civil law and the states taxing authority. He repeated his assertion that the decision creates unequal justice based on race, though most of the Oklahoma tribes say they consider it a matter of law. Near the end, in response to a question, Stitt urged those present to press political candidates on the issue. This is a binary decision, he said. You are either for the state or six different (tribal) jurisdictions. You should let them know you stand with Kevin Stitt. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Watching the new Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio two-part HBO Max documentary was a great time-traveling ride. From the hippy-dippy weatherman on the Ed Sullivan Show to hosting the first SNL episode to playing the genial conductor on Shining Time Station, the decades flashed before my eyes in George Carlins American Dream. And for me, it brought back memories of my work on a legendary case that the Supreme Court should have refused to hear. Thats because theres lots of attention in the documentary devoted to Carlins hit records, which remain cherished albums in my well-stocked vinyl collection. One notable track was from his stand-up routine Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. These seven dirty words (Google them), according to Carlin, could not be aired by broadcasters regardless of the context or time of day. And when WBAI-FM, a counter-culture radio station licensed to the Pacifica Foundation, broadcast in full a companion track (Filthy Words) on his follow-up album, Operation Foole (ironically during a discussion on contemporary language boundaries), the Carlin assertion of a clear forbidden line was put to the test legally for the first time. In 1973, John Douglas, an active member of Morality in Media, filed a written complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, stating that his 15-year-old son had heard the broadcast on his car radio while they were driving around New York City around 2 p.m. Douglas indicated that this was inappropriate and asked that the FCC look into the matter. Following Pacificas investigation and written response, the FCC issued a declaratory order that upheld the Douglas complaint but withheld any penalties against the station. This put WBAI on notice that in the event subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress. This meant that the FCC could impose fines on the station or even revoke its license to operate in the future. The cloud that hung over the station due to this raised eyebrow of the FCC led Pacifica to appeal the order in federal court. It argued that the FCCs application of an indecency standard, which unlike obscenity, was not prohibited by law, violated the broadcasters freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The FCC argued that it had the authority to set content boundaries for what it deemed indecent since it was authorized to grant and renew broadcast licenses by the Communications Act of 1934. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found Pacificas argument to be persuasive, and in a 2-1 decision by a three-judge judicial panel, ruled that the FCC had violated the First Amendment by issuing its warning based on indecent programming. Unexpectedly, the FCC decided to press on by appealing that decision to the Supreme Court. The Department of Justice, which typically would handle such an appeal, refused to do so since it agreed with the lower courts reasoning. That left the FCC to go it alone. As a summer associate in Washington between my second and third years at Berkeley Law, I found myself suddenly transformed from someone who played the Carlin records over and over to working on the legal brief to convince the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal at all since the FCCs position could not be squared with established freedom-of-speech precedents under the First Amendment. Thats the personal aspect that played in my mind while watching the powerful documentary. Alas, I was part of a losing team since the Supreme Court accepted the FCCs appeal and agreed with it in a 5-4 ruling, which has given the regulatory agency the power to decide what is indecent in broadcasting ever since then (with some flexibility for late-night programming that Congress later authorized). In recent years, the Supreme Court has had two cases that allowed it the opportunity to revisit the FCCs authority to punish broadcasters for fleeting expletives and nudity under the rubric of indecency. But unlike a second federal appeals court, this time in New York, which again found the FCCs actions to violate the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ducked the constitutional issue in favor of a narrower procedural decision that enabled the broadcasters to escape the FCCs wrath in these instances. Imagine what George Carlin would have to say about that now. The chain of events that he unwittingly unleashed continues to remind us that the American Dream he championed remains one that still is very much worth fighting for. Stuart N. Brotman is the author of The First Amendment Lives On. He is a distinguished professor of journalism and electronic media at the University of Tennessee. Subscribe to Daily Headlines Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A touching story is circulating like a breath of fresh air on social media of an old woman in Hue City under Thua Thien-Hue Province donating her profits from selling incense to help cancer patient. Your correspondents arrived at the Thuy Xuan incense village at noon in mid-June in the scorching heat of the central region of Vietnam. Located at No. 69 Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street, Thuy Xuan Ward, Hue City is a small shop selling incense and souvenirs, named Me Tuyet. Me means mother or is used to address old ladies or those related to royalty in central Vietnamese dialects. The shop owner is Ton Nu Anh Tuyet, 72, whom netizens call 'fairy' or 'the living Buddha.' While hearing her story, your correspondents hugged her and said, Me Tuyet is indeed a Bodhisattva. Downcast eyes Come here to avoid the sun, she said, thinking that the reporters were tourists. As they introduced themselves as Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists wishing to know more about her good-deed story, Tuyet immediately said, Well, Im a bit weird, theres nothing to tell. After a while of chatting and encouraging her to open up to inspire others, Tuyet finally agreed, starting her story, Looking at sad eyes, I cant stand it. Paintings and photographs that visitors painted and took of Me Tuyet. Photo: Tran Mai / Tuoi Tre The sad eyes belonged to her relatives diagnosed with cancer. A decade ago, she saw panic in her younger brothers eyes when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her sister-in-law walked back and forth and stared into the void. The breaking news rendered them impotent. Everything was precarious at that time. For Tuyet, that was a desperate look, like everything was about to fall apart. She was deeply pained by the news, and that disease kept haunting her, even in her sleep. Since that day, her dearest wish has been helping patients with cancer. Eight years ago, when she visited Hue Central Hospital to offer gifts to needy patients and passed by an area designated for children with cancer, the kids with chemotherapy-related hair loss looked at her. Their eyes spoke of indescribable sorrow, with little vitality," she recalled. "My heart ached when looking at these eyes, Then she described the eyes of Thanh Truc, a little girl with corneal cancer who was under medical treatment at the Hue Central Hospital. The girl with crystal clear eyes had to undergo an operation. Once seeing Tuyet come to the hospital, the girl immediately rushed out to meet and hold Tuyets legs happily. Me Tuyet poses for a photo with a group of visitors from Hanoi. Photo: Tran Mai / Tuoi Tre Tuyet asked a doctor about the little girls health condition and was so glad to know that Truc was almost fine. But three months later, Truc struggled to open her eyes to look at Tuyet. Her hands were too weak to hold her gift. I loved her so much, yet I could do nothing but cry, Tuyet recounted. At the time, I prayed to God for her to continue her life and wished I could sacrifice my life for her survival chance. "But not everything always goes the way we want. The following day, Trucs father announced she passed away, Tuyet recalled. She shared another story about Long Nhat, a boy suffering from bone cancer in central Quang Binh Province. Due to the disease, he had to have his legs gradually amputated to the thighs. When the pain temporarily faded away, Nhat received gifts from Tuyet and requested prosthetic legs once he recovered. Tuyet learned about the metastasis of the tumor in his body, but when looking at his eyes, she broke her rule and promised to give him prosthetic legs. I promised myself that I would never lie to sick people, but I lied to him. How can I tell him the truth? Tuyet shared. Lets give whenever you can Me Tuyet, an incense vendor aged 72 and weighing only 40 kilograms, provides support and gifts for around 500 patients each time. Me Tuyet, who gives support to child patients with cancer. Photo: Tran Mai / Tuoi Tre Each gift combo comprises some necessities and VND100,000 (US$4.3) in cash. Those who are extremely disadvantaged will receive much more support from her. The money set aside for each of her charity trips is around VND60 million ($2,600), a big sum for an elderly person like her. However, she said she was blessed by God, so she has always managed to arrange enough money to do the good deeds. There was a time when she raised enough funds for one charity trip in just 15 days. The money to serve charity purposes comes from her sales of incense sticks. She also receives donations from many parts of Vietnam. Tuyet is a very careful person. She always notes down details of all generous donors. When the reporters were chatting to Tuyet in her shop, many groups of visitors who heard her story also came to visit. Among the visitors, Quynh and Van, a newly-wed couple, decided to travel to Hue as part of their honeymoon, citing Me Tuyet as the reason. As shared by Quynh, she was moved after watching many videos circulating on social media about Me Tuyet, so she and her husband visited and bought some gifts at her shop, so that she could have more to give to cancer patients. Duong, a visitor from Hanoi, represents her friends to donate a sum of money to Me Tuyet, so that Tuyet can help more child patients. Photo: Tran Mai / Tuoi Tre Aside from Quynh and Van, Duong and her friends traveled to Hue from Hanoi to visit Me Tuyet. Duong also heard about Me Tuyet on social media. During their talk, Tuyet advised Duong and her friends to give whenever they can. In our life, if one day unexpected things happen to us, remember not to dwell on the negatives or do wrong things that could hurt yourself and your loved ones," Tuyet said. It is a blessing to stay healthy and be able to do what you love. Each of the stories Tuyet shared is a life lesson. Before leaving, the visitors hugged her and gave her envelopes withthe Support patients. Thank you, Me Tuyet! message written on the outside. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! USNS Mercy, a naval hospital ship of the United States Military Sealift Command (MSC), has arrived in Phu Yen Province in south-central Vietnam, marking its first stop in its Pacific Partnership 2022 (PP22) mission. The ships arrival, at the provinces Vung Ro Port on Sunday, was announced by the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City in its media release the same day. The PP22, now in its 17th year, is the largest annual multinational mission for disaster relief preparedness and humanitarian assistance in the Indo-Pacific region. In Vietnam, the PP22 group includes representatives from Australia, Japan, the UK, and the US, who will cooperate with Vietnamese partners in a number of activities and projects to benefit local people. While in Phu Yen, they will provide tailored medical and dental care for locals, construct new buildings for some elementary schools, and exchange expertise related to disaster response processes and procedures, the consulate general said. U.S. Navy Capt. Hank Kim, PP22 mission commander, said his team looks forward to working with and learning from their Vietnamese colleagues. This is a cooperation that builds trust among nations and helps us prepare so we can work together efficiently if we are ever called upon to respond to a natural disaster or hazard of any kind, the captain said. He also said he expects to exchange experience and expertise with the Vietnamese hosts and other partner nations in order to collectively build skills that will last well after the mission. An opening ceremony for the PP22 mission will be held at Nghinh Phong Square in Tuy Hoa City of Phu Yen on Monday evening. On this occasion, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band will perform with Phu Yens well-known Sao Bien Band and musicians from Australia and Japan to celebrate the event, according to a notice posted on the consulate generals verified Facebook page on Monday. We will livestream the performance on the U.S. Consulate General - Ho Chi Minh City and U.S. Embassy in Hanoi Facebook pages. Lets jam with the musicians, the notice said. Mercy is a 1,000-bed hospital ship commissioned in 1986, with a military cadre crew of approximately eight officers and 53 enlisted personnel and a civilian mariner cadre crew of about 15 personnel while in a Reduced Operating Status (ROS), as shown on the MSCs website. Along with USNS Comfort, Mercy provides mobile, acute surgical medical facilities when called upon to the U.S. military, and hospital services to support U.S. disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide, the MSC said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Read what is in the news today: Society -- A car and a passenger bus breaking down during a rainstorm caused gridlock for over two hours on National Highway 51 in Bien Hoa City of southern Dong Nai Province on Sunday night. -- Many streets across Ho Chi Minh City were submerged in knee-high rainwater following a two-hour downpour on Sunday afternoon. -- Police in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province issued an urgent arrest warrant against Vo Hoai Phuong, director of Gia Khiem Transport Co. Ltd., on Saturday to investigate the act of producing and trading counterfeit gasoline. -- Ho Chi Minh City reported one more death from dengue fever from June 10 to 16, bringing the total fatalities from the tropical disease since the beginning of the year to nine people, the municipal Center for Disease Control announced on Sunday. -- Rescuers accidentally saved a woman, who intended to jump from the Dong Nai Bridge to commit suicide, while searching for a young man who had jumped from the same bridge into the namesake river on Sunday. -- A collision between a cargo vessel and a cruise ship killed one person at Cua Cai Beach in Lan Ha Bay, Cat Hai District, northern Hai Phong City on Sunday. Business -- The Ministry of Finance has proposed the government slash the tax on gasoline by VND1,000 (US$0.043) per liter. World news -- The hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH19) of the U.S. Military Sealift Command has docked at Vung Ro Port in south-central Phu Yen Province to participate in the Pacific Partnership 2022 program, the Consulate General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City announced on Sunday. Sports -- Saudi Arabia were crowned the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 champions after beating Uzbekistan 2-0 in the final on Sunday. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A national highway section in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam was heavily congested following an intense rainstorm on Sunday evening. The traffic jam on the section of National Highway No. 51 in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province lasted for more than two hours. The congestion occurred after an hour-long downpour flooded the route, resulting in difficulties for commuters. Motorcyclists travel on the sidewalk due to the traffic jam on National Highway No. 51 in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, June 19, 2022. Photo: Phuoc Hai / Tuoi Tre The situation was exacerbated when two cars and a van broke down in the middle of the road. Many motorcyclists decided to travel on the sidewalks in a bid to exit the congested section as soon as possible. Meanwhile, multiple automobiles encroaching on the motorbike lane also worsened the gridlock. A van breaks down on National Highway No. 51 in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, June 19, 2022. Photo: Phuoc Hai / Tuoi Tre Traffic on the national highway began to return to normal at about 8:00 pm the same day. It is common for this section of National Highway No. 51 to become congested, even though it is not rush hour, according to local residents. A heavy rain can easily cause flooding and traffic jams along this route, they added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The director of a company in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, southern Vietnam has been arrested on suspicion of producing and selling fake gasoline. A source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper confirmed on Sunday that the provincial Department of Public Security had apprehended Vo Hoai Phuong, 38, director of Gia Khiem Transport Company, on Saturday evening. The arrest came after officers caught a tank truck red-handed pumping chemicals into the gasoline tank of the Gia Khiem Vung Tau petroleum retail store, run by Gia Khiem Company, in Phu My Town. The truck driver claimed he had transported about 11 metric tons of chemicals from a company in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City to the Gia Khiem Vung Tau petroleum store under the direction of Phuong. Chemicals used in the production of fake gasoline are confiscated by police in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, Vietnam. Photo: Quan Truong / Tuoi Tre Police also managed to stop another tank truck as it was carrying fake gasoline from the store to two filling stations in Son Binh and Binh Gia Communes in Chau Duc District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau. On the same evening, officers searched Phuongs house in Ho Chi Minh City and confiscated a large amount of coloring powder, hundreds of millions of dong (VND100 million = US$4,300), and related documents. Further investigation is ongoing. Police inspect fuel trucks at the Gia Khiem Vung Tau petroleum retail store in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, Vietnam. Photo: Quan Truong / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A collision between a tender boat and a tourist ship killed one woman at Cua Cai Beach in Lan Ha Bay, Cat Hai District, Vietnam's northern Hai Phong City on Sunday. A representative of the local Cat Ba border guard station confirmed the deadly seafaring accident on the afternoon of the day. The Hong Van 89 tourist boat, steered by 38-year-old Nguyen Hoang Tung living in Cat Hai District, was carrying 49 passengers when it crashed into a tender boat, which was used for fetching supplies and equipment and transporting passengers between larger ships in the Cat Ba archipelago, at around 9:15 am. The tender boat, which was steered by 42-year-old Nguyen Van Lien living in the same district and carrying 12 tourists, went into a blind spot and Tung was unable to notice its presence. As a result, the tender was rammed, overturned, and quickly sank on the spot. Passengers on board the Hong Van 89 ship threw lifebuoys into the sea for those in distress. Rescuers arrived shortly after and managed to take 11 of the 12 tourists ashore. One of them fainted and was rushed to the hospital. The rescue force found the body of a female tourist aboard the tender boat at around 12:30 pm the same day. She was identified to be 56-year-old B.T.N., hailing from northern Hoa Binh Province. Her body was then taken to the Cat Hai District Medical Center in Hai Phong. Police are investigating the case. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Two part documentary series Why Buildings Collapse premieres this week on SBS. In the aftermath of Miamis Champlain Tower South apartment collapse, in which 98 people died, this two-part documentary series forensically examines what went wrong and asks: what happened? Could it have been prevented? And how many other buildings across the world are at risk of a similar catastrophic fate? Episode One: On 24th June 2021, the Champlain Towers South a 12-storey residential building in Surfside, Miami USA collapsed in just 12 seconds. 55 apartments were reduced to rubble and 98 people tragically lost their lives. What might have caused one of the worst building collapses in modern history? This episode forensically examines what went wrong and asks could it have been prevented and how many other buildings across the world are at risk of similar catastrophic fate? Wednesday, 22 June at 8.30pm on SBS. Veteran performer / producer Carol Raye, best known for The Mavis Bramston Show and Blankety Blanks, has died aged 99 -just a week after being given an Order of Australia. Raye was already a major film star in Britain when she emigrated to Australia, via Kenya, with her husband in 1964. But it was her creation of The Mavis Bramston Show, in which she was the lead actor, that made her a household name to Australian audiences. In one episode alone it tackled a visit by the US Vice President to Australia, the introduction of female roller skating to Australia, homosexuality, censorship, price fixing, child endowment, the White Australia Policy, and how the introduction of computers would impact on office secretaries. I had just arrived in Australia and I joined Channel Seven as a producer and was told to come up with some ideas for a late night show. Sevens ratings werent very good and they wanted to knock off Graham Kennedy. In Melbourne Tonight was a huge success, she once told TV Tonight. Id just come from England and was very influenced by a show that was a huge success in London, That Was The Week That Was with David Frost. It was really a journalistic satire. It wasnt just lots of funny ha-ha jokes. It was political comedy. Coaxed into performing in its first season, she was joined by Gordon Chater and Barry Creyton, with music by Tommy Tycho and led by writer Michael Plant. Channel Sevens General Manager said to me, Carol the trouble with you is youre far too BBC. Australians are not ready to laugh at themselves. And I said I dont believe that. Everybody laughs at themselves if its funny. So I was given 1200 pounds and told to make a pilot. One of the first female television executives in the country, Raye went on to work on Channel 10s popular Number 96, playing Baroness Amanda Ashton von Pappenburg, before producing the series. The network had given a brief to producers: Coronation Street, but a little racier, and Raye emerged as one of the stars of a show that won multiple Logie awards. Before arriving in Australia, Raye lived in rural Kenya with her husband, who worked with the Colonial Veterinary Service. She launched the BBCs television service in the country, producing live content in three languages. Raye would later feature in Number 96, and became its casting director followed by Blankety Blanks alongside host Graham Kennedy, both on 10. Last week she was given an Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts as an actor and producer. Parkinson in Australia episode on iview After that beautiful #Logies In Memorian, a sad addition Carol Raye, star of The Mavis Brampton Show and Blankety Blanks, and Aussie TVs first female executive, died late last night She was as delightful and luminous in real life as she was here in 1974 on Number 96 pic.twitter.com/2wrdAR9G1i Andrew Mercado (he/him) (@andrewmercado) June 19, 2022 Oh. what times we had.what joy and laughter you gave us. Farewell to the beautiful and talented Carol Raye. I hope it's a meal flight, darling. David Sale (@DavidSale96) June 19, 2022 This post updates. Source: Sydney Morning Herald This week on You Cant Ask That, questions are posed on Prescription Drug Dependency & Addiction. It is among Australias leading causes of death and it is likely to come in a packet, handed to you over the counter by your local pharmacist or doctor. In 2020, prescription medication killed almost twice as many people in Australia as car accidents and more than heroin and methamphetamine combined. Like a number of our guests, Leah fell into an abyss of pharmaceutical drug addiction in the most innocuous of circumstances after taking a tumble in the Mothers Race at her sons school. The solution to chronic pain was given to her by her doctor in the form of prescription opioids, kicking off a decade of dependency. You can be a perfectly normal woman with kids and still be addicted to these opioids. Its not a moral weakness, she says. While much of the focus is on the addiction potential of opioid-based medications, the commonly prescribed benzodiazepine-based anti-anxiety medications, sold under such brand names as Valium and Xanax, are said to be. even harder to get off. Both are prescribed by doctors for a vastly subsidised cost via the pharmaceutical benefits scheme while non-pharmaceutical solutions remain costly and under-prescribed. I understand a lot more about multi-disciplinary pain management things like physio, massage, exercise but bthe system is not built for that, explains Leah. Thats really expensive. I was buying a bottle of 48 Mersyndol for $5.95, she says. 9:05pm Wednesday on ABC. Eimskipafelag Islands hf. Today 20 June 2022, the Danish competition authorities conducted a dawn raid in Aalborg at a Danish subsidiary of Eimskip Holding B.V., which is owned by Eimskipafelag Islands hf. This was done according to a court ruling. The object of the dawn raid is to examine whether Atlantic Trucking, which is a part of Eimskip Denmark A/S, has been a party to actions in violation of Danish competition law. The dawn raid is a part of an investigation in the domestic trucking market in Denmark and concerns more companies in that market. Atlantic Trucking is assisting the competition authorities in their investigation, granting them access to the requested information. Eimskipafelag Islands hf. has no reason to believe that Atlantic Trucking, which has around 5% market share in container trucking market, has been involved in any violation of Danish competition law. FURTHER INFORMATION Edda Rut Bjornsdottir, Executive Vice President of Human Resources & Communication, tel.: +354 825 3399, email: investors@eimskip.com . (Bloomberg) -- Chinese stocks outstanding resilience in a global selloff is giving Asia investors hopes that regional equities will get a lift in the second half. Most Read from Bloomberg In a brutal month thats seen the worlds major stock indexes tumble into bear markets, Chinese shares have jumped. Their high weighting has helped put the Asian benchmark on track to beat a global gauge by the most since October 2020 this month. Chinas all-out efforts to revive the economy -- in contrast to aggressive monetary tightening in the US and elsewhere -- is also supporting the earnings outlook for the region. Its very likely that China stocks will help Asia outperform given that Chinas stimulus effect will be more pronounced in the second half, said Kerry Goh, chief investment officer at Kamet Capital Partners Pte. Economically, Asia is more dependent on China than the rest of the world. READ: Decoupling China Market Is a Refuge in Global Rout: Taking Stock Equities in China and Hong Kong account for about a quarter of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which has outperformed an index of global stocks by almost five percentage points over the past month. Meanwhile, Chinas CSI 300 Index has jumped 7.6% in the period, rebounding from sharp losses earlier this year. Driving gains in China are loose monetary policy, a partial lifting of virus curbs and bets that the era of tech crackdowns is over. Even with Covid headwinds, a majority of analysts still expect Chinas economy to grow more than 4% this year, versus 2.6% for the US, which will offer tailwinds to Asia where most countries list China as their largest trade partner. READ: Junes Looking Like a Game Changer for Beleaguered China Stocks Story continues To be sure, Asia cant be completely immune to a slowdown in the worlds largest economy. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists said positive returns for Asia may be difficult if the US equity market remains under pressure, while adding that the case of Asian outperformance remains strong. The US is at the epicenter of monetary tightening but China, Asias largest market, is in a different point in its cycle and is currently easing policy, strategists including Tim Moe wrote in a note earlier this month. An analysis by Societe Generale SA strategists also showed that during 11 bear markets of the S&P 500 since 1987, Asian equities have declined as well but still outperformed the US in more than 50% of cases. As Asia markets chug along in the second half of the year, a likely scenario is a divergence within countries but doing better than other regions on average. China looks to be in pole position to outperform, with bullish calls growing. Those more sensitive to global macro headwinds -- such as South Korea and Taiwan -- are seen by Goldman Sachs and SocGen as likely to be more vulnerable. Chinas equity market should gain momentum through the balance of the year, said Gary Dugan, chief executive officer at the Global CIO Office. It will help Asia unless other parts of Asia are undermined by a need to defend their currencies with outsized interest-rate increases. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2022 Bloomberg L.P. Airlines upbeat on recovery but labour shortages may hurt growth IATA Director General Walsh attends interview with Reuters in Doha By Tim Hepher and Alexander Cornwell DOHA (Reuters) -Global airlines battered by COVID-19 seem confident of narrowing their losses but still face challenges such as labour shortages at airports which could restrict post-crisis growth, industry executives at a summit in Doha said. Recent flight delays and cancellations have been widely blamed on a lack of staff as an increasing number of people desert low-paid airport work for flexible working practices that prospered during the pandemic. The head of host airline Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, said labour shortages will be a big challenge in the coming months, though he added that his airline is "inundated with job applications". "People got into a bad habit of working from home," Al Baker told a news conference. "They feel they don't need to go to an industry that really needs hands-on people," he said, adding shortages in airport staff could hurt growth. Emirates airline President Tim Clark said the Dubai carrier had been told by authorities at London Heathrow to axe an A380 flight there at short notice at the weekend, resulting in disruption. But he urged the industry not to waste time bickering. "The airport side of things have got to sort out their labor supply in critical areas of baggage, check-in, baggage systems. Get on with the job. There's a lot of the blame game, everybody at each other's throats ... Guys, just get the job done." Clark added: "Do I see this sorting itself out over the next few months? Yes" JetBlue Airways Corp CEO Robin Hayes, speaking about industry labour shortages on a panel in Doha, said he is confident that the industry will get back to "a new normal" over the next two to three years. Global airlines went on the offensive at the summit, criticising governments and airports over their handling of the recovery from the pandemic. "The cost of government mismanagement was substantial. It devastated economies, disrupted supply chains and destroyed jobs," Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, told the sector's annual meeting of more than 100 airline bosses. Story continues Airlines have themselves been under fire from governments and consumer groups for disruption as travel demand resumes more briskly than expected, but the airline industry sees a common thread in uncoordinated government responses to the crisis. "There was one virus, but each government invented its own methodology," Walsh told the conference. "How can anybody have confidence in such a shambolic, uncoordinated, and knee-jerk response by governments?" 'NOT THE RIGHT RESPONSE' IATA's Walsh cited research showing that border closures had barely arrested the spread of the pandemic while virtually halting international travel and crippling economies. "Closing borders is not the right response to a pandemic," Walsh said. Governments worldwide lent more than $200 billion of support to airlines to curb bankruptcies during the pandemic, according to UK-based aviation consultancy Ishka. Airlines expected to narrow losses in 2022 and may make a profit next year as air travel recovers, IATA said. Walsh said he was "not concerned" about the current demand and supply environment. Korean Air Lines Co Ltd's chief executive said he is concerned that rising interest rates and inflation could impact consumer demand and that rising competition could lower ticket prices. The high U.S. dollar is "painful" and makes debt costs higher, he added. United Airlines addressed the issue of fuel prices, with its Chief Executive Scott Kirby saying he expected them to stay high in the long term. Speaking to reporters, he added that based on current prices the airline's fuel bill would total $12 billion this year. Walsh said confused government policies had worsened disruption seen particularly in Europe as flying restarted. Britain has criticised airlines for delays and called on the industry to refrain from overbooking flights they can't operate. Airlines and airports frequently spar at the industry's major gatherings, with government interests and jobs at stake. Walsh, who built a reputation as a bruiser in clashes with unions and governments as former head of British Airways, rallied under-pressure CEOs with an attack on the practice of hiking airport fees to recoup revenues lost during the crisis. "Try that in a competitive business. 'Dear Valued Customer, we are charging you double for your coffee today because you could not buy one yesterday'. Who would accept that?" he said. Airports have said they are unfairly criticised by airlines and called on them to focus on resolving their own problems. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, Alexander Cornwell and Jamie Freed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Jan Harvey and David Evans) Alfredo Morelos transfer latest as report states Rangers 'in talks over summer deal' REPORTS in Turkey say Rangers are in talks with Turkish outfit Besiktas over a deal for striker Alfredo Morelos. Fanatik suggest that the Super Lig outfit will hold talks with the Colombian this week over a possible transfer deal. Morelos is out of contract in 2023 and it remains to be seen whether he will make a big-money move. The Rangers striker has never shied away from discussing a big-money move away from Ibrox and he has revealed that he would like to test himself in an elite European league. Despite this, he has also hailed the Ibrox fans for their support during his time at the club. Rangers fans are loyal fans who support us everywhere we play," he explained to a Colombian radio station. That feeling of knowing fans travelled to other countries, far away from Glasgow, is wonderful. I feel that unconditional support, they love me a lot, they cheer my name at every game in every stadium. As a player, this motivates me to keep working, keep playing well and to want to stay playing there for years to come. We told last week how Morelos was linked with Spanish outfit Sevilla. The La Liga giants are priced at 3/1 to sign the Ibrox frontman, with Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa second-best at 6/1. Crystal Palace (7/1) and Newcastle (8/1) are also quoted with Leicester the current outsiders at 10/1. Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez Credit: PA Images Former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has completely put to bed any talk of comparisons with new Anfield signing Darwin Nunez. The Merseyside outfit confirmed the signing of the Benfica hotshot last week in deal worth 64.1million, with a further 21.3m payable in add-ons for the talented Uruguay forward. The 22-year-old was the Portugal leagues top goalscorer last season with 32 goals. But he also notched six times in the Champions League, including in both legs of the quarter-finals against Jurgen Klopps men. Those performances, where he trouled Reds skipper Virgil van Dijk, appear to be what convinced Klopp that Nunez was worth taking a chance on. Add in that the fact that Manchester City brought in Erling Haaland and Liverpool had to act. Especially given that Sadio Mane is now expected to complete his move to Bayern Munich. Nunez follows in the footsteps of compatriot Suarez, who spent three years on Merseyside. The 35-year-old scored 82 goals during 2011 and 2014 before acrimoniously joining Barcelona. But despite the two forwards coming from the same country, Suarez insists they should not be compared. Indeed, the current Atletico Madrid frontman claims that Nunez will make his own impression on English football. Nunez to write his own history In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Suarez said: He (Nunez) will write his own story at Liverpool. He is Uruguayan and he is a forward but that is where the comparisons stop he is a special player and doesnt need to be compared with anybody. It was last season that Europe started to take notice of him because of his performances for Benfica. But from an early age I could see there was something special in him. While he was at Almeria I recommended him to Barcelona but it was something that never happened. Nunez spent a season with Almeria in 2019 before heading to Benfica. In 84 appearances for the Portuguese giants he scored an impressive 47 goals and notched 16 assists. That led to speculation over a move to Liverpool or Manchester United. However, the Red Devils pulled out of an deal, leaving the Reds to get their man. Story continues Nunez will make his Premier League debut for Liverpool at Fulham on August 6. READ MORE: Oxlade-Chamberlain reminded of clear Liverpool transfer stance The article Darwin Nunez latest: Luis Suarez rubbishes comparison talk but praises special Liverpool signing appeared first on Teamtalk.com. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are investigating whether Vifor Pharma, which is being acquired by CSL Ltd, disparaged its rival Pharmacosmos in order to hinder competition with its blockbuster iron deficiency medicine Ferinject. The European Commission, which opened the probe on Monday, said it was concerned that Swiss drugmaker Vifor Pharma pursued a misleading marketing campaign, primarily targeting healthcare professionals. The EU competition enforcer said it has indications of this behaviour going on for many years, which may be in breach of EU rules against companies abusing their dominant position. "The dissemination of misleading information regarding the safety of Pharmacosmos' iron deficiency treatment, Monofer, may have delayed its uptake. This would ultimately harm patients by stifling competition from an innovative medicine," Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. Vifor Pharma said in an emailed statement that the opening of a formal investigation did not mean that any wrongdoing on its part had been established. "We are fully cooperating with the European Commission during this process and are convinced that we have not engaged in any anti-competitive behaviour," Vifor Pharma said. Some 1.8 million people are treated with high-dose intravenous iron products for iron deficiency annually in Europe. Australian biopharmaceutical giant CSL announced a $11.7 billion bid for Vifor Pharma last December, which will give it access to Vifor's treatments for iron deficiency, kidney and cardio-renal diseases, and production sites in Switzerland and Portugal. (Additional reporting by Marine Strauss in Brussels and Paul Arnold in Zurich; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Susan Fenton) Gustavo Petro's election on Sunday as the first left-wing president in Colombia's history sparked joy among fellow Latin American leaders with similar ideologies. It also continued a trend in recent years that has seen many countries in the region swing to the left, although some would argue those are populist moves as much as ideological ones. Argentina, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia and Honduras have all moved to the left in their last elections and Petro's victory sparked a feeling of fraternity amongst these leaders. "Your victory validates democracy and ensures the path towards an integrated Latin America in this time when we demand maximum solidarity amongst brother peoples," said Argentina President Alberto Fernandez on Twitter. Chile President Gabriel Boric, who was elected earlier this year to replace conservative Sebastian Pinera, said Petro's victory was a "joy for Latin America." "We will work together for the unity of our continent in the challenges of a world changing rapidly," he tweeted. Peru's Pedro Castillo, a rural school teacher and trade unionist, said he looked forward to working with an ally, something that has been in short supply in his homeland where the right-wing opposition dominates congress. "We are united by a common feeling that seeks improved collective, social and regional integration for our peoples," he said. "Latin American integration is strengthened," added Bolivia's Luis Arce. Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Petro's success could heal the wounds in a country in which political assassinations are not uncommon. He referenced the 10-year Colombian civil war that broke out following the 1948 assassination of leftist presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and was the precursor to the six-decade long conflict between the state and left-wing guerrillas. "Today's triumph can be the end of this curse and the awakening for this brotherly and dignified people," said Lopez Obrador. Story continues - Maduro praises victory for 'democracy and peace' - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has a fraught relationship with outgoing conservative Colombian President Ivan Duque, was jubilant. "The will of the Colombian people has been heard, it went out to defend the path to democracy and peace," said Maduro, who has been branded a dictator by the opposition in his own country. Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia in 2019 after Duque backed attempts by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who claims to be the country's acting leader, to oust Maduro. Henrique Capriles, another Venezuelan opposition figure, was more interested in the lot of the estimated two million migrants that fled economic and political crises in his country to Colombia. "We hope the new President will govern with respect and without excluding them," he said on Twitter. Miguel Diaz-Canel, the president of Cuba, which like Venezuela is subject to international sanctions and isolation, spoke of his hope for "advancing the development of bilateral relations for the wellbeing of our peoples." The United States -- which riled many Latin American leaders by not inviting the authoritarian heads of Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela to the recent Summit of the Americas -- sent congratulations to "the people of Colombia for making their voices heard in a free and fair presidential election." "We look forward to working with President-Elect Petro to further strengthen the U.S.-Colombia relationship and move our nations toward a better future," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a statement. There were also warm regards from one of the few remaining conservative leaders in South America, neighboring Ecuador's Guillermo Lasso, who last year beat the leftist Andres Arauz in a rare recent success for the right. He said he spoke to Petro by telephone and "reiterated the availability of our government to strengthen friendship and cooperation, prioritizing development and the integration of our peoples." bur-yow/lbc/bc/des Teba Diatta pictured with, clockwise from top left, Patrick Vieira, Wayne Rooney and the Black Eyed Peas. Bottom left, Teba outside the libraray in Senegal A YORK woman who took on a 200-mile run for communities in Senegal has thanked everyone who supported her - and shared pictures of the library built with the cash raised. Teba Diatta, who is half Senegalese, ran from York Minster all the way to Westminster in 2003 - catching the eyes of stars including former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira, Victoria Beckham and The Black Eyed Peas. Teba took on the challenge as she wanted to give back to her country - where she moved to work in schools between 2001-2003. Speaking of her experience in Senegal, Teba said: I couldnt believe it. It was double the class sizes we have in the UK. There were students with beards who were in primary education as they had to re-take classes again because they had failed them. York Press: Teba with Victoria Beckham Teba with Victoria Beckham It was shocking to see that. There were pregnant women in the top end of primary school education sometimes. People would ask me, 'Teba can you send us a dictionary?' Or 'can you send us an English book. We want to learn but theres no library'. So when she returned to the UK, Teba decided she wanted to make a difference and had a brainwave of running from York to London to help raise money to support the students in Senegal and build a brand new community library for them. I love my country, so I want to give back," she said. "Everyone was so kind with their donations. Teba, who has also completed the London Marathon for charity, was backed by a number of celebrities for her challenge - and even received letters of support from Prince William and Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair. Now, almost 20 years after her challenge, Teba is thanking everyone who donated to help build the community library - which is now in use in Senegal. York Press: The library in Senegal The library in Senegal Teba, who lives with Bipolar disorder, said: I want people to see whats been built and say 'wow Im glad that money has gone to something positive'. I want people to know they are making a difference and its worth supporting charitable causes. Story continues As well as providing books for the students in Senegal - the library is now also being used as a cinema screen for entertainment. Teba said: Im hoping theyre going to screen this years World Cup for them on it. Im a massive Senegal fan when it comes to football - but I do support England as well. Teba is now hoping to give the building a repaint and provide more new equipment for the students. York Press: Teba with Patrick Vieira Teba with Patrick Vieira She is also aiming to set up a pen-pal system with students in York and she is also hoping to organise a visit over to Senegal and the community library - which is named after her. Alleged misuse of health code stirs public concern online 08:32, June 20, 2022 By CAO YIN ( China Daily A resident scans a QR code to register his health status at the entrance of a community in Haidian district, Beijing, June 12, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua] Buzz follows accusations that financial institutions acted to prevent withdrawals An incident in which some bank customers claimed their health codes were turned red for non-epidemic-related reasons in Henan province, has sparked widespread public discussion, with some calling for stricter management of the code in the fight of COVID-19. Since early this month, a number of people have made complaints online or to the media that after arriving in Henan and trying to withdraw their savings from some rural banks, they found that their health codes had turned red despite coming from low-risk areas for COVID-19. The banks in question had come under fire in recent months for alleged fraudulent activities, prompting many customers to withdraw their savings. An investigation has been launched into who actually changed the health codes. The claims and complaints quickly gained momentum online, triggering a huge swell of public reaction. By Saturday, China Daily found some 66 topics about the incident on Sina Weibo, the country's Twitter-like social media platform, with more than 2.1 billion views in total. Some netizens questioned how certain institutions or authorities were able to tamper with health codes after there had been a clear stipulation from the central government that health codes should only be used for legitimate epidemic prevention. On Friday, commissions for discipline inspection and supervision in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, announced that they had launched an investigation into the incident. Those who violate rules or abuse their power in implementing the Henan provincial health code management regulation for epidemic prevention and control will be held accountable and seriously punished in line with the rules of the Communist Party of China and the law, the announcement said. The command center for epidemic control in Henan has ordered local authorities to strictly abide by the regulation and strengthen efforts in health code management, underlining that the codes must not be manipulated for non-epidemic means. The colored health code system has played an important role in fighting COVID-19. A green code guarantees access to public areas, while a red code serves as a warning of infection, possible infection or close contacts, meaning quarantining is required and entry to public venues and transport is denied. In January last year, the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism released principles on the use of health codes and private data protection in a guideline, clearly stating that use of the codes must not be abused and also requiring local governments to provide details on related management. Since then, several cities and provinces have made and issued their own rules on managing health codes. According to Caixin, a Chinese business and financial media outlet, some areas, including Hangzhou, Zhejiang province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, have clarified that health code management should be coordinated by epidemic control command centers at the provincial or city level, as information collected on infections, possible infections or close contacts involves a number of authorities. In Henan, the information about people given a red code is mainly provided by the local public security and health departments. The big data bureau is responsible for technical matters around the code, while the command center applies the code, Caixin added. Considering there are no unified rules on the management of health codes at the national level, some legal professionals have called for a clearer applicable scope of the codes and the stronger protection of personal information as soon as possible. Fang Xingdong, head of the center for internet and society at the Communication University of Zhejiang, said, "It is urgent and necessary to make standards for the use of health codes to prevent someone or some authorities from abusing their power in applying the anti-epidemic tool." Guo Bing, an associate professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, suggested Henan's legislative body pay closer attention to personal information protection while drafting its provincial data regulations. He said that personal data for health codes must be collected and utilized in a more prudent fashion as they involve a great deal of personal information. "Several laws in our country and the central government's regulations have all required us already to safeguard personal information in using big data to fight the epidemic," he added. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) It was a quick and action-packed opening day to Event #42: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em, in the largest buy-in of the World Series of Poker thus far. There were a total of 52 entries that ponied up the six-figure amount but only 23 players survived through 12 levels inside the Bally's and Paris Las Vegas ballroom. Among the leaders heading into Day 2 are none other than 2021 WSOP Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir and GGPoker ambassador Jason Koon. Both players required two bullets to build up their stack, but Aldemir finished the day with 2,390,000, while Koon bagged up 2,230,000 chips. Aldemir and Koon got off to rough starts on their first buy-in but finished strong in the last couple of levels to climb the leaderboard. Sitting at the top of the chip counts was Masashi Oya with a healthy stack of 2,765,000. Oya ran up a stack mid-way through the day, turning over the nuts on multiple occasions. Oya eliminated the defending champion Michael Addamo earlier in the day and took out Jake Schindler later on. Aleksejs Ponakovs was the other big stack in the room with 2,490,000 on the heels of making some hero calls against Addamo. Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1 Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1st Masashi Oya Japan 2,765,000 69 2nd Aleksejs Ponakovs Latvia 2,490,000 62 3rd Koray Aldemir Germany 2,390,000 60 4th Ben Heath United Kingdom 2,275,000 57 5th Jason Koon United States 2,230,000 56 6th Gregory Jensen United States 2,150,000 54 7th Seth Davies United States 1,580,000 40 8th Dan Smith United States 1,560,000 39 9th Christoph Vogelsang Germany 1,450,000 36 10th Phil Ivey United States 1,410,000 35 There were just eight players in their seats when the action kicked off at 3:00 p.m., and they started out 300 big blinds deep. The field quickly grew through the opening levels with 20 players in their seats by the first break. Addamo was doing "Addamo things" and quickly ran up a 3x starting stack in the opening levels. However, that all came tumbling down as he was one of four players to blow through both bullets today. Schindler, Chris Brewer, and Andrew Lichtenberger were the others that will have no shot at the title. Jason Koon There were many others that came and went throughout the day including Erik Seidel, Dario Sammartino, and Adrian Mateos who will have the opportunity to re-enter before the start of play on June 20. For anyone looking to enter before the action gets underway at 12:00 p.m. local time, they will be given a starting stack of 600,000 chips with the blinds resuming on Level 13 at 20,000/40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. The schedule indicates that the field will play down to the final five players, who will then return for Day 3 and a shot at the WSOP gold bracelet. The levels will continue to be 40 minutes throughout, which will keep the action flying at a fast pace. The prize pool and payouts will be posted shortly after the action resumes on Day 2. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates so keep it locked here to find out who will make the final table. (Netflix) Protest and celebration have long been intertwined in LGBTQ+ communities. While queer representation in film remains, let's say, in development, these documentaries provide a window into the extraordinary stories of LGBTQ+ individuals who made huge change: the activists who stood up for trans rights and educated about HIV, night club owners who built spaces where people could be safe and lawyers who continue to challenge minority discrimination. However much you know about queer life around the world, there's always room to learn more. These films provide insight, encouragement and education and besides that, are all just a great watch. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) Trans women of colour led the fight that helped LGBTQ+ people secure rights, even if this has been forgotten by many in the decades since. Awareness is returning thanks to todays trans and queer activists and two trans women, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, will soon have a monument in New York. Both were at the forefront of the queer liberation movement for most of their lives, and played an integral part in the Stonewall uprising. Johnsons death in 1992 was ruled as suicide when her body was pulled from the Hudson River, but those who knew her believe she was murdered. Rivera is among the voices in this documentary, talking about Johnsons continuing impact on the rights we have today. Its an essential reminder of a person who gave up everything for her community. Paris is Burning (1990) The ballroom scene in Harlem gave black and Latinx queer people a safe place away from the danger of the outside world. Many were homeless, living in poverty and at risk of being killed. The documentary goes inside the houses, which served as tight-knit families for people who often had nowhere else to go, and follows them as they compete in balls for trophies and glory. Through candid interviews, Paris Is Burning captured the struggle to survive and the importance of a chosen family. The culture of modern American drag was born in these rooms: shows such as RuPauls Drag Race owe everything to the ball scene, from their vernacular (shade and reading), to voguing. Story continues Kiki (2016) A quarter of a century on from Paris Is Burning, a new generation of LGBTQ+ youth created their own subculture in New Yorks streets. The Kiki scene, which continues today, draws inspiration from the early ballrooms, and much is still the same: they offer a safe place for young, queer people of colour, battling with homelessness, illness and prejudice. But this film and the characters it follows are also rooted in current issues. As a minority within a minority, Kiki shows how LGBTQ+ people of colour face police brutality and homophobia, and many are living with HIV. Its co-created by Twiggy Pucci Garcon, founder of the scenes largest house, and the documentary is intertwined with all the activism and passion that the movement was born from. Disclosure (2020) The importance of Netflixs Disclosure cannot be overstated. Providing a thorough examination into the depiction of transgender people in Hollywood, the documentary directs its audience to reconsider what they know - how Hollywood staples have mocked and been directly harmful to trans people. How the industry has marginalised those in the community. Through interviews with icons like Orange is the New Blacks Laverne Cox and The Matrixs Lilly Wachowski, Disclosure gives power back to trans voices. The documentary directly challenges harmful tropes and offers a solution in the form of representation. Here we are. Weve always been here, says Cox. Where Have All the Lesbians Gone? (2022) Channel 4s new offering is full of wit as it delves into the social history of lesbianism, exploring what being a lesbian means in 2022. Its contributors bring a sense of fun and lightheartedness to sometimes sensitive topics: coming out, homophobia, trans issues. It probes the clashes between certain sections of the community without that conversation overshadowing the rest. Why do some people choose to call themselves queer or gay rather than a lesbian? How has pop culture and representation affected how people define a lesbian and vice versa? The documentary uses nostalgia to paint a portrait of modern lesbian culture and where it goes from here. Dykes, Camera, Action! (2018) Just as there arent many documentaries focusing on queer womens experiences, representation in the rest of the media isnt too great either. The dead lesbian trope is all too real queer women in film and TV tend to wind up dead or with men. Dykes, Camera, Action! looks at the ways in which women behind the camera have contributed to queer cinema over the years. It features filmmakers such as Desiree Akhavan, the creative force behind Appropriate Behaviour, The Bisexual and The Miseducation of Cameron Post, as well as Rose Troche, writer and director of The L Word. Before Stonewall: The Making of Gay and a Lesbian Community (1984) The Stonewall riots in 1969 were a turning point in queer history, but what came before is less talked about. In Before Stonewall, interviews with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Audre Lorde help to trace stories over the 20th century, from the Harlem clubs in the 1920s, through World War II to the founding of queer neighbourhoods. It also gives a good insight into how wider societal attitudes evolved over time. The filmmaker later produced a follow-up film, After Stonewall, which was released in 1999, detailing the thirty years that came next. Of Love and Law (2018) Japan may have a seemingly progressive position on queer rights but, as Of Love and Law demonstrates, theres still a lot to be desired. Gay couple Fumi and Kazu run Japan's first LGBTQ+ law firm. Their clients include an artist Rokudenashiko, whose vagina-inspired art led to her being sued for obscenity by the police. The two men are an endearing presence, exuding a contagious love for each other and their cobbled together family, as well as an intense dedication to their work. Trembling Before G-d (2001) Trembling Before G-d shows a group of people who find themselves trying to reconcile their orthodox Jewish beliefs with the biblical prohibition of homosexuality. The film took six years to make and director Sandi Simcha DuBowski met hundreds of people, but only a handful agreed to be featured out of fear of being ostracised. The worlds first openly gay rabbi, a psychotherapist who ran a support group for other gay Jewish men, and a lesbian orthodox couple who have been together for ten years are just some of the people we meet along the way. The best LGBTQ+ films of all time Read the full piece here (MGM)" /> Read the full piece here (Focus Features)" /> Read the full piece here (IMDB)" /> We Were Here (2011) San Francisco was a relatively safe haven for the queer community in the 1970s. But in the decade that followed, everything changed when a man was diagnosed with AIDS, marking the start of an epidemic across the country. We Were Here traces the affect of this on the community and the fear of a mysterious gay cancer that meant sex could kill. The documentary revolves around five main interviews including an HIV positive artist who lost two partners to AIDS and a florist who supplied flowers to many funerals of people who died from the illness. As well as being a heartbreaking history, David Weissmans film shows the strength of the queer community in a time of crisis and how certain individuals managed to change the course of treatment for so many. Mala Mala (2014) The lives of Puerto Rican trans and gender non-conforming people and drag queens come into the spotlight in Mala Mala. Addressing the overlap between gender identity and cultural identity, the film features drag queen April Carrion, well-known for participating in RuPauls Drag Race, alongside hair salon owner Soraya, who talks about her struggle with gender dysphoria, and Samantha, who resorted to taking black market hormones with debilitating side effects. The film becomes all the more poignant with the chronicling of the Butterfly Trans Foundations activism, which influenced the passage of a law banning employment discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. Jewels Catch One Catch One was the unofficial Studio 54 of the west coast, a gay disco club that played host to Madonna, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt and Gloria Gaynor. Its owner Jewel Thais-Willliams ran the club for 42 years, fending off armed police raids and suffering all the prejudice a black lesbian had to deal with. The documentary features interviews with Sharon Stone, Thelma Houston and more, all talking about Jewels efforts to provide spaces for queer and black people and how she has become a model of how to deal with discrimination and help others. Credit: PA Images Connacht have announced the signing of Bristol Bears lock Joe Joyce, who will join the United Rugby Championship side ahead of the 2023/24 season. Joyce, 28, is poised to make the switch to the Irish province following another campaign in Englands top flight, which will be his 11th season with Bristol. One of their more consistent players and a stalwart of the Bears, he has Irish and Connacht heritage with his grandparents born in Clonbur Co. Galway. Irish roots The lock is therefore delighted to have secured the move to Connacht and cannot wait to run out in the United Rugby Championship at the Sportsground. After many years representing my hometown club Im very excited about the opportunity to represent my Irish roots and my family name, Joyce revealed. Ive been to the West of Ireland and the Sportsground on many occasions to visit family and as a supporter, and I cant wait to make an impact on and off the field in the province as a Connacht player and make my family proud. After speaking to the coaches, Tim and Willie Im very excited about the future of Connacht Rugby and cant wait to be a part of it. Head coach Andy Friend said: We are thrilled Joe has chosen to join the club for the start of the 2023/24 season. Whilst we know his arrival is still 12 months away, we are already excited by the prospect of what he will bring to Connacht Rugby and his signing represents a key addition to the squad we are looking to build. Joe is a big physical lock, with excellent athletic and footballing ability and so he is a great fit for how we want play. Off the pitch Joe is also the type of player who understands the importance of community and I have no doubt he will make a positive impact in that area, something we as a club place a significant value on. READ MORE: Opinion: United Rugby Championship glory provides launchpad for ambitious South African teams The article Connacht: Bristol Bears favourite Joe Joyce to leave Premiership club for Ireland move appeared first on Planetrugby.com. HBO On Sunday evening, John Oliver dedicated the top of his must-see series Last Week Tonight to the ongoing Jan. 6 committee hearingsspecifically the testimony of John Eastman, Trumps legal adviser at the time of the insurrection. Eastman was the one who devised the theory that Mike Pence could single-handedly negate the election results, explained Oliver, adding, The idea that a single person could decide the presidency is completely against the ideals of this country, which is why the Constitution starts with We the people and not Mike. The HBO host proceeded to note that over 100 GOP primary winners in the midterm elections have backed Trumps false election-fraud claimsmost troubling of whom are the secretaries of state, who may be in the position to influence the next presidential election. For example, Jim Marchant, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, is a wacko conspiracy theorist who believes the people of Nevada have not elected anybody since 2006theyve been installed by the deep state cabal (his words). Wow. The people of Nevada have not legitimately elected anybody since 2006? That is a pretty bold claimespecially coming from the guy who himself was elected to the state assembly there in 2016. When Marchant was pressed about who exactly was out there stealing elections, he answered, I dont know, actually. I think its a global thing. The people in power want to maintain their power. Hollywood Hunk Paul Newman as Youve Never Seen Him Before As Oliver pointed out, Marchant is one of a number of candidates who are part of the America First Secretary of State Coalitiona group of stop the steal Republican conspiracy theorists who are out to seize control of future elections. This gang of reality-averse individuals includes Audrey Trujillo of New Mexico, a fan of antisemitic conspiracies who said she decided to run for secretary of state because a lot of people, whether we can prove it or not, feel that this election was stolen. Theres also Kristina Karamo, an anti-vaxxer Republican running for secretary of state in Michigan who said of Dems, Their party has totally been overtaken by a satanic agenda. Karamo also believes that if people engage in premarital sex, We open a door for us to get to the point where we have people who want to normalize pedophilia. Story continues These are just three of the worrying candidates for secretary of state around the country, said Oliver. There are many, many others, which should frankly give everyone pause, because the Jan. 6 committee is reminding everybody just how close we came to democracy basically collapsing. It was a handful of people in the right position choosing to do the right thing that saved us from a constitutional crisis. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. TOWSON, Md. (AP) Two Towson University dormitories that were once named for signers of the Declaration of Independence who enslaved hundreds are being renamed for the schools first Black graduates. The University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted Friday in support of university President Kim Schatzels request to rename the dormitories for Marvis Barnes and Myra Harris, the universitys first Black students, who graduated in 1959 after segregation was outlawed, The Baltimore Sun reported. The buildings were previously named for William Paca and Charles Carroll, elected officials and Declaration of Independence signers who enslaved hundreds of people. Their names were removed last year after years of pressure from students and the board of regents' approval to rename buildings. Towson University, which was called Maryland Normal School when it was founded in 1866, was racially segregated until the U.S. Supreme Courts 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Towson was then Maryland's largest teachers college. Harris graduated with a degree in elementary education, and Barnes graduated with a degree in secondary and middle school education. The University Naming Committee recommended naming the dormitories for Barnes and Harris to honor them as trailblazers and celebrate their successful careers. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Baltimore Sun. PRESS RELEASE EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin (June 20, 2022) The current daily EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022 air show schedule is now available on EAAs website. Some of the worlds top air show performers have made commitments to fly at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022 the Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration as part of the afternoon and night air shows. Those performers include aerobatic champions and longtime Oshkosh favorites for the 69th Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in convention, scheduled for July 25-31 at Wittman Regional Airport. In addition, there will be military aerial demonstrations for the 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. AirVenture features nine air shows over seven days, including night airshows on July 27 and 30. The daily afternoon air shows are presented by Daher and Pratt & Whitney, while the Wednesday, July 27, night air show and fireworks are presented by Covington Aircraft and Saturday, July 30, night air show and fireworks are presented by WACO Aircraft Corporation. The full airshow schedule is available at EAA.org/AirVenture. The performers and demonstrations of each days air show continually evolve until AirVenture week and the current scheduled highlights include: Monday, July 25 Vans 50th Anniversary/AF Special Operations Command Day: Vans 50th Anniversary (50 various RVs); War Bird Arrival show Tuesday, July 26 Innovations/Air Education and Training Command Day: Innovations Gamebird 1; Innovations Airbus (Perlan II); Innovations Lift Aircraft (Hexa) Wednesday, July 27 WomenVenture/Air Combat Command Day: Patty Wagstaff (Extra 300LX); Vicky Benzing (Stearman); Jessy Panzer (Pitts); Flight of the Cats (various cats) Thursday, July 28 Air Mobility Command/Young Eagles Day: Young Eagles flight celebration; USAF C-17 Demo Team (C-17); USAF Heritage Flight (F-35A, P-51) Friday, July 29 Salute to Veterans Day/AF Global Strike Command: Flight of the Cats (various cats); USN E-2D Hawkeye Demo Team (E-2D Hawkeye); Doc (B-29); American Airlines/Old Glory Honor Flight Arrival (A321 Flagship Valor) Saturday, July 30 USAF 75th Anniversary: USAF C-17 Demo Team (C-17); USAF Heritage Flight (F-35A, P-51) Sunday, July 31 The Big Finish: USAF C-17 Demo Team (C-17); USN E-2D Hawkeye Demo Team (E-2D Hawkeye); USMC MV-22 Demo Team (MV-22 Osprey); USAF Heritage Flight (F-35A, P-51); USN Legacy Flight (F-35C, EA-18G, Corsair) This schedule is subject to change and additional performers will be added prior to AirVenture. About EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is The Worlds Greatest Aviation Celebration and EAAs membership convention. Additional information, including advance ticket and camping purchase, is available at www.EAA.org/airventure. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 800-JOIN-EAA (800-564-6322) or visit www.EAA.org. Immediate news is available at www.twitter.com/EAA. CEDAR FALLS Bob Seymour says the Cedar Basin Music Festival this weekend will be the biggest and best in its 45-year history. In fact, the board member noted the quality of music Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be so far off the charts, the family-friendly, admission-free event will need three stages, significantly reducing the downtime in between each act. We put this together for the community and to give back, said Seymour. And this will be by far the largest, high-end festival that Ive ever been involved with. About 14 bands will dot the lineup. Thats on par with past years. But the headliners will include some bigger names. Clarksville native Maddie Poppe, season 16 winner of American Idol, and Heartache Tonight, an Eagles tribute band, will perform for 90 minutes at 6 p.m. and three hours at 8 p.m., respectively, Friday. Pork Tornadoes, a self-proclaimed powerful party band, will be there for two hours beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday. All three will perform on the main stage at Sturgis Park east of the Ice House Museum near the corner of West First and Clay streets. Cedar Falls River Recreation Project lands needed $1.5M from Department of Commerce The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that Cedar Falls has been given the final OK for a grant to fund future 'visitor-friendly infrastructure on the Cedar River.' Seymour said fans will be able to interact with these bands and buy gear and merchandise from them when theyre not on stage. Thats what cool about having a small town festival like this one, he said. Seymour also pointed out that there will be bands people love and have come to expect at the Cedar Basin Music Festival back when it was merely a small-town jazz festival. Saints All-Star Dixieland Band dates back as one of the events originals and is scheduled to play six hour-long shows, a majority of which will be on the NewAldaya Jazz Stage at 7511 University Ave. Other familiar names, he noted, are Dry Run Creek and Katie & The Honky Tonks, who will perform on the festivals third stage, known as the Heritage Stage, also next to the Ice House. Bring your lawn chairs, and bring your kids and grandkids, said Seymour, whos been involved with organizing the festival since the early 1990s. We get crowds that include 2-year-olds and 90-year-olds. In addition to all the music, there will be food and drink vendors. Seymour pointed out a couple special events will be organized Sunday morning outside the Ice House at the park. The Cedar Falls Lions Club will hold a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. until noon. Additionally, Prairie Lakes Church will lead two nondenominational services at 9 and 10:30 a.m. Seymour also said the board has a lot of sponsors to thank, but particularly NewAldaya Lifescapes, Buckeye Corrugated Inc., Coloff Media, Martin Brothers and Black Hawk Roof Company. We couldnt do this without our sponsors, he said. People can sign up to volunteer or donate, and learn more about the festival online at cedarbasinmusic.org. The Other Place gets ready to open new Cedar Falls Main Street location The manager expects the 4,000 square foot downtown Main Street space to open before the June 24 Sturgis Falls Celebration begins. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WATERLOO A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill a woman over a gasoline debt. Waterloo police arrested Montreal Rendell Young, 22, on charges of assault while displaying a weapon, first-degree harassment and carrying a weapon while intoxicated. Bond was set at $5,000. According to court records, Young allegedly owed a woman $10 for a ride she had given him. Around 5:40 p.m. Sunday, the woman saw Young in the hallway of their apartment building on Russell Road and asked him about getting paid. Young allegedly became angry, lifted his shirt to show a handgun tucked inside his waistband and then drew the weapon, according to court records. He allegedly told the woman he was going to kill her. Officers found a loaded 9 mm Taurus pistol in Youngs apartment, and he allegedly blew a .129 blood-alcohol level on a breath test, court records state. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. WATERLOO Youth Art Team will celebrate the completion of its most recent mural project, consisting of 68 painted panels lining Waterloos Fourth Street Pedestrian Bridge on Tuesday. Tours of the mural will be given by youth artists from 5-6 p.m. A brief public dedication will occur at the bridge at 6 p.m., followed by a celebration at Youth Art Team headquarters from 6-7 p.m. While the bridge is closed for the Cedar River Lighting project, it will be open for this special event. Youth Art Teams lead team of 25 artists, together with an additional 55 artists aged 5-18, contributed over 1,500 hours to complete the project, which began in 2017. After a postponement in 2020 due to the pandemic, the team completed the panels together during the fall 2021. Youth Art Team summer camp artists and summer camp students from Kingsley and Lowell elementary schools in Waterloo also participated. It was pretty exciting to be part of a big project that a lot of people in Waterloo and Cedar Falls can see for a long time. I can take my sister from Tennessee to show her when she visits, said Sophie Matlock, a Youth Art Team lead team artist. The mural consists of 1,250 feet of painted panels all designed by Youth Art Team artists. Youth Art Team artists began the project by discussing the symbolism of the Fourth Street Bridge and how it connects both sides of Waterloo. Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart shared his excitement for the project in a video created for the artists, saying, [The mural] is going to be able to tell a story about how your creativity is important. Your voice, your artistic expression is important to the city of Waterloo. After the dedication, guests will be guided to Youth Art Team Headquarters at 325 E. Park Ave. for food, games, and fun. Photographs and artifacts from the creation of the mural will be on display. Seven Youth Art Team artists who recently graduated from high schools in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and Reinbeck will also be celebrated; some started with Youth Art Team when they were five years old and have continued to be active in Youth Art Team projects and collaborations. As part of the event, Youth Art Team staff will recognize community partners and the 50+ volunteers that supported the artists and served as mentors (including 15 local artists). For more information, contact Heidi Fuchtman (319) 343-8029. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 BOULDER, Colo. (AP) Clela Rorex, a former Colorado county clerk considered a pioneer in the gay rights movement for being the first public official to issue a same-sex marriage license in 1975, has died. She was 78. Rorex died Sunday of complications from recent surgery at a hospice care facility in Longmont, the Daily Camera reported. Rorex was a newly elected Boulder County clerk when a gay couple denied a marriage license elsewhere sought her help in March 1975. She told The Associated Press in 2014 that she saw a parallel with the womens movement and found nothing in state law preventing it. The then-31-year-old agreed and, in the end, issued a total of six licenses to gay couples before Colorados attorney general at the time ordered her to stop. State and federal law didnt recognize gay marriage at the time. Rorex recalled that she had little public support and didnt challenge the attorney general. A recall effort was launched against Rorex, a single mother and University of Colorado graduate student. Suffering from chronic migraines and dealing with hate mail, she resigned halfway through her term. Colorado legalized gay marriage in 2014 after a state court and a Denver federal court struck down a 2006 ban enacted by state voters. A 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision recognized the fundamental right nationwide. Jared Polis, Colorados first openly gay governor, paid tribute to Rorex upon learning of her passing. Her certification of same-sex marriages (until the Attorney General shut her down) was a pivotal moment in the long struggle for marriage equality that led to Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, which legalized marriage equality nationally, Polis wrote on Facebook. So many families, including First Gentleman Marlon Reis and I, are grateful for the visionary leadership of Clela Rorex, a woman ahead of her time. Glenda Russell, a retired writer and LGTBQ community historian, told the Camera that Rorex faced significant backlash after issuing the first license. Nationally at the time, most people didnt take it too seriously because they didnt worry about it happening again, but in Boulder, the reaction was forceful and mean spirited. She got hit with all the homophobia and heterosexism that the LGBTQ community was facing, Russell said. In later years, Rorex advocated for gay and lesbian rights, speaking in schools and expressing exasperation with the slow pace of change. According to Out Boulder County, an LGTBQ advocacy organization, Rorex was born in Denver on July 23, 1943. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Colorado before running for county clerk and recorder. After resigning as clerk in 1977 she obtained post-graduate degrees and served a legal administrator for the Native American Rights Fund. A celebration of life was planned for July 23, Out Boulder County said. The county courthouse in Boulder where she issued the licenses has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. DES MOINES Five applicants will be interviewed for an opening on the Iowa Supreme Court that will occur when Justice Brent Appel retires next month, the court announced in a news release Monday. When Gov. Kim Reynolds appoints the new justice, it will be her fifth appointment to the seven-member court. All five candidates will be interviewed June 27 by the states judicial nominating commission. The 17-member commission will select three finalists, after which Reynolds will have 30 days to select one of the finalists as the next justice. When she makes this next selection, Reynolds will have appointed five Iowa Supreme Court justices during her six years in office. Appel is the courts last remaining member who was appointed by a Democratic governor Tom Vilsack in 2006. Appel was retained by voters in the 2016 judicial retention elections. Appel this summer turns 72, the age at which Iowa judges are required by law to retire. The five candidates scheduled to be interviewed next Monday are: Timothy Gartin, a lawyer with Hastings, Gartin & Boettger in Ames. Gartin served on the Ames City Council and in 2010 ran for the Iowa Senate as a Republican. Alan Heavens, a 1st District judge from Garnavillo. Heavens is a former Clayton County attorney. David May, an Iowa Court of Appeals judge from Polk City. May was a finalist for an Iowa Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, an opening that was filled by Matt McDermott after the retirement of former Justice David Wiggins. William Miller, a lawyer with Dorsey & Whitney in Des Moines. Miller, who specializes in business law, has interviewed for a previous Iowa Supreme Court vacancy. Patrick Tott, the 3rd Districts chief judge, from Sioux City. Tott also has interviewed for an Iowa Supreme Court opening in the past. He was one of two Iowa judges who ruled in a 2020 lawsuit that Iowa county elections officials erred in mailing out absentee ballot request forms with some personal information filled in. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DES MOINES Lowering prescription drug prices and protecting rural pharmacies are the main goals of a new state law that adds regulations of companies that serve as a sort of middleman between pharmacies and insurance companies. The new provisions were unanimously approved by state lawmakers this session and signed into law last week by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Pharmacy benefits managers or PBMs are third-party companies that administer drug plans on behalf of health insurance providers. The industry says that saves consumers money by negotiating with drugmakers, but critics say consolidation in the PBM industry has actually led to higher prescription drug prices and threatened the existence of rural pharmacies. The new state law requires PBMs to update weekly their list of reimbursement rates to pharmacies; allows pharmacies to disclose or sell lower-cost prescriptions to covered individuals; and creates a framework for the state insurance commissioner to gather data on PBMs activity in the state. Drug prices are out of control and Iowans feel it every day. The PBM industry has a large part to do with the increased prices, said Rep. Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden who managed the legislative proposal in the Iowa House. Their practices also continue to put independent pharmacies out of business, harming Iowans access to care. With nearly nine in 10 Americans living within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, the local pharmacist is oftentimes the health professional Iowans see most often, especially in rural Iowa. In addition, with the primary care provider shortage looming, we need to ensure Iowans continue to have access. If we dont reform PBMs, pharmacies will continue to go out of business. Iowa lawmakers have been working on PBM-related legislation for 15 years. But a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for states to regulate PBMs. Dozens of states have enacted new regulations since that ruling. Rep. John Forbes, a Democrat from Urbandale and pharmacist, said dozens of community pharmacies in Iowa have closed over the past decade. He said that is creating pockets of the state where it is difficult for residents to access medication. Forbes said low reimbursement rates for prescription drugs is one of the main causes, and that the new state law is an attempt to create a more level playing field between pharmacies and PBMs. The goal being to make sure pharmacy services were readily available to all areas in the state of Iowa, Forbes said. Best said the consolidation of the PBM industry has reduced competition. Three companies control 80% of the PBM market, according to research from Health Industries Research, a nonpartisan health care market research organization. According to the research, CVS/Caremark owns 34% of the PBM market, Express Scripts 25% and OptumRx 21%. The next most prominent company is Humana, which has 8% of the market share, according to the research. Their power is such that the typical way you are able to negotiate with a business contract is not possible its a system where you as the employer accept their terms or they leave you and instead only include their pharmacy as part of the network, Best said. There is no longer a free market in this space. Reform is needed to restore a competitive marketplace that will benefit the consumer. CVS Health opposed the new law. In a statement, a company spokesman warned the new law could produce higher costs at the pharmacy counter and said lawmakers should instead focus their work on drug prices set by drug companies. During the legislative process, the House approved a package that went even further, but it was scaled back in the Senate. Still, House File 2384 was approved unanimously in both chambers, and Reynolds signed it into law June 13. Shortly after lawmakers concluded their work for the session in May, Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny, described how challenging it was to produce the legislation. The House passed that bill probably 60 plus days ago, Whitver said at the time, and in that time Ive had probably at least 60 meetings on that bill. Its a very complicated issue. You have the pharmacist on one hand, you have (pharmaceutical companies) on another, you have the PBMs, you have insurance companies, you have employers. So to try to find a balance to do what were trying to do, which is control drug prices, is very difficult. And to try to get all those people on the same page is almost impossible. Lawmakers said they hope the legislation is just a first step, and that they can revisit the issue in future sessions after the state insurance commissioner collects more data. Hopefully what the bill does is in the short term is give some ability of the local pharmacies to stay strong by preventing some of the clawbacks and some of the practices that the PBMs are doing, but also allow the insurance commissioner to start collecting data that we need to actually make the right decision and the informed decision down the road, Whitver said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 From 35,000 feet, the white ring that marks the high level of Lake Powell looks just like the ring of an emptying bathtub. The only difference is the chalky top mark on this big tub, once the second-largest freshwater reservoir in the U.S., is an unscrubble 1,900 miles around. And Lake Powell, the upper reservoir on southern Utahs Colorado River, isnt the only ring-lined sign of trouble about to hit the 40 million Americans who make the Southwest their home. Three hundred miles downstream, Lake Mead, the nations biggest reservoir, is emptying even faster than its sister. Together, these two massive lakes can hold 53 million acre-feet of water, an amount that would put all of Kansas under one foot of water. Today, however, the two mega-pools are shallow shadows of their former blue selves: The pair now hold an estimated 13.25 million acre-feet of water, or just 25% of their capacity. From the air, the future like the lakes unmistakable rings is clear: If todays Southwestern megadrought continues much longer, both reservoirs will, literally, become the empty bathtubs their rings already suggest. On the ground, however, youd never know theres a serious problem. At least thats the impression I came away with after a 2,500-mile drive from southern California to the upper Midwest in early June. Water use appeared unrestricted along nearly every mile of the drive from the endless, and endlessly irrigated, green alfalfa fields of Californias Imperial Valley to the half-mile-long center pivots watering corn to be used to fatten pen after pen of feedlot cattle in western Kansas and southwestern Nebraska. And its not just Big Ag taking a big gulp. Cities and towns along the mostly two-lane route Barstow, Calif.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Moab, Utah; Durango, Colo.; Colby, KS; McCook, Neb., Sioux City, Iowa are as reliant on water as the farmers and ranchers along the way. Of course, Las Vegas is the poster child for American water use thats both stunning and stupid. Driving into the city from the southwest is what the fictional Dorothy must have felt as the city of Oz came into view: a glittering oasis weirdly in the middle of nowhere. And it is. Las Vegas is a sprawling feast for both sight and sin floating in a kingdom of sand. In 2000, it was home to 1.3 million people; today it holds twice as many, 2.8 million. Projections show 3.2 million will be there in 2030. If its shriveling, key water source, Lake Mead, just 24 miles from the citys famous Strip, is replenished, that is. If not, Las Vegas is headed for the unthinkable first, water restrictions and second, growth restrictions. Ag is also facing a future with limited water, a fact it has learned to live with. According to May 2022 reporting by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, American farmers and ranchers use 42% of the nations groundwater (as opposed to surface water) to irrigate 58 million acres. While the total acreage might be low, the value of the crops produced through irrigation isnt. USDA estimates that 54% of the total value of U.S. crops is produced with some type of irrigation. Even as irrigated acres have grown in U.S. agriculture, though, water use per irrigated acre has fallen, from 2 acre-feet to 1.5 acre-feet. That trend, say both water use experts and irrigators alike, needs to continue as drought bakes the Southwest and climate change continues to rattle all U.S. farms and ranchers. A Southwest side note: One of agricultures best word ropers, poet and columnist Baxter Black, died June 10 in Arizona. His passing, at age 77, wasnt a surprise; his great friend and only equal in cowboy humor, writer and publisher Lee Pitts, alerted me of Blacks failing health six months ago. Baxter Black was all hat and all cattle and was always delighted to tell you about both. Happy trails, cowboy. The Farm and Food File is published weekly through the U.S. and Canada. Source material and contact information are posted at farmandfoodfile.com. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine (June 20, 2022) Russian Federation Armed Forces continue launching attacks at military facilities located in Ukraine. Oniks high-precision missile launched by Bastion coastal missile system has striken Artsiz airfield in Odessa region. The attack has resulted in destroying a control station for Bayraktar-TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and 2 UAVs of this system on the ground. Within the counter-battery warfare, 11 plattoons of Grad multiple rocket-launching systems have been neutralised near Kurtimovka, Ochertino, Tonenkoye, Sukhaya Balka, Novgorodskoye, Mayorovka, Otradovka and Zaytsevo over the past 24 hours. In addition, 12 artillery plattoons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have been neutralised at their firing positions near Dzerzhinsk, Novgorodskoye, Nikolayevka, Leninskoye and Zaytsevo. 2 M777 155-mm howitzers and their crews have been eliminated near Podgornoye. Operational-tactical and army aviation has neutralised 47 manpower and equipment concentration areas. The eliminated targets include: manpower and military equipment near Vesyoloye, Privolchye and Bogorodichnoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), a launching ramp of Buk-M1 multiple rocket-launching system near Seversk (Donetsk Peoples Republic), as well as illumination and observation radar of S-300 air defence missile system near Novodruzhesk (Lugansk Peoples Republic). Missile troops and artillery have neutralised 148 manpower and military equipment concentration areas of the AFU, 25 command posts, as well as 59 artillery units at their firing positions. Attacks launched by aviation, missile troops and artillery have resulted in 450 nationalists, 13 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, as well as 16 special vehicles. Russian air defence systems have shot down 1 MiG-29 of the Ukrainian Air Force near Apostolovo (Dnepropetrovsk region). In addition, 9 Ukrainian UAVs have been shot down near Alisovka (Kharkov region), Verkhnetoretskoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), Grechishkino (Lugansk Peoples Republic), mound Mogila Kulicha, Tomina Balka and Chernobayevka (Kherson region). 9 projectiles launched by Uragan multiple-launching system have been intercepted near Malaya Kamyshevakha and Dolgenkoye (Kharkov region), Makeyevka and Avdeyevka (Donetsk Peoples Republic). In total, 208 airplanes and 132 helicopters, 1,260 unmanned aerial vehicles, 345 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,696 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 576 combat vehicles equipped with multiple rocket-launching systems, 2,055 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 3,731 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation. The enemy suffers considerable losses during the special military operation. Since May 19, during the month, only the 14th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU has lost 2,100 persons who resulted dead and wounded. Due to low moral and psychological conditions, 800 persons destined for replenishing the losses of this unit, refused to go to the operational area and accused officers of incompetence, bribery and cronyism in paying money allowance. About 100 servicemen of a reconnaissance unit of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade have been relieved of combat duty and transported to Kremenchug for investigation. A considerable part of the commanders of the 30th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU have abstracted themselves from managing their units and refuse to fulfil combat tasks. All kinds of pretexts are used for simulating illness. The majority of units have already been left without any officers. #MoD #Russia #Ukraine @mod_russia_Enjoy WtR Weather Alert ...LAKE WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM TO 8 PM PDT TUESDAY... * WHAT...Southwest winds around 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph expected. * WHERE...Washoe. * WHEN...From 2 PM to 8 PM PDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Small boats, kayaks and paddle boards will be prone to capsizing and should remain off lake waters until conditions improve. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Check lake conditions before heading out and be prepared for a sudden increase in winds and wave heights. Consider postponing boating activities on the lake until a day with less wind. && We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Divest Gunga West & Toll Milling Allocation Perth, June 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to advise it has reached agreement with FMR Investments Pty Ltd ("FMR") to divest the Gunga West gold project near Coolgardie in the Western Australian goldfields.Horizon acquired Gunga West as part of a larger asset swap of projects with Northern Star Resources Limited as announced to the ASX on 12 September 2019 and included the core Rose Hill, Brilliant North and Golden Ridge tenure.The divestment comprises seven mining leases, one prospecting licence and one miscellaneous license making up the Gunga West project. Under the Agreement, FMR will pay $400,000 in cash on the following terms:- Deposit of $100,000 in cash- $300,000 in cash on completion- Access to FMR's Greenfields toll mill in Coolgardie on commercial terms for ore treatment of 200,000 tonnes commencing in 2023Completion is expected in the next four weeks and subject to standard conditions precedent for a transaction of this nature including due diligence, Ministerial consent, any third-party assignments and provision of mining information.Commenting on the divestment, Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:"The sale of Gunga West is in line with our strategy of divesting non-core assets and listed investments and we will continue to do so where it adds value for shareholders." "Proceeds from these sales will be used for development capital to advance the proposed sequence of underground mines using a contract mining - toll milling model delivering a greater return on investment. Securing toll milling at the Greenfields Mill in Coolgardie is also a great result providing a processing solution for our Rose Hill project."About Horizon Minerals Limited Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed. Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline. Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage. Major Mineralised fault zone target for Horse Well Drilling Melbourne, June 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cohiba Minerals Limited ( ASX:CHK ) ( OTCMKTS:CHKMF ) is pleased to announce the details for its next planned drillhole, HWDD07, for the exploration drilling program at its Horse Well Project in South Australia (Figure 1 and 2*).Highlights:- The recent identification of a major mineralized fault zone, newly named the "Bluebush Fault", has defined a strong target zone for the next drill hole (HWDD07) at the Horse Well Project.- Major brecciated and haematised zones associated with structures such as the Bluebush Fault are a key target vector for IOCG (Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold) mineralisation.- HWDD07 will test the inferred continuation of the Bluebush Fault which has been discovered following a detailed review of lithologies and geochemical signatures within holes HWDD04, HWDD05 and HWDD05W1.Cohiba's CEO, Andrew Graham says, "Cohiba has committed significant resources to ensuring it has a solid technical understanding of the geology and structure of the Horse Well Project area. The discovery of what has been named the Bluebush Fault, a persistent regional structure that is characterised by brecciation and haematisation, provides a strong focal zone for the ongoing exploration program at Horse Well. Holes 4, 5 and 5W (wedge) provided evidence of persistent, low-level mineralisation and with the discovery of the Bluebush Fault there is strong justification for conducting further investigations in this area."The identification of the Bluebush Fault as a high value exploration target is part of the Cohiba strategy in the continual enhancement of the prospectivity of the Horse Well Project area. Geophysical surveys were conducted to generate targets in these tenements immediately adjacent to BHP's Oak Dam West deposit.Early-stage drilling of geophysical targets has resulted in the discovery of significant and persistent copper anomalism at Horse Well, confirming the location does have potential for a substantial copper deposit. A marked variability in copper and gold mineralisation, such as that found between adjacent holes HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 confirms that persistence is required in exploration, indeed parts of IOCG deposits are known to have a knife-edge boundary between barren and ore grade material. Ongoing review of previous and current drilling is further refining the scope of these targets to increase the probability of making a significant discovery.Previously drilled holes HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 showed significant copper and gold anomalism over broad intervals(see page 7*). This copper is predominantly hosted in magnetite-chalcopyrite veins, which in the Olympic Domain of South Australia have to date been sub-economic but may be found either on the outer margins of IOCG (Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold) deposits or occurring independently. In Queensland's Mt Isa district, however, this is the dominant ore mineral association.The Olympic Domain is characterised by strong oxidation of the reduced magnetite-chalcopyrite, generally attributed to a two fluid mixing model, involving reduced fluids from deep within the crust, mixing with shallow oxidised ground waters. Higher copper grades are gained in this process, particularly with the conversion of chalcopyrite to more copper rich bornite or chalcocite, or direct precipitation of these.Concurrent brecciation creates porosity for more fluid to enter in a positive feedback loop, as occurred at the supergiant Olympic Dam deposit, and the very large scale Carrapateena, Prominent Hill, and Oak Dam deposits.A recent review of holes HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 has highlighted an exciting correlation of oxidised grey haematite-chalcopyrite as both clasts and matrix in lenses of breccia within the newly interpreted 'Bluebush Fault' in HWDD05 (Figure 3). Grey haematite-chalcopyrite is rare as an alteration type, normally being confined to close proximity to ore zones within known IOCG deposits, and the association with a distinct structure gives a further tangible target for drilling.Assay results for the HWDD05 zone are very encouraging, with an anomalous copper and gold intersection of 40m @ 0.52% Cu & 0.27ppm Au from 1140m over the interval of the Bluebush Fault, including 0.91m @ 3.2% Cu & 1.15ppm Au from 1158.85m for a magnetite-haematite-chalcopyrite vein hosted within the fault.Additionally, the Rare Earth Elements, Lanthanum (La) and Cerium (Ce), which are commonly used as indicators for IOCG mineralisation, are highly anomalous associated with chlorite alteration in the hanging wall of the Bluebush Fault, and with the magnetite-haematite-chalcopyrite vein at 1158.85m depth.Holes HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 are all interpreted to have intersected the Bluebush Fault (Figure 1 and Figure 4*). Only in HWDD05 does the fault manifest as a breccia with haematite alteration and associated chalcopyrite mineralisation, although in HWDD04 the fault zone hosts a siderite-matrix breccia, which is commonly found in the deeper and more peripheral zones of IOCG deposits. The fault is dipping 55deg to the west and strikes approximately north-south which is sub-parallel with most of the mafic intrusive contacts.Mineral deposits are commonly controlled by faults and structures that are dilational, i.e. they open up allowing mineralising fluids to percolate into them. The variation (discussed below*) of the Bluebush Fault observed in HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 is likely due to such an effect. In the Olympic Domain, the dominant structural grain is northwest-southeast, or northeast-southwest, with northwest-southeast being dominant at the Horse Well prospect. North-South striking structures are likely to be dilational in this setting, making the Bluebush Fault a good exploration target. The current zone of interest is in the order of magnitude of 1 km to the north and 1 km to the south of current drilling. To the south the geophysical magnetic high becomes progressively muted in this direction (Figure 5*). With magnetic highs being associated with the strongly magnetite rich mafic intrusive and the magnetite-chalcopyrite veining, it is proposed that a magnetically muted zone within this high may represent broad haematitic oxidation of magnetite, and an IOCG breccia deposit. Alternatively, a narrow zone of haematite IOCG may co-exist with magnetite in the hanging wall, as is the case at the Prominent Hill deposit, so the northern strike extent is also not excluded.The plan for the next drill-hole is to target the Bluebush Fault to the south from a collar position on the HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1 drill pad. A successful intercept will add ~250m of verified strike length to the Bluebush Fault and give more confidence in its overall strike, which is required to successfully hit the fault in any future wider spaced step out drilling.Cohiba believes that the Bluebush Fault contains the right mix of alteration, elevated copper mineralisation in the form of chalcopyrite veins associated with spotty gold, textural preparation by brecciation, and a likely dilational orientated structure. The only ingredient missing is 'scale', and with +2km of potential strike length (Figure 5*) there is ample scope to satisfy this component.The identification of the Bluebush Fault as a high value exploration target is an exciting product of the Cohiba strategy to continually enhance the prospectivity of the Horse Well Project area. Geophysical surveys were conducted to generate targets in these tenements immediately adjacent to BHP's Oak Dam West and East deposits. Early-stage drilling of geophysical targets has resulted in significant, persistent and variable copper anomalism, confirming that the at Horse Well area does have potential for a substantial copper deposit. A marked variability in copper and gold mineralisation, within adjacent holes HWDD04, HWDD05, and HWDD05W1, proves that persistence is required in exploration, indeed an IOCG deposit often has a knifeedge boundary from barren to ore grade material. Ongoing and continual review of previous and current drilling is further refining the scope of these targets to have a much higher probability of making a significant discovery.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Cohiba Minerals Limited Cohiba Minerals Limited (ASX:CHK) is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the primary focus of investing in the resource sector through direct tenement acquisition, joint ventures, farm in arrangements and new project generation. The shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol CHK. The Company recently acquired 100% of the shares in Charge Lithium Pty Ltd, which holds exploration licences in Western Australia. Follow-on WA Resources Communications Network Order Sydney, June 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Etherstack Plc ( ASX:ESK ) is pleased to announce its Australian subsidiary, Auria Wireless Pty Limited ("Auria"), has entered another contract with communications system integrator, RCS Telecommunications Pty Ltd, to provide the Company's P25 digital radio network technology to the end customer, being a major iron ore mining company active in the Pilbara region of north-west Western Australia.This is in addition to the A$1m order announced on 26 April 2022, and is for another mine site in Western Australia. This order will provide the Company A$650,000 additional revenue in the second half of FY2022. The network deployment is also expected to contribute to additional long term annual support revenues commencing in FY2023.The order represents the eighth order for the Company's digital radio technology for new mining projects with the end resources customer. The combined value of these eight orders since May 2020 is in excess of A$3m and Etherstack management reiterates our expectation of additional orders within the next 12 months to the same end user.Etherstack CEO, David Deacon said, "As noted in previous announcements, our Australian manufactured P25 network technology has performed extremely well in previous deployments with the end customer. We believe they value local access to our design, manufacturing and support team.We have previously emphasised the importance of growing this strategic customer relationship and we are very pleased to be able to report this further order."Deacon continued, "Beyond this positive resource sector news, Etherstack management remain bullish about the outlook in relation to our telco carrier based MCPTX business development progress, satellite comms and government defence projects globally."About Etherstack Plc Etherstack (ASX:ESK) is a wireless technology company specialising in developing, manufacturing and licensing mission critical radio technologies for wireless equipment manufacturers and network operators around the globe. With a particular focus in the public safety, defence, utilities, transportation and resource sectors, Etherstack's technology and solutions can be found in radio communications equipment used in the most demanding situations. The company has Research and Development facilities in London, Sydney, New York and Yokohama. Soils Program to Begin at the Scotty Lithium Project, Nevada Perth, June 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Monger Gold Ltd ( ASX:MMG ) is pleased to announce that an auger soil geochemistry program will commence in the coming days at its Scotty Lithium Project in Nevada, USA (Figure 1*).Commenting on the Scotty Lithium Project soils program, MMG's Chairman, Mr Peretz Schapiro, said:"We are pleased to commence a comprehensive soils program at the Scotty Lithium Project only weeks after completing this transformational acquisition.Soil sampling was integral in the discovery and delineation of the neighbouring Bonnie Claire Lithium Deposit - one of the largest lithium resources in the USA; which our Scotty Lithium Project abuts and surrounds. Yet less than 3% of our project area has been covered with soil sampling previously. And this work returned even better results than those returned from Bonnie Claire.We will use the results from this program to help target holes in our maiden drilling campaign which is scheduled to commence in the second half of this year.We look forward to keeping the market updated on our exploration programs".Soil Sampling ProgramSoil geochemistry was used effectively in the discovery and delineation of Iconic Minerals Limited's (Iconic) adjoining Bonnie Claire Lithium Deposit, where Inferred Resources comprise 3.4Bt @ 1,013ppm Li for 18.3 Mt of Li2CO3 equivalent. Coherent anomalism >100ppm Li is typically present above the mineralisation delineated in drilling (see Figure 1 and Figure 2*).Previously only 1.5km2 of the Scotty Lithium Project (representing just 2.6%) has been covered with soil sampling (see Figures 1 and 2*). The lithium content in everyone of these samples was highly anomalous, ranging from 140ppm to 300ppm, with an average assay of 233ppm lithium. So, with:(i) this strong anomalism open to both the north and south within MMG's Scotty Project area; and(ii) anomalies from Iconic's soil program also remaining "open" and extending into MMG's Scotty Project areaa fast, low-cost but very effective project-wide soil sampling program has been commissioned.Approximately 550 samples will be collected during the imminent program on 400m-spaced centres (see Figure 3*) across various types of surface sediments (Figure 5*). All samples will be assayed for lithium together with a multi-element suite at ALS's laboratory in Reno, Nevada.It is anticipated that sample collection will be completed by mid-July. Assays are expected 4 to 6 weeks later.Anomalies evident in the soil geochemistry data will be targeted in the Company's maiden drilling program, which is scheduled to commence later this year.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Monger Gold Ltd With an enterprise value AUD $1m and AUD $5m in funding, Monger Gold Limited's (ASX:MMG) intention is to generate value for shareholders by directing funds raised by the Offer into targeted and systematic exploration of our Projects, resulting in the definition of one or more JORC compliant gold and nickel resources. Binding Term Sheet Executed for Lorena Project Acquisition Brisbane, June 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Tombola Gold Ltd ( ASX:TBA ) is pleased to announce that it has signed a binding Term Sheet to acquire 100% of the Lorena Processing Facility ("Lorena"), located only 30km from the Company's 100% owned flagship Mt Freda Gold Mine in Cloncurry, Queensland (the "Acquisition").Lorena includes an integrated CIL (Carbon In Leach) processing facility capable of treating both gold and copper ore and an associated tenement package. A map showing the Company's existing tenement package and the Lorena assets is included in this release. A summary of the Term Sheet is attached as an Appendix to this release*.The Acquisition is expected to enable the Company to undertake studies to optimise its gold production capacity by July 2023. Importantly, the Acquisition is structured so that it enables Tombola to utilise its current cash reserves in a more effective way, without incurring large additional capital construction costs that would otherwise be required to build a CIL plant and tailings facility of this size.Tombola Gold Managing Director, Byron Miles, commented:"The acquisition of the Lorena Processing Facility delivers a step change for us in our targeted gold production. Importantly, it enables Tombola to commence planning to determine gold production rates as well as gold-optimisation planning studies. The Company aspires to significantly increase its production potential in terms of expected throughput and recovery rate, once both the original vat leaching and the Lorena facility are on stream in 2023.The acquisition terms were negotiated to allow us to utilise our existing cash reserves and cash flow to fund the acquisition from near term gold production, which limits dilution and delivers a highly positive result for shareholders. This is another important step in delivering on our aspiration to become a meaningful Australian gold producer as we fast track to near term gold production from Lorena in Q4, 2022."About LorenaThe Lorena Mine and Processing Facility is located 13km from Cloncurry on the Flinders Highway, and was commissioned in 2017 by a Joint Venture which included Malachite Resources and Chinova Resources.Operations continued at Lorena until late 2021, after which it was placed in care & maintenance pending a desire by the owners to sell the operation.Primarily a Gold CIL Processing facility with the capacity to treat copper bearing ore, over the coming months Tombola intends to recommission the plant, expand tailings capacity, and transport ore from the Golden Mile operation to Lorena along with continuing to vat leach treat the balance of minable reserves at Mt Freda.Tombola is currently working with several third party consultants and advisors who are assisting the Company with its plans to recommission and expand the facility with a relatively low capital expenditure before commencing treatment of Mt Freda and Golden Mile ore.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Tombola Gold Ltd Tombola Gold Ltd (ASX:TBA) is a company assembled by experienced, exceedingly well-qualified and all very well rounded team members that have previously floated exploration companies which achieved major resource discoveries and success. Between the Tombola team members, Tombola as a company have well over 100 years of accumulated experience in the mining, exploration and resource sector. Tombola principal objective is to acquire assets to explore for and develop a large IOGC or porphyry deposit funded by low-risk gold production resources. To that end, Tombola has a license covering 970 sq km prospective for gold/copper in the Mount Bryan-Red Banks-World's End area near Burra in South Australia; with strategic agreements with Queensland Mining Corporation. Giving a speech at Georgetown University in 2019, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg said: I dont think its right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy. I believe people should decide what is credible, not tech companies. I was struck at the time by his choice of words. Leaving aside the point that credibility is not the same thing as truthfulness, in ordinary usage only governments can censor. The word itself was originally the title of a Roman government official. Since the early 1800s, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it has meant a state agent charged with suppression of speech or published matter deemed politically subversive. Publishers exercise editorial discretion, which isnt the same thing. When an editor rejects a manuscript, or a radio station chooses not to play a song, theyre not censoring the spurned works. Facebook routinely exercises editorial control over the material that appears on its website and app. It does so on an industrial scale. According to a company press release, in the first quarter of 2022 it took action on: 1.8 billion pieces of spam content [and] 21.7 million pieces of violence and incitement content. The site would hardly be worth visiting if the company didnt perform these clean-up operations. Facebook controls the material seen by its users in more subtle ways, too, employing its notorious algorithm, which amplifies certain posts, seeking to keep users engaged, in the companys terminology, meaning eyes glued to the screen. Posts that evoke strong emotional reactions are favored. Starting in 2017, the Washington Post explained last October, Facebooks ranking algorithm treated emoji reactions as five times more valuable than likes, internal documents reveal. Amping up some posts means amping down others, naturally. Regular Facebook users know how frustrating it can be to search for an older post, one you distinctly remember, but which the companys largely automated editorial process has since relegated to a digital void. Theres a good reason why Zuckerberg didnt want to admit the obvious, that Facebook exercises editorial control over the material seen by its users. Avoiding the label of publisher is central to his companys business model, thanks to Section 230, a federal law that says no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher of another persons posts. Section 230 allows the social media companies to distribute newspaper articles without sharing advertising revenue. When their platforms are misused for libels, deep fakes, doxing, shaming, frauds, drug deals or incitements to violence, they run no risk of legal consequences. Section 230 gave Zuckerberg a powerful reason to avoid describing Facebook as a publisher. I think that explains why he instead reached for that inappropriate word censor. But now the Texas Legislature has taken him at his word, a potentially calamitous development for his company. Texass HB20 (the act has a formal title, but its three lines long) explicitly forbids large social media platforms including Facebook and its sister site Instagram, but also YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit and others from engaging in censorship, which it defines broadly enough to cover most content moderation. The law was passed last September for the transparent purpose of punishing Facebook and Twitter for de-platforming former President Donald Trump. But the Texas Legislature didnt feel it could come right out and say what it meant. Instead it drafted the act in broad, neutral terms, making it applicable across the board. By enacting such sweeping legislation, Texas has appointed itself internet regulator for all Americans, because, of course, there cant be one internet for Texas and another for the rest of us. If youve opened an account on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Reddit, youve agreed to their terms of service. Among many other things, youve agreed to have legal disputes decided under California law. HB20 says all such choice-of-law provisions are invalid and that Texas law governs instead. The act imposes onerous reporting mandates on the platforms, requiring them to reveal detailed information about internal operations, and limits their power to remove posts, de-platform users or de-monetize videos. The Texas Legislature, in short, wants to govern Americans who live outside of Texas. It wants to exercise some degree of control over what you see, read and hear on your favorite social media platforms. A federal district judge in Texas issued an injunction temporarily halting enforcement of HB20. On May 31, the Supreme Court upheld the injunction, though only on a 5-4 vote. With the injunction in place for now, the parties have begun litigating in earnest. Theres much more to be said about HB20 and internet regulation in America. Tune in next time. Joel Jacobsen is an author who in 2015 retired from a 29-year legal career. If there are topics you would like to see covered in future columns, please write him at legal.column.tips@gmail.com. LEAD, COAL AND UNSER GET CAMERAS: This month the city went live with three more automated speed enforcement cameras, on Lead at Cornell, on Coal at Cornell and on Unser at Tower. The three new cameras started issuing tickets June 10 and are in addition to the three on east- and westbound Gibson at Carlisle and eastbound Montgomery between Wyoming and Eubank, which started issuing citations May 25. Rebecca Atkins, public information officer with the Albuquerque Police Department, says in a news release that from May 25 to June 13, the six cameras issued 2,584 citations, which carry a $100 fine or four hours of community service. She adds that four more camera locations are in the works. POLICE DONT IMPOUND FOR NO REGISTRATION: Daniel Rodriguez emails that in the June 6 column on the part where people were given tickets for no proof of registration the police officer did not impound the vehicle. I always (operated) with the understanding that everybody has to have proof of registration and insurance otherwise the vehicle would be impounded, then the person would have to show proof before the vehicle could be released. Atkins explains thats incorrect unless the driver is arrested and theres not a passenger who can take the keys. The only reason we would impound a vehicle is due to a physical arrest, if we are unable to release it to anyone else in the vehicle, if a driver is operating with no insurance or operating without a license. BUT THEY DO CHECK IF IT IS STOLEN: And Virginia Damron adds thank you for explaining that having no license plate is against state statute. But do the officers run the VIN in the stolen car database when they pull over such a vehicle? It seems to me they dont, they couldnt be. Sometimes people cant afford to renew registration, but at least the VIN should match their plate. To me this looks like officers dont run the VIN as a matter of procedure, criminals know it, and prefer the no plate ticket to the false plate ticket. I think many of the plateless cars are stolen; some cars are also running under stolen plates. Car theft is so bad in this city, it seems that running the VIN should be the first step. It is. Atkins says officers will run the VIN if there is no plate. NM NO. 6 IN ROAD DEATHS: If you had any doubt its dangerous out there, a study by 1-800-Injured puts New Mexico as sixth-worst in the nation when it comes to dying in a traffic wreck. The study factored in the number of motor vehicle fatalities in each state against their population for 2020. In New Mexico, the 398 traffic fatalities out of 2,117,522 population put the roadway death rate here per 100,000 residents at 18.80. (Mississippi was the most dangerous with 752 deaths/25.39 per 100,000; Massachusetts was the safest with 343 deaths/4.88 per 100,000). Donn asks if that makes our roads more deadly than the pandemic? The data has the coronavirus miles ahead. Compared to the 398 traffic deaths in 2020, the state Department of Health reports there were 2,477 deaths in which COVID-19 was the leading cause. Even with the horrible increase in traffic deaths in 2021, 479 total, the 3,378 coronavirus deaths were far higher. This year through May there have been 178 traffic deaths, and to date there have been 2,028 coronavirus deaths. Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109. A Central American migrant is held inside a U.S. Border Patrol unit in Sunland Park earlier this month. So far this fiscal year, more than 1.5 million people have been intercepted by the Border Patrol along the Southwest border. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Migrants detained in Sunland Park in early June talk about the work they did in their home countries before fleeing. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) An elderly Mexican migrant is apprehended after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. near the New Mexico/Texas/Mexico border in early June. Many migrants, desperate to leave the poverty and crime of their homes, endure harrowing journeys for the chance to slip through the U.S. border. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Border Patrol agent Carlos Rivera tracks a group of migrants who snuck in a tunnel and crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S near the border between Mexico and New Mexico in early June. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Central American migrants detained in a Sunland Park neighborhood in early June. One Border Patrol agent estimates that about 50% of those who try to get into the U.S. illegally are caught. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) A migrant woman sits in a transport vehicle after being processed inside a mobile processing unit in Sunland Park. The Border Patrol is now using a mobile center to speed up the processing of immigrants who are apprehended. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) A migrant from Brazil drinks water handed to him by Border Patrol in Sunland Park, New Mexico, in early June. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Migrants from Brazil and Mexico are apprehended by a mounted Border Patrol unit in Sunland Park, New Mexico, in early June. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) A young woman who fractured her ankle after jumping the fence into the U.S. near a Sunland Park neighborhood in early June waits to receive medical attention. She was taken to a local hospital. The border wall in some areas can be almost 20 feet high. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) A Homeland Security helicopter searches for groups of migrants crossing into New Mexico. In the background is the Ciudad Juarez neighborhood of Anapra. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) A Homeland Security helicopter searches for groups of migrants crossing into New Mexico, near Mt. Cristo Rey Park. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 11 Next SUNLAND PARK At the top of the mountain stands this borderlands most iconic monument: The three-story white limestone statue of Christ, arms opened and facing the vast expanse of neatly arrayed subdivisions of the United States, the country fabled in the minds of millions of migrants as the enduring symbol of freedom and the place for a happier life. Mount Cristo Rey Cristo as it is referred to by migrants and the U.S. Border Patrol agents who patrol its surrounding terrain is a massive upheaval of ancient volcanic rock sitting at an elevation of 4,500 feet and extending 10,000 feet across a southernmost portion of New Mexico. The southern side of the mountain is Mexican, beginning as the Juarez desert in the state of Chihuahua, rising sharply in a mass of broken shale and sedimentary rock, and cresting somewhere high above the international boundary. Its northern side is American, a collection of jagged outcrops lined with boulders and crevices, and laced with trails that spill down into the desert surrounding Sunland Park. Mount Cristo Rey is an epicenter of the migration surge along the El Paso sector. With no border wall on its rocky slopes, and plenty of boulders to obscure migrants from view, the number of illegal entries through this difficult path continues to rise. A federal court ruling this past May prohibited the Biden administration from ending the controversial Title 42 the health policy allowing U.S. border officials to quickly eject from this country any migrating person due to the pandemic. It has pushed many migrants to seek more desolate areas to enter the U.S. to avoid detection and removal. The majority of people we encounter will be expelled under Title 42, said Carlos A. Rivera, a U.S. Border Patrol agent with the agencys strategic communications department. A 13-year veteran of the Border Patrol, he spends his shifts cruising the mountain slopes and trails of the rough terrain where Texas, New Mexico and Chihuahua meet. That is why the majority of the encounters are people trying to avoid detection, he said. Desperate to leave the poverty and crime of their home countries, many migrants endure harrowing journeys and pay thousands of dollars to human smugglers for the chance to slip through the United States border. Once inside, it is often their wits and determination that might bring them a clandestine life with better opportunities, or, if caught, an ejection back to the lives they fled. Petrona Cruz, a 51-year-old Honduran mother, journeyed more than 1,700 miles across Guatemala, then through Mexico a country notorious for its criminal enterprise targeting migrants and made it to the U.S. border on June 9. A slight woman, about 5 feet tall and 100 pounds, she had found a way around the border wall, likely hiking a rock-strewn path over a section of Mount Cristo Rey, and she crossed into the United States. She then headed toward the Rio Grande, which in this area of New Mexico is about a mile inland from the international border, and she hurried through the hilly terrain of thorns, mesquite and sand. She then made her way through a dark 60-yard tunnel that allowed passage beneath a train, which was idling on the railroad track above. She exited the tunnel, and with a Border Patrol helicopter monitoring her overhead, she ran another 60 yards, ducked into a 2-foot high tunnel, and crawled another 15 yards. When she came out of that tunnel, she ran another 60 yards into the Rio Grande, pushing across 12 yards of flowing, muddy water, and climbed out on the other side. She hid in a large maze of reeds and thickets, behind a tree, attempting to hide from the helicopter and U.S. Border Patrol agents who had been tracking her. Within an hour of hiding along the muddy bank of the river, Cruz had been found. Her run from the U.S. border to the rivers edge was the last mile of her 1,700-mile ordeal to reach America. This sliver of her monthlong journey is known only because of the U.S. Border Patrol agents tracking her movement on their territory, who pieced together her desperate run into the country, and because journalists were on hand to record it. But the efforts and perils of her first 1,699 or so miles may be known only to Cruz. Dirty and exhausted, she was led to the transport van by U.S. Border Patrol agents. During questioning, she covered her face and wept quietly. She had to leave Honduras, she said. It is terrible. There is no work over there. And what little you have is stolen from you. Once you step into the city, you are robbed. She needed to get to Maryland to find her son, she said. I just want to be with him. When asked about her family in Honduras, she again broke down. My sister, my sister. She stayed very worried because I left. She did not want me to leave. She told me the journey would be very hard. Claudio Herrera, one of the U.S. Border Patrol agents who tracked her, stood next to Cruz and put his hand on her shoulder. Its going to be OK, he told her in Spanish. Stay dedicated, there are still opportunities for you, but you must do it legally. Its the better way, you wont suffer as much. May God be with you. She thanked him and nodded, still covering her face with her hands. Two other migrants, both from Mexico, had also been detained near the Rio Grande at the same time as Cruz. They sat with their backs against the concrete divider at the side of the highway, slumped and dejected, staring out blankly as agents processed their arrests. They were told to remove their shoelaces, which are considered potential weapons by Border Patrol agents, and they tossed them alongside hundreds of other laces from previous arrests that lay strewn across the asphalt ground along the highway. No figures are available for this specific mountain terrain of New Mexico, but the El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico, has seen a 56% increase in encounters compared to the same time last year. Fiscal year 2021 at this time showed 113,826 encounters and so far fiscal year 2022 is showing 177,789. Sacred ground For generations, Mount Cristo Rey has been considered a holy place for Catholics along the border, and has evolved into a place where people of all faiths have come for prayer and reflection. Offerings are left along the mountains narrow path to the mountain top, small crosses, roses for the Virgin Mary, candles with messages on paper wrapped around them. After the 2019 shooting of Walmart shoppers, 22 white crosses were placed along the trail as a tribute to the victims. But Cristo Reys soaring view of Chihuahua, Texas and New Mexico has also made it a pivotal vantage point for human smugglers to watch for gaps in the U.S. Border Patrols various rotations. Is there the likelihood that they are watching us right now? Definitely, said Rivera. Parked a short distance from Mount Cristo Rey, Rivera surveyed the desert landscape while sitting in the familiar green and white F250 SUV driven by La Migra Spanish shorthand for U.S. immigration officials and agents, a derivative of la migracion. We are out here attempting to secure our nations borders and doing the best job we can with the resources that we have, Rivera said. But seeing how it is a multi-billion-dollar industry, this human smuggling, I think they have a little bit more resources than we have. But while transnational criminals might have access to higher dollar amounts, Rivera said the big-picture strategizing of the U.S. Border Patrol keeps agents in the fight, understanding trends and utilizing technology on par with the criminal organizations. As smugglers are using cellphones and technology to communicate we are also using that. We dont have cans and a string, we are using technology to our advantage. Were not just sitting here, he said. U.S. Border Patrol agents say that Title 42 has been a highly utilized tool in this sector of the border, and the numbers reflect that. So far this fiscal year, Title 42 has been used to expel 751,795 people from the Southwest border. The same time last year saw 664,266 expulsions under Title 42 authority, according to government data. More than 96% of those Title 42 expulsions have been from the countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Title 42, which was started during the Trump administration, has been responsible for expelling more than 2 million migrants attempting to enter both legally and illegally into the United States since the policy began, according to government data. The Biden administration attempted to repeal Title 42 on May 23, but a federal judges order in April halted that effort, which paused asylum applications for most migrants at the border pending resolution of the case. Recognizing the growing instability caused by the massive increase in attempted immigration to the United States, President Joe Biden and other leaders from the Western Hemisphere announced the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection at the Summit of the Americas on June 10. The Declaration seeks to mobilize the entire region around bold actions that will transform our approach to managing migration in the Americas, according to a White House statement. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi also announced his support for the initiative. The Americas region is facing a human mobility crisis that is unprecedented both in its complexity and scale. No country can address this situation on its own, he said in a statement. The Los Angeles Declaration builds upon existing frameworks and brings us closer to a continent-wide coordinated response based on the principles of international cooperation, solidarity and respect for human rights, as set out in the Global Compacts on refugees and on safe and orderly migration. 50% apprehended The surge of illegal entries and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border also prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to recently propose transporting border migrants to cities such as Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Albuquerque as a way of easing overcrowding at border communities, according to NBC News. But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on June 14 sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and asked him to delay any plans to transport migrants to Albuquerque and other interior cities. The Democratic governor, who is seeking reelection, said she was concerned that New Mexico and other states would bear the brunt of adverse economic and social impacts if such a plan was initiated. She noted that the wildfires burning this year amid severe drought conditions have taxed New Mexico agencies that provide support services. So far this fiscal year, which began this past October, more than 1.5 million people 1,536,899 have been intercepted by the U.S. Border Patrol along the Southwest border. At the same time last year, 930,218 attempted crossings had been recorded, which at that time was the record. People dont know how busy it is, said Border Patrol Agent Luis Cadena, a special operations agent with horse patrol, who stood alongside his horse after detaining four Brazilians attempting to enter the United States illegally near the desert of Santa Teresa. On average we apprehend, here in Santa Teresa, about three or four hundred in a full rotation, he said, referencing a 24-hour work shift. At the same time, there is about 400 that get away also. So were at about a 50% apprehension rate. The 50% got-aways rate the tally of migrants who evade capture is consistent with his own experience, Rivera said, but he emphasized that it is only personal estimates and is not an official figure from Border Patrol data. We are seeing a high number of got-aways. I cant tell you we are catching them all, he said. What about the ones in the area that we did not reach? Or the ones we were not even aware that they were there? So the got-aways are always tricky to talk about. While Mount Cristo Rey has been a place of increasing migration from Mexico, at times it is also used as a site for negotiations, a truce of sorts along the border. When a large group of suspected undocumented migrants were up on the mountain on June 8, they watched as U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested many from the group who had ventured down. The remaining people of the group stayed on the mountain, right at the international boundary line, watching the agents below in a stalemate. So Cadena made a decision. Instead of waiting, I walked up to the top. I said hey, come on man to man, thats it for the day. Were here. The choppers are here. Its time to take a break, and try again tomorrow,' he recalled. And they took off. They went back to Mexico. BAKHMUT, Ukraine Holed up in a bombed-out house in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian troops keep a careful accounting of their ammunition, using a door as a sort of ledger. Scrawled in chalk on the door are figures for mortar shells, smoke shells, shrapnel shells, flares. Despite the heavy influx of weapons from the West, Ukrainian forces are outgunned by the Russians in the battle for the eastern Donbas region, where the fighting is largely being carried out by way of artillery exchanges. While the Russians can keep up heavy, continuous fire for hours at a time, the defenders cant match the enemy in either weapons or ammunition and must use their ammo more judiciously. At the outpost in eastern Ukraine, dozens and dozens of mortar shells are stacked up. But the troops commander, Mykhailo Strebizh, who goes by the nom de guerre Gaiduk, lamented that if his fighters were to come under an intense artillery barrage, their cache would, at best, amount to only about four hours worth of return fire. Ukrainian authorities say the Wests much-ballyhooed support for the country is not sufficient and is not arriving on the battlefield fast enough for this grinding and highly lethal phase of the war. While Russia has kept quiet about its war casualties, Ukrainian authorities say up to 200 of their soldiers are dying each day. Russian forces are gaining ground slowly in the east, but experts say they are taking heavy losses. The United States last week upped the ante with its largest pledge of aid for Ukrainian forces yet: an additional $1 billion in military assistance to help repel or reverse Russian advances. But experts note that such aid deliveries havent kept pace with Ukraines needs, in part because defense industries arent turning out weaponry fast enough. Were moving from peacetime to wartime, said Francois Heisbourg, a senior adviser at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research think tank. Peacetime means low production rates, and ramping up the production rate means that you have to first build industrial facilities. This is a defense-industrial challenge which is of a very great magnitude. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany last week reported that the U.S. has delivered about half of its pledged commitments in military support for Ukraine, and Germany about one-third. Poland and Britain have both come through on much of what they promised. Many foot soldiers say they cant even begin to match the Russians shot for shot, or shell for shell. Earlier this month, Ukraines ambassador in Madrid, Serhii Phoreltsev, thanked Spain which trumpeted a shipment of 200 tons of military aid in April but said the ammunition included was enough for only about two hours of combat. Ukrainian filmmaker-turned-fighter Volodymyr Demchenko tweeted a video expressing gratitude for guns sent by the Americans, saying, Its nice guns, and 120 bullets to each. But he lamented: Its like 15 minutes of a fight. Part of the problem, too, is that the Ukrainian forces, whose country was once a member of the Soviet Union, are more familiar with Soviet-era weaponry and must first be trained on the NATO equipment they are getting. An untold number of Ukrainians have traveled abroad to get training on the Western weapons. Of the $1 billion pledge from the U.S., only slightly more than one-third of that will be rapid, off-the-shelf deliveries by the Pentagon, and the rest will be available over a longer term. The pledge, which includes 18 howitzers and 36,000 rounds of ammunition for them, addresses Ukraines plea for more longer-range weaponry. Thats still far short of what the Ukrainians want 1,000 155 mm howitzers, 300 multiple-launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones as President Volodymyr Zelenskyys adviser Mikhail Podolyak tweeted last week, before the latest big Western pledges. What the Ukrainians have got to do is conduct what military people tend to call a counter-battery operation to respond to Russian artillery fire, said Ben Barry, a former director of the British Army Staff who is senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. To do this, you need accurate weapons with a high rate of fire and a range that allows them to keep out of the way of the other sides artillery. The Ukrainians are saying they dont have enough long-range rockets to adequately suppress Russian artillery, he said. I think theyre probably right. As it now stands, Ukrainian fighters often have to use shoot and scoot tactics fire, then move before the Russians can zero in on them. Better NATO hardware, even in small quantities, is often welcome. On a nearby front on Saturday, a Ukrainian unit granted The Associated Press rare access to the firing of U.S.-supplied M777 howitzers towable, 155 mm weapons on Russian positions. A lieutenant who goes by the call sign Wasp touted the M777s precision, speed of fire, simplicity of use and the ease with which it is camouflaged, saying the new hardware raises our spirits and demoralizes the enemy because they see what the consequences are. Denys Sharapov, Ukraines deputy minister of defense in charge of procurement, told a publication of the U.S.-based National Defense Industrial Association that the weapons systems that have been received cover only 10% to 15% of the countrys needs. He noted the breadth of the challenge a front line with 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of active combat. Interviewed by National Defense magazine in an article published Wednesday, Sharapov said no single supplier could satisfy Ukraines needs alone. Quite unfortunately for us, we have become the biggest consumer of weapons and ammunition in the world, he said. Friends of Ukraine are digging in for the long haul. Time may be on Ukraines side, the experts say. Ukrainian fighters are both motivated and mobilized all men in the country of 40 million have been called to fight, whereas Russia has so far avoided a call-up of conscripts, which could vastly tilt the war in Russias favor but may not be popular domestically. As for how long such fighting could last, analyst Heisbourg said a years-long war of attrition is quite possible. ___ Keaten reported from Geneva. Srdjan Nedeljkovic in Bakhmut, Ukraine, contributed to this report. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine PARIS France faced an ecstatic Marine Le Pen on Monday after her partys far-right candidates sent shockwaves through the political establishment and helped deny President Emmanuel Macrons centrist alliance a majority in parliament. The surprising breakthrough for the far right alongside a surge in support for hard-left candidates undercuts Macrons leadership, threatens his plans to raise the countrys retirement age and cut taxes, and reshapes Frances political landscape. Le Pens National Rally party didnt win the two-round parliamentary election that ended Sunday. But it secured more than 10 times the seats it won five years ago. Its an outcome shes long dreamed of, the result of more than a decade of grassroots work to woo disillusioned working class voters and scrub her party of its racist, antisemitic image so that its seen as a party like any other. One, she hopes, that could rule France one day. It was only in April that Le Pen lost the presidential election to Macron. But now it was her turn to gloat, since she knows she can use the seats in the National Assembly to thwart Macrons domestic agenda and even trigger a no-confidence vote. Beaming with pride, she called the outcome a historic victory and a seismic event in French politics. Antiracism groups quickly sounded the alarm over her anti-immigration, anti-Muslim agenda. Le Pens National Rally got 89 seats in the 577-member parliament, up from a previous total of eight. On the other side of the political spectrum, the leftist Nupes coalition, led by hard-liner Jean-Luc Melenchon, won 131 seats to become the main opposition force. Macrons alliance Together! won 245 seats but fell 44 seats short of a majority in the National Assembly, Frances most powerful house of parliament. The strong support for political extremes reflects a frustration with Macrons leadership that first erupted in 2018 with the yellow vest movement against perceived economic injustice, and has periodically resurfaced among those who see him as too pro-business, arrogant or tone-deaf to everyday concerns. The strong performance of both Le Pens National Rally and Melenchons coalition composed of his hard-left France Unbowed party as well as the Socialists, Greens and Communists will make it harder for Macron to implement the agenda he was reelected on in May, including tax cuts and raising Frances retirement age from 62 to 65. Macron is a minority president now, a beaming Le Pen declared Monday in Henin-Beaumont, her stronghold in northern France. His retirement reform plan is buried. She said the National Rally will seek to chair the parliaments powerful finance committee. The National Rally, previously known as the National Front, has been a political force in France for decades. But the two-round voting system had until now prevented it from achieving big scores in parliamentary elections. Political analyst Brice Teinturier, deputy director-general of Ipsos polling institute, said on France Inter radio that Sundays result means that the National Rally is institutionalizing itself. Le Pen lost to Macron in April with 41.5% of the votes against 58.5% her highest-ever level of support in her three attempts to become Frances leader. Since taking over the party in 2011, Le Pen has worked to remove the stigma attached to the National Front under the leadership of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, convicted repeatedly of racism and antisemitism. By softening some of her views and rhetoric, she sought to make the party move from a protest movement to an opposition force perceived as being able to govern. She even changed the partys name, which critics call a ruse to gloss over its dark past. Le Pens National Rally now has a sufficient number of legislators to constitute a formal group at the National Assembly and request seats in parliamentary committees, including those focusing on defense and foreign policy. In addition, the National Rally party now has enough seats more than 58 to trigger a censure motion against the government that can lead to a no-confidence vote. The new Assembly will start working next week. Meanwhile, France is heading toward a government reshuffle. Three ministers out of 15 who were running have lost the election and will need to resign under rules set by Macron. The president could also use the reshuffle to offer some jobs in the government to new potential allies. Macron himself hasnt commented on the election results yet. His government will still have the ability to rule, but only by bargaining with legislators. The centrists could try to negotiate on a case-by-case basis with lawmakers from the center-left and from the conservative party, with the goal of preventing opposition lawmakers from being numerous enough to reject the proposed measures. The government could also occasionally use a special measure provided by the French Constitution to adopt a law without a vote. Macrons diplomatic policies arent expected to be affected in an immediate future, including Frances strong support for Ukraine. In line with the French Constitution, Macron keeps substantial powers over foreign policy, European affairs and defense no matter what difficulties his alliance may face in parliament. Teinturier, the political analyst, said the new composition of the National Assembly echoes the desire of the French people to rebalance the results of the presidential election. There was clearly the will to not give all the powers and a straight majority to Emmanuel Macron and to impose on him some constraints, some kind of placement under supervision, he said. ___ Surk reported from Nice. Alexander Turnbull and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report. ___ Follow all AP stories on Frances 2022 presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/france-election-2022 BRUSSELS Belgian authorities on Monday returned a gold-capped tooth belonging to the slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look toward reconciliation. The restitution of the relic took place after Belgiums King Philippe earlier this month expressed his deepest regrets for his nations abuses in its African former colony, Congo, which is 75 times the size of Belgium. Following a private ceremony in the presence of relatives of Lumumba during which the federal prosecutor handed over a case containing the tooth, Belgiums prime minister Alexander De Croo told Congolese officials and Lumumbas family that the restitution came way too late. It is not normal that Belgium held onto the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades, said De Croo, who also offered apologies for the role played by his country in the assassination. Congolese Prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said the return of the relic will be essential for the countrys national memory. After his assassination in 1961, Lumumbas body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site. The tooth was seized by Belgian officials in 2016 from the daughter of the Belgian police commissioner who said he took it after overseeing the destruction of Lumumbas body. Two years ago, the federal prosecutors office said there is no absolute certainty that the tooth being returned is Lumumbas since no DNA test could be conducted. Lumumbas daughter, Juliana, agreed with De Croo the handover was long overdue. Father, our hearts bled for 61 years. she said during the official ceremony, speaking next to a coffin with a picture of her late father on top of it. We, your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren but also Congo, Africa and the world we mourned your death without an eulogy. Later the coffin was brought outside and draped in a Congolese flag. Lumumba remains for many in Congo a symbol of what the country could have become after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches. After pushing for an end to colonial rule, Lumumba became the newly independent Congos first prime minister in 1960. But historians say when he reached out to the Soviet Union for help in putting down a secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region, he quickly fell out of favor during Cold War times with both Belgium and the United States. So when dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a military coup later that year, Western powers did little to intervene as Lumumba was arrested and jailed. Lumumbas assassination by separatists in January 1961 ultimately cleared the way for Mobutu to rule the country, which he later renamed Zaire, for decades until his death in 1997. Even though Lumumbas killers were Congolese, questions have persisted over how complicit Belgium and the United States may have been in his death because of his perceived Communist ties. A Belgian parliamentary probe later determined that the government was morally responsible for Lumumbas death. A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the CIA had hatched a separate, failed plan to kill the Congolese leader. Several ministers of the Belgian government of the time bear a moral responsibility for the circumstances that led to this murder, De Croo said. A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals. For the democrat that I am, it is indefensible. For the liberal that I am, it is unacceptable. And for the human being that I am, it is odious. Two years ago, the 60th anniversary of Congos independence reignited calls to put Lumumbas soul to rest. Protesters gathered outside the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa, seeking restitution of his remains along with cultural artifacts taken during colonial rule. In Belgium, the international protests against racism that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States gave a new momentum to activists fighting to have monuments to King Leopold II removed. Leopold had plundered Congo during his 1865-1909 reign and forced many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his own profit. In 1908, he handed it over to the Belgian state, which continued to rule over the colony until it became independent in 1960. Amid the Black Lives Matter actions, protesters took down busts of the former monarch held responsible for the death of millions of Africans, and King Philippe later expressed regret for the violence carried out by the country when it ruled over Congo. None of his predecessors had gone so far as to convey remorse. PHOENIX Hundreds of blue, green and grey tents are pitched under the suns searing rays in downtown Phoenix, a jumble of flimsy canvas and plastic along dusty sidewalks. Here, in the hottest big city in America, thousands of homeless people swelter as the summers triple digit temperatures arrive. The stifling tent city has ballooned amid pandemic-era evictions and surging rents that have dumped hundreds more people onto the sizzling streets that grow eerily quiet when temperatures peak in the midafternoon. A heat wave earlier this month brought temperatures of up to 114 degrees (45.5 Celsius) and its only June. Highs reached 118 degrees (47.7 Celsius) last year. During the summer, its pretty hard to find a place at night thats cool enough to sleep without the police running you off, said Chris Medlock, a homeless Phoenix man known on the streets as T-Bone who carries everything he owns in a small backpack and often beds down in a park or a nearby desert preserve to avoid the crowds. If a kind soul could just offer a place on their couch indoors maybe more people would live, Medlock said at a dining room where homeless people can get some shade and a free meal. Excessive heat causes more weather-related deaths in the United States than hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes combined. Around the country, heat contributes to some 1,500 deaths annually, and advocates estimate about half of those people are homeless. Temperatures are rising nearly everywhere because of global warming, combining with brutal drought in some places to create more intense, frequent and longer heat waves. The past few summers have been some of the hottest on record. Just in the county that includes Phoenix, at least 130 homeless people were among the 339 individuals who died from heat-associated causes in 2021. If 130 homeless people were dying in any other way it would be considered a mass casualty event, said Kristie L. Ebi, a professor of global health at the University of Washington. Its a problem that stretches across the United States, and now, with rising global temperatures, heat is no longer a danger just in places like Phoenix. This summer will likely bring above-normal temperatures over most land areas worldwide, according to the latest seasonal forecast map produced by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University. Last summer, a heat wave blasted the normally temperate U.S. Northwest and had Seattle residents sleeping in their yards and on roofs, or fleeing to hotels with air conditioning. Across the state, several people presumed to be homeless died outdoors, including a man slumped behind a gas station. In Oregon, officials opened 24-hour cooling centers for the first time. Volunteer teams fanned out with water and popsicles to homeless encampments on Portlands outskirts. A quick scientific analysis concluded last years Pacific Northwest heat wave was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change adding several degrees and toppling previous records. Even Boston is exploring ways to protect diverse neighborhoods like its Chinatown, where population density and few shade trees help drive temperatures up to 106 degrees (41 Celsius) some summer days. The city plans strategies like increasing tree canopy and other kinds of shade, using cooler materials for roofs, and expanding its network of cooling centers during heat waves. Its not just a U.S. problem. An Associated Press analysis last year of a dataset published by the Columbia Universitys climate school found exposure to extreme heat has tripled and now affects about a quarter of the worlds population. This spring, an extreme heat wave gripped much of Pakistan and India, where homelessness is widespread due to discrimination and insufficient housing. The high in Jacobabad, Pakistan near the border with India hit 122 degrees (50 Celsius) in May. Dr. Dileep Mavalankar, who heads the Indian Institute of Public Health in the western Indian city Gandhinagar, said because of poor reporting its unknown how many die in the country from heat exposure. Summertime cooling centers for homeless, elderly and other vulnerable populations have opened in several European countries each summer since a heat wave killed 70,000 people across Europe in 2003. Emergency service workers on bicycles patrol Madrids streets, distributing ice packs and water in the hot months. Still, some 1,300 people, most of them elderly, continue to die in Spain each summer because of health complications exacerbated by excess heat. Spain and southern France last week sweltered through unusually hot weather for mid-June, with temperatures hitting 104 degrees (40 Celsius) in some areas. Climate scientist David Hondula, who heads Phoenixs new office for heat mitigation, says that with such extreme weather now seen around the world, more solutions are needed to protect the vulnerable, especially homeless people who are about 200 times more likely than sheltered individuals to die from heat-associated causes. As temperatures continue to rise across the U.S. and the world, cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, New York or Kansas City that dont have the experience or infrastructure for dealing with heat have to adjust as well. In Phoenix, officials and advocates hope a vacant building recently converted into a 200-bed shelter for homeless people will help save lives this summer. Mac Mais, 34, was among the first to move in. It can be rough. I stay in the shelters or anywhere I can find, said Mais who has been homeless on and off since he was a teen. Here, I can stay out actually rest, work on job applications, stay out of the heat. In Las Vegas, teams deliver bottled water to homeless people living in encampments around the county and inside a network of underground storm drains under the Las Vegas strip. Ahmedabad, India, population 8.4 million, was the first South Asian city to design a heat action plan in 2013. Through its warning system, nongovernmental groups reach out to vulnerable people and send text messages to mobile phones. Water tankers are dispatched to slums, while bus stops, temples and libraries become shelters for people to escape the blistering rays. Still, the deaths pile up. Kimberly Rae Haws, a 62-year-old homeless woman, was severely burned in October 2020 while sprawled for an unknown amount of time on a sizzling Phoenix blacktop. The cause of her subsequent death was never investigated. A young man nicknamed Twitch died from heat exposure as he sat on a curb near a Phoenix soup kitchen in the hours before it opened one weekend in 2018. He was supposed to move into permanent housing the next Monday, said Jim Baker, who oversees that dining room for the St. Vincent de Paul charity. His mother was devastated. Many such deaths are never confirmed as heat related and arent always noticed because of the stigma of homelessness and lack of connection to family. When a 62-year-old mentally ill woman named Shawna Wright died last summer in a hot alley in Salt Lake City, her death only became known when her family published an obituary saying the system failed to protect her during the hottest July on record, when temperatures reached the triple digits. Her sister, Tricia Wright, said making it easier for homeless people to get permanent housing would go a long way toward protecting them from extreme summertime temperatures. We always thought she was tough, that she could get through it, Tricia Wright said of her sister. But no one is tough enough for that kind of heat. ___ AP Science Writer Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi and AP writers Frances DEmilio in Rome and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report. Follow Snow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/asnowreports ___ Read more of APs climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/Climate Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal The Village of Chama in northern New Mexico is out of water. Matthew Gallegos, the villages mayor pro tem, said Monday morning that what likely began as a break in the main water line has turned into a full-blown water crisis. We have no water in our tanks, Gallegos said. We need help. Residents lined up outside the village hall on Monday to fill containers from a state-supplied water truck. The emergency water supply came from the Jicarilla Apache Nation community of Dulce. But Gallegos said that the truck is expected to leave by the end of the week. About 1,000 residents will be without any water. Weve fixed some leaks, mainly on peoples distribution lines rather than the main line, and weve also repaired some valves, Gallegos said Monday. But this morning, we all woke up and turned on the faucet, and nothing came out. The village of about 1,000 residents receives water from the Rio Chama. State agencies began stepping in on June 10 after learning of a leak in the villages distribution system. The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is delivering 15,000 to 20,000 gallons of potable water a day, along with bottled water. An engineering company is expected to assess the problem later this week. The New Mexico Environment Department has offered technical assistance and is prepared to help the village with the contracting process for fixing the water system. In a June 10 letter to Mayor Ernest Vigil, NMED Secretary James Kenney said his agency would continue to assist with the villages drinking water issues. He also referenced $800,000 in state capital outlay funds from 2021 awarded to the village for water system improvements. I recommend you use this funding to identify and correct the leak as soon as possible to ensure adequate storage and consistent supply of safe drinking water for the community, Kenney wrote. The emergency supply is not enough to pressurize the water lines and pinpoint the leak locations, Gallegos said. Chama businesses have suffered several recent economic blows because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drought and wildfires. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad pushed back its opening until July because of wildfire concerns. Village councilor Scott Flury said he fears for the welfare of elderly residents. But he also stressed the impact that the water outage could have on local tourism. Theres not a date we can give to say youll have water to resume business, Flury said. Its a scary situation. Officials have ordered signs to be placed at village entrances to warn of the water situation. With rains complicating the leak detection efforts, Chama faces a weekslong water outage. These folks only have a few months to make their livelihood, and we dont know how many will survive, Flury said. Gallegos pointed out that the area has not really rebounded from another water crisis two years ago. For two months in the spring of 2020, the state Environment Department warned Chama residents to boil their water. High turbidity levels were hampering bacteria treatments. Years of neglect at the local treatment plant had taken a toll on the villages ability to properly filter water. A local resident has offered the use of ponds on her property in case the village needs water to fight structure fires or new wildfires, Gallegos said. Ive attempted to purchase pallets of water for the village, but good luck getting that much water at the grocery stores, he said. Theres so many other emergencies right now. JERUSALEM Israels weakened coalition government announced Monday that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock. The election will be Israels fifth in three years, and it will put the polarizing Netanyahu, who has been the opposition leader for the past year, back at the center of the political universe. I think the winds have changed. I feel it, Netanyahu declared. The previous four elections, focused on Netanyahus fitness to rule while facing a corruption investigation, ended in deadlock. While opinion polls project Netanyahu, who is now on trial, as the front-runner, it is far from certain that his Likud party can secure the required parliamentary majority to form a new government. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former ally and aide of Netanyahu, formed his government a year ago with the aim of halting the never-ending cycle of elections. But the fragile coalition government, which includes parties from across the political spectrum, lost its majority earlier this year and has faced rebellions from different lawmakers in recent weeks. Announcing his plan to disband the government during a nationally televised news conference, Bennett said he had made the right decision in difficult circumstances. Together, we got Israel out of the pit. We accomplished many things in this year. First and foremost, we brought to center stage the values of fairness and trust, Bennett said, standing alongside his main partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. We shifted to a culture of we, together.' Under their coalition deal, Lapid, who heads the large centrist party Yesh Atid, now becomes the interim prime minister until the election, in which he is expected to be the main rival to Netanyahu. Standing together with Bennett, he thanked his partner for his hard work and for putting the country ahead of his personal interests. Even if were going to elections in a few months, our challenges as a state cannot wait, Lapid said. What we need to do today is go back to the concept of Israeli unity. Not to let dark forces tear us apart from within. Bennetts coalition included a diverse array of parties, from dovish factions that support an end to Israels occupation of lands captured in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians, to hard-line parties that oppose Palestinian statehood. Many of the parties had little in common beyond a shared animosity to Netanyahu. Often described as a political experiment, the coalition made history by becoming the first to include an Arab party. Bennett listed his governments accomplishments, including passing a national budget for the first time in three years and leading the country through two waves of the coronavirus without imposing a lockdown. Under his watch, Israels tense border with the Gaza Strip remained largely quiet, though tensions with the Palestinians escalated in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. His Arab partner, the Islamic Raam party, secured unprecedented budgets to fight poverty, neglect and discrimination in Israels Arab sector. On the international stage, Bennett repaired Israels bipartisan standing in Washington, which suffered after Netanyahus close ties with former President Donald Trump. He deepened fledgling ties with Gulf Arab countries, repaired frayed relations with Egypt and Jordan, and claimed to have prevented the United States from reviving an international nuclear deal with Iran. Bennett even briefly emerged as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite its successes, the coalition eventually unraveled, in large part because several members of Bennetts own hard-line party objected to what they felt were his pragmatism and moderation. Netanyahu, meanwhile, whipped up the opposition by accusing Bennett of cooperating with terror supporters a reference to his Arab partners in the coalition. A Netanyahu supporter was arrested last month on suspicion she sent death threats and bullets to Bennetts family in the mail. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the countrys population but are often seen as a fifth column and have never before been part of a coalition. Although Netanyahu himself had also courted the same Islamist party last year, the criticism appeared to make some of the hard-line members of Bennetts coalition uncomfortable. The final blow to the government was the looming expiration of a law that grant Israels West Bank settlers special legal status. The law underpins separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, a situation that three prominent human rights groups say amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects that allegation as an attack on its legitimacy. Parliament had been set to extend the law earlier this month, as it has done for the past 55 years. But the hard-line opposition, comprised heavily of settler supporters, paradoxically voted against the bill in order to embarrass Bennett. Dovish members of the coalition who normally oppose the settlements voted in favor in hopes of keeping the government afloat. But a handful of coalition members, including Arab lawmakers as well as hard-line nationalists, either abstained or voted with the opposition to defeat the bill and cause the coalition to rip apart. Bennett, a former settler leader, said there would have been grave security perils and constitutional chaos if he had allowed the law to expire at the end of the month. I couldnt let that happen, he said. Bennett and Lapid will now present a bill to dissolve parliament in the coming days. Once that passes, the country will head to an election, most likely in October. The settler law remains in effect and will not expire if the government collapses. Netanyahu described the imminent dissolution of parliament as great tidings for millions of Israelis, and he said he would form a broad nationalist government headed by Likud after the next election. But he also vowed to try to form an alternative government before the parliamentary vote by trying to persuade some of his opponents to support him. The odds of that appeared slim, given their past never to serve under Netanyahu while he is on trial. Theres a need to rehabilitate the state of Israel, and we have the ability to do it, Netanyahu said. The dissolution threatened to overshadow a visit by President Joe Biden scheduled for next month. A statement issued by Bidens National Security Council said he looks forward to the visit. Israel held four inconclusive elections between 2019 and 2021 that were largely referendums about Netanyahus ability to rule while on trial for corruption. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing. Opinion polls have forecast that Netanyahus hard-line Likud will once again emerge as the largest single party. But it remains unclear whether he would be able to muster the required support of a majority of lawmakers to form a new government. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said Mondays developments were a clear indication that Israels worst political crisis did not end when this government was sworn into office. ___ Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report. Hyundai Motor India Ltd., countrys first Smart Mobility Solutions Provider and the largest exporter since its inception, today launched branded content campaign to illustrate the new VENUE's bold and premium appeal and bespoke design language. As a part of the campaign, Hyundai has collaborated with Instagrams Born on Instagram program to connect with Gen Z and Millennials, under its flagship theme Live the Lit life. Under this collaboration, 25 Born on Instagram-certified creators with followership ranging from 30-300k will create unique and interesting content around the new VENUE to strike a chord with Gen MZ. Additionally, Hyundai will utilise 10 established creators with followership up to 4.5 million and a good connect with the youthful populace, for snackable digital content on the go-to platform of Gen MZ, Instagram. Hyundai plans to leverage this association with Born on Instagram to garner engagement through bite-sized content, that includes reels, stories, static posts and videos that will be posted by these 35 influencers in 4 days starting from 16th June 2022. Mr Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing & Service), Hyundai Motor India Ltd., said, As a progressive brand, we are excited to collaborate with Meta and showcase our commitment to young India. Conceptualized with an overarching theme of Live the Lit life, the campaign showcases how well the new VENUE embodies the lifestyle, interests and passion of Gen MZ by engaging top creators. Live the Lit life epitomizes the new Hyundai VENUE as the trendiest, upbeat and the most comfortable SUV that complements the dynamic aspirations of Gen MZ. This activation will personify unique and exhilarating experiences through highly engaging digital, creator influencer-driven content. Born on Instagram is Instagrams creator education and enablement program. Since its launch in 2019, the program has enabled creators to create more engaging content, and build stronger communities through self-serve, e-learning courses available in five languages, masterclasses from top creators, weekly content trends, and earning opportunities through rewards and brand partnerships. Saugato Bhowmik, Director, CPG, D2C, Automotive, Facebook India (Meta), added, Were deeply committed to supporting the creator economy, and to facilitate branded content partnerships that have meaningful business impact. With this campaign, we are providing the Born on Instagram creators an opportunity to bring their community closer to the brands they already love and to monetize through branded content partnerships. For Hyundai, were facilitating an engagement with a thriving group of creators whose content, creativity and engagement, drive their community to take actions. Hyundai's communication narrative for the new VENUE Launch, Live the Lit life, represents the expectations of young customers to immerse in a thrilling and enjoyable driving experience, enabling them to "Live the Lit life". The theme personifies customer aspirations to rejuvenate young and exciting experiences for new-age consumers, comprising of young Millennial and Gen Z professionals. Encapsulating the needs and aspirations of Gen MZ customers, Hyundai developed the key communication of Live the Lit life that illustrates the new Hyundai VENUE as the next Lit space for customers on their journey. The new VENUE is designed to be notably bold, combining innovation through features like sensuous sportiness, enhanced connectivity and cutting-edge technology, thus steering youth's desire to drive. Paree Sanitary Pads, the homegrown brand by Soothe Healthcare has always been promoting progressive and open a dialogue to address the issues related to periods, one of them being fear of staining. Keeping this thought in mind, the brand has launched a new influencer marketing campaign #StretchBeyondStains this Yoga Day with Actress Vaishali Thaniga and Sapna Malik, the fame of MTV Splitsvilla & Roadies, and several others. The thought behind the digital campaign is to break away from the myth that yoga isnt advisable during period. Menstruation is a normal physiological process and regular practice of yoga might help your body feel more comfortable during the monthly cycles and can also help with menstrual cramps. As a part of this campaign, the influencers can be seen performing various asanas like Malasana, Baddakonasana, and Brahmari that are known to bring relief during periods even though people usually tend to avoid yoga during that day of the month. It further highlights the benefits of comfort and confidence that Paree Double Feathers has to offer as it gives double protection to unwanted leaks during heavy flow days. Commenting on #StretchBeyondStains campaign, Ms. Samta Datta, General Manager Marketing, Soothe Healthcare said Yoga is a celebration of holistic health. With #StrectchBeyondStains, we want to emphasise on feminine health & hygiene and encourage all to break away from the culture of silence around mensural. Paree Heavy flow champion offers top of the line products that allow all women not to halt their everyday health routine, in fear of leakage. These influencers will help spread our message across India. Paree Sanitary Pads has owned the space of feminine hygiene by understanding the requirement of young urban women and giving her solutions for ever-evolving needs. With women nowadays constantly at work and hustling, the brand aspires to give them comfort and support in every way. After over two years of Covid disruptions, on-ground events are returning. Adgullys premier event for the Public Relations and Communications industry IMAGEXX Summit and Awards returned for its 2nd edition as a physical event. Held in Gurugram on June 16, 2022, IMAGEXX Summit and Awards 2022 brought together the best brains in Indias PR industry today. IMAGEXX Summit and Awards 2022 witnessed a panel discussion on PR should play an important role in enhancing CSR and ESG, which stressed on why and how CEOs of organisations should actively participate push CSR in a big way. The panel was chaired by Pooja Jethwani, Account Director & Lead - ESG and Social Impact Consulting Practice, Adfactors PR. The panellists who joined her in the conversation were Indu Sharma, Senior General Manager, Communication, Schneider Electric; Atul Raja, Executive Vice President, Global Marketing, Wadhwani Foundation; Nikhil Bharadwaj, Vice President and Head Corporate Communications, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance; and Ritu Jhingon, Group Director Communication, Vedanta. CSR is a serious subject, and it is something that makes us question things. Last two years, people have been questioning whether to find meaning and purpose in whatever they do. There is conflict in terms of poverty, access to healthcare, education, climate change and the list goes on. But at the same time after the last two years there has been a renewed commitment among stakeholders as well to do purpose led work. This is what we will be talking about 40 years down the road, how leaders are inspiring, delivering and pursuing purpose. Whether you talk about investors wanting to invest in purposeful businesses, employees wanting to work with responsible and ethical companies or consumers becoming increasingly conscious of what they buy, where are their products coming from or at the end of the day businesses who hold themselves accountable at the end of the day. Watch the entire conversation here: Given the skills, energy, growing economy and leadership that the country has, the next few decades can belong to India, former Prime Minister of the UK David Cameron said on Saturday while speaking at a session India in the New International Order on the second day of TV9 What India Thinks Today Global Summit held on June 17-18, 2022 at Taj Palace in New Delhi. There is a real opportunity for India to be a real thought leader on all the three fronts the challenge on how we grow our economies, the challenge of how we show that democracy is relevant and still works today and the challenge of how we tackle climate, said Cameron. The former British PM was in conversation with Barun Das, the CEO of TV9 Network, the most watched news network in the country. Speaking on Indias potential to aspire for a Vishwa Guru or leadership position on the world stage, Cameron said, I feel there is every chance that the next few decades can be Indias decades. India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the world that is also pushing up global growth rates. Significantly, the former British PM views Indias potential linked to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he thinks, has a track record of delivering changes on the ground. He (Narendra Modi) combines very powerful rhetoric, powerful arguments with the track record of delivering and implementing changes on the ground. Cameron put a lot of emphasis on economic growth. Economy is absolutely central. If you cant prove your economy is growing and you are lifting people out of poverty into prosperity then your power on the world stage is reduced, remarked the British PM. On the question of Russias war on Ukraine, Cameron felt that only one individual, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was responsible for the entire misery the war has heaped on the people of Ukraine and different economies in general. You have to blame for what has happened in Ukraine on one person and one person alone Vladimir Putin. He has invaded a sovereign country and has been pounding it with artillery. It is an appalling act, said Cameron, adding that the G20 talks in November in Bali will be hobbled since he felt that it might be difficult to sit around the table with a mass murderer. The British former PM felt that Chinas continued rise in manufacturing was inevitable. The great economic rise of China will continue. Chinas rise is inevitable. It is something we have to try to manage and try to ensure that we have a safe world without conflict. There is a big opportunity for India as the worlds biggest democracy. Companies all over the world think about where are my supply chains, where do I feel safe, where do I feel welcome, he added. Cameron, credited with breathing new life in the British Conservative Party in this century, served as the Prime Minister of the UK between May 2010 and July 2016. He made multiple visits to India both as the Leader of the Opposition and as the PM.The Summit with the overarching theme Vishwa Guru: How Near, How Far? was held to bring policymakers and thought leaders from the country including an array of Union Ministers, corporate captains, Chief Ministers, as well as global voices to discuss various areas and challenges facing an India that is preparing for a more significant role in the post-pandemic world order. ZEE Ganga, one of the leading Bhojpuri GECs, presents the third edition of Yoga Futurefit, an award-winning program on Yoga and healthcare, as a digital-first initiative celebrating International Yoga Day on 21st June 2022. Helping its valued Bhojpuri audience lead a healthy life, Zee Ganga will stream the program first on its official Facebook page at 7am on 21st June, followed by broadcasting it in its channel at 8 a.m. Successful in conveying the message of an anxiety-free lifestyle, Yoga Futurefit has received over dozens of awards such as ACEF, National Awards for excellence in digital marketing, CMO Asia awards, and Adgully Mobexx Awards to name a few. This time, the two-hour-long program will feature renowned Yoga guru Suneel Singh and Bhojpuri acting sensation and Yoga enthusiast Nidhi Jha. Suneel Singh is globally known as a Yoga expert and teaches Yogasana, Pranayama, Bandha, Mantra, Mudra, meditation, cleansing Kriyas and Japanese Tao Yoga. Welcoming a morning of fitness and well-being for better health, the session will have Singh demonstrate highly effective yet simple asanas that the viewers can practice at the comfort of their homes. Nidhi will accompany the yoga expert in the demonstration of these asanas. The duo will also share valuable tips for the viewers to choose a smarter, healthier lifestyle, by explaining the endless benefits of Yoga in staying fit forever. This International Yoga Day, grab the chance to begin a healthier lifestyle with expert guidance from the Yoga guru and the Bhojpuri beauty. Tune in to ZEE Ganga at 8AM on 21st June, International Yoga Day. And kids are increasingly MORE SEVERELY DISABLED. That fact is sometimes noted in news reports, again in passing, but it should scare everyone. Im in my sixth year posting stories on LossOfBrainTrust, yet clearly this is a disaster that goes unrecognized, even by the people involved. Officials keep funding more special ed classrooms and even whole schools, but its never enough. Were constantly told that THERE ARE MORE DISABLED CHILDREN without even an attempt at an explanation for why its happening. We congratulate ourselves for recognizing the sorrowful condition of children and continually call for better detection and earlier intervention, as if those improvements would solve all the problems of dysfunctional children worldwide. And its getting worse right before our eyes. Something is happening to childrens brains that make them unable to speak in many cases, unable to learn normally and unable to behave as children have always been expected to behave. (We call this damage by a lot of different names: autism, Aspergers, ADD, ADHD, OCD, speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), social/emotional disorder (SED), severe learning difficulties (SLD), and many more acronyms.) With literally THOUSANDS of stories on the decline of children everywhere on my site, LossOfBrainTrust.com, https://www.lossofbraintrust.com/ its an undisputable fact that autism or some other form of neurological damage has changed traditional childhood. Autism, that perpetual mystery identified by the iconic multicolored puzzle piece is a condition rampant in kids today. Weve learned to accept and even celebrate the disorder. Note: We're seeing the result of normalizing autism over the last 25 years. From a diagnosis to a difference. From awareness and action to acceptance and acquiescence. Autism has been scooted over to something in the sexual category. The "approved" symbol is a rainbow infinity loop. The rainbow has one meaning today and it's not Oz. The red, blue, yellow puzzle piece is considered discriminatory. Schools are overwhelmed with special education students, and severely behavioral students. It's not that teachers can't teach all of a sudden. The raw material, the kids, are not of the same neurological status, meaning quality. Tomorrow, it will start to get much worse. It's Covid vaccine day starting at 6 months. I hope we're still here in 6 years when that cohort starts school, the ones who live. ### By Anne Dachel ITS REALLY ALL ABOUT AUTISM. Some Wiscasset students high needs for special education may call for the school department to add staff, Special Education Director Ken Spinney said. He told school committee members June 14 in Wiscasset Middle High Schools library and carried on Zoom, they might wonder why he did not speak up in budget season. (This has) been creeping over the last few months ... I said one week, Wow, Im just blown away, in one week, how things can change. He expects Wiscasset Elementary School to need a fourth special education teacher. We need to build (the program) up in order to maintain safe and appropriate programming. WES Principal Kathleen Pastore concurred. Students are joining WES with an increase of unique and challenging needs ... for whatever the reason, but students seem to be coming (with those), she said. We continue to see an increase in students with severe behaviors and without this type of program, we will likely see an increase in additional adult supports or out of district placements, he wrote. So, MORE kids are MORE SEVERLY DISABLED. Why doesnt anyone ever speculate on why its happening and not just in a town in Maine? Recently I transcribed an interview by Wayne Rohde with top autism expert, Dr. Walter Zahorodny. Dr. Zahorodny is from Rutgers and he calculates the New Jersey autism rate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it is considered the most accurate in the country. I cant believe Zahorodny said the following about the increases: We could really identify no specific reason why autism prevalence increased, not only in New Jersey, but in every other state in the Network. And it increased for boys and for girls. It increased for white, black, Hispanic, Asian children. It increased across every state. In the world of the prevalence estimates of the ADDM Network, weve only seen increases. Throughout that DSM-IV period, only increases. When we shifted to the DSM-5 definition, we also only see increases. And while the CDC puts the U.S. autism rate at 2.3 percent of children, Zahorodny adds these chilling figures: San Diego, California, four percent. Newark, New Jersey, five percent. Toms River, New Jersey, seven percent. One in five towns in New Jersey, in our region, have a rate of five percent or higher. We have already in Newark and in Toms River eight to 12 percent of boys in the public education system [that] have a lifelong disability or most likely a lifelong disability. In Ocean County in 2016, while the overall New Jersey estimate was 3.2 percent, we found that the prevalence of autism was already over five percent in Ocean County. What does this mean for the future? Zahorodny speculating on the eventual outcome: Im not an economist, but do you choose to project five percent or 10 percent as a realistic metric for how many people will need significant, maybe lifetime support? Eventually five to 10 percent of adults will be disabled with autism and need lifetime care. So the disaster we see unfolding in our schools will increasingly be happening with adult services, only well never be able to afford that ever-increasing cost of care for disabled individuals who arent here currently. Ive added several dozen new stories to my site this past week, and Ill have many more by next week. The stories from Great Britain and Ireland show an education system under siege. Here are excerpts: England there are not enough special schools for children with severe behavioural and mental health problems The school only has space for 80 pupils in primary and secondary due to the complex needs of the children. Pupils travel in from around London and Essex, with some requiring journeys of up to two hours. In response to the crisis, the Department for Education has announced it is investing billions in creating more special schools and alternative provisions. Proposals for a 250-place special needs school took a step forward this week after West Northants Council (WNC) published more details for academies who might bid to run it. The pressure for SEND places is intense. As they are, mainstream schools simply do not have the capacity to take on more SEND pupils and the private sector in the county has also reached its limit. One primary school in Nottinghamshire reported that some children arrived at school unable to say their own names and that 50% of their pupils in reception and nursery were not toilet trained. Education systems across Britain are "failing on every measure" and 60% of parents don't believe schools prepare pupils for work, according to The Times Education Commission. Parents have welcomed a decision to build a new school for pupils with special educational needs but said it was long overdue. West Northamptonshire Council has agreed to build a state school costing 20m [$24M] at Tiffield for 250 pupils. The authority currently spends 11m [$13M] per year to send 174 children to independent schools. The data, sourced by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), shows how councils across England are continuing to grapple with a black hole in funding for the rising numbers of children who need extra help. TBIJs investigation has found the special needs deficit across England has reached at least 1.3bn [$1.6B] an increase of around 450m [$546M] in the last year alone. With a projected overall deficit of 51.8m [$62.9M] including a forecast increase of around 20m [$24M] in the last year Norfolk is among the worst affected authorities in England. Only Kent, Surrey, Devon and Hampshire have bigger deficits. Nansa chief executive Mr Smith said the investigations findings: "Unfortunately highlight what we see on a daily basis; the demand for SEND provision in Norfolk far exceeds the support available.... There are some exceptional examples of SEND provision across our county, but most must tackle increasingly difficult waiting lists.... ...Across the schools surveyed, 95,991 pupils identified as having special educational needs and disability (SEND), making up 18% of all pupils - higher than last year. The first of a new wave of up to 60 special and alternative provision free schools across England will also begin opening from September 2025, creating approximately 4,500 new places across the country, and boosting choice for parents. the SEND system is broken. Scotland We need a mental health professional in every GP practice as well as face-to-face services in every primary and secondary school. These are real solutions that can be put in place rather than the First Minister offering warm words but little action, year after year. Mr Sarwar recounted that an eight-year-old boy diagnosed with autism 10 months ago has been waiting to see a psychiatrist while his condition has become worse. We have invested 40 million [$49M] to improve CAMHS and to clear all backlogs by March 2023. The minister said the Scottish Government has already provided an additional 15m [$18M] . . . Ireland Many children in Cork still have no school place for special education around the city, but the Department said that at least 30 pupils will be offered a place at the Rochestown school initially. The Department, along with the National Council of Special Education is also working to provide further support and expansions at three other Cork schools. Carrigaline Community Special School which opened in 2021 is to see 16 extra places for the coming school year, and St. Killians Special School in Mayfield is to see an additional 18 places for September. Parents of special needs children "have their backs to the wall and are accepting inappropriate school places" the Dail has been told. The Dail debated a Sinn Fein private members bill on Tuesday which called on the Government to "publish the data on the true number of children without an appropriate school place for September", as well as guaranteeing that a previously-proposed "segregationist" special education centre plan would not go ahead. Cork South-Central TD Donnchadh O Laoghaire told the Dail that it was "disgraceful" that the Government was looking to use emergency measures to find spaces for at least 267 children who do not have appropriate places in schools. "This year, the Department of Education will spend in excess of 2bn [$2.7B], or over 25% of the departments budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs," the counter-motion stated. Ms Tully was speaking as her party put forward a motion calling on the Government to introduce emergency measures to ensure all children have an appropriate school place this September. She said there were hundreds of children with additional learning needs either without a school placement or in inappropriate school placement. In reality, that number is significantly higher. That does not include the thousands of children whose parents, desperate and feeling that they have had no other choice, have accepted an inappropriate place for their child, the Cork South-Central TD said. Tommy is 13 years old and is waiting 1.5 years for therapies since his Autism diagnosis. Invisible queues exist where some children are waiting for the most essential therapies for up to and beyond three years. The war on America's suburbs has opened a new front. Buried in President Biden's proposed budget for 2023 is a $10-billion bribe for suburban communities to remove zoning barriers to high-density housing. The federal government promises the suburbs funding for street improvements, traffic control, and water and sewer lines if they adopt "housing-forward policies" that eliminate single-family zoning and open their communities to "affordable housing." This is no benign endeavor to provide more housing. It is a strong signal to Democrat-controlled states to gear up the decades-long efforts to bludgeon affluent communities into submitting to "housing justice" and providing their "fair share." The New York metro area has been ground zero for efforts to erode local zoning, and if Democrats retain the governorship and supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, the pressure will be on New York's officials to enact legislation first to weaken local zoning and then to destroy it. Their new tools are accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which can be apartments over garages and standalone dwellings, and large multi-family transit-oriented developments (TODs), surrounding train stations and bus depots. These efforts are being fueled by housing activists and progressive think-tanks like the Brookings Institution, which declared in a January 2022 article: "By some measures, the suburban counties around New York City have some of the worst exclusionary zoning in the nation." To understand the hostility to the suburbs, some background is useful. The initial strategy was to usurp local control through litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It had limited success because to eviscerate local control, HUD had to prove racial discrimination, which by the 1980s and 1990s had largely been eradicated. So HUD tried other tactics. In 2009, HUD and a housing activist forced New York's Westchester County into a settlement to build 750 units of affordable housing due to the county's sloppy reporting of its federal housing grants. Then HUD tried to use the settlement as a wedge to expand the agreement and force Westchester to sue individual municipalities to change their zoning. HUD's efforts failed due to its lack of statutory authority, due to New York's constitutional protection of local zoning, and because thencounty executive Rob Astorino, now running in the Republican gubernatorial primary to challenge Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul, fought relentlessly to protect the municipalities. But the housing justice activists never give up. In early 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul, who stepped into her role on Andrew Cuomo's departure, tried to sneak into her executive budget mandated ADUs and TODs, both of which would override local zoning. In the case of ADUs, municipalities would be prevented from using setback or parking requirements. In the case of TODs, local zoning would be eviscerated and replaced with state control. Negative reaction from the suburbs was swift. "This is a sledgehammer to the suburbs," said Astorino. "Governor Hochul will abolish single-family residential zoning with this legislation and prohibit protections against overcrowding in our neighborhoods, schools, and streets. The power to plan a community must be with local elected officials, not dictated by Albany." Strong objections were also voiced by the state's Association of Towns and the New York Conference of Mayors; elected officials throughout the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island; and Hochul's Democratic primary opponent, Thomas Suozzi. Faced with bipartisan opposition, Hochul backed down. But her action is only a temporary tactical retreat from the progressives' long-term plan to turn the suburbs into state-controlled, monolithic residential areas built around mass transit. There are a number of bills pending in New York's Legislature that will be re-activated if the Democrats retain one-party rule in the state. Brookings cheers New York politicians' efforts: "Albany is awash in proposals for land use reform." Proposed S.4547 would override local zoning to permit the construction of ADUs as small as 550 square feet on residential property for the purposes of rental. Municipalities would be prevented from imposing barriers to the units, including parking requirements, setbacks, or allowable residential density. S.7574 would create statewide standards for local zoning, legalize duplexes and four-unit buildings, and allow housing to be built without off-street parking. S.7635 would create an "anti-snob" law, which would allow the development of qualified affordable housing in any community where less than 10% of the housing stock is below market. S.9462 would establish a special joint legislative commission on affordable housing to make recommendations on future legislation. People move to the suburbs because they want good education for their children, safe communities, and engagement with neighbors on civic and religious issues, along with an attractive lifestyle. The continuation of one-party rule in New York would imperil all of these as well as engage the war on the suburbs in other Democrat-controlled states. Linda R. Killian is a founding member of Republican Women of Westchester and a retired financial executive, now researching and writing about policy issues. Image: NYS Funeral Directors Association via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped). Have you noticed a little shouting across the Rio Grande? It appears that Mexican President Lopez-Obrador, or AMLO as they call him, has been arguing with the "Cubano 3" in the U.S. Senate. This is the story: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took swipes at Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Bob Menendez during a regular press conference Wednesday morning, piling on from criticism lobbed in recent days. Lopez Obrador has accused the three senators, and other Cubans living in the United States, of wielding power to continue the United States' embargo on Cuba. The president cited Cuba on Monday as part of his reasons for not attending the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas this week, as the nation, along with Venezuela and Nicaragua, were not invited due to concerns over human rights violations. Rubio tweeted about Lopez Obrador in Spanish on Tuesday, saying: "Glad to see that the Mexican president, who has handed over sections of his country to drug cartels and is an apologist for tyranny in Cuba, a murderous dictator in Nicaragua and a drug trafficker in Venezuela, will not be in the U.S. this week." Lopez Obrador addressed the tweet on Wednesday, denying drug cartel issues in Mexico and, instead, hurling criticism at the three senators. As my late mother used to say, it sounds a little nasty and personal. AMLO is coming up with another excuse for the failure of Cuba's socialist regime. The embargo does not stop Cuba from doing business with Mexico or any other country. Why doesn't AMLO encourage more Mexican companies to trade with Cuba? Could it be that Mexico keeps getting stuck with Cuban promissory notes it can't collect on i.e. forgiving debt? Why is AMLO picking fights with three democratically elected U.S. senators? Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that the three Senate Cubanos are giving it right back, and that makes me proud. PS: Check out my videos and posts. Image: Eneas de Troya. The Biden administration has nominated Howard University Environmental Law Professor Carlton Waterhouse to become assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management. Waterhouse is a truly far-left radical and supporter of so-called "climate reparations." He believes that the United States needs to be punished for having an advanced economy, as it must have become wealthy only at the expense of other countries. YouTube screen grab. At the American Climate Leadership Summit in 2020, Waterhouse, who also believes in reparations for Black people, stated: "Climate reparations is really just calling for the equitable redress for the harm that has been caused historically. That's what it's about making amends." He added: I think climate reparations are essential and an important part of having an equitable climate vision. I think we have to understand that we're not able to get to an equitable climate solution if we don't address the inequities in our society. So ultimately, our environment is just one larger part of the social world in which we live. When we think about an equitable climate solution, we've got to think about how to equitably deal with this social inequality and injustices that result from our history of gender, race, and class discrimination, and that kind of reality means that we have to envision a space where those are not present. As long as gender and race and class discrimination define people's experiences in our society, they will also define their experiences in relationship to the environment. And so that has to be the central part of really moving us forward to address an accurate and equitable climate vision. Let me put this as equitably as I can: huh?! Waterhouse drones on: With regards to climate reparations, I might start off by saying the United States historically is one of the biggest contributors by itself, probably the largest historically of any contributors to climate problems at all, followed by Europe. When you put Europe and the United States together, you're kind of talking about 90 percent of the contributors to the greenhouse gases that we are now suffering the consequences from. In contrast, the rest of the world combined probably has contributed roughly 10 percent. Marginalized communities within those countries that have gotten the least benefits out of that pollution, are also going to suffer some of the greatest harms from that. And around the world, countries that have had very little if any contribution towards climate change are suffering some of its worst consequences. Climate reparations is really just calling for the equitable redress for the harm that has been caused historically. And on: He opined on the importance of "engaging as allies and as advocates for marginalized communities, for communities of color, for working class, and low-income communities." And on: If you're a part of an organization, or a church, or you're just an individual who's concerned about addressing climate change, then it's important for you to serve as an ally, for those on the ground community-based environmental justice organizations, social-justice organizations that are fighting around issues of environmental justice. As long as the people who are most at risk and most marginalized are neglected, we'll never really have an equitable climate solution. But if we begin by looking to those who are most threatened, like those in Flint, and in other cities like East Chicago, Indiana, when you look to those communities that are most threatened, most harmed, then you're going to find solutions that are going to allow everyone to be able to succeed. Ranking GOP committee member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) recently unearthed some of Waterhouse's earlier tweets, exposing his extreme anti-capitalist views and stupendous ignorance. "The ugly truth about energy. The ends don't justify the means," Waterhouse wrote on April 25, 2015, employing the hashtag "ResistCapitalism." The ugly truth about leftists is that they are totalitarians. Being able to feed and clothe your family, move freely about the country and the world, and heat or cool your house does justify the means. Think of the alternative. Think of going back to the Middle Ages. On May 17, 2015, he tweeted, "Inexpensive products have a high cost. Workers pay with their happiness, health & their lives," adding the same hashtag. No, Mr. Waterhouse, the vast array of affordable products that capitalism made possible brought much happiness to the world and raised billions out of poverty and their life expectancy, too. Waterhouse is a virtue-signaling, elitist, authoritarian whacko, so naturally he was awarded a doctorate in social ethics and a master's degree by Emory University in theological studies. His nomination may be approved by the Senate in the near future. Is paying "reparations" to every nation/person/entity in the world that is less well off than the U.S./you/your group good policy? Is it moral? Reasonable? Workable? A legitimate benefit to anyone in the long term? Who gets to be the final arbiter? I have been improperly slighted and taken advantage of many times in my life. Can I get a governmental body to force those who have wronged me to give me reparations? And this becomes increasingly more difficult to adjudicate when we are talking about larger groups, tribes, and even nations. In the U.S., we formerly had equal justice under the law and a Constitution that guaranteed our rights, with notions such as the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, a jury of one's peers, etc., etc. Leftists like Waterhouse have largely expunged those personal protections in their ceaseless quest to control everything and everyone. We used to pride ourselves on exporting and sharing those concepts with the rest of the world, to the advancement of human freedom. Here are some other things that the U.S. has given the rest of the world, courtesy of the innovation and work ethic that capitalism and the free market system engender: the suspension bridge, mousetrap, light bulb, sunglasses, phonograph, telephone, traffic light, pantyhose, zipper, hearing aid, dental floss, airbags, artificial heart, pacemaker, fire alarm, credit card, chocolate-chip cookie, airplane, skyscraper, television, nylons, laser, frozen food, liquid fuel rocket, microwave, disposable diaper, computer, internet, polio vaccine, assembly line, email, space shuttle, GPS, fiber optic cable. Etc., etc. Who could ever pay America enough in "reparations" for those gifts? Who could truly make amends? #ResistMarxism. Edward Luttwak, the famed author of books on history and strategy including The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire (1976), Strategy and Politics (1980), The Grand Strategy of the Soviet Union (1983), The Pentagon and the Art of War (1985), On the Meaning of Victory (1986), and The Rise of China vs. the Logic of Strategy (2012), recently assessed the Ukraine war in an essay in UnHerd and in interviews published in the Tablet and on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website. Luttwak's mind and grasp of strategic and military realities are as sharp as ever. He has spent decades consulting with military and intelligence officials in the United States, Israel, and other Western nations. He understands both the uses and limits of power, is familiar with the political systems and many of the political leaders throughout the world, and combines the insights of Machiavellian power politics with an understanding of geopolitical realities reminiscent of Halford Mackinder. He is a geostrategist of the first rank. Luttwak's piece in UnHerd is titled "How the Ukraine War Must End." He begins by noting that both Russian and American intelligence officials and their military counterparts assumed that Russian forces would achieve their military goals swiftly and with little effective resistance. These officials "were intoxicated by the techy verbiage of 'Fourth Generation,' 'post-modern information,' and 'hybrid' warfare." Their flawed assumptions were based on the results of "war games, cyberwar attacks and social-media disinformation," which when combined with precision missile strikes would supposedly "paralyze the Ukrainian resistance." They were badly mistaken in all these assumptions the Americans were so mistaken that President Biden even offered to evacuate Ukrainian president Zelensky when the fighting started. Moreover, according to Luttwak, American intelligence officials have failed to accurately report that "increasingly uncontrollable escalation processes are underway," which could lead to Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons. Luttwak thinks the Biden administration was right to reject calls for "no-fly zones" and other suggestions that could lead to direct Russian-NATO conflict, but as the war continued, that clarity dissipated. Now, what Luttwak calls "the growing Ukraine-victory lobby that stretches from the US to Finland" publicly proclaims that "victory for Ukraine is a victory for NATO and the West, so defeat for Ukraine must mean their defeat as well." This Ukraine victory lobby, he writes, wants the U.S. and the West to increase military support for Ukraine with the goal of pushing all Russian troops out of Ukraine and driving Russian president Vladimir Putin from office. This is both unrealistic and dangerous. In the Tablet interview, Luttwak reiterates his criticism of the American Intelligence Community. He blames these intelligence errors on "a complete absence of human intelligence." Luttwak also reiterated his criticism of both Russian and American military leaders, who, he contends, "all belong to the same [hybrid warfare] church," but who know very little about real kinetic warfare. This led them to overestimate the Russian soldier and underestimate the Ukrainian soldier. "Both the Russians and the Americans," Luttwak says, "were intoxicated with false war doctrines, which were given a false idea of veracity, because they supposedly came from combat experience." And in his most recent interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Luttwak stressed that intelligence officials and military professionals in Russia and the United States should have known that when you "invade Europe's biggest country with a very small army" as Russia did that invasion will fail. Ukrainians, Luttwak says, "behaved like patriotic Europeans with weapons," and such kinetic wars in Europe have a tendency to "last for years." Luttwak contends that the best approach for the West is to help both sides negotiate a peace plan that will assure that Ukraine does not join NATO but is permitted to join the European Union, and that will leave the dispositions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to plebiscites where the regions' voting-age residents can decide their political fate. Luttwak believes that both Putin and Zelensky could be brought around to accepting such a compromise, especially if the war grinds on with no victory for either side in sight. Luttwak ridicules those in the West who compare Putin to Hitler or even Napoleon. Russia is a great power, he writes, but Putin does not want to conquer Europe. "He lives with reality and maneuvers within that reality." Let's hope Luttwak is right. Image: DLuttwak. All of the weapons our government is sending to Ukraine will not change the outcome of the war. But they will prolong it, and in so doing turn hundreds of Ukrainian women into widows every single day. So while young men in America play Call of Duty on their iPads, young men in Ukraine are being conscripted off the street and sent off to die in Donbas. They say it's a proxy war against Russia that our leaders in Washington are willing to fight down to the last Ukrainian. The goal, says secretary of defense Lloyd Austin, is to weaken Russia. How's that working out so far? Gas is $3.41 a gallon in Russia. Meanwhile, Ukrainian children in Donetsk born after 2014 have known nothing but war their entire lives. They live in basements and are accustomed to the sound of bombs exploding almost every day. As Petro Poroshenko, the Nazi-loving former president of Ukraine, warned the people of Donbas, "our children will be going to school, while yours will be living in cellars." In a previous post, a reader commented that he was bored with all the talk about the Ukraine war. And I totally get that there are plenty of problems right here at home that our government should be focusing on, instead of sending tens of billions of hard-earned tax dollars to one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. But I humbly beg my fellow Americans to take 30 minutes of your time to see what the Ukrainian people who live in Donetsk have been experiencing, not just for the past 100 days, but the past eight years. Patrick Lancaster is a former U.S. Navy veteran currently working as an independent photojournalist reporting from the ground in war zones like Mariupol and Donetsk. Here is just one of hundreds of his videos. YouTube screen grab. Iran, a country full of history and civilization, has witnessed three major social revolutions on the path to establish independence, freedom, and a state based on the rule of law and the people's vote. However, to this day, despite vast efforts and grave sacrifices, the Iranian people have yet to reach this objective and been plunged into dictatorship each time. The autocracies of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah followed the shortcomings of the Constitutional Revolution, between 1905 and 1911, and the oil nationalization movement led by former Iranian prime minister Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1951. The former led to a 16-year rule of dictatorship, and the latter, defeated by an American-British-led coup d'etat in 1953, resulted in a 37-year period of tyranny. The massive yet shallow social revolution of 1979 against the Shah's dependent dictatorship, hijacked by Ruhollah Khomeini, the current regime's first supreme leader, destroyed all the Iranian people's hopes of finally establishing freedom and prosperity. After 43 years, the Iranian society is restive and turbulent, on the verge of another revolution. From the cities of Tabriz to Abadan, and Isfahan to Khuzestan, Shahr-e Kord and Bakhtiari, everywhere across Iran, there are indications proving such a case. The ruling regime's senior leadership have no way of escaping these political, social, economic, environmental, regional, and international crises and cannot continue their rule with their past methods. And the Iranian society will no longer accept the status quo. The nuclear talks between the international community and Iran have reached a complete impasse. Economic sanctions against the Iranian regime continue. Social patience has come to an end, and there is no peaceful way out of this dilemma. The mullahs' theocratic regime has played all its cards to contain this restive society that has taken to the streets time and again in 1999, 2009, 2018, and 2019. In December 2017 and January 2018, the Iranian people, by chanting, "Reformists, principalists! Game over!," put an end to a long-running scheme between the regime's two factions aimed at deceiving the general public. However, the mullahs' intelligence apparatus and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), as the regime's arms, maintain their rule intact through the heavy crackdown of social discontent and through exporting terrorism and instability throughout the region. Now certain elements within the mullahcracy have launched a strange new initiative with the slogan of "Reza Shah, bless your soul!" Their objective is to divert the current wave of social dissent by sending people searching for a new mirage: the revival of the monarchial rule in Iran. Their focus is on infiltrating regime elements into the ranks of today's protesters, so even they have begin chanting this slogan. The question is, why are the mullahs using a dead shah in their latest deceptive methods? What is the goal behind this slogan that represents nothing, does not lead to the past, and provides no road to the future? The answer is nothing but diverting the general public in search of a lost cause. As a result, those media outlets that provide coverage to Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah, who was overthrown some 43 years ago, willingly or unwillingly, are helping the status quo. This is tantamount to gross human rights violations in Iran, along with terrorism and instability across the Middle East. The last living Pahlavi has no organization. He has had no occupation throughout his life and has literally done nothing other than go on vacations with money stolen from the Iranian people. Everyone knows that in Iran, there exists a powerful opposition in the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Mike Pompeo, the former U.S. secretary of state, recently visited the main base of this opposition. This opposition has a strong network expanded across Iran and, in recent months, in addition to its active presence in social protests, has infiltrated into the regime's state TV and radio networks; the websites of the mullahs' Ministry of Agriculture Jihad; and the network of security cameras, computers, and servers associated to the Tehran Municipality and Khomeini's Mausoleum. This opposition also recently exposed a list of 33,000 personnel working in the regime's prisons, including the names of interrogators and torturers, coupled with a thorough list of prisoners across the country's prisons. In the past 50 years, there has been a serious resistance movement in Iran led by the PMOI/MEK, Marxist groups, and local Kurdish organizations against the regimes of the Shah and Khomeini. These are the true representatives of Iran's society, especially the powerful PMOI/MEK movement, and not Reza Pahlavi, representing the overthrown dictatorship of the past, which has now become a plaything of the mullahs' regime and the IRGC. Chanting slogans for Reza Shah among Iran's protesters and promoting Reza Pahlavi abroad are meant to divert a part of the Iranian society, used to help quiet the current social unrest, but the next revolution in the making will not be easy and peaceful. It is a democratic revolution that will without a doubt lead to freedom, democracy, prosperity, peace, friendship, and stability in Iran and across the region. However, in the current circumstances, when the world is supporting the resistance in Ukraine, will the international community stand shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people and their resistance movement? This is the question of every Iranian protester these days. Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License. Fox News host Pete Hegseth has decided to put his Masters of Public Policy diploma from Harvard University in an envelope marked "return to sender." In his new book American Crusade, the highly decorated Iraq and Afghanistan veteran tells his alma mater, "Thank you for the 'education,' but I can no longer support your leftist cause" and encourages others to do the same. He's not the only one suffering from what I call "educational remorse." Some time ago, cartoonist Scott Adams of "Dilbert" fame blogged that he would stop donating to UC-Berkeley. At the time, Mr. Adams stated, "I'm ending my support of UC Berkeley, where I got my MBA years ago. I have been a big supporter lately, with both my time and money, but that ends today. I wish them well, but I wouldn't feel safe or welcome on the campus. A Berkeley professor made that clear to me recently. He seems smart, so I'll take his word for it." It's clear from recent history that conservative voices aren't welcome at today's universities, where they get in the way of student indoctrination by professors. Instances abound in which speakers from the center and right are the targets of protests and shouted down before they can even begin to discuss the issues of the day. And that's if they get to the podium at all; it's just as likely that they'll be disinvited the day after they accept the invitation. Given that there is such a lack of free discourse in today's educational system, it makes you wonder why moderates and conservatives still donate to their colleges. Is it to remember and honor the good old days? Is it some kind of guilt? Is it just a reflex after so many years of funding without demanding to know where the money goes? Today's universities spend alumni and taxpayer money to fund a variety of courses that explicitly push leftist ideology without offering any counterbalancing curriculum. Let's take a look at some courses offered at the University of Chicago: "Marxism, Anarchism, and the Black Radical Tradition" "Trans-bodies in Horror Cinema" "The Problem of Whiteness" "Transnational Queer Politics and Practices" "Witchcraft and the Cultural Imagination" You can even minor in "Inequality, Social Problems, And Change." "Hands-on experience" is offered in "addressing inequality on the ground level." In other words, we will teach you to riot and give you college credit for it. Why should you support institutions that make it their business to foment hatred toward you and institutions you value and respect? Make no mistake: today's colleges not only are hotbeds of leftist ideology, but actively try to silence anyone who thinks as you do. Indeed, your very existence makes the entire population of snowflakes, professors and students alike, tremble with fear and rage. Today's places of higher learning teach conformity to liberal ideals in the most aggressive way possible. There is a right way to think and a wrong way to think. A right way to speak and a wrong way to speak. A right way to dress for Halloween and a wrong way. A right hat to wear and a wrong hat (hint: the wrong hat is red and says "Make America Great Again" on it). There are all sorts of punishments that students may incur for picking the wrong way. They could be socially ostracized, grades might suffer, applications to grad school might make their way to the circular file, and worse. Is this the atmosphere you want to subsidize? An atmosphere where alumni like you are considered a danger to (not-so) polite society? Charitable donations are laudable, but sending money to places that are antithetical to your views is ridiculous. Conservative dollars going to a very liberal university means supporting the status quo, and the status quo, apparently, wants you dead. So, kindhearted and altruistic moderates and conservatives, it's time to stop donating to liberal brainwashing factories and use your hard-earned money to feed starving children, help disabled veterans, or support the Police Benevolent Association. You'll be doing society a favor and feel better about giving to organizations that are less overtly political than your dear old alma mater. Pete Hegseth is sending his diploma back to Harvard, but you can keep yours. You worked hard for it, and who knows if someone will want to see it one day? I need mine to prove I'm an actual medical doctor (or do I? it's been that long since someone wanted to see a copy of it well, better safe than sorry). Political donations are one thing. You have an idea of what kind of bang you're getting for your buck. Donating to leftist universities is something else altogether. You're mixing charity with the worst kind of politics, and that's a bad idea. Joe Alton, M.D. is a physician, medical preparedness advocate, and N.Y. Times/Amazon bestselling author of The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide For When Help Is NOT on the Way and other books. Image: Tim Dennell. Our nation is being brutalized by violence in city after city: N.Y., Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and more. Criminals are being allowed to run free among law-abiding citizens in Democrat-run cities throughout the country. Soros-backed D.A.s were promoted precisely to do what they are doing: foment crime and chaos. Let the homicidal, drug-addled among our increasingly violent population run free to do what they do. During the summer of 2020, BLM and Antifa wrought violence and did billions of dollars in damage across America. The Democrat left supported those riots and raised money to bail out the perpetrators no matter what they had done. Our media supported the rioters, too; they love nothing better than exacerbating an already explosive situation. The media do not investigate the obvious possibility that the rioters were recruited and paid to do what they do. Ask one of them why they are rioting, and you will get a blank look. They may be doing it for a paycheck, not principles or ideology. If only more Americans realized how contrived such domestic violence is and how planned and orchestrated by the left the events of January sixth were. We are all pawns in their Marxist/Stalinist plot to make the U.S. part of a globalist/communist bloc administered by the ghouls at the World Economic Forum. Who is it that wants to strip Americans of their Second Amendment right to bear arms? The Democrat radicals, of course. How better to control a population once they have been stripped of any and all means to defend themselves? Ask Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. That is precisely how they began the genocides each of those tyrants committed against his own people. This left of ours has such contempt for us, is certain we are so ignorant, that we do not know this essential fact of history that we can be fooled into relinquishing perhaps the most important of our basic civil rights. Not so fast. There are enough of us who are cognizant enough of the evil that men can do to see the details of their endgame. Their "great reset" means relegating us all to slave status. "You will own nothing and be happy" is just one of their mantras. They, the globalist elites, view the vast numbers of the world's population as "useless" peons to be brought under their control. Yuval Hariri is Klaus Schwab's closet adviser. These are well and truly evil people, as if out of a science fiction horror film. It is who they are. They include members of the WEF. They include Pelosi, Schumer, Soros, Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, and the mad scientists who do his bidding. They include our wholly propagandistic media, including Fox News of late. Fox News too is too cowardly to buck the mandates of the left. They too pushed the experimental vaccines that have done incalculable damage to so many. And now they mean to jab even babies, who are not remotely at risk of dying of COVID. The globalists are committing a planned and executed violent crime against humanity. Pity the families who do not realize that the jabs may well be lethal. Leftists love mass shootings, almost to the point that one might wonder, do they solicit them? They seem to always serve their cause. We know that the FBI recruited the misanthropes who got on board their "kidnap Governor Whitmer" scheme. Those men were framed. The events of January sixth were easily as likely to have been planned and executed by the FBI in conjunction with known collaborators in Antifa and BLM. Why have we not learned where that deceased shooter in Uvalde got the cash to purchase the high-tech weapons he used to kill all those children? Why did the local police let him have his way without interruption? Where did the mass murderer in that Buffalo market learn to shoot like a military pro? Leftists love these horrific events because they think they can build on them, use them to strip all law-abiding citizens of their right to defend themselves. Do they make them happen? Seems possible. Dinesh D'Souza's film 2000 Mules has taught us all about geo-tracking. Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips used cell phone data to prove that the Zuckerberg-funded drop boxes were stuffed with harvested and fake ballots to cheat in the 2020 election in numerous states. Now we know that the DOJ used the same technology to track anyone and everyone who was present at the Capitol on January sixth. That is how they tracked down totally innocent Americans and arrested them for being there. As everyone knows, a few hundred of them have been held in prison without due process, some for nearly eighteen months and still without a firm trial date. D.C. under the Biden administration is operating as Stalin did when he put on his show trials. Our DOJ is acting Stalinist. It is allowing the harassment of our Supreme Court justices even though such protests are against the law. The Biden DOJ is criminally out of control and abusing good citizens. We are living in a surveillance state, and too many people are being illegitimately punished simply for taking their civil rights for granted. The First Amendment has been abrogated. The violent perpetrators of the riots of 2020, like the criminals wreaking havoc on innocent civilians in cities throughout the nation, have been given free rein to riot, assault, freely use drugs, and murder, all according to the globalist plan to take the U.S. down. Our southern border is now a thoroughfare for migrants from around the world to enter the U.S. illegally at Biden's invitation. How many Americans will die at the hands of criminal illegals? Too many to count. Perhaps those inevitable deaths are part of the left's vast depopulation strategy. They will occur, as they have so many times already. The man who so senselessly killed Kate Steinle in 2015 has been sentenced to time served. In a sane world, he would have been sentenced to death. Bottom line? It is the left that foments and relishes violence. Leftists encourage violence. They need it and delight in using it against the rest of us. Consider the pro-abortion groups Jane's Revenge and Ruth Sent Us. Both groups vow to engage in violence if Roe v. Wade is overturned. They do not believe in "choice." They believe in totalitarianism. Their way or the highway. That pretty much sums up the American left today. Violence to further their cause? Good. The Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees to us all? Bad. Unacceptable. Civil society, family values, the fact of two sexes, education vs. indoctrination, fair elections, American sovereignty? Bad. American civil society is under attack, and too many people are still taking for granted our liberty. (ANSA) - ROME, JUN 20 - Oscar-winning Canadian director Paul Haggis has been detained in southern Italy after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her. The 69-year-old is accused of forcing the young, non-Italian woman to have non-consensual sexual relations with her over two days in the Puglia town of Ostuni. The film-maker said via lawyer Michele Laforgia that he was "totally innocent". Haggis has been put under house arrest, reportedly either at a hotel or a villa in the area. He was in Italy to take part in the upcoming "Allora Fest" film festival in Ostuni. In a separate case, in 2018 a woman accused Haggis of raping her in 2013 and he is facing a civil lawsuit over these allegations. Three other women subsequently made sexual-misconduct allegations against Haggis. Haggis won Academy Awards for best screenplay and best picture at the 2006 Oscars with Crash. He also wrote the screenplay for another Oscar-wining film, Million Dollar Baby. (ANSA). (ANSA) - ROME, JUN 20 - IVECO Bus, part of the Agnelli group, is to restart making buses in Italy. the company said Monday. It will make the vehicles in its plants at Turin and Foggia, which currently make industrial engines. Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said "Welcome back! May you be the first of many" Italian firms coming home after offshoring. IVECO is part of the Agnelli holding company Exor. It was spun off from CNH Industrial in January this year. (ANSA). (ANSA) - ROME, JUN 20 - President Sergio Mattarella called for stronger action to help people forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution on World Refugee Day on Monday. "Italy contributes with responsibility to the moral and legal obligation to provide solidarity, assistance and reception to refugees, guaranteeing full support to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and promoting incisive, supportive commitments on migration and asylum in the European institutions," Mattarella said. "Action for refugees must now be reinforced, on the basis of a multilateral approach that Italy has historically been a convinced supporter of". (ANSA). (ANSAmed) - LUXEMBOURG, JUNE 20 - "The EU and Egypt expressed concern about the impact of the war on increased food insecurity globally, as well as on global supply chains and energy and commodity price hikes. The EU will support Egypt's efforts to enhance its cereal production and storage facilities with 100 million from the regional "Food and Resilience Facility" to provide partial assistance to meet the consequences of rising prices of food and commodities," according to a joint press statement after the 9th Association Council meeting between Egypt and the European Union. The meeting of the Association Council of the European Union and Egypt took place in Luxembourg on 19 June 2022. The partnership between the EU and Egypt was reaffirmed during the meeting. The Association Council has adopted new priorities for the relations between the two until 2027, in line with the new EU Agenda for the Mediterranean and its Economic and Investment Plan and with the Egypt's sustainable development strategy known as 'Vision 2030'. The EU and Egypt will further deepen dialogue and cooperation around three main priorities: a modern and sustainable economy and social development, foreign policy partnership, and strengthening of stability. (ANSAmed). (ANSA) - ROME, JUN 20 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday thanked Italy for its support in the war against Russia and reiterated that Rome could be among Kyiv's security guarantors after the conflicts ends. In any negotiations with Russia, he said "we need guarantors of future security, and we think Italy should be among these guarantors", he said in a video message to the Global Policy Forum of Italian geopolitical think tank ISPI. "We are grateful for the support of the Italian government". Referring to a vote in the Italian parliament Tuesday on providing further aid, including military aid, to Kyiv, Zelensky said: "Please support us". The Institute for International Political Studies - ISPI (full official name in Italian Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale), founded in 1934, is the oldest Italian think tank specialised in international affairs. Zelensky also issued a res calls for "more modern weapons" from Italy and its Western allies. He said it was a "decisive week" and that "the European Union should consider us as equal partners" ahead of EU leaders meeting this weekend to decide whether to approve of Kyiv's EU membership bid, an application that has already been approved by the European Commission, provided years of reforms are made. The EU on Monday relaunched military support fro Ukraine and reiterated that there was a grain alert that could spell famine for much of the poorer world. "There is a a risk of an unprecedented food crisis," Euroepan Union official said, as grain is currently blocked in Ukraine ports by Russian invaders. Meanwhile as gas supplied by Russia continued to be about half it was before the war started, the Italian government said Monday that a threshold fro calling an alarm would be assessed Tuesday and that Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani would meet major energy firms Wednesday, sources said. The price of gas continued to rise, to 126 euros per MWh. Russian energy giant Gazprom has said it will supply only 50% of the 63 million cubic metres of gas requested by Italy, Italian fuels giant Eni said. But increased gas supplies from Algeria have more than taken up the slack, with almost double coming in from the north African country than from Russia. The Italian government has been working hard to end the nation's reliance on Russian gas since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, reaching a series of agreements to boost supplies from elsewhere. The Italian government has "moved rapidly" to diversify suppliers by scrambling to set up alternatives with countries like Algeria, Angola, Congo, Libya, Egypt, Israel and Mozambique, Premier Mario Draghi said recently. Eni on Sunday joined the world's largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Qatar. The Italian fuels giant was picked by QatarEnergy as new international partner for the expansion of the North Field East Project in the Gulf country. Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy Managing Director Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi signed a partnership accord for the creation of the new Joint Venture. QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while Eni the remaining 25% interest. The JV will hold 12,5% interest in the entire NFE project, including the 4 mega LNG trains with a combined capacity of 32 MTPA. (ANSA). Slovenia: Pahor supporting EU integration of Western Balkans Bosnia should be awarded candidate status immediately (ANSA) - BELGRADE, JUN 17 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor emphasised the significance of dialogue about EU enlargement to the Western Balkans during his participation in the Prespa Forum Dialogue in Ohrid, North Macedonia, on Thursday, according to the Slovenian news agency STA. Speaking at the event's main panel, which runs till Saturday, Pahor presented a letter he submitted to EU Council President Charles Michel, advocating for Bosnia and Herzegovina to be awarded EU candidate status without first meeting prerequisites. According to a press release from the president's office, Pahor believes this will bolster pro-EU forces in the country and accelerate Bosnia's dynamic in adhering to European values. Accelerating the Western Balkans enlargement process would have a substantial impact on security, stability, and prosperity in the area, according to the president, who urged Bulgaria to quit blocking EU-North Macedonia accession negotiations. (ANSA). Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved China's oil imports from Russia jump 55% on-year Surpassing its shipments from Saudi Arabia (ANSA-AFP) - BEIJING, JUN 20 - China's imports of oil from Russia rose 55 percent in May, customs data showed on Monday, with the West sanctioning fuel imports from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The world's second-biggest economy imported around 8.42 million tonnes of oil from Russia last month, surpassing its shipments from Saudi Arabia, as Beijing refuses to condemn Moscow's war. (ANSA-AFP). Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved PALERMO - After returning home from the funeral of the Italian judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and of those of his security escort - assassinated on 23 May 1992 by the Corleonesi Mafia in the Capaci bombing, on the A29 motorway near the town of Capaci -, a young woman from Palermo hung a sheet outside her balcony expressing her rage. "Palermo Demands Justice" was written on it. This was the first action in a collective uprising of consciences that shaped the 'Sheet Committee': a group formed spontaneously including intellectuals, university professors, journalists, sociologists, and professionals. Thirty years after that experience, the memory of it is being evoked in an exhibition sponsored by Sicily's Istituto Gramsci open from June 23 to July 23 at the Cantieri Culturali in Palermo. As part of the exhibition, there are materials, documents, and statements on the initiatives promoted by the committee. It is a sample of the documentation that the promoters (almost all of whom women) of the committee left as a way to remember the uprising. Alongside the documents and banners on display there are sheets. The documents and banners are from Marta Cimino, the first woman to launch the 'Sheet Committee', who died in recent years, but were organised by her daughter Caterina Cammarata. The painted sheets had been kept for 30 years by Marinella Fiume. The gesture by Cimino struck a raw nerve in Palermo at that time, leading to other sheets hanging from the balconies of homes and private and public offices in both the center of the capital of the region of Sicily and in outlying areas. The aim was to demand justice and support for judges. ALGIERS - The Algerian authorities have announced for the first time in the history of the country the adoption of the English language in elementary education. The announcement was made by the Algerian president's office in a statement, noting that the introduction of the new language would happen after an "in-depth study by experts and specialists". Algeria has for many years seen lively debate over the predominant use of the French language in education instead of English. The use of French is widespread in Algeria and, with the exception of the Ministry of Defense, all Algerian ministers use the language in most internal correspondence and also official statements despite the constitution saying that "Arabic is the first national and official language". Experts and historians say that the widespread use of French in Algeria is due to its imposition during the colonial era, which lasted 132 years (1830 -1962). Six migrants arrested over Greek shipwreck Greek Coast Guard rescued 108 people, eight still missing (ANSAmed) - ATHENS, JUNE 20 - Six migrants have been arrested by Port Authority officials on the Greek island of Mykonos on Monday following a shipwreck of a sailboat off the coast of the uninhabited island of Delos in the Aegean Sea. The six men were rescued from a boat that was found rudderless and leaking water in near gale force winds on Sunday, and they were all later charged with the illegal transportation of third country nationals, causing a shipwreck, and forming a criminal organization. The Greek Coast Guard dispatched three rescue vessels and a tugboat on Sunday after receiving reports that a sailboat was adrift off the coast of Delos close to Mykonos. Early on Sunday morning, rescue teams managed to tow the sailboat to an islet off the nearby island of Mykonos. The migrants on board 63 men, 24 women and 21 children were safely transported to Mykonos, while eight people were declared missing, according to the Port Authority. The rescued migrants told the authorities that their boat had sailed from Turkey to an unknown destination. According to the coast guard, none of the migrants on board were wearing a life vest, nor was there any life-saving equipment on board, while on Monday afternoon, the coast guard was still searching for the eight missing passengers, of which three are reportedly minors. Greece's Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis commented on the incident via his Twitter account, saying: "8 migrants missing and 104 rescued in the Cyclades from a sailing boat that left Turkish shores for Europe. Turkey can do a better job, working with the EU & Greece to protect human lives & eradicate smuggling networks, in line with international law and the EU-Turkey 2016 statement." Mitarakis also added details of another rescue mission which took place close to the island of Rhodes. "Another 56 migrants rescued by the Greek coastguard yesterday in Rhodes from a sailing boat that also left Turkish shores for Europe, despite the Turkey-EU 2016 Joint Statement. We continue to save lives daily - those of people exploited and put at risk by smugglers," he commented.(ANSAmed). (ANSA). ISTANBUL - "We witness the suffering of refugees every day as they are persecuted, robbed, beaten, and even killed by Greek security forces," Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Monday by the Anadolu news agency. He was speaking during a video message to the Global Parliamentary Conference on migration, a two-day event co-hosted by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, kicked off in Istanbul on annual World Refugee Day. Anadolu reported that Erdogan said some countries were using "the few hundred refugees they have accepted as advertising material," criticizing them for taking "no responsibility in the face of the deepening humanitarian crises". "UN figures show that high-income countries host an average of 2.7 refugees per 1,000 people, while the figure is 5.8 for middle- and low-income countries," Anadolu said he had noted. Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country in the world: about 5 million, including at least 3.7 million Syrians. On the basis of a 2016 agreement, the EU allocates funds to help Turkey with migrant management in exchange for Turkish forces stopping migrants from trying to reach Europe. PARIS - France's Assemblee Nationale resulting from Sunday's parliamentary vote is highly divided. The gap is growing between seats going to the Ensemble! coalition under Emmanuel Macron and Nupes under Jean-Luc Melenchon, with 100 now between them: 247 for the government alliance and 147 for Nupes. The 289-seat threshold for an absolute majority nonetheless remains distant. Marine Le Pen's party raked in an unprecedented number of seats, rising from 8 to 90, thereby becoming the main opposition to Macron if looking at single parties and not coalitions, as La France Insoumise under Melenchon currently has 84. Ensemble! can count on a relative majority of 247 MPs, with Renaissance (the new name of Macron's party Republique en Marche) with 166, the MoDem centrists with 47, the party under former PM Edouard Philippe, Horizons, with 28, and other minor parties with 6. The coalition lost a total of 100 seats compared with 2017. The left is rising with 147 seats under the Nupes coalition, with the following parties: 84 for La France Insoumise under Jean-Luc Melenchon, 29 for the socialists, 21 for the Greens Party, and 13 for the communists, as well as 8 for other leftists. The Republicains, allied with the UDI centrists, are still in 4th place with 68 seats. ROME - On World Refugee Day on Monday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) called on European and north American states, "among others, to offer protection to migrants currently trapped in Libya". "There needs to be an urgent acceleration in the evacuation of the most vulnerable people by strengthening existing mechanisms and opening alternative pathways for them to leave the country," it said in a statement posted on its website. It also published a report entitled "Out of Libya", which details the weak points of existing protection mechanisms for those stuck in the country. "Since the start of MSF's migration projects in Libya in 2016, we have repeatedly faced the same challenges: the impossibility of protecting migrants inside Libya, of ensuring continuity of care for serious physical and mental conditions, and of rehabilitating victims of torture," MSF noted. "In Libya, the majority of migrants are victims of arbitrary detention, torture and violence, including sexual violence," says Claudia Lodesani, MSF operations manager for Libya. "They have extremely limited possibilities of obtaining physical and legal protection. As a result, the deadly migration route via the Mediterranean Sea is often their only way out." "We believe that safe countries, especially in the EU - which has been funding the Libyan coastguard for years and encouraging the forced return of migrants to Libya - have a duty to facilitate the evacuation of these victims of violence and to protect them on their own soil," noted Lodesani. "The few legal pathways to safe countries set up by the UN's Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are slow and restrictive," the statement posted online noted. "Only nine nationalities can be considered for registration in the UNHCR's resettlement programme, and access to registration is almost non-existent for people outside Tripoli, and stuck in detention centres. At the same time, the number of relocation slots in destination countries is very limited," it added. "Of the approximate 40,000 people registered with the UNHCR's resettlement programme just 1,662 left Libya last year, while some 3,000 people left through the IOM's voluntary return programme. In contrast, around 600,000 migrants live in Libya in total." Serbia may not take part in EU-Balkans summit, Vucic President to meet with govt and Open Balkan nation leaders Tues (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, JUNE 20 - Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said Monday that he would decide on whether or not to take part part in the June 23 EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels after talks that he will have on Tuesday with the government and prime ministers of North Macedonia and Albania, countries alongside Serbia that are part of the Open balkan initiative. Speaking to journalists, Vucic said that he had on Friiday received an official invitation to take part in the summit. "We are waiting. On tomorrow, as part of Open Balkan, I will have talks with the prime ministers Dimitar Kovacevski and Edi Rama, and then I will speak to members of the Serbian government and afterwards I will decide whether to go to Brussels and with what position," Vucic said. Open Balkan is an initiative that was started in 2019 by three countries with the aim of creating a common market in the Balkans and to strengthen regional collaboration.(ANSAmed). The old adage that Life begins at 40 may be true for the Duke of Cambridge as he gears up for a more prominent role in the decade ahead. William appears ready to embark on the next step of his life in the monarchy that will ultimately see him become king after channelling his efforts into issues like mental health, homelessness and protecting the environment. Married to wife Kate for more than 10 years and with a young family they will be the face of the modern monarchy for decades to come. With the death of his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh and his brother the Duke of Sussex stepping down as a working royal, his position as a senior royal is even more pivotal and he appears to have played a part in the family decision to limit the Duke of Yorks role at the recent Garter Day service. Williams early life was overshadowed by the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash in 1997 and he still speaks about her influence, including how as a young boy she took him to a shelter for rough sleepers and introduced him to the issue of homelessness. The Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry, Earl Althorp and Duke of Edinburgh walk behind Diana, the Princess of Wales funeral cortege (Adam Butler/PA) He found love at university meeting fellow student Kate Middleton, who he would wed in 2011 at Westminster Abbey, and the couple went on to have three children, firstborn George also a future king in 2013, followed by Charlotte in 2015 and Louis in 2018. As a future king, a career in the Armed Forces beckoned and after graduating as an officer from Sandhurst he trained with the RAF and flew missions with the air forces Search and Rescue Force, before later joining the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) as a helicopter pilot. Supporting the mental health of the nation under the Heads Together initiative with brother Harry and Kate was one of his early projects, and later in life William has spoken about the effect on his wellbeing of flying rescue mission for the EAAA. William on his graduation day from Sandhurst (Tim Clarke/PA) William set up the his United for Wildlife umbrella organisation to tackle the illegal trade in animal products, and became patron of the homelessness charities Centrepoint and The Passage. His flagship project to date is his ambitious Earthshot Prize a 10-year 50 million initiative to recognise innovative ideas to repair the planet. William and Kate on their wedding day (Chris Radburn/PA) The inaugural prizegiving ceremony was held in October last year and featured a host of famous faces from Sir David Attenborough to Dame Emma Thompson. In the background there was turbulence within the royal family with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepping down as working royals for a new life in America, and the civil sexual assault case involving the Duke of York that left his reputation in tatters and still threatens to tarnish the royal family. William was forced to publicly defend the monarchy against accusations of racism made by his brother, during his Oprah Winfrey interview, saying: Were very much not a racist family. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony (Alberto Pezzali/PA) And there are reports William, alongside his father the Prince of Wales, lobbied the Queen to stop Andrew making a public appearance at the Garter Day service. William now appears set to take a more prominent royal supporting his grandmother the Queen and in time his father, the next monarch, in their duties as head of state. Online retailer Ocado has revealed plans to raise 575 million to help fund its growth plans. The FTSE 100 company said after the markets closed on Monday that it will raise the cash injection through a placing of new shares. It said it has also agreed a 300 million revolving credit facility, provided by a syndicate of international banks. The fundraising comes after a drop in Ocados share price, which has seen its value cut by around half over the past six months as customers returned to pre-pandemic shopping habits. Ocado told investors on Monday afternoon that members of its leadership team, including CEO Tim Steiner, will buy new shares as part of the placing. The net proceeds of the capital raise is expected to give the company enough liquidity to fund the requirements of its existing and expected customer commitments into the mid-term, driving strong growth and returns in the future, the firm commented. It said funding will be used to support growth in its Ocado Solutions business, which provides automated warehouse technology for retail partners. The group said it needs to invest in the solutions business as rising online grocery demand global means its partners need to grow their fulfilment capacity. Ocado said it will also be able to invest in technology innovation faster. The group also held firm on its previous trading guidance for the current financial year. Alzheimers disease could be diagnosed from a single brain scan, allowing it to be identified at an early stage, a new study suggests. The research uses artificial intelligence to look at structures of the brain, including in regions not previously associated with Alzheimers. Scientists suggest the advantage of the technique is its simplicity and the fact that it can detect the disease in its early stages. While there is no cure for Alzheimers, an early diagnosis allows patients to access help and support, have treatment to manage their symptoms and plan for the future. Being able to accurately identify patients at an early stage of the disease will also help researchers understand brain changes that trigger the disease, and support development and trials of new treatments. Professor Eric Aboagye, from Imperial College Londons department of surgery and cancer, who led the research, said: Currently no other simple and widely available methods can predict Alzheimers disease with this level of accuracy, so our research is an important step forward. Many patients who present with Alzheimers at memory clinics do also have other neurological conditions, but even within this group our system could pick out those patients who had Alzheimers from those who did not. Waiting for a diagnosis can be a horrible experience for patients and their families. If we could cut down the amount of time they have to wait, make diagnosis a simpler process, and reduce some of the uncertainty, that would help a great deal. Our new approach could also identify early-stage patients for clinical trials of new drug treatments or lifestyle changes, which is currently very hard to do. Doctors currently use a number of different tests to diagnose Alzheimers, including memory and cognitive tests and brain scans. The scans check for protein deposits in the brain and shrinkage of the hippocampus, the area of the brain linked to memory. But all of these tests can take several weeks to arrange and to process. The new technique requires just one of these a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan taken on a standard 1.5 Tesla machine, which is commonly found in most hospitals. Researchers adapted an algorithm developed for use in classifying cancer tumours, and applied it to the brain. They divided the brain into 115 regions and allocated 660 different features, such as size, shape and texture, to assess each region. They then trained the algorithm to identify where changes to these features could accurately predict the existence of Alzheimers disease. Using data from the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the team tested their approach on brain scans from more than 400 patients with early and later stage Alzheimers, healthy people and patients with other neurological conditions, including frontotemporal dementia and Parkinsons disease. They also tested it with data from over 80 patients undergoing diagnostic tests for Alzheimers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The researchers found that in 98% of cases, the MRI-based machine learning system alone could accurately predict whether the patient had Alzheimers disease. It was also able to tell the difference between early and late-stage Alzheimers with fairly high accuracy, in 79% of patients. Dr Paresh Malhotra, who is a consultant neurologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and a researcher in Imperials Department of Brain Sciences, said: Although neuroradiologists already interpret MRI scans to help diagnose Alzheimers, there are likely to be features of the scans that arent visible, even to specialists. Using an algorithm able to select texture and subtle structural features in the brain that are affected by Alzheimers could really enhance the information we can gain from standard imaging techniques. The findings are published in the Communications Medicine journal. Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of Research at Alzheimers Society said: We estimate there are around 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK, with over 250,000 people with dementia living without a diagnosis. Having a diagnosis is vital as it opens the door to treatment to manage symptoms and support, and helps individuals and families plan for the future. This new MRI-based analysis method could simplify the Alzheimers disease diagnosis process. This analysis does not require an expert to run, uses MRI brain scanning technology which is already available, and is 98% accurate in distinguishing brain changes due to Alzheimers disease. This could help clinicians come to an accurate Alzheimers disease diagnosis more quickly and easily. (Reuters) - Apple Inc workers in Maryland voted on Saturday to join a union, becoming the first retail employees of the tech giant to unionize in the United States. More than 100 workers in Towson near Baltimore "have overwhelmingly voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers," the union said on its website. The local workers, forming the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, "have the support of a solid majority of our coworkers," they wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook. "This is something we do not to go against or create conflict with our management," they wrote. An Apple spokesperson, responding to Reuters request for comment, said by email the company had "nothing to add at this time." Unionization efforts are gaining momentum at some large U.S. corporations, including Amazon.com Inc and Starbucks Corp. Apple workers in Atlanta who were seeking to unionize withdrew their request last month, claiming intimidation. Some current and former Apple workers last year began criticizing the company's working conditions online, using the hashtag #AppleToo. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard) The January 6 select committee will present testimony on Tuesday on how former President Trump launched a campaign to pressure state election officials through lawsuits, political pressure and direct phone calls to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, (R-Ill.) said. Kinzinger appeared Sunday on ABCs This Week with George Stephanopolous to talk about the committees work, revealing that he one of only two Republicans on the panel and his family had received a death threat several days ago. The committee meets next on June 21 at 1 p.m. to hear from witnesses who saw firsthand how the former presidents campaign tried to undermine the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., listens as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., listens as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Susan Walsh/) The Tuesday forum will likely highlight testimony on how former Energy Secretary Rick Perry reportedly sent a text message to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to launch an aggressive strategy to keep Trump in office. Perrys plan was to have states with Republican lead legislatures that had not declared a winner install their own electors who would rule Trump the winner, according to a leaked text message. Why can t [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS, according to the text obtained by CNN. In this March 20, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House with Energy Secretary Rick Perry. In this March 20, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House with Energy Secretary Rick Perry. (Evan Vucci/) The former presidents son Donald Trump Jr. was also in on the gambit, according to texts revealed by the House committee. Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states. Once again Trump wins, the presidents son texted to Meadows, We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021. At the same time, the Trump campaign began to file a rash of lawsuits in state courts across the country, challenging the voting results. That effort, led in part by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani failed almost immediately. In addition to the litigation, the ex-president called Michigan lawmakers who had certified the election and asked them to rescind their votes. His campaign attempted to have Michigan voting machines seized. Donald Trump Jr. speaks at a rally in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Donald Trump Jr. speaks at a rally in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/) In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who oversaw that states election, fielded the now-infamous call from Trump in which he pressured the official to find him just enough votes to overtake Biden in the state. I just want to find 11,780 votes, Trump told him on a recorded call. On This Week Kinzinger said that he believed the effort by Trump and his inner circle rose to the level of criminal acts. I certainly think the president is guilty of knowing what he did, seditious conspiracy, being involved in these, he said. Kinzinger said that next week the testimony will show how much the president was involved in the lead-up to January 6th. President Donald Trump on the phone in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on June 27, 2017. President Donald Trump on the phone in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on June 27, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/) The president knew what he was doing. There was a plan, the Illinois Republican said. Last week, the January 6 Committee heard testimony regarding pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of the election by Congress. There was testimony that in heated calls to the vice president Trump called him a wimp and other derogatory terms for not carrying out the plot. Pence maintained that he did not have the authority to do so. He had a chance to be frankly historic, but just like Bill Barr and the rest of these weak people, and I say it sadly because I like him, but Mike did not have the courage to act, Trump said during a recent speech to a conservative Christian group. Another January 6 committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-MD) said on Meet the Press Sunday morning that the ex-presidents statements amount to an admission of guilt. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, listens and the panel focuses on the pressure that President Donald Trump put on Vice President Mike Pence in a last-ditch and potentially illegal plan to stop Joe Biden's election victory, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, listens and the panel focuses on the pressure that President Donald Trump put on Vice President Mike Pence in a last-ditch and potentially illegal plan to stop Joe Biden's election victory, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/) Hes essentially saying, Yeah, I did it, and Ill do it again, which is what we have been contending all along, that if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power, which is what a coup is, then youre inviting it again in the future, he said. Questions have been swirling over whether or not the committee will recommend criminal charges or turn its evidence over to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation of the former president. Ill leave that judgment to them, Raskin said. I mean, one of the many things that Donald Trump destroyed during his time in office was the idea that the political branches have to respect the independence of the law enforcement function. Kinzinger said that recently, local officials in New Mexico refused to certify an election because the votes were cast on Dominion voting machines. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (Jacquelyn Martin/) Trump campaign officials, including Giuliani, had claimed without supporting evidence that Dominion voting machines were rigged to register Trump votes for Biden, a claim that then-Attorney General William Barr called bullsh*t. Kinzinger, who plans to leave Congress once his term is over, has said theres been a lack of leadership on behalf of the Republicans. My party has utterly failed the American people at the truth, he told Stephanopoulos. It makes me sad, but its fact. Bucking his party has also made him a target, he revealed on Sunday. We got it a couple of days ago and it threatens to execute me, as well as my wife and 5-month-old child. Weve never seen or had anything like that, he said, adding that the threat was from his district. The family of a Marine veteran who disappeared fighting in Ukraine believe he is alive and being held as a prisoner of war, a spokesperson said. Grady Kurpasi, 49, has not been heard from since April 23, the spokesperson, Don Turner, said Saturday, adding that the family want answers about what happened to him. When Kurpasi spoke with his family from Ukraine, Turner said, he was in good spirits and felt like he was doing the right thing. He added that Kurpasi, who did three combat deployments in Iraq, had traveled to Ukraine for humanitarian reasons. Kurpasi, he said, was just trying to help people in any which way possible. His family believe there is a good possibility he is a POW right now, Turner said, adding that they think he has already been moved from where they think he was working in southern Ukraine. Although the family say they have not gotten substantial updates from the State Department about Kurpasis whereabouts, Turner said they have been conducting their own research to try to track Kurpasi down using open source networking and just digging and calling people and asking questions. Asked what he would say to the Russians if they were holding Kurpasi captive, Turner replied: I think what the family would ask is just give us an answer. As to a message for Kurpasi himself, Turner said: We know you are a strong bastard. Keep it up. NBC News has asked the Ukrainian and the Russian defense ministries for comment. Grady Kurpasi has not been heard from since April 23. (Lance Cpl. Aaron Douds) Kurpasi and two other U.S. citizens have been reported missing in Ukraine in a week. Andy Huynh, 27, and Alexander Drueke, 39, both from Alabama, were reported missing by their families last week. Huynhs fiancee, Joy Black, 21, said Thursday that he is a former Marine who left the service in 2018. Druekes mom, Lois, said her son served two tours in Iraq, the last as a lead gunner in Baghdad in 2008-09. Videos of Huynh and Drueke were shown Friday on RT, a Russian state-controlled international television network, confirming their families fears that the men had been captured. The broadcaster said they were being held captive by the Moscow-backed separatist forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press reported. NBC News has asked the State Department for comment on Kurpasis case. A State Department spokesperson said Friday that U.S. officials were monitoring the situation closely. The spokesperson also reiterated President Joe Bidens earlier call that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict. The U.S. has insisted that the Russians have an obligation to treat captive Ukrainian soldiers, as well as volunteers from other countries incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces, as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. But two British citizens and a Moroccan, whom Russian officials have labeled mercenaries, were sentenced to death this month by pro-Moscow separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. NEW YORK (AP) What's the price of peace? That question could be partially answered Monday night when Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov auctions off his Nobel Peace Prize medal. The proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Muratov, awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publication's editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlin's clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was Muratovs idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. The idea of the donation, he said, is to give the children refugees a chance for a future. In an interview with The Associated Press, Muratov said he was particularly concerned about children who have been orphaned because of the conflict in Ukraine. We want to return their future," he said. He added that its important international sanctions levied against Russia do not prevent humanitarian aid, such as medicine for rare diseases and bone marrow transplants, from reaching those in need. It has to become a beginning of a flash mob as an example to follow so people auction their valuable possessions to help Ukrainians, Muratov said in a video released by Heritage Auctions, which is handling the sale but not taking any share of the proceeds. Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines. Dmitri A. Muratov, the former editor-in-chief of the Moscow newspaper "Novaya Gazeta," has offered his Nobel medal at auction by Heritage Auctions, with proceeds to go to UNICEF's efforts to help children who have fled the war in Ukraine. (AP) The two journalists, who each received their own medals, were honored for their battles to preserve free speech in their respective countries, despite coming under attack by harassment, their governments and even death threats. Muratov has been highly critical of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war launched in February that has caused nearly 5 million Ukrainians to flee to other countries for safety, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. Independent journalists in Russia have come under scrutiny by the Kremlin, if not outright targets of the government. Since Putin came into power more than two decades ago, nearly two dozen journalists have been killed, including at least four who had worked for Muratov's newspaper. In April, Muratov said he was attacked with red paint while aboard a Russian train. Muratov left Russia for Western Europe on Thursday to begin his trip to New York City, where live bidding will begin Monday afternoon. Online bids began June 1 to coincide with the International Children's Day observance. Monday's live bidding falls on World Refugee Day. As of early Monday morning, the high bid was $550,000. The purchase price is expected to spiral upward, possibly into the millions. Its a very bespoke deal, said Joshua Benesh, the chief strategy officer for Heritage Auctions. Not everyone in the world has a Nobel Prize to auction and not every day of the week that there's a Nobel Prize crossing the auction block. Bidder Ole Bjorn Fausa, of Norway, holds the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize medal in Baltimore, March 27, 2014, the second Nobel Peace Prize ever to come to auction. (AP) Since its inception in 1901, there have been nearly 1,000 recipients of the Nobel Prizes honoring achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and the advancement of peace. The most ever paid for a Nobel Prize medal was in 2014, when James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962, sold his medal for $4.76 million. Three years later, the family of his co-recipient, Francis Crick, received $2.27 million in bidding run by Heritage Auctions, the same company that is auctioning off Muratov's medal. Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratov's medal would be worth about $10,000. The ongoing war and international humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of those affected in Ukraine are bound to stoke interest, Benesh said, adding it's hard to predict how much someone would be willing to pay for the medal. I think theres certainly going to be some excitement Monday, Benesh said. Its its such a unique item being sold under unique circumstances ... a significant act of generosity, and such a significant humanitarian crisis. Muratov and Heritage officials said even those out of the bidding can still help by donating directly to UNICEF. Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now Aftermath of shelling in Donetsk (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted Russia will escalate attacks this week as European Union leaders consider whether to back his country's bid to join the bloc and Russia presses its campaign to win control of eastern Ukraine. The EU's embrace of Ukraine would interfere with one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's stated goals when he ordered his troops into Ukraine: keep Moscow's southern neighbour out of the West's sphere of influence. FIGHTING * Luhansk regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV "all Russian claims that they control (Sievierodonetsk) are a lie. They control the main part of the town, but not the whole town". Fighting made evacuations from the city impossible, he said. * Britain's Ministry of Defence said both Russia and Ukraine have continued heavy bombardment around Sievierodonestk "with little change to the front line". * Analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank wrote that "Russian forces will likely be able to seize Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most of their available forces in this small area". * In Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, Russia's defence ministry said its Iskander missiles had destroyed weaponry recently supplied by Western countries. * The governor of Russia's Bryansk region said the border village of Suzemka had been shelled from northern Ukraine, and one person was wounded and a power station was damaged. * In southern Ukraine, Western weaponry had helped Ukrainian forces advance 10 km (6 miles) towards Russian-occupied Melitopol, its mayor said in a video posted on Telegram from outside the city. * Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports. DIPLOMACY* NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine "could take years" and the West must continue its support, Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported. ECONOMY * European Union foreign ministers will discuss ways to free millions of tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine due to Russia's Black Sea port blockade at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. * Germany announced its latest steps to boost gas storage levels to prepare for the next winter season, when it fears Russia, which has cut deliveries in recent days, could reduce or even completely halt supplies. (Compiled by Cynthia Osterman and Mark Heinrich) Scotland and Northern Ireland have enjoyed their warmest days of the year so far. The Met Office said temperatures in the Aberdeenshire village of Aboyne reached 24.3C on Monday topping Scotlands previous high of the year which was 23.6C recorded at Dunstaffnage on June 5. A top temperature of 22.2C was reached at Portglenone in Co Antrim, just eclipsing this years highest temperature in Northern Ireland which had been the 22.1C recorded at Giants Causeway on June 15. Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst said it just shows you that the warmth is still around and it is going to become warmer across the whole of the UK across the week. Scotland has recorded 24.3C at Aboyne this afternoon, its warmest day of the year so far pic.twitter.com/QvcL9IqCO0 Met Office (@metoffice) June 20, 2022 The heat is set build again in the coming days but will not be as high as last week when temperatures soared to 32.7C at Santon Downham, in Norfolk, on Friday as the UK recorded the hottest day of the year so far. The warmth will be a little more widespread. It will be sunny and dry from Tuesday to Thursday with temperatures reaching about 25C in London, before they rise to about 27 in the east on Wednesday 20 and peak at 29C on Thursday throughout the east and south east England. It will be cloudier for Scotland and Northern Ireland where there will be some sunshine and temperatures may reach low to mid-20sC in the south. Those heading to the Glastonbury festival could be pitching their tents in dry conditions but having to contend with heavy showers over the weekend. A couple read the free paper at a previous wet Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset (Anthony Devlin/PA) The festival returns this week for the first time in three years, finally celebrating its 50th year after the pandemic forced organisers to cancel twice. Mr Dewhurst said: It will be a warm and sunny start to the festival with temperatures up to around 25-26C. There will will high UV levels so people will need to stay hydrated and pack plenty of sunscreen. With the second half of the festival, there is a risk of showers with temperatures dropping down to 20-21C and you will probably need your umbrellas and your wellies. With the weather set to will be varying day-by-day, Mr Dewhurst suggested that revellers make sure you have got everything from warm weather gear to wet weather gear and expect a mixture of conditions. Sir Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish and rapper Kendrick Lamar will perform on the Pyramid stage while Diana Ross will fill the Sunday teatime legends slot. Festival-goers will face difficulties arriving at the site in Pilton amid three days of major rail strikes causing travel chaos. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on June 21, 23 and 25 in the biggest outbreak of such industrial action in a generation. Xi's speech at 25th SPIEF promotes global solidarity, prosperity, experts say Xinhua) 08:38, June 20, 2022 Chinese President Xi Jinping attends and addresses the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in virtual format upon invitation, June 17, 2022. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday addressed the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in virtual format, in which he put forward four proposals to advance global solidarity for sustainable development. Experts and scholars from many countries believe that at a time when the world is facing multiple challenges, Xi's remarks inject positive energy into the world's joint making of a peaceful, prosperous and bright future. Amadou Diop, a Senegalese expert on China, said Xi's speech once again demonstrated China's commitment to international solidarity and the country's willingness to promote common prosperity and maintain world peace. Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar, said Xi's address reflects the aspirations of many developing countries around the world. He called on countries in the Global South to heed Xi's call for closer coordination and jointly find sustainable solutions to the prevailing challenges. "Beijing's readiness to promote high-quality development, expand high-standard opening-up, as well as sustain the Belt and Road momentum affirms China's resolve to foot its international responsibilities," the scholar added. Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said Xi's remarks truly reflected China's unwavering commitment to upholding multilateralism and win-win cooperation, as well as promoting global economic recovery and common development. As a global economic stabilizer, China has been playing a key role in helping remove trade barriers and keep global industrial and supply chains stable, Matthews noted. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends and addresses the plenary session of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in virtual format upon invitation, June 17, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Qiang) Muhammad Asif Noor, director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies in Pakistan, said Xi's proposals are very fair to solve the common challenges such as uncertainty, poverty, inequality and financial crises facing the global community. He called for global efforts to strengthen development partnerships and increase assistance for other countries in development projects. Andrei Ostrovsky, head of the Center for China Socio-Economic Research at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences, said China has been committed to helping build an open world economy, adding that under the current conditions, the Belt and Road Initiative is of particular importance. Ahmed Kandil, an Egyptian expert on Asian affairs and head of the International Studies Unit at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said he completely agrees with Xi's proposal to cooperate on innovation and make the fruits of innovation shared by all, adding that China's voice is important as it speaks up for the developing countries. "It calls for continuous dialogues and exchanges among thinkers, scientists, research centers to lead to creating new technologies that help the progress of humanity and overcoming the challenges and threats facing the world today," the expert said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) A tooth believed to have been ripped from a man who once carried a nations hopes of freedom and democracy is finally going home. The symbolic handover of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumbas remains is meant to soothe a familys and a countrys historic pain, but it is also reviving memories of European colonialism and Americas covert war to contain communism. While the restitution of Lumumbas tooth Monday may be viewed as a chance for redemption by Belgium amid continuing global outrage over the 2020 killing of George Floyd, some accuse Brussels of exploiting the occasion without making a solid commitment to rectify its historical wrongs. Gerard Soete said he took Lumumba's tooth as The return of what is widely believed to be Lumumbas tooth means his family can finally have a resting place where they can pray for their father, said Brussels lawyer Christophe Marchand, who represents two of Lumumbas five children, Francois and Roland. Without the remains, they cant fully mourn, he said. Roland Lumumba said Friday at a news conference in Brussels, I cant say its a feeling of joy, but its positive for us that we can bury our loved one. Following its handover to the family and an official ceremony in the Belgian capital, Lumumbas tooth will return to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although exact details are unclear, a homecoming tour is expected to take the relic to Lumumbas home village, ending with an official burial in the capital, Kinshasa. African sovereignty The Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, gained independence from Belgium in 1960. Lumumbas election as the independent DRCs first prime minister shortly beforehand brought hope that the break with colonialism would bring about a real democracy. We were so hopeful that independence would mean progress, better working and living conditions, more prosperity, using our national resources for the well-being of our people, said Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African studies at the University of North Carolina. To many Congolese, Lumumba is a national hero and a standard bearer of the Congolese independence movement, said Nzongola-Ntalaja, who has written extensively about Lumumbas rise from postal clerk and beer salesman to leader of a nation. We consider Lumumba to be a great chief and a great leader. His reputation stretched across the continent, said Reuben Loffman, a lecturer in African history at Queen Mary University of London, who said Lumumba, a charismatic orator, was somebody who stood up for African sovereignty in desperate circumstances and died for that belief. But at the height of the Cold War, Lumumba was also perceived as a Soviet sympathizer, alarming the U.S. and its Western allies. Ousted by a Western-backed coup three months after he took office, Lumumba was abducted, tortured and assassinated in 1961 at the age of 35. His body was then dug up, dismembered and dissolved in acid by Belgian officers, one of whom said he pocketed a tooth as a trophy. Thus Lumumbas family and his country were deprived of a burial and a grave. Lumumbas assassination remains part of the national trauma for the Congolese, Nzongola-Ntalaja said, and it has had far-reaching effects on the nation. The new Congolese democracy unraveled in its wake, shaking the country the size of Western Europe. In 1997, when the kleptocratic dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was deposed after 32 years in power, the country was left in chaos, with one of the highest debt burdens among developing nations. Today, despite the DRCs vast mineral wealth, most of its people benefit little from their countrys riches. Its home to the worlds third-largest population of poor people, according to the World Bank. Although Belgium-backed Congolese separatists executed Lumumba in January 1961, an inquiry by the Belgian Parliament 40 years later established that certain members of the Belgium state at the time were morally responsible for the circumstances leading to his death. The prime minister at the time, Guy Verhofstadt, apologized in 2002 for Belgian involvement in Lumumbas death. Lumumbas son Francois launched a separate inquiry into his death in Belgium in 2011, seeking to prosecute 10 Belgians for their connection to his fathers murder. It remains ongoing, with only two of the accused still alive. There are also lingering questions about the role the U.S. might have played in his death. Image: (Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP) The State Departments historic records reveal that the U.S. government launched a covert political program in Congo in 1960 lasting almost seven years, initially aimed at removing Lumumba from power and replacing him with a more pro-Western leader. In 1975, a Senate committee investigating CIA plots to assassinate foreign leaders concluded there was a separate, failed plot by the U.S. to poison Lumumba, but it found no evidence that the CIA was connected to his killing. Nzongola-Ntalaja said the Senate committee conclusion was disingenuous for ignoring allegations of U.S. responsibility in destabilizing Lumumbas political standing. They concluded the CIA had no responsibility in this matter because they did not open fire on Lumumba, he said. They didnt hold the gun and kill him, but the reality is the CIA played a major role in getting Lumumba removed from government as prime minister. The State Department and the CIA wouldnt comment. Patrice Lumumba (AP file) Lumumbas death capped decades of violent colonial rule and foreign interference in what is now the DRC, so the return of Lumumbas tooth is of emblematic significance for both nations, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said last month. The countrys monarch, King Philippe, reaffirmed his deepest regrets for his nations colonial-era abuses in the DRC during a visit to the country this month, but he stopped short of a formal apology. Belgiums control of the vast region from 1885 to 1960 was marked by savage violence, during which millions of people were turned into a slave labor force, with mutilations commonplace and the nations natural resources plundered. But regret isnt enough, and Belgium should own up to its responsibility for its colonial past as well as Lumumbas death, Nzongola-Ntalaja said. Tooth a trophy The existence of Lumumbas tooth came to light in a 1999 interview with Gerard Soete, a former Belgian police commissioner in Congo, who admitted to disinterring and cutting up Lumumbas corpse before he dissolved it in acid. Soete later told Ludo de Witte, who wrote a book about Lumumbas assassination, that he had taken the tooth as a kind of trophy. Belgian authorities took possession of the tooth after Soetes daughter showed it to journalists in 2016. Whether the tooth is Lumumbas hasnt been verified by DNA analysis amid fears that DNA testing could destroy it. Speculation also persists as to whether the tooth comprises Lumumbas only remains. De Witte said Soete boasted that he took multiple teeth and part of a finger. It isnt known whether his claims are correct or where those remains are. Lumumba (AP file) In 2020, a Belgian court cleared the way for the tooth to be returned to the family, shortly after Lumumbas daughter, Juliana, wrote a letter to the king asking for the return of her fathers relics, calling him a hero without a grave. Juliana Lumumba didnt respond to requests for comment. Belgian officials have dubbed the tooths return a new pivotal moment in the history of diplomatic relations between Belgium and the DRC, after the visit of King Philippe to the DRC in the second week of June, De Croo said in a statement said last month. The remains of Patrice Emery Lumumba refer to the common past between our two countries, including its difficult episodes. DRC officials havent replied to requests for comment about the tooth handover and its significance to the nation. But some people, including one of Lumumbas sons, oppose the restitution. Guy Lumumba said he believes the DRCs current leadership is exploiting his fathers name to ease relations with Belgium, while the family still awaits justice. The Belgian anti-racism activist Mireille-Tsheusi Robert said the restitution was a marketing operation that allows Belgium to improve its image without apologizing for its colonial wrongs. It is not simply by returning Lumumbas tooth that we can repair a century of humiliation, she said. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Exchange of experience, development of skills, creation of ties and a new breath to the community life: Diaspora Youth Ambassador program of the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia is providing these and other opportunities for already the second time. 20 young people from 16 countries of the world participated in the program last year. They had a chance to be in Armenia and Artsakh for two weeks, participate in trainings, workshops, have meetings and get necessary political, economic, social, cultural, educational and other information. After returning back they are obliged to come up with projects and initiatives in their communities, by investing the experience and knowledge gained in Armenia. Representative of the Office of High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, program manager, Greta Mnatsakanyan told ARMENPRESS that the program aims at assisting Diaspora-Armenian youth to be actively engaged in community life and improve their knowledge and skills for conducting more effective activity in their communities. The program enables to upgrade their knowledge and establish new ties. Within the frames of the program, they visit the state structures of Armenia and Artsakh and have a number of meetings. For instance, in Artsakh we had a meeting with the President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Foreign Minister. They got acquainted with a total of 200 people within the framework of the program, and this already allows to directly work with these people. In addition, the participants become the partners of our Office and raise different issues relating to their communities, try to understand how this or that problem could be solved, she said. The next key process is that the participants themselves share their experience with community works. They have different skills, are from different countries and have their own experience of successful programs. For instance, a participant from Russia highlighted the experience of the participant from France, which supposes improving education through games. Harutyun Chatoyan was one of the participants of the program. He was from Chita. In an interview to ARMENPRESS, he said that when he was informed about the program, he was engaged that time with the activities on creating an Armenian cultural educational center of the Trans-Baikal region. I thought that within the frames of this program I will acquire sufficient skills and knowledge in the homeland for the effective activity of the Armenian center. Thanks to the program, I became more confident, started to better speak in Armenian. After getting acquainted with my colleagues from different countries, who already reached some success, I understood that I can take their experience and localize it, by taking into account the needs of our community, he said. As an example, he said that he introduced the Armenian language teacher of their center with the colleague from France for exchanging experiences. Shortly afterwards, the number of those wishing to attend the Armenian language courses organized in Chita has greatly increased. Another participant Sona Baghumyan lives in Belgium for over 20 years. During the 2020 Artsakh War, she was thinking of being useful somehow to the Homeland. And during the war Sona started her activities in the Armenian community of Belgium. After learning about the Diaspora Youth Ambassador program, I thought it would be useful, and I would be able to do something for our state, for our community. The meetings, that lasted for two weeks, enabled to better know the situation in Armenia and Artsakh, better understand how the Diaspora could help. One of the best achievements is that we managed to create such a connection in the team through which we are conducting a teamwork in different areas, Sona said. She organized awareness-raising campaigns on repatriation and return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan. Sona also organized a discussion on the attempts to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations. The deadline for applying to the program is until July 1. There are already applications from Russia, Georgia, European countries and the United States. The program will be implemented from September 25 to October 8, 2022. This year as well 20 young people will participate in the program. Interview by Anna Gziryan YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan convened an enlarged sitting of the Security Council on June 20, the Presidential Office said. The agenda included the internal and external challenges facing the Republic. The Ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Territorial Administration and Infrastructure delivered reports. Earnest discussions were held on the presented issues, as a result of which President Harutyunyan gave a number of instructions to the heads of state structures. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. This year more than 250 foreigners, most of them from Ukraine, have applied for asylum and refugee status in Armenia, the Migration Service of Armenia said. In January-March 2022, the Migration Service received applications for asylum from 13 countries of the world, including Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Lebanon, Syria, etc. Over the past ten years Armenia has provided a refugee status to more than 1500 asylum seekers. In the past five years the Migration Service has been receiving an average of 220 applications for asylum per year. During the 2020 war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, the Migration Service collected the data of the displaced persons from Artsakh, which it processes and sends to other agencies if necessary. The data was obtained through home visits: in Yerevan accompanied by representatives of territorial staffs of the Yerevan City Halls Department of Children and Social Protection, and in provinces through representatives of staffs of local self-government authorities. Nearly 91,000 persons, 88% of whom are women and children, have been registered in the electronic database. Housing program for refugees forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan Based on the 2019 November 21 decision of the government, the Migration Service carries out a housing program for refugee families who were displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 and have been left without shelter for 30 years. 270 families have been provided with apartment purchase certificates with a total cost of 3.7 billion drams. Nearly 200 of these families (around 75% of those who received apartment purchase certificates) have already purchased an apartment. On March 10, 2022, the government of Armenia adopted the decision N283 according to which the program will start to be implemented in the provinces. According to the studies conducted in 2013, 254 families in provinces are potential program beneficiaries. Currently, a process of re-registration of potential beneficiaries living in provinces is underway. June 20 is celebrated around the world as the World Refugee Day. YEREVAN, 20 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 June, USD exchange rate down by 4.27 drams to 421.03 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 3.82 drams to 443.47 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 7.51 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 6.94 drams to 515.80 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 47.02 drams to 24928.01 drams. Silver price up by 2.60 drams to 295.70 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams. YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The meeting of the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia Nikol Pashinyan and Mikhail Mishustin took place in Minsk, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister. The head of the Russian Government said in his speech, "Welcome, dear Nikol Vovaevich, I warmly recall our meeting during your official visit. First of all, let me convey the warm greetings and best wishes of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. I would like to emphasize once again that we highly value our special relations with fraternal Armenia. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries and the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Russia is Armenia's main foreign trade partner and the investor in the Armenian economy. According to the results of January-April of this year, the mutual trade turnover increased by 30%, exceeding $ 890 million. I think there is still room for growth. The volume of Russian capital in the Armenian economy is more than $ 2 billion, there are opportunities to grow here as well, it will be important for Russian investors to expand their investments in Armenia. There are major Russian companies operating in Armenia - oil and gas, transport, digital technologies, other sectors - we hope that the Armenian Government will continue to create favorable conditions for Russian companies. We are interested in expanding bilateral cooperation, launching new productions, promoting joint projects in various fields, first of all in industry, energy, transport, digitalization. These issues are in the focus of our intergovernmental commission. By the relevant decision of the Government, all restrictions on the entry of Armenian citizens to Russia by land have been lifted. We expect that in the near future the flow of tourists will be restored and will even grow further. In my opinion, this is very important for the populations of Armenia and Russia. We also pay special attention to the unblocking of transport and economic infrastructure in the South Caucasus, in accordance with the agreement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The practical work is being carried out within the framework of a trilateral working group co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers. Its regular session took place during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. And today our meeting is taking place within the framework of the sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Russia and Armenia are advocating strengthening of the Eurasian integration on the basis of the four freedoms: free movement of capital, labor, services, and goods. Within the framework of the Union, we are taking joint steps to reduce the impact of sanctions imposed by non-friendly countries, our decisions contribute to the stabilization of the economies of the EEU countries. I suggest we should go through all these points, dear Nikol Vovaevich". In turn, Prime Minister Pashinyan said, Dear Mikhail Vladimirovich, I am very glad to see you, we meet regularly. I also recall with warmth our last meeting in Moscow in the sidelines of my official visit. I want to emphasize that it was very effective, I want to thank you for responding quickly to all the issues that need a solution in order to maintain the high pace of our trade and economic relations. I would especially like to emphasize the decisions you have made regarding the Upper Lars checkpoint. You know that, unfortunately, it is still the only land route that connects Armenia and Russia. There are concerns about the current economic conjuncture, with some problems arising in connection with the increase of land economic flows; the decisions you have already made and which we have already agreed on are very important. We are also talking about this with our Georgian partners so that the trade turnover between Russia and Armenia does not face artificial restrictions. In this context, the opening of regional infrastructure, the unblocking of the whole region is very important. I would like to thank once again Alexey Overchuk and Mher Grigoryan, who are working very intensively with the Co-chair of the Republic of Azerbaijan on these issues. I hope that the work done will result in concrete decisions, as you know that the opening of economic and transport infrastructure in the region is important for all countries in the region. In the current situation, it is of special significance. Today we will discuss not only issues on the bilateral agenda. The agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union is also very important for us. You rightly noted that both Armenia and Russia are interested in making the Eurasian Economic Union a more effective format. Of course, we are pleased with how this mechanism works, but there is always room for improvement. I am very happy to welcome you once again, I hope we will have a meaningful conversation today." YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took part in the narrow-format session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Minsk, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minster. First, the Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko met with the Heads of Government of Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and then, after the video shooting ceremony, the session took place. The Prime Ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union member states discussed issues related to the strengthening of the internal market, the development of transport infrastructure, and the regulation of customs tariffs. Reference was also made to cooperation on the digital agenda. The expanded-format session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will take place on June 21. by Mathias Hariyadi Pope Francis has appointed Msgr. Saeng, a 53-year-old Passionist religious, as the new bishop of the West Kalimantan border territory. He takes the place of Italian missionary Msgr. Giulio Mencuccini, who led this church since 1990. The new prelate: "Pray for my new mission." Sanggau (AsiaNews) - Fr. Valentinus Saeng, an ethnic Dayak Passionist religious, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the diocese of Sanggau in West Kalimantan province. He takes the place of Msgr. Giulio Mencuccini, also a Passionist religious of Italian origin, who had led the diocese since 1990 and is now leaving due to age limit. With this turnover, the Catholic Church of Indonesia will no longer have any foreign missionary bishop leading its own diocese. "As soon as the new prelate of the Sanggau diocese is ordained in the coming months, I will return home to my native country," Msgr. Mencuccini told AsiaNews. The diocese of Sanggau is located in the border regions of Malaysian Sarawak: with its huge territory to serve, Bishop-elect Msgr. Saeng will be called to a challenging task, in a border area where much remains to be done to improve the quality of life for people. Established as an apostolic prefecture in 1968 and elevated to the rank of diocese in 1982, this local Church covers an area of more than 18,000 square kilometers where, according to official statistics, 344,117 Catholics live, representing 53.7 percent of the population. With its 25 parishes, this large diocese is pastorally administered by only 49 priests, 15 consecrated laity and 47 nuns. Bishop Saeng was born Oct. 28, 1969, in Keramuk, in the Diocese of Sanggau. He entered the Passionists and was ordained a priest in 1998. After furthering his studies in Rome at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas-Angelicum since 2001, he has been a Passionist formator and student superior in Malang and lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy at Widya Mandala Catholic University in Surabaya and at St. Thomas Catholic University in Medan. The new bishop explains to AsiaNews, "The first thing I ask is that you pray for me and support my pastoral work. I left Sanggau a long time ago because of my current commitment as a faculty member and responsible for the formation of my fellow Passionist seminarians. As is well known, our diocese is located on the border with Malaysian territory, and in recent years many things have happened in the region, both good and bad, which will need to be addressed appropriately." Among the social plagues is the phenomenon of growing alcohol and drug addiction, which touches more and more young people, including Catholics. "It is widely known by our people that narcotics are smuggled from the Malaysian territory to the Indonesian regions, and it is really difficult to detect and discourage these illicit practices, as the smuggling takes place through unconventional road accesses," a local priest explained to AsiaNews in 2017 during a trip to the area. The hope that Msgr. Saeng's appointment will be an opportunity for greater attention to the problems of this region is also expressed by dozens of young natives of the Sanggau diocese who are now pursuing their studies in the East Java town of Malang, where they were taking Msgr. Saeng's courses. "There are no access roads," Sofia and Johana recount, "for those who live in remote areas that can only be reached through the course of rivers. We really hope that the bishop-elect will address these challenges in cooperation with the local government." by Vladimir Rozanskij Kekh Pass epicentre of clashes. The two sides trade blame for the situation. Out of 972 km of the border, only 519 km are determined and officially recognized by Dushanbe and Biskek. Moscow (AsiaNews) - Several clashes and shootings occurred in June between Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards in the Kekh locality, 15 kilometers from the dzamoat (agricultural center) of Vorukh, part of the Tajik town of Isfar; the latest skirmish took place on June 14. Only the military's border stations are stationed in Kekh, and Vorukh often does not even get the echoes of armed incidents, except then to witness sudden maneuvers of new dispositions of soldiers in the territory. One local resident, Zukhron Tesaev, tells Ozody that "we cannot understand what is happening over there, we see new military units coming to relieve the border detachment and we understand that they are fighting again, before there were more negotiations between the two sides, now they seem to be getting more and more agitated." The residents are continually anxious, any noise outside their door creates concern, and in the village no one can sleep anymore. With every incident, locals recount, at least one or two people die. "We want to raise our children, not grow flowers for graves, let them stop," says Zukhron. Several Vorukh residents have witnessed at least three armed clashes at the border in the past month, where both populations claim ownership of the Kekh Pass. Tajiks claim that "for centuries we have not only been cultivating the land and grazing our flocks here, but it is also a place of recreation and rest." The cabany, the local herders, fear the dispersal of animals across the land. According to another local resident, Rufokhudza Rakhimov, "the Kyrgyz want to turn this area into a battlefield, and they keep bringing personnel from the other 'auly' [border forts] to Kekh, while with the residents of Kyrgyz origin we had never had any problems for a long time." The bloodiest clash took place in April 2021, and since then terror has never left the lives of people in these parts. A Tajik analyst, Nehmatullo Mirsaidov, believes that the Kyrgyz authorities have never been able to fit the border province of Leilek (Batken region) into the country's communication routes, and they try to solve their logic problems at the expense of Tajiks by encroaching on larger and larger parts of the historic pastures in the Kekh area and trying to secure access to water and crucial road crossings. In the latest clash, 26-year-old Murodbek Makhmadkulov, a Tajik border soldier, lost his life, and the Dusanbe Foreign Ministry said that "as a result of this unjustified aggression, the commander of the Tajik border forces in Kekh was wounded and transported to the Vorukh emergency room; his condition appears quite critical." The Kyrgyz retort that it was the Tajiks who fired first, and this dynamic of mutual accusations is now repeated for all incidents in recent months. On June 3, Tajik guards had opened fire, according to witnesses, after Kyrgyz soldiers invaded the territory without warning or justification, ignoring all warnings and intimations to stop and turn back. The Kyrgyz complain that it is rather the Tajiks who often trespass, and it appears that no way can be found to agree on control of the road between Vorukh and Isfar, where every turn is claimed by both sides. The governments of the two countries had claimed to have determined the borders on 664 kilometers of the total 972 that unite Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, but in reality only 519 kilometers are currently fully secured, while everything else remains disputed. by Nirmala Carvalho The north-eastern Indian state is home to a large Christian community. Local authorities in a Buddhist-dominated district have prevented the construction of a church for years. They claim that it is illegal and want it removed, yet have also not issued permits for it to be built elsewhere. Itanagar (AsiaNews) The Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) organised protests across the state, including a march, last Saturday calling for action to solve a dispute over a church in Tawang, a town in a district dominated by the Monpa Buddhist community. Christians represent about 30 per cent of the states population. In October 2020, local authorities in this north-eastern Indian state had the construction of a church halted, deeming it illegal, after two local groups the Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh and the Monpa Mimang Tsogpa filed a complaint. After ruling that the church lacked the necessary construction permit, they had the local pastor arrested; he was later released on bail. However, Christians of Tawang countered that a church has been on that land since 1999 and that they had begun to rebuild it in 2015 and that the relevant authority ignored our application for land allotment initiated in 2003. On 23 May, a local committee issued a report calling for compliance with a ruling by the Supreme Court to strictly follow the 2010 Unauthorised Religious Structures (Regulation, Removal and Relocation) Policy. We had been demanding a proper mechanism to resolve the issue, said ACF president Toko Teki. However, the recommendations of the panel the State government had set up are not acceptable. How can the Christian community in Tawang relocate the church within six months when there is no designated or clearly demarcated land in Tawang. For Teki, The state government has failed to address our demand within the stipulated period which has led us to stage state-wide mass movement which was unanimously decided among representatives of all denominations of the Christian community of the state. Protesters said they were ready to take the matter to court if the government does not respond to their request. by Giorgio Licini * The Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands issued an appeal for World Refugee Day. Another 10 families from the Indonesian province bordering PNG have recently arrived in Vanimo, joining 12,000 who arrived in the last 30 years. The new Australian government is asked to provide medical assistance to the 104 former deportees on Manus Island still left in the country. Port Moresby (AsiaNews) On the occasion of World Refugee Day, which is celebrated today, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands has released the following statement signed by its general secretary, PIME missionary Fr Giorgio Licini, relating to the various aspects of the issue in Papua New Guinea and the urgent need to act. Today, the world is reminded of the stories and journeys of a special group of people who live among us. The 20th of June 2022 is World Refugee Day. In Papua New Guinea, we gather to acknowledge the refugees that live among us. We have refugees from West Papua who have been living in PNG for more than three decades. We have asylum seekers who have been taken to PNG from Australia in 2013. We have refugees and asylum seekers from several other countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ecuador who came individually to seek safety in PNG. For these people, the Catholic Bishops Conference, and the respective dioceses, together with like-minded NGOs, and relevant State actors are uniting to raise awareness, but more so to raise the visibility of their plight for the responsible authorities to take appropriate and humane actions to bring an end to their suffering and give them hope for better lives that all of us deserve. THE WEST PAPUANS. There are about 12 thousand Melanesians from West Papua now living in PNG, mainly in the National Capital District (NCD), Western, and Sandaun provinces. On this occasion I want to make a call to the government of Papua New to take reasonable steps with concrete actions to facilitate their integration into our society. I want to highlight some of the main and prolonged barriers that continue to hamper the West Papuans to meaningfully integrate into PNG society. These include prolonged refugee processing, lack of government issued identity documentation, and importantly land concessions. In Port Moresby, more than 200 families live in squatter settlements with imminent threat of eviction. In fact, some of them have been evicted five times from one place to another, to be finally allowed to squat on a waste land at Rainbow in the Gerehu suburb. This is a painful story, at least as painful as taking children out of school, going without food for days and sleeping in the cold in open parks. In Vanimo, ten families arrived from West Papua on 17th November 2022. Their situation needs prompt and decisive government intervention. Being rejected by a few villages due to concerns over resource competition, they have now been allowed to settle in temporarily. However, government action is still very slow, leaving these vulnerable people exposed to more risks. Absence of proper land allocation and legal arrangements has made life for West Papuan very difficult. Furthermore, the West Papua Iowara refugee camp in Western province needs to be better connected by road to the rest of the province and to Kiunga town. THE 2013 REGIONAL RESETTLEMENT ARRANGEMENT. Of the 1523 men forcibly transferred to Manus Is. from Australia in 2013 under the Regional Resettlement Arrangement, 104 remain in PNG, mainly of Middle East and Asian origin. There is particularly and extreme concern for the elderly and a dozen with a variety of chronic health issues whose conditions will soon descend into utter despair and physical destitution. For them we have a specific request to the new Australian government to open a new medivac pathway to properly address issues of mental health, but also cardiovascular conditions, fractured bones, skin diseases, etc. INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE. Internally, we have people who are being forced out of their homes because of sorcery practices and accusations, conflicts, natural disasters, and increasingly the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. These people need our welcome too. They need our prayers and solidarity. To be a responsible government and society, we must not exclude those who need our help, those who cannot support themselves, and those who lost their livelihoods. The government and all the stakeholders including the Churches must work together for these persons. To achieve prosperity and meaningful life we must all journey together. On 7 June 2022 in Madang, we launched the Catholic Safe House Association with the support of Caritas Australia with the idea of increasing the number (currently half a dozen) of places where mainly victims of sorcery related violence can find shelter and support. MIGRANT WORKERS. We must also not lose sight of those who come to work in our country. The migrant workers provide an important pool of skills and labor that we need as a country to grow. The logging, fishery, and the retail trade industries host a big number of migrant workforces. They are a part of our people and communities. We must look after them, welcome them and learn from them. But we also expect them to respect our laws and our cultures. If they break our laws, they must be afforded humane treatment within the confines of the laws to face penalties. Arbitrary detention and punishment with impunity should not be a way of dealing with migrants contravening our laws. We are a nation built on a constitution that is rooted in Christianity and democratic principles. HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Before I finish, I would like to remind the government and all of us to be vigilant against human trafficking. Human trafficking takes a variety of forms and happens every day in our communities, workplaces, industrial areas, between different provinces and at our international borders. Victims of human trafficking can be anyone, but mostly the vulnerable people like the children. Women, men, young boys and girls and old people can become victims of human trafficking. It is a serious crime that is often hard to detect because it takes place in subtle forms. Sex trafficking is now common in the urban centers in PNG as the living standards become more expensive. Family members and victims of human rights abuses are more vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking. The theme for the World Refugee Day this year, Whoever, Whenever, Whatever, Everyone has the right to seek safety, reminds us that we need each other. We seek safety through each other, and through the government that we ourselves put in place to protect us. Refugees, IDPs, migrant workers and victims of human trafficking, they all need to be protected and supported by the government and those in a position of making decisions for the people. * Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Hunter Lyons and his mother Megen Hlavacek sit across the street from the former Tasters space on Friday. Lyons and Hlavacek are hoping to open a new restaurant in the building before the end of the year that will provide some affordable options for Aspenites. Teslas in-house insurance program has officially expanded to Nevada, the ninth U.S. state to be covered by the electric automakers competitively priced insurance product. Nevada joins Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Virginia as states that use Tesla Insurance, which bases rates on real-time driving behavior in all regions except for California, due to statewide restrictions. Launched in August 2019, Tesla Insurance offers drivers more competitive rates, as other insurance companies had relatively high rates for electric vehicles, Teslas in particular. The program, at its launch, offered rates 20% to 30% lower than other companies. The company offered its justification for an in-house insurance product as its familiarity with its own vehicles. Because Tesla knows its vehicles best, Tesla Insurance is able to leverage the advanced technology, safety and serviceability of our cars to provide insurance at a lower cost. This pricing reflects the benefits of Teslas active safety and advanced driver assistance features that come standard on all new Tesla vehicles, the automaker said in a blog post. More states are expected to be added in the coming months, with hopes Tesla can offer insurance to its drivers in all 50 states and other countries. Last year, CEO Elon Musk indicated the insurance program would be available in New York sometime this year, with Maryland, New Jersey and Florida all expected to embrace the Tesla Insurance offerings. Tesla Insurance uses real-time telematics but uses specific features within the vehicle to evaluate an appropriate premium based on driver behavior. The Tesla Safety Score, along with what vehicle is being driven, the address, how much the driver uses the vehicle and what coverage is selected, all play a part in the drivers monthly premium. It doesnt use traditional metrics, like credit, age, gender, claim history and driving records, used by other insurance providers, to develop a premium. We thank Teslarati for reprint permission. SUV Here, wed mention those examples equipped with classy wheels, and those fitted with oversized alloys for a ridiculous stance. There are others out there, with big body kits, flashy colors, and lots of speakers, and there are also some that have even been turned into veritable pickups, with an open bed behind the cabin.As for the pictured example, it falls in neither category, as what its owner did to it was enhance its off-road-y nature because everyone knows that the Escalade is a true beast with uneven, sticky, and/or slippery surfaces under its feet, right?The suspension stops being ridiculous once you take a closer look at it, which is easier said than done, as the person who took the pics shared in the image gallery shouldnt quit their day job anytime soon. It has a 15-inch (381-mm) lift kit, the ad reveals, as the vehicle is listed for grabs on the used car market, and a set of wheels signed by Forgiato, wrapped in rather chunky rubber for what is still an Escalade.Even though some of the other modifications arent visible, it is said to sport a starlight headliner, in plain Rolls-Royce fashion, as well as a reupholstered interior, with black leather bedecking the seats and other parts of the cockpit. An aftermarket sound system is obviously on deck too.With 85,922 miles (138,278 km) on the clock, this 2015 Cadillac Escalade is searching for a new home. Mecum will auction it off at the Orlando 2022 event, hosted from July 6 to 9, so if you ever wanted a jacked-up luxury, then you know what to do next, dont you? The reality is that the oil looks like s#!t, said JC. It is dark, it smells like burnt oil mixed with gas, and it doesnt feel very slippery. To change the oil of a turbo-engined Maverick, you first need to jack it off the floor. For extra peace of mind, use jack stands as well as a set of anti-roll chocks.Next up, simply remove the screws holding the underbody cover in place with a Torx T-30 driver bit. JC then undercoats the said panel with Rust-Oleum rubberized spray, and he intends to apply a second layer with the next oil change. Turning our attention back to the oil change, removing the filter is preferably done with a three-jaw oil filter wrench. Draining the yucky stuff from the Mavericks oil pan is similarly straightforward.The OEM drain plug goes back in, followed by a WIX 51348XP heavy-duty filter instead of the Motorcraft FL-910S that Ford uses. JC intends to fit a drain valve next oil change. Currently priced at $32, the Fumoto F107SX that will go in there promises cleaner and easier oil changes.JC then takes off the coolant reservoir cap, only to add Blue Devil Pour-N-Go Engine Cool to reduce the engines operating temperature by up to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). The oil cap is off next, and in come 5.5 quarts (5.2 liters) of Castrol Edge Advanced Synthetic. Page 359 of the owners manual for the Maverick recommends 5W-30 synthetic blend from Motorcraft for regular operation. To improve cold start performance, Ford also recommends 0W-30 synthetic blend from their own parts brand.This took me about 20 minutes, signed off JC. Once he gets the drain valve in place, the oil change should take approximately 10 minutes. Spotted as a pair on a truck by Twitter user Yamazoh, the all-new CTR features a three-piped exhaust system, just like its predecessor. Exiting through the middle of the black-painted aerodynamic diffuser, the outlets are not an exaggeration. The 2.0-liter turbo in the Civic Type R needs a lot of air, hence the outer pipes. The middle outlet, however, is a resonator that generates a loud growl at low speeds as you accelerate from a standstill.Settle in for high-speed cruising, and the gases flowing through the resonator hit a resonant frequency, diverting the backpressure to the outboard mufflers and reducing the noise getting into the cabin. The only difference between it and the central outlet of the previous-gen CTR is the diameter.Yamazohs picture and video further offer a glimpse of the rear suspension design, which is a multi-link setup with model-specific arms. Lesser variants of the Civic also flaunt a multi-link arrangement designed to improve straight-line stability and turn-in capability. The redesigned bushings and reduced suspension friction also improve harsh impact shock and noise.As ever, the CTR will be offered exclusively with a manual. In the Civic Si, which uses the gearbox of the Civic Type R , the Japanese automaker promises 10 percent shorter throws and better shift feel. Its also safe to assume that Honda will spruce up this box with a rev-matching system.Already the fastest front-wheel-drive production vehicle on Suzuka, the Civic Type R may have broken the Nurburgring lap record as well. The outgoing Civic Type R did a 7:43.80 back in April 2017, yet the car to beat is the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R . Considering that Renaults limited-edition model is two seconds off the all-new Civic Type R at Suzuka, its likely that Honda will make the Nurburgring announcement very soon. Launched in 2021, at the initiative of the BMW Groups technology and logistics development team, the research project was designed to explore how self-driving logistics vehicles can be used in a production setting. After preliminary tests under laboratory conditions on the TUM campus in Garching, now the Robot in the Cloud project is ready to break the ice at BMW Group Plant Landshut.The novelty comes from the fact that a data cloud is taking care of all the complex calculations required for autonomous logistics, replacing the old version, when all this process was happening in the vehicle. To be more specific, cameras are integrated into the self-driving forklifts trucks, simultaneously calculating driving movements and determine coordinates with millimetre precision.After that, the calculations are outsourced to a high-performance data cloud using 5G technology, as Ludwig Huber, responsible for integration at Plant Landshut explains. By eliminating the complex processors and the corresponding hardware, there will be an optimal control of forklifts, reducing downtimes and boosting the performance and efficiency of the entire logistics system.The new 5G wireless technology allows large data volumes to be transferred within a very short time, enabling real-time connectivity between machinery and equipment. More than that, it also enables billions of machines to be connected and transmit data in near real time, all meeting in perfect symbiosis, an artificial ecosystem designed to streamline factory production The implementation of the new system was possible due to a team effort demonstrated by congiv GmbH from Munich, which is installing the 5G network at BMW Group Plant Landshut and provides the cloud solution, the KS Control GmbH from Mintraching supplies the self-driving forklift trucks and the scientific monitoring for the project is provided by the Technical University of Munich.The 1.2-million-euro Robot in the Cloud project was founded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and it took 2 years to reach the final form.With this pilot project, BMW Group Plant Landshut is setting a new benchmark for the intelligent, connected factory. The increasing digitalisation of production also includes logistics flows, explains site manager Dr. Stefan Kasperowski. Behind the project is the aim of fully connected production, in which autonomous transport systems, logistics robots and mobile devices seamlessly communicate with one another and with the control system. Musk is one of those people who have identified themselves with the companies they led, and this sounds like a great idea until the person in question does or says something that makes the public uncomfortable. We are going with the latter term because it is not about anger here; it is about how much people like the individual.For example, Steve Jobs was a person who identified himself with the company that he co-founded and led. This was fun at the beginning, a bit odd after he was ousted by the CEO that he selected (the famous " selling sugar water or changing the world " conversation), and then fun again when he came back. At least, that is what it looked like from the outside, even though people on the inside might not have had the same experience.At this point, Musk is enjoying what might be his peak, even though he probably wants even more. Mind you, I am not suggesting that Musk has peaked, but he has reached a point where you cannot help but wonder what could he possibly do next, and the pressure might be too much for a human to handle.Again, we are writing about the world's richest person . His fortune is valued at approximately $224 billion. As a reference, the previous "world's richest person," Jeff Bezos, had an estimated net worth of $144 billion. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and also founded SpaceX, and his attention is currently focused on Twitter while also going back-and-forth with improving Tesla.Musk is human, after all, and he is 50 years old, which might not be the best moment to continue living "the startup life." Instead of sleeping in an office just to be sure that things go his way at Tesla, there are alternative ways to make that happen. My idea is to seek within the company and find the company's "Tim Cook." No, we are not proposing he tries to get Apple's head honcho to lead the automaker.Instead, we are suggesting Elon finds "the Tim Cook to his Steve Jobs." It might be worthwhile to have one or several people who are already close to him, select one of those people, and then proceed to hand over the leadership of the company.We are sure Musk has a lawyer on hand to ensure that the company will be led exactly how he expects it to happen and that everything will proceed in the direction that he chose with the help of the company's board.The good part about the entire deal is that he already has that person at SpaceX , which has a president, who could be allowed to become the image of the company. Or not, and it would be fine as long as Elon could just take a step to the side and stop communicating as if he is SpaceX and Tesla together.This way, Elon Musk could focus on his next big thing (that's an Apple-related pun right there) and make Twitter into the free-speech platform that he keeps writing about. The good news is that Twitter already works that way, as far as we know, and he just needs to not fire anyone who expresses an opinion different from his.If Elon leaves someone else in the driver's seat at Tesla, stops focusing on SpaceX, and just focuses his energy on Twitter , as well as other potential business ideas, he might become even wealthier.In any case, even if Elon takes a vacation from Twitter, the internet altogether, as well as the companies he runs, he is not in danger of suddenly becoming poor , as long as his vacation plans are clear. A certain Chinese billionaire comes to mind.With at least a couple of weeks off, Elon could come with fresh ideas to the table or, at least, clear his head and be happy with what he has, which is a net worth of $224 billion. If youve been using Google Maps on Android Auto lately, theres a chance you noticed the app loaded in the dark mode by default, regardless of the vehicle or device settings.In other words, the navigation app just ignored the configuration made by the user and defaulted to the dark mode whenever it was running on Android Auto.While the Mountain View-based search giant confirmed it was looking into the user reports pointing to a problem on this front, the company has never offered an ETA as to when a fix could go live.The most recent version of Google Maps, however, includes a fix for this error, therefore bringing everything back to normal. The patch was first shipped to testers as part of Google Maps 11.35.0 beta, but it is now available on the most recent stable update as well Google Maps 11.35.1. If you dont want to wait for the rollout through the Google Play Store to reach your device, just head over to this page to download the stand-alone APK installer.Oddly enough, Google has already removed the discussion thread on its forums where users have been dissecting this problem on Android Auto.Of course, the whole thing happened without the company officially announcing a fix, so for now, theres a chance many of those who are struggling with the dark mode in Google Maps on Android Auto dont even know that a patch is now available.Google Maps is currently the number one navigation app on Android Auto, so most likely, quite a lot of people ended up struggling with the dark mode. The rollout through the Google Play Store is happening in stages, so manually installing the latest version is the easiest way to get the fix right now without waiting. AWD Designed to turn heads in the 'Great White North,' the Alfa Romeo Giulia displays a glam look in its Verde Montreal Tri-coat paint color, a shade available so far only on the Quadrifoglio. The confident and daring style is accentuated by the black exterior badging, carbon-fibre V scudetto grille and mirrors caps. Down to earth, 19-inch dark 5-hole wheels with yellow calipers and carbon-fiber side sills stand out with ferocity.Inside, a luxurious, yet dynamic style invites you to feel the Italian passion with black leather seats, shift lever and upper door panel coverings laced with red stitching, carbon-fibre accents and a Harman Kardon premium audio system.With 280 horsepower and 306 lb-ft (415 Nm) of torque, reaching 0-100 kph (62 mph) in 5.1 seconds, the turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine delivers best-in-class performance. Also, featuring the standard Alfa Romeo Q4system and a limited-slip rear differential, the stability of the car is ensured, regardless of the road conditions. Empowered by the Alfa Adaptive Suspension Technology, the new Alfa Romeo Giulia Speciale has the ability to predict the type of road to follow and to adjust its functions according to it.Due to the collaboration with Alfa Romeos F1 Team ORLEN, the 2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia Speciale model receives the know-how gained so far as a result of many experiments tested on the track.Only 15 units are expected to arrive in Alfa showrooms in Canada by the end of this month. It will therefore be an exclusive limited edition model, which will surely be valued as a vintage and rare car over the years.Alfa Romeo and the City of Montreal have a proud connection to each other, and the new Giulia Speciale model enhances that relationship by providing consumers with an unrivaled driving experience and a head-turning appearance unique to Canada, said Larry Dominique, head of Alfa Romeo, North America. South Korean publication Hankyung understands that dwindling sales are to blame for the Velosters demise. This increasingly noticeable slowdown is further explained by the introduction of the Avante N, which the U.S. knows under the Elantra N moniker. Priced at $32,150 excluding destination charge, the go-faster sedan is $350 cheaper than the Hyundai Veloster N Even though its a rather practical hatchback, the Veloster N is a bit weird from a design standpoint for most prospective customers. Hankyung notes that South Korean sales of the Veloster N dipped from 1,388 units in 2020 to 510 units in 2021. Between January and April of this year, Hyundai moved merely 99 examples of the four-door hatchback in its home market.Another disruptor comes in the guise of the Kona N, which is particularly desirable thanks to its five-door crossover body style. At $34,200 excluding destination charge, its also more expensive than the mid-sized Palisade.Truth be told, hatchbacks were never popular in South Korea. The i30, for example, was discontinued in 2020 over increasingly worsening sales. Hearsay suggests that Hyundai may discontinue the i30 for good after this generation, replacing it with the next-generation Kona. Slightly larger than the first generation, the new Kona seems to be an appropriate substitute.Too small to be considered practical and too visually challenged to be cross-shopped with a coupe, the Veloster and Veloster N will be missed by a rather small group of people. As a hatchback owner myself, this development is rather sad, even though I would choose the Hyundai Elantra N with the optional dual-clutch transmission as my spirited daily driver. These limited-edition Rolls-Royce motor cars just 35 units were produced for the Wraith enthusiasts were all created as a tribute to the vintage speed records set by Captain George E.T. Eyston. He nabbed them on three occasions, between 1937 and 1939, in a car nicknamed Thunderbolt that had two V12 aero engines made by Rolls-Royce. But does anyone think any of the homage units will see a test track or a salt flat?Not in a gazillion years, probably, as each of them is a prized collectible. However, since there are 35 Wraith Landspeed editions as part of the collection, maybe it will be hard to stand out in the company of the other 34 owners? Well, the problem was averted at least for one example, which has been customized by Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based Plaza Performance with a nice set of aftermarket wheels And just because we are dealing with a two-door hardtop coupe do not think for a second that a Rolls-Royce Wraith is a little grand tourer. Not at all, and the Los Angeles, California-based, forged wheel experts over at Forgiato Designs, who have (social media) uncovered this tasty build, will vouch for the feeling that this is yet another Rolls-Royce that is hyped beyond belief.Well, it could all be due to the new set of aftermarket shoes, which arrived in the form of humongous, contrasting-black 24-inch Forgiato Licenziato wheels that were shod in Pirelli performance tires. Not a lot of other details were shared by the two companies, but it is pretty obvious this Wraith was slightly lowered to fit the new custom wheel atmosphere and provide a deep contrast between the yellow interior and silver/black exterior. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, several countries, including the U.S., the UK, and EU members, included Russian oligarchs on sanctions lists and began seizing or temporarily holding their assets. Among those assets is Sailing Yacht A, the biggest and most expensive sail-assisted yacht in the world, a spectacular, $600 million three-mast vessel owned by EuroChem Group founder Andrey Melnichenko. Sailing Yacht A was arrested in Italy at the beginning of March 2022. At the time, it was in storage in the port of Trieste, where it had been brought in for refits, and authorities confirmed that they had detained it over its ownership : Melnichenko is a known close associate of President Vladimir Putin. Until this past weekend, not much was heard of Sailing Yacht A after the arrest.Superyacht vlogger eSysman reports that Sailing Yacht A has been refloated (see the first half of the video at the bottom of the page), which means its been taken out of dry storage and put back in the water. Its current status is at anchor but, for what its worth, it doesnt look like there are any concrete, official plans for it to leave port.Cases of superyachts being refloated overnight in an apparent bid to flee sanctions do exist: the $400 million Scheherazade, which Putin owns, was refloated and re-supplied while under arrest and then officially seized the day after, as news of its attempt to flee broke. The $400 million The Flying Fox , owned by Dmitry Kamenshchik, spent one month under arrest in the Dominican Republic and then, one day, simply sailed away. It is now in safe waters where sanctions dont apply.The same report notes that Sailing Yacht A is probably not going to try to attempt an escape, but rather that the refloating is done by the shipyard because it needs the dry dock for another project. In that case, it would make sense to vacate it by putting Sailing Yacht A into water. Local authorities are yet to offer an explanation for the change in status.Commissioned in 2015 and delivered in 2017, Sailing Yacht A was built by Nobiskrug with a striking exterior design by Philippe Starck. It is a 469-footer (143 meters) with a generous interior volume of 12,558 GT spread across eight decks, hybrid propulsion, and tech and materials that were developed specifically for the project. Sailing Yacht A is one of the most photographed and yet mysterious vessels ever, described by the shipyard as one of the worlds largest and most advanced superyachts. Sitting under the Volkswagen Groups roof, the Czech automaker is in the process of retiring the third-generation Superb, which has been around since 2015, replacing it with an entirely new one. We have already seen scoops of a test mule recently, which have inspired the peeps at Kolesa to imagine what it may look like.Now, before delving into these renderings, we have got to tell you that no one outside Skoda knows anything about it, so a lot can happen by the time it premieres, supposedly around a year from now, before arriving at dealers shortly after. Thus, only time will tell if it will be either evolutionary or revolutionary, though, our two cents would be on the former, with a touch of modern, adorned by the latest technologyf and safety gizmos available at the Czech firm.Compared to the current Superb , the one depicted in these renderings looks a bit futuristic and seems to have been inspired by the Enyaq iV up to a point. It has a similarly-styled bumper, slimmer LED headlights, and the brands corporate grille up front, as well as a rather muscular-looking hood, and trim on the front fenders. Out back, it has a stylish trunk design, with the Skoda lettering in the middle, flanked by the sharp-looking taillights, and a diffuser with integrated reflectors. The greenhouse isnt that different, yet the lines running across the profile are.Besides the new design, the 2024 Skoda Superb will also feature a more comfortable and, perhaps, more spacious interior, enhanced by the new gear. The infotainment system and digital instrument cluster will be new and the range-topping grades will get leather upholstery, sunroof, premium audio, and a few other gizmos in order to separate them from the lesser models. More on this: 1 Amazon Is Finally Ready to Launch Its Drone Delivery Service, Will Kick Off in California 2 Zipline Unveils the "Holy Grail" of Drone Tech, an Acoustic Detection and Avoidance System 3 Wisk and Skyports Join Forces for Autonomous Air Taxi Operations in the U.S. 4 Skyports Will Build and Operate the First Test Vertiport in Europe 5 Skyports Plans to Build Vertiports for Electric Air Taxis in Los Angeles ANKARA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police detained two Islamic State (IS) suspects wanted by Interpol with a red notice in the capital Ankara, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported Monday. The suspects, both foreigners identified by the initials A.N. and C.V. respectively, were active at the ranks of the group in the past years in the "conflict zones," said Anadolu. One of the two IS suspects was allegedly involved in recruiting people for the IS through social media, it added. The police also seized digital materials including speeches of IS senior leaders and images of executions by the militant group. The Turkish government designated the IS a terrorist organization in 2013, blaming it for a spate of deadly attacks in Turkey since 2015. Turkey's southern border with Syria has been a major crossing point for Syrians and foreign fighters since a war broke out in the neighboring country in 2011. Turkey launched its first cross-border operation into northern Syria named Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, eliminating the IS militants around Jarablus and Azaz areas. EV SUV Talking about what Elon Musk is doing has turned into an international frenzy. Multiple media outlets are watching this mans every move only because they want to attract the public without offering any good or relevant information in exchange. This must stop. Elon Musk might lead two very important companies and several others as a side hustle, but on social media, hes nothing else than a private person. And he should be treated as such.Too much attention might turn into leverage that could eventually be used unwisely or, as it happens already, it could keep random citizens away from properly understanding whats going on with the very things that impact their lives.Lets be honest with each other for a second. How many car company CEOs are this well-known globally? Do you really think people in Europe have heard of Mary Barra ? Is anyone from the U.S. seriously considering remembering Herbert Diess as the CEO of Volkswagen Group? Most people dont even know who Jim Farley is, even though Fords F-series is the most popular truck in America.We should all focus on what truly matters for consumers and our common future. Thats one of the reasons why we ought to look beyond the unannounced price hikes for EVs that are part of the S, 3, X, and Y lineup. Right now, we should strive to understand that Teslas decision to make its cars more expensive than anyone ever expected is nothing else but a very good strategy. Even though it looks bad for the short term, the whole ordeal will only help the company survive these uncertain times, and it will lay the foundation for a bright future.Arguing that internal combustion cars are expensive to run (for the time being, at least) and harmful to the environment since their creation might be the best way to convince someone to switch to an. Add the promise of quick acceleration and build simplicity, and youre on your way to victory. But looking at whats happening around us Its getting pretty hard to get someone in a brand-new Tesla.At the time of writing, the car that started life as a promising EV for the masses is now priced at $46,990 before potential savings and other incentives. The Model 3 RWD (base spec) is not cheap anymore. And dont you dare look at the very cool Model Xthats now $6,000 more expensive than before. It starts from $120,990!At this point, you might think that Teslas pulling the rug from under its own feet. Youd be extremely wrong.Fresh data from J.D. Power shows that the average transaction price for a vehicle has almost doubled in the last 15 years. If in 2007, the median price paid for a new car, van, or truck was $26,560. In 2022 it rose to $44,744! Thats because a health crisis led to governments adding too much money to the existing supply (more precisely, were talking about money printing). People wanted to spend the money received for free, and investors cashed in the all-time highs seen on stock markets almost everywhere.All this sparked an unexpected rise in demand that took businesses by surprise. Nobody was prepared (other than Toyota for a couple of months) to satisfy their customers promptly, especially as the world was just returning to business as usual. Supply chains were still being affected by certain restrictions, but for at least a month, it looked like the crisis could end. Then a war began in Europe, and every hope of having a fast-tracked transition to normality vanished.The green transition that U.S. and Europe agreed upon also impacted the investments in fossil fuels. Were paying a lot more for gas because key players from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided they sent enough to other nations. An unstable geopolitical scenario is not helping very much as well. Oil output is still lagging, despite companies raking in record profits.Because of this, commercial entities relying on transport are seeing operational costs going only up, and they are forced to act. In the end, the consumer pays a lot more.Thats mostly why were here today. Now everything is expensive, and prices will keep their uptrend for at least half a year more.Now take this scenario and apply it to a car company thats fighting to remain the number in a very conservative environment. What would you do as a CEO, especially when you see that prices for raw materials needed in batteries are increasing as well? Youd most likely agree with a price hike. Tesla did exactly that. In the last 14 months, it increased the cost of its vehicles four times! Furthermore, it removed useful things like the mobile connector from the free accessories list and made it an option.But heres where the genius part comes in: it discourages buyers from getting in line, and it increases the profit margins thanks to customers that are willing to go beyond their initial budget. Its great!Lets say that you have $65,990 ready for a new Model Y Long Range. Youd be right to consider it a bit steep in value, but you still pull the trigger. Well, get ready! Your new all-electric crossover will be delivered next year. Tesla currently estimates it could take anywhere from seven to ten months to build your vehicle.You could also consider buying a cheaper Tesla Model 3 competitor, but a Polestar 2 or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 wouldnt come with the advantage of having easy access to the Supercharger network. Electrify America is there for other EV drivers, but its not yet as good at this as Tesla.To avoid more customer dissatisfaction, Tesla just increased the price and is going on this route until the global macroeconomic landscape stabilizes. It might backfire for a couple of months, but it wont do any harm in the long term. Some customers will be priced out of considering a base-spec Model 3, but this surely is just temporary.Thats why this is an exceptional idea. This strategy allows Tesla to prepare for discounts. Dropping the price of an EV in two or three years - right as were trying to adapt to the idea that internal combustion engine vehicles are doomed - will do wonders for the American auto brand. It will be able to crank up the production and the sales again. Granted, this will happen only when were getting back on track.Another brilliant idea Elon Musk s Tesla had was to share the Supercharger network with other EV drivers. For now, the non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot is only happening in Europe because governments support the creation of new chargers for EVs and the automaker wants a slice of the pie. It'll soon come to the U.S. as well. This might be an uncomfortable thought for those that bought an all-electric car from the American automaker and expected to have this major advantage for themselves, but it pushes Tesla yet again in another key domain: its becoming an energy supplier!For investors, this is nothing but good news. Paying to use the charging network brings in new customers, establishes a strong cash flow, and might make others give up on their Hyundais, Volkswagens, Porsches, Chevys, or Volvos to get something from Tesla.Also, dont forget the other products that are shaping this car company into an energy giant: the Solar Roof, the Solar Panels, the Powerwall, and the Megapack - the latter being intended for other businesses. On top of all this, add insurance thats highly customizable for every single Tesla owner! Even though it can be a tiny bit intrusive with its data collection, the rates are very competitive. You get the picture. Its something other manufacturers can only dream of. Just imagine if BMW, for example, knew its customers as well as Tesla does!At the end of the day, Tesla might make use of its customers to test unfinished software and make them pay for this opportunity. It may ask them to agree to in-car surveillance so the companys products can be improved, and it might go along with unscrupulous work practices to keep the production ramped up, but we must remember that you cant make everyone happy all the time. Plus, rules arent the same everywhere on Earth. Teslas also turning into a global giant. It must adapt, and the company proved it can do it with no second thoughts.Keep in mind that were talking about a corporation thats looking to remain profitable no matter what the state of the economy is or what customers and workers might demand, and that shouldnt surprise anyone. Its cool that we get to drive EV s that are fast and not as complicated as the internal combustion engine ones, but at the same time, we must ready ourselves for a new era where the customer is just another user of a certain product. The person thats paying for this privilege shouldnt expect any special treatment for choosing a car (trucks will be added later) that doesnt come with an exhaust.The good news is that you dont have to be a customer if you dont agree with their practices. Its enough to be a very happy investor. 6x6 However, not all fire trucks come in this color. In addition to the classic red, there are gradations of color that allow better perception. Especially for airport firefighting vehicles, it's a different story. Rosenbauer , a manufacturer of firefighting trucks based in Austria, has released some images of fire trucks covered with "fire-red" and "yellowish-green" paint.A yellowish-green hue that does not occur in nature and is therefore particularly well perceived by the human eye. The special color is recommended in particular by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for airport fire trucks because, according to studies, it ensures optimum visibility at all times of day and night and in all weather conditions.In addition to the fire trucks in the two shades, which you can see in the photo gallery, the Resendauer company informs us about the most exotic colors found on these types of vehicles. As with cars, there are very specific customer wishes on how a Panther should look.Vehicles at Riyadh Airport and a Canadian mining company are painted in plain white. The Panthers at Newcastle Airport in the UK are painted half white and half purple, because everything there, from the uniforms of the employees to the front of the building, is kept in a uniform corporate design.Trucks that came to acting honors as Sentinel Prime in Transformer 3 "Dark of the Moon" and today watches over a nuclear power plant (red/black), also have two colors.The same color scheme applies to the vehicles at Toronto-Pearson and Seattle-Tacoma airports, while the fire trucks at Wellington Airport are painted in yellow/black. The exception is the prototype of the new Panthershown at the 2015 Interschutz fair, which was painted completely black.The color chosen is a decision made by fire departments or airport operators. In Europe, red predominates, as it does in much of Asia and Africa. In North and South America, the Middle East, and Australia, vehicles painted in the yellow color spectrum tend to predominate. PHEV AWD Aside from the $26,495 Mitsubishi Outlander, nothing looks too appealing theyre dubbed 2022MYs but feel like they just starred in the low-budget JDM version of 1985s Back to the Future. No, seriously, just look at the two Mirage versions, the Outlander Sport, and even the Outlander, and dare say it is not so Now that we got that out of the system, here is an easy, logical fix to Mitsubishis every problem.Just make a damn Mitsubishi Lancer EVO XI or whatever they would like to call it. But do not stray away from the traditional recipe of a four-door sedan, feisty, and rally-bred high-performance internals. And if Mitsubishi designers need inspiration, the Internet is flush with revival ideas that keep popping up from time to time with no apparent reason other than reminding us of what could have been in the WRX vs. EVO field.Now, more than ever, as Subaru revealed they are not making another WRX STI either, a resurrected EVO series would not only bode well for the Ralliart sub-brand return , but it would also help alleviate the AWD pain induced by the VB second-generation Subaru WRX upon JDM fans. Alas, we already know this is merely wishful thinking, unfortunately.This is because the author - Czech Republic-based virtual artist Rostislav Prokop, better known as rostislav_prokop on social media, simply continues the dream ride periplus alongside HotCars . And the publication along with the pixel master just imagined if a new Mitsubishi Evo XI could look like this. Well, as it turns out, some of the opinions were divided so perhaps this is not their best ensemble work since the collaboration started. EV ICE Produced since 2008 in various locations, from South Korea to the Americas, the traditional four-door Cruze compact sedan was developed as a replacement for various regional nameplates (Daewoo Lacetti/ Chevy Optra, Holden Astra, Chevy Cobalt , etc.). It quickly spawned a five-door hatchback in 2011 and a station wagon in 2012 but the second generation presented in early 2016 already restrained the body version galore to just sedans and hatchbacks.Then, slowly but steadily, the Chevy Cruze love withered away, and GM understood it faltered at providing a sensible package in a fiercely competitive market niche. Today, North America, Australia, and China have already moved on and sent the Cruze over across car Valhalla, with only Argentina keeping the production lights on. But what if GM devised a facelift/comeback to continue the lineage?Well, that may not be possible in the real world anymore, but the virtual realm, of course, has no trouble with enacting wishful thinking ideas. Kleber Silva, a Brazil-based virtual artist known as KDesign AG on social media, has returned to the Americas for a quick passenger car stint after previously dabbling with a lot of European digital projects. And the pixel masters latest Chevy design proposal is for a facelifted second-gen Cruze that might even work out as a nameplates return over in the United States.The reasoning behind it feels quite simple. The CGI expert just took the actual Chevy Cruze sedan that is still in production for Latin America and then added a flurry of 2024 Blazerand 2024 Equinox EV styling elements. Thus, this refreshed Cruze feels contemporary with the new GM design direction. Of course, there is also one mystery: does the Chevy sedan remain, or has it gone down the EV route as well? Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Armenia is not just our partner, its our strategic ally, and we value that, Putin told Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian late on Friday during a meeting held on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. We understand what is happening today in Armenia and around Armenia, he said. We are intent on developing our partnership relations. We are interested in a stable situation in the country which will guarantee progressive development. Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov similarly expressed hope last month that Armenia will enter a period of stability when he comment daily antigovernment protests launched by the Armenian opposition on May 1. Peskov said the protests aimed at toppling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian are the countrys internal affair. In his opening remarks at his first-ever meeting with Putin, Khachaturian said that Pashinians official visit to Russia in April had a huge impact on the political situation in Armenia by ending some speculation there. But it was clear how you received [Pashinian] here and what he felt when he toured [the Russian city of] Nizhny Novgorod, Khachaturian said, seemingly alluding to speculation that Moscow is encouraging opposition groups to oust Pashinian. I am confident that our further relations will certainly develop. One should just help the leadership of the country, I mean Armenia, and, if there are some problems, root out those problems, added the largely ceremonial head of state, who was elected by Armenias government-controlled parliament earlier this year. JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Monday accused Iran of being behind a cyberattack the previous day that activated false rocket warning sirens in Jerusalem, state-owned Kan TV news reported. The Israel National Cyber Directorate believes the alarms, heard for about an hour on Sunday evening in Jerusalem and the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, were triggered by a cyberattack carried out by Iran, according to Kan. In a statement issued on Sunday night, the military said the sirens were false alarms and "the issue is under investigation," adding later that the hacked sirens belong to the local authorities and are not part of the Home Front Command's system. The Home Front Command said in a separate statement that the local authorities were instructed to take preventative measures against the threat. Commenting on the incident on Army Radio, Yair Golan, a lawmaker with the ruling coalition and former deputy chief of the army, said Israeli security agencies have been preparing themselves for Iranian attempts to attack civilian systems in the country using cyber warfare. Iran has not responded to the Israeli allegations yet. Israel and Iran have been engaged in a shadow war, in which Israel has launched numerous airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria while Iran has allegedly attacked vessels linked to Israelis in the Gulf. On June 13, Israel's National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a "level 4" travel warning for Istanbul, the highest level possible, citing concerns of "revenge attacks" over the killing of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps colonel on May 22 in Tehran. Iran believes he was assassinated by Israeli forces. The U.S., Russia and France have for decades jointly tried to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord in their capacity as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to Russian officials, Washington and Paris stopped working with Moscow in the Minsk Group format following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Donfried denied this as she visited Armenia on the last leg of her tour of the three South Caucasus states. The U.S. has continued to say that we support the Minsk Group co-chair process, she told RFE/RLs Armenian Service in an interview. We continue to believe that it is a very important format, particularly on Nagorno-Karabakh, and it is essential that we keep various formats in play to try to advance peace. And we will continue to do that going forward. Asked whether Washington is ready for fresh contacts with Moscow for that purpose, Donfried said: Yes. Russia is a Minsk Group co-chair. France, the U.S. and Russia would continue in that format. In recent weeks, Armenias leaders have called for renewed joint activities of U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reportedly discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a June 1 phone. By contrast, Azerbaijani officials and President Ilham Aliyev in particular have repeatedly questioned the need for the Minsk Groups continued existence. Aliyev has said that the war in Ukraine has effectively put an end to that joint mediation framework. Azerbaijan has not been supportive of the Minsk Group co-chair process, the United States is, said Donfried. We are a participant in that process and we will continue to do so. The U.S. official met with Aliyev in Baku before proceeding to Yerevan for talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian held on Saturday. She said that in both capitals she felt a desire for peaceful settlement. Aliyev on Thursday implicitly threatened to resort to military action if Armenia continues to oppose the opening of a land corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave. Officials in Yerevan responded by reiterating that Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Russia call for only conventional transport links between the two South Caucasus states. Commenting on Aliyevs bellicose rhetoric, Donfried said: There is no question that words matter and so we need to be thoughtful about the words that we use. I think actions matter as well but if there is going to be forward progress toward reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia there is no question that people need to be mindful about their words. The official, Ruben Vartazarian, was suspended as chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and charged with obstruction of justice in April 2021 amid rising tensions with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Pashinians political allies accused him of encouraging courts to free arrested government critics. Vartazarian denied the charges and said that he was indicted as part of government efforts to replace him with Gagik Jahangirian, a controversial former prosecutor widely seen as a figure loyal to Pashinian. Jahangirian was named as acting head of the SJC pending the outcome of the criminal investigation into Vartazarian. The investigation is still going on, according to law-enforcement authorities. At a news conference held in Yerevan, Vartazarian released a secretly recorded audio of his conversation with Jahangirian and another SJC member, Stepan Mikaelian, which he said took place on February 20, 2021. Jahangirian can be heard seemingly telling Vartazarian that he will not face criminal proceedings if he steps down as SJC chairman by March 1, 2021. Im telling you, forget about everything, put aside everything, you have kids, you have a home, Jahangirian says, adding that he does not want bad things to happen to Vartazarian. Neither Jahangirian nor the SJC denied the authenticity of the 14-minute audio. The judicial watchdog, which nominates judges and can also dismiss them, released a statement downplaying the significance of the audio. It said that it will not comment on the private conversation recorded without Jahangirians knowledge. The acting head of the SJC told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that he has nothing to add to the statement. Armenias Office of the Prosecutor-General said, meanwhile, that it has instructed another law-enforcement agency to examine the recording and determine if there was indeed illegal interference in criminal investigations relating to Vartazarian. Ever since Jahangirian took over the SJC, Armenian courts have rarely rejected arrest warrants sought by law-enforcement authorities for opposition figures prosecuted on various charges rejected by them as politically motivated. Independent and pro-opposition media outlets have regularly accused Jahangirian of pressuring judges to make such decisions. He denies that. Jahangirian stated last August that Armenian courts must be purged of people who have committed crimes against justice. The 67-year-old himself had been accused of grave human rights abuses when serving Armenias chief military prosecutor from 1997-2006. In recent months, Armenian opposition groups, lawyers and some judges have accused Pashinians government of seeking to increase government influence on courts under the guise of judicial reforms. The government says the reforms are on the contrary increasing judicial independence. European diplomats signaled their continuing support for the declared reforms during a June 8 conference in Yerevan organized by the countrys Constitutional Court and the Council of Europe. Armenian opposition lawmakers were not allowed to take part in the conference. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. CHONGQING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- With a new section launched on Monday, a high-speed railway line that passes through the area best known for the Three Gorges Reservoir has been fully operational in China. With a total length of 1,068 km, the high-speed railway links southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, as well as passing through central China's Hubei Province. The new 434-km section that opened on Monday links Hubei's Xiangyang and Chongqing's Wanzhou. Two other sections along the railway were previously opened in 2016 and 2019. The line allows the travel time from Chongqing to Zhengzhou to be shortened from around 8 hours to 4 hours 23 minutes at the top speed, while the shortest time from Chongqing to Beijing will be cut from more than 20 hours to less than 7 hours. Traversing various mountains, rivers and primaeval forests, it is believed to be one of the most challenging railways in China's high-speed rail network. With a top speed of 350 km per hour, the new section features 91 bridges, 57 tunnels and 10 stations. Among them, two single-hole double-track tunnels are among the longest in Asia, one with a total length of 18.95 km and the other extending 18.79 km. Since the Xiangyang-Wanzhou section runs through the Three Gorges Reservoir area, which boasts rich natural resources like rivers, wetlands and grasslands, the conservation of the ecological environment was prioritized in the construction process. "We initiated the reconnaissance and design work in 2008 and always made protection of the environment the priority. For example, during the route selection, the tunnel projects should be as far as possible from the Yangtze River," said Xiao Qiang, deputy chief engineer of the Chongqing branch of the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd. In addition, a variety of measures were taken during the construction process to promote water and soil conservation. Xiao added that sites where construction residue was dumped must be recultivated into orchards or arable land, which not only reduces the impact on the environment, but can also create new agricultural businesses for local farmers. The route takes in six cities each with a population of over 5 million people. Three of them have more than 10 million residents. The Zhengzhou-Chongqing high-speed railway is expected to boost the flow of people and goods among the regions, especially in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. In 2019, when high-speed trains were not accessible to people in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, which covers the Yangtze River in Hubei and Chongqing, it received over 300 million tourists and garnered a tourism income of 271 billion yuan (about 40.5 billion U.S. dollars). Experts believe that the Three Gorges area will see a boost in tourism due to the improved rail services. Among the locations likely to benefit from the high-speed connection is Chongqing's Fengjie County on the banks of the Yangtze River, where a new railway station has been built. Li Li, a 22-year-old college student hailing from Fengjie, feels confident the area will receive more visitors in the future. She said her hometown's mountain and river views are well-known in the country, even featuring on Chinese banknotes, providing a very good foundation for the development of local tourism. More and more people will come to enjoy Fengjie's poetic views, she said, while the high-speed connection brings Beijing closer, together with her ambition of working in the capital after graduation. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Main Street in downtown Beaumont was full of people enjoying the city of Beaumont's Juneteenth celebration Sunday afternoon. As a people, we havent been aggressive about finding out our history, said Joseph Colone, a Beaumont resident and plant operator. We got all kinds of history in America, and we built this country and a lot of things that happened (in) this country was because of Black men and Black women. Mary Braziers, a Black-owned family business that operates on Magnolia Street, had brisket, boudain, ribs, sausage and more for patrons celebrating the now federal holiday. Sherri Fregia said that it is important for the Black business to support the neighborhood and the city of Beaumont. (Juneteenth) gets overlooked so much, she said. We just really need to make sure it's out there that we support each other and that the world supports each other. Fregias family business was one of several restaurants represented on Main Street, but there was also a voter registration table near one of the entrances run by the National Pan-Hellenic Council of the Golden Triangle. (Voting) is one of our freedoms, said president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of the Golden Triangle Rhonda Ruben. Juneteenth is when were all free, everybody in the United States of America, and this is a big celebration for us. But the stars of the celebration event were Keeshea Pratt, the Golden Triangle All Star Band, DJ Upgrayedd with hype man NuSoul, and last but not least, the Original Lakeside band. People brought lawn chairs and filled in the grassy areas between the Julie Rogers Theater and the Beaumont Public Library for a spot with a view of the stage. Colone, now in his upper sixties, said he hadnt seen them since he was in his twenties, when they came to the Beaumont Civic Center. The concert had a delayed start because of lightning, but many sat in the grass socializing, high-fiving friends, fist bumping, and eating. Ward 3 councilmember Audwin Samuel attended with his wife, children, grandchildren, and extended family. He was anticipating the show because he said he is old school and has been listening to Lakeside a long time. This is the first time we had a concert in this spot, the councilmember said. I really kind of like it, blocking off the streets. Everybody gets to have this ambiance. The trees were strung with lights, and classics like Earth, Wind & Fires September played over the loudspeakers. Samuel contrasted this years event with previous events Beaumont has had, including last years Juneteenth party. Its just getting bigger and better, he said. A boat passes under the Padma Bridge Bangladeshs largest infrastructure project days before it is set to be open to the public, June 14, 2022. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina next weekend will inaugurate Bangladeshs biggest infrastructure project to date, a U.S. $3.6-billion bridge across the Padma River that is expected to deliver big gains to the economy and the countrys firmly entrenched ruling party. The 6.15-km (3.8-mile) structure will give more than 30 million people in southwestern Bangladesh a way other than ferry to cross the river and access the capital, Dhaka, and other parts of the country. Hasina herself will kick off the festivities on Saturday, appearing in public for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and giving speeches at both ends of the bridge. While details are scant, organizers say the day-long program will include parallel celebrations in all 64 districts of the country. We are preparing an inauguration program that people have never seen in Bangladeshs history, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told BenarNews. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has meanwhile requested that newspapers run items on the Padma Bridge daily until its inauguration, which will feature prominently in campaign materials and speeches as the ruling Awami League gears up for the next general election, due by early 2024. The party is working to mobilize a turnout of one million people at the inauguration, organizers say. Awami League believes that the people of the parliamentary constituencies who would directly benefit from the bridge will vote for the boat in the next General Election, senior party official Jahangir Kabir Nanak told BenarNews. The Awami League uses a boat as its electoral symbol. Lights on the Padma Bridge are lit for the first time, as seen from the southern end of the bridge in Shariatpur district, June 14, 2022. [BenarNews] No foreign funds Bangladesh has been planning to build a bridge across the Padma for two decades, but hit a bump when the World Bank in 2012 canceled a $1.2 billion credit intended to finance it, alleging that it had credible evidence of a high-level corruption conspiracy connected to the project. Furious, Bangladesh pledged to build the bridge itself. Construction of road links commenced in 2013, and work on the main structure a year later. In 2018, the project deadline was extended to June 2022, and the cost shot up to U.S. $3.6 billion from the initial estimate of U.S. $2.9 billion. While China Major Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd. built the bridge itself, domestic firms participated in ancillary projects, such as approach roads and service areas, officials say. It has come to the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that some quarters are trying to portray that the Padma Multipurpose Bridge has been constructed with the assistance of foreign funds and is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, said a June 17 statement by that ministry, referring to Chinas global infrastructure-building initiative. Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically asserts that the Padma Multipurpose Bridge has been entirely funded by the Government of Bangladesh and no foreign funds from any other bilateral or multilateral funding agency has financially contributed to its construction, it said. A boost for women One in five of Bangladeshs 168 million people live south and west of the Padma River. The bridge will save significant travel time between Dhaka Division and the southwest of Bangladesh and possibly on to India. Travel time savings are expected to be about 2 hours for cars and buses and over 10 hours for trucks, the Asian Development Bank once an intended funder said in an undated economic analysis of the project. Lower transport costs will bring significant economic structural change to the southwest zone, including relocation of economic activities, and generation of new activities, it said. Mustafizur Rahman of the Center for Policy Dialogue, a Bangladeshi think tank, predicted that the bridge would help grow Bangladeshs gross domestic product by 1.2 percent annually, and also boost South Asias GDP. The bridge will increase jobs, service sector activity and tourism, especially if industrial zones and eco-parks are constructed as planned, he said. The reduced transport time will especially benefit women, in a conservative society that discourages them from traveling long distances. The bridge makes it easier to access higher education, treatment, trade and legal support for women, said Ishita Akhter, a professor at Jahangirnagar Universitys Bangabandhu Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture. It may even bring more women to political activities, said Fauzia Khanam, a former District Council member in the southwestern district of Barguna. Joining a program in Dhaka from Barguna for a woman is tough due to various circumstances. As a result, our participation in politics lags behind that of males. The Padma Bridge will open a new window for us, she said. Currently, traveling to Dhaka from Barguna takes at least 13 hours. Once the Padma Bridge opens, it will take six, she said. Passengers sit on a ferry on the Padma River in Munshiganj district, central Bangladesh, Nov. 21, 2015. [AFP] Political talking points Hasina is throwing wide the gates for her bridge launch party, according to Minister of Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader, who also serves as the general secretary of the Awami League. The head of the World Bank is invited, as is Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus the Grameen Bank founder whom Hasina accuses of conspiring against the bridge project and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister who has been convicted of corruption and denied medical treatment abroad. When the World Bank stood away from constructing Padma Bridge, Sheikh Hasina told Parliament that it will be built with our own finance. She was determined could we not build a bridge with our own funds? We can, Quader, who is also general secretary of Awami League, told a recent press conference. On the condition of anonymity, a party official said that the Padma Bridge would feature prominently in election campaign materials and speeches in the coming days, as the next parliamentary polls were nearing. The talking points would include criticism of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for making controversial remarks about the bridge on different occasions, the official said. A fisherman throws a fishing net in the Padma River in Munshiganj district, Bangladesh, Aug. 5, 2014. [AP Photo] The constitution requires that the next general election be held in late 2023 or early 2024. A senior joint secretary-general of the main opposition party Main opposition BNP, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, told BenarNews that the government was trying to shift public attention from its failures to the Padma Bridge. As the issues of massive human rights violations, snatching peoples voting rights, corruption and money laundering were exposed locally and internationally, the ruling Awami League is now trying to cover up everything with the Padma Bridge, he said. He further accused the government of planning a mega celebration at a time when people were struggling to feed their families due to spiraling prices for goods, products and services. For Badiul Alam Majumder, a well-known campaigner for good governance, the bridge launch sheds light on how difficult it has become to differentiate between the government and the ruling party. People are not clear who is organizing the celebration programs: the government or the Awami League? Such practices are against good governance, transparency and accountability, he said. The Padma Bridge will be open for public use starting at 6 a.m. Sunday. BOGOTA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Gustavo Petro was elected president of Colombia on Sunday after defeating independent candidate Rodolfo Hernandez in the second round of elections in a very close race, the state-run National Civil Registry reported. With 99.99 percent of polling stations having reported, Petro, candidate of the leftist Historic Pact for Colombia coalition, obtained 11,280,694 votes, or 50.44 percent, while Hernandez gained 10,579,803 votes, or 47.31 percent. The president-elect said on Twitter that this is a day of "celebration." "Let's celebrate the first popular victory," Petro wrote. "This victory is for God, and for the people, and its history. Today is the day of the streets and squares." President Ivan Duque tweeted that he had contacted Petro to congratulate him. Petro, 62, is a senator and former mayor of capital Bogota. He will take office as president on Aug. 7. Electoral officials had previously said that the voting process was progressing normally during the voting day, but it was later reported that one soldier and one electoral witness have been killed. Defense Minister Diego Molano said that one soldier was killed in an attack by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He also said that the killing of an electoral volunteer in Guapi, Cauca department, was under investigation. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. One person died and another was injured when they were thrown from their boat in a Massachusetts lake BEIRUT, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's health ministry announced on Monday that it has detected the country's first case of monkeypox in a person who returned from abroad, without specifying which country. The ministry said the person in stable conditions and the contacts are being tracked. The ministry urged the public to remain at a safe distance from infected people, not share their personal items, avoid contact with animals from countries where the disease is endemic, and refrain from eating wild animal meat. The ministry lists Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic as endemic countries. BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China has played a constructive role in the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations to facilitate a major decision on the waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, an official with the Ministry of Commerce said Monday. Due to the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, developing members will be authorized to produce COVID-19 vaccines without the consent of the right holder for five years, according to the decision made at the WTO's Ministerial Conference Twelfth Session (MC12) from June 12 to 17 in Geneva, Switzerland. At a pivotal stage of MC12 negotiations, China, as a major producer and a supplier of COVID-19 vaccines, announced that it will forego the flexibility of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver on COVID-19 vaccines, the official said. Developing members enjoy larger flexibility on the implementation of authorization, notification obligation and provision of appropriate remuneration to the right holders. The move shows China's sense of responsibility as a major country, the official said, adding that it laid a foundation for the final MC12 outcomes. China announced on May 2020 that it would make COVID-19 vaccines a global public good in order to ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability in the developing world. By far, the country has provided over 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, according to the official. The important achievement made at MC12 will play a vital role in bridging the global vaccine gaps and improving the vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries, the official noted. Solomon's temple was an incredible building, surpassing the great craft put into the tabernacle and marking a new point in Israel's history. However, the journey to the temple being made was not what you would expect. Where Does the Bible Mention Solomons Temple? Solomons temple is mentioned in 1 Kings 5 and 6. Solomon sent to King Hiram of Tyre, saying, I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build a house unto my name (1 Kings 5:5). Solomon told King Hiram that he wanted his servants to partner with King Hirams servants to build the temple. This would require King Hiram to give him cedar trees out of Lebanon. King Solomon even said no one was as skilled as the Sidonians in sewing timber. Cedar trees from Lebanon symbolize power and longevity. Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible. His father, David, had also set aside materials for the building of the temple. King Hiram rejoiced at this news and said, Blessed be the Lord this great day, which hath given unto David a wise son over his great people (1 Kings 5:7). Hiram sent to Solomon, saying he had considered what Solomon requested. Hiram confirmed that he would do all Solomon required concerning the cedar and fir timber. Hiram said his servants would bring these supplies down from Lebanon to the sea. He would then send the timber by the sea in floats wherever King Solomon wanted them. In exchange, Solomon would provide food for Hirams household. King Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil; thus gave Solomon year by year (1 Kings 5:11). There was peace between King Solomon and King Hiram, and they made a treaty. Why Did Solomon Build the Temple Instead of David? God had instructed the prophet, Nathan, to tell David that his heir would build His house: 2 Samuel 7 describes King Davids desire to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant. At this point, God had given David rest from all his enemies. Nathan even encouraged David to do what was in his heart because the Lord was with him. Later that night, God spoke to Nathan. God reminded Nathan that He had not dwelt in any house since the time that He brought the children of Israel out of bondage. Instead, the Spirit of the Lord has dwelt in a tent and a tabernacle (2 Samuel 7:6). God asked, Why build ye not me a house of cedar? (2 Samuel 7:7). The Lord discussed how he had set judges over the children of Israel and made Davids name great. He would plant the children of Israel, and they would not have to move anymore. Neither would wicked people afflict them. In v. 12-13, God says, And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up they seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Nathan told David all God said (2 Samuel 7:17). 1 Chronicles 28:3 explains what happened next. God told David that he would not build a house for His name; David had been a man of war and shed much blood. Of course, being the servant that he was and a man after Gods own heart, David went into prayer. He thanked God for His grace and mercy and was humble about what God had done through him. David continued to bless the name of the Lord through the end of 2 Samuel 7:18-29. What Did Solomon Make His Temple From? David did a lot of Solomons groundwork. He purchased a threshing floor which would be the temples foundation (you can read about how it happened in 1 Chronicles 21:18). David commanded masons to make stones for the temple, prepared iron for the nails of the doors of the gates, and gathered cedar trees (1 Chronicles 22). David charged Solomon that he would build the templeGod wanted Solomon to build the temple, and David explained all that he had gathered to assist Solomon. In 1 Chronicles 22:14, David discussed some items in detailsuch as timber and stone, 100,000 talents of gold, and 100,000 talents of silver and brass and iron without weight. In 1 Chronicles 23, David made Solomon king of Israel. In 2 Chronicles 1:7, God visited Solomon and asked Him, What shall I give thee? Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge. God was pleased because Solomon did not ask for riches, wealth, or honor. Nor did Solomon ask God to kill his enemies or give him long life. God said that he would give him not only wisdom and knowledge but also riches, wealth, and honor (2 Chronicles 1:12). There had not been kings like this before Solomon. None would come after him that surpassed what God did with him. In 2 Chronicles 2, King Solomon prepared to build the temple. As mentioned earlier, he teamed up with King Hiram for labor and materials. 2 Chronicles 3 describes how construction began at Jerusalem in Mount Moriahwhere the Lord had appeared unto David. After four years as king, Solomon began to build. This is somewhere around 966 B.C. (480 years after the Exodus). Biblical scholars date the Exodus around 1446 B.C., according to 1 Kings 6:1. According to the KJV Study Bible, the temple was 90 feet by 30 feet wide, twice the size of the tabernacle. Solomon added beautiful touches to the temple. The walls and the floors were made of cedar (again, some of the most magnificent materials of that day). Within the oracle, he made two cherubim from olive tree woodabout 15 feet high for each of them. King Solomon set the cherubim within the inner house, and their wings stretched forth so that the wing of one touched the wall and the others wing touched the opposite wall, with their second wings touching in the middle of the house. He carved all the walls with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. There was gold everywhere (1 Kings 6:14-15). Solomon made a partition using chains of gold before the oracle (and he overlaid the oracle, including the cherubim inside, with gold). He laid the whole altar by the oracle with gold. He overlaid the floors of the house with gold within and without. Solomon overlaid the whole house with gold until he finished it. You can read all the excellent details in 1 Kings 6. If you go back to 2 Chronicles 4, you will see more items Solomon added inside the temple. There were candlesticks of gold and 10 tables (five on the right, five on the left). He even made 100 basins of gold. What Happened to Solomons Temple? King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Solomons temple around 586 or 587 B.C. when he and his men attacked Jerusalem (read 2 Kings 25). During this time, the Jews were also taken away into Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzars captain of the guard set fire to the temple, the kings houses, and all the houses of Jerusalem. The temple stayed in ruin for years. Nebuchadnezzars men broke brass pillars, bases, and the bronze sea, taking the brass with them to Babylon. They also removed the temples treasures. They took pots, shovels, snuffers, spoons, firepans, bowls, and everything made of gold. Around 538 B.C., Cyrus II issued an order allowing exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. The book of Ezra contains all the facts concerning the temples restoration. Cyrus King of Persia gave a decree to free the children of Israel from Babylon after a word came to him from the prophet Jeremiah. God charged Jeremiah to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem (Ezra 1:2). The Jews were allowed to return to Judah and rebuild the temple. The work on the second temple was completed around 515 B.C. When they returned, King Cyrus also returned items that Nebuchadnezzar took. The returned items included 30 gold chargers, 1,000 silver chargers, 20 knives, and 30 gold and silver basins. All told, there were 5,400 vessels returned. Further Readings: Judgment of King Solomon - Bible Story Bible Verses about Solomon King Solomon in the Bible: His Story and Words of Wisdom What Is the Significance of the First Temple in Jerusalem? Photo Credit: Getty Images/BibleArtLibrary Dr. Sandra Hamer Smith is a Christian and wife to Sylvester Smith. She has one stepson, Greg. Smith lives and resides in Memphis, Tennessee. The University of Memphis alumnae has been in education for about 20 years after receiving the call to teach. Dr. Smith primarily teaches language arts. Prior to education, she worked in local and national television news for 13 years including positions as an overnight news anchor, reporter, and assignments editor at two local network affiliate stations. Smith was also a freelance correspondent for BET news. Dr. Smith has freelanced for the Tri-State Defender newspaper and Contempora magazine. She is the author of the self-published novel GLORYTHE HAIR. Smith is also a playwright and poet. The Tennessee native is a member of Temple of Deliverance COGIC, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, Omicron Delta Kappa, The Golden Key International Honour Society, and Kappa Delta Pi. What Is Racism? Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism results in hatred, fear, and inhumane treatment toward someone because of the nation theyre from or the color of their skin. But there are also other forms of prejudice that must be examined, for example colorism and xenophobia. Colorism is a form of racism. It is defined as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. An example of this, explains an article by Time magazine quoting a 2006 study, is that employers are more likely to hire a lighter tone black man over a dark tone black man. Xenophobia is defined as dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries. This, too, is a form of racism. Dislike or stereotyping of a whole nation is a grotesque form of racism that has caused wars and heinous acts against human beings. Racism in all forms goes against clear biblical principles of love, compassion, and servanthood. Does the Bible Mention Race or Racism? From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26). Scripture clarifies that there is one human race. God created humanity in His image. Yet we learn from the Bible that there are many different nations and ethnicities. These are some of the most mentioned nations in the Bible: Photo credit: Getty Images/Tero Vesalainen LEWISTON - Lewis-Clark State College President Cynthia Pemberton will receive a 14.6% pay raise. The State Board of Education approved the raise last week, bumping Pembertons annual salary from $240,000 to $275,000. In terms of percentages as well as raw dollars its the largest raise the board awarded to a college or university president last week. The $35,000 raise recognizes Pembertons solid performance, State Board spokesman Mike Keckler said, and is designed to bring Pembertons salary in line with the rest of the states higher education system. Even with the raise, which goes into effect July 1, the president of Idahos smallest four-year college is making less than the president of Idahos largest two-year college. College of Western Idaho President Gordon Jones makes $315,000 per year. Jones began his job in January. College of Southern Idaho President Dean Fisher, hired in 2020, is making $237,500 this year roughly the same as Pembertons current salary. Pemberton has been Lewis-Clarks president since 2018. The State Board reviews presidents salaries annually. The board can award raises, based on performance reviews, but cannot cut a presidents salary. Heres how the university presidents pay raises compare: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a series highlighting vendors at local farmers markets. If you are a vendor, or know a vendor, that would like to be featured, contact Brendan Sanders at brendan.sanders@pioneergroup.com) BIG RAPIDS Consistently, one of the most popular vendors at the Big Rapids farmers market is Happy Jacks Kettlecorn. The original Happy Jacks Kettlecorn business opened 11 years ago with Jack Scott. After Scott passed away, the business was posted for sale on Facebooks Marketplace. In stepped John Monahan. Monahan bought the business five years ago after meeting with Scotts family. There were so many similarities between Jack's family and ours. Monahan said. My wife is Loura; his wife is Laurie. His name was Jack; my name is John. We had the same number of kids. We were the only ones of all the people that looked at the business that wanted to retain everything he did, and not just want to buy the name. After buying the business, Monahan fell in love with the business and the social aspect of working at these farmers markets. I love to run my mouth, so it works out nice," Monahan said. "I get to chat with people at the one here in town and the one over in Mount Pleasant that we do by Central Michigan. We know a lot of people in both of those areas. We get to see people that we would normally only see a few times a year, several times a month. So, it's kind of a social thing for us as well. It also gave the Monahans an opportunity to work with both their kids and grandkids on a family business. At points with larger events, four generations are working the tent, including Monahans mother, himself, his kids and his grandkids. The work stretches all the way down to his 6-year-old and 10-year-old grandsons. "We were looking for something where we can help out, and what better way to get kids to learn at an early age what to do for business? Monahan said. So, we have a now 6-year-old, who helps us periodically. I've got a 10-year-old who helps us rather regularly every Saturday, I can count on him. VALUE VS. PRICE Monahan and his wife, Loura, are both Ferris State graduates who worked in the financial division for over 30 years. When they retired, they chose to look for something to keep them busy. Happy Jacks has been the perfect business to fill that void, as often Monahan treats this as a job in itself, getting up at 4 a.m. to travel to various events, or staying up past midnight getting the corn ready to sell the next day. Monahan described the process of making kettlecorn. It's all made in our kettle; our kettle is semi-unique. Monahan said. There are only four other ones in the area that I know of. They're hand hammered copper kettles; you don't find them anymore. "We get the kettle warm with a certain quantity of oil in it. Once the oils are to a point, we pour it in. Once the popping starts, we get the sugars and stuff in and it's a nonstop stir from the time that the oil hits. Then we bag it, and it's ready to eat. Pioneer Photo/Brendan Sanders A small bag costs $4 while a large bag costs $7. There are over 140 potential flavors that Happy Jacks Kettlecorn can make, including kettlecorn, caramel corn, cheddar cheese and Chicago style. Certain events will see the Happy Jack crew bring flavors such as dill pickle, garlic parmesan, jalapeno, ranch and even fruit flavors. For the Fourth of July they make red, white and blue corn. Monahan described why people should buy his kettlecorn. Value isn't necessarily the price. It's what you get for it. Monahan said. I know I've got a good product. I tell them, You're more than happy to try it. I give them a sample, You're more than welcome to buy it. And if you're not happy, I'll give you your money back. The business travels to multiple markets throughout the week, including South Haven, Mount Pleasant, Big Rapids, and many special events like the Barryton Lilac Festival or the RV and Boat Show in Ludington. Attendees can find Happy Jacks stand in Big Rapids on Fridays. For more information and questions, visit @HappyJacksKettlecorn on Facebook. A high-level delegation of the Ethiopian Food and Drug Administration visits Cadilas plant and office Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals new formulation development laboratory was inaugurated on 19th June by an Ethiopian government official during a high-level Ethiopian delegations visit to the companys state-of-the-art plant in Dholka. H E Dr Tizita Mulugeta Yimam, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to India, inaugurated the formulation development laboratory along with Heran Gerba, Director General of the Ethiopian Food and Drug Administration, Dr. HG Koshia, Gujarats FDCA commissioner, and other officials. The ground floor of the formulation development laboratory is focused on solid orals, the first floor on injections, while the second floor houses the analytical lab. Cadila has a plant in Ethiopia. We need to work closely to maintain the relationship and to support each other. Ethiopia offers great opportunities for drug companies and for Cadila Pharma to expand its facilities in Ethiopia, said Ambassador Tizita Mulugeta Yimam. The delegation also visited Cadila Pharmaceuticals corporate campus at Bhat. Mainly Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province & Ringing Trips to Bahrain When Covid-19 became a global pandemic in 2020, businesses had to adapt very quickly, sending employees home to work. Source: Supplied. Dr Richard Malkin, chief executive officer of Workforce Healthcare. Legislation Costs of the remote office Mental wellbeing Isolation: Being physically disconnected from peers and colleagues has left some feeling like they have nowhere to turn when feeling anxious or stressed because there is a sense of loss of support networks. Increased workload: Many face an increase in workload which may lead to burnout and frustration. Lines are being blurred between work and home life especially because the workplace has now been brought into the home. People are also doing more and taking on more because they feel like they have to prove that they are in fact productive which leads to anxiety for some. Fatigue: Many are feeling the strain of constant back-to-back virtual meetings. There is no longer time to switch off while driving to the next meeting. Many employees complain that they are also working longer hours as there is no need to drive home and therefore, they start earlier and work until later. Mentoring and training Businesses quickly implemented remote work policies to regulate employees productivity and adherence to their terms of employment.More than two years down the line, with the national state of disaster now over and Covid reaching endemic status, how do businesses and employees navigate the changed world of work?Dr Richard Malkin, chief executive officer of Workforce Healthcare, says: Remote work is definitely here to stay. Employers are still encouraged to have staff on rotation and working remotely to reduce numbers in offices and minimise risk."Employees realise that they can work from home, spend less time in the traffic, save the costs of transport and even if they dont feel well, they can still put in a productive day at home."Employers now face several issues that they need to tackle to ensure fairness in the workplace and protect their businesses. Grey areas must be addressed to clarify the terms of the employer-employee relationship.When Covid-19 arrived, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations, were implemented in accordance with the Disaster Management Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act. But this legislation did not necessarily extend to the remote office and was overlooked by many companies trying to survive the crisis.Issues facing employers who allow remote work include that of fairness, data protection and legislation, among others. When it comes to fairness, while some employees can work remotely, others cannot. A receptionist, for example, who is expected to be at the office will not have the privilege of saving on transport costs, but her colleague who works remotely will.Must employers provide a travel allowance for the receptionist to ensure pay parity? They may have to.Speaking of data protection, can the company information and intellectual property be regulated properly at the employees remote workplace? Businesses must assess, measure and mitigate all risks, and also deal with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).The Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations, Labour Relations Act and PoPIA extend to remote work and therefore employers should conduct inspections, location approval and risk assessments and audits should take place. The practical rollout of this will be extensive yet companies and the state will need to deal with it. Australia, for example, amended legislation such as labour law, tax law, income law and social security law to deal with home-office work.There has been a debate about whether it would be fair for an employee working remotely to expect the employer to pay for setting up a home office. Some believe that the most logical argument is that, if the law permits and you are able to work at the office but choose to work remotely, the cost should be for your own pocket.Malkin adds: There is an obligation on the employer to facilitate an environment and if possible, a remote working environment for employees with comorbidities who face poor health outcomes with Covid-19. As time goes by, this may be the only scenario in which set up and running costs of a remote office are warranted.Isolation does not work for everyone and can have a negative impact on productivity, Malkin warns. Collaboration and team effort also take a back seat when working remotely, and meeting virtually has its limits for team spirit.Workforce Healthcare has seen that working from home has had the following impacts on mental health:Companies need to assist their employees to navigate these issues. This can be done through education and awareness around mental health, and implementing an employee-wellness programme so that employees have support. Companies should consider certain days which are meeting-free. This may look like no internal meetings on Wednesday afternoons, for example.Physical presence during training and mentoring has huge value. I am not convinced that this can be replaced by a no-contact approach, but the younger generation may just prove me wrong, Malkin says.As we continue to adapt and become accustomed to a changed way of working and running profitable businesses, it is important to get it right. Johannesburg, East Rand, R 7500 - R 8500 per month Product Genius - East Rand - Gauteng Do you notice when a new car model drive by, you immediately want to know what is new and different about this model Are you a... The Guardian has put out a smear piece on critics of the imperial Syria narrative that reads like propaganda made by seven year-olds without adult supervision. The article was initially released under the headline Russia-backed network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified, which was then hastily edited to Network of Syria conspiracy theorists identified, because the article does not even make an attempt to argue that all of the so-called conspiracy theorists it smears are backed by the Russian government. It claims only that the Russian government has at times cited and amplified information about Syria which is inconvenient for the US empire, which, you know, duh. Obviously its going to do that. Your first clue that you are reading brazen empire smut is the feature image The Guardian uses for the article: a cinematic shot of a member of the White Helmets heroically carrying a child in front of a destroyed building. The photo is credited to Sameer Al-Doumy, whose own website describes him as an anti-Assad activist since childhood. Even if you knew nothing about the Syrian conflict or the White Helmets narrative control operation, if you knew anything at all about propaganda and how its used you would still instantly recognize that photo for what it is. Your next clue that youre reading a very, very obvious piece of empire propaganda is that the articles author Mark Townsend makes no attempt to justify his claims. He names a few people he claims are guilty of disseminating disinformation like Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett and Aaron Mate, but, rather than presenting arguments and evidence that the claims those individuals have circulated are false, he simply asserts that it is so and moves on. Your next clue is this line: Since 2020, journalist Aaron Mate at the Grayzone is said by the report to have overtaken Beeley as the most prolific spreader of disinformation among the 28 conspiracy theorists identified. Anyone who follows Mates reporting knows that he is an extremely careful journalist who only makes claims he knows he can back up with hard facts. As far as I know, to this day nobody has even attempted to refute his excellent reporting on the role of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in manipulating its own investigation into an alleged chlorine gas attack in Douma, Syria in 2018. Mate says Townsend made no attempt to contact him before sending this incendiary accusation out into the world, a glaring yet unsurprising breach of standard journalistic ethics. Your next clue that this is a propagandistic smear piece disguised as a news story is Townsends sourcing. The article revolves around a report by The Syria Campaign based on information gathered by a think tank called the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. As The Grayzones Max Blumenthal documented in 2016, The Syria Campaign is an imperial narrative management operation that is registered as a private company in the UK and has lots of shady connections and funding. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue is funded directly by the US and UK governments and a whole host of other US-aligned nations, as well as the foundations of western oligarchs like Bill Gates, Pierre Omidyar and George Soros. Townsends other sources for his smear piece are Farouq Habib, White Helmets deputy manager, and an unnamed former official at the US Department of State. Yeah. Dont think we need to say much more about that. The Syria Campaigns report contains no more evidence or substantiation than Townsends mindless regurgitations. It simply redefines the word disinformation to mean information I dont like, and then discusses data about people whom it has deemed guilty of spreading that category of information. It defines extensively well-evidenced information like leaked documents from whistleblowers in the OPCW as disinformation, and then on that absurd basis convicts journalists like Aaron Mate of disseminating disinformation for reporting on it. The Syria Campaigns report contains blatantly ridiculous claims, like the nonsensical assertion that people whove said the White Helmets arent what they purport to be have somehow caused its members to be killed: Of all the ham-fisted propaganda Ive seen The Guardian churn out over the years, this article was definitely one of the worst. Not quite on the level of its notoriously bogus but still-unretracted Assange-Manafort report, but its right up near the top. In 2019 Declassified UK put out a report on how The Guardian lost all semblance of journalistic integrity when it was successfully absorbed into the British national security machine not long after it published the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013. This tracks with comments made by Australian journalist John Pilger that there had been a purge of critical anti-imperialist voices around that time. My written journalism is no longer welcome in the Guardian which, three years ago, got rid of people like me in pretty much a purge of those who really were saying what the Guardian no longer says any more, Pilger said in a January 2018 radio interview. Because of its apparent respectability and ostensible place on the leftish side of the political spectrum, The Guardian plays a crucial role in manipulating public perception in a way that advantages the empire. Whether thats smearing people who question the imperial line on Syria, smearing Assange, or smearing Jeremy Corbyn, it provides a pathway into the minds of a crucial sector of the population who would respond to such manipulations more critically if they came from conservative publications. In reality The Guardian is no less propagandistic than the Murdoch press, and is frequently more destructive due to its ability to market right-wing horrors to an unsuspecting demographic who otherwise wouldnt buy what theyre selling. It pushes the same agendas, and it serves the same empire. The Guardian is just Fox News for people who eat organic produce. ______________ My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into my tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else Ive written) in any way they like free of charge. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what Im trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my American husband Tim Foley. Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Former Brazilian international Oscar expressed his eagerness to return to play after seeing Shanghai Port's defeat without him. The 30-year-old midfielder, who came back to Shanghai from Brazil earlier this month, completed his mandatory two-week quarantine last Friday after missing the first five-rounds of Chinese Super League fixtures. "So wish that I could join you guys on the field," he wrote on his social media on Sunday night when Shanghai Port succumbed to Wuhan Three Towns 2-1. Shanghai Port have only six points after five rounds, and they will face Wuhan Yangtze River in their next league game on Saturday. Whatever tool of repression is close at hand will suffice for Technocrat purposes. In this case the COVID-19 tracking app is being weaponized to suppress protestors who are protesting to get their rightfully-owned bank deposits back. Thus far, depositors have been cut off from 39.8 billion Yuan ($5.91 billion). According to the article, Its so scary, one user wrote. If the health code is abused it could be putting digital handcuffs on us. Everyone will become a prisoner from now on and could be stopped anywhere, anytime. TN Editor The Chinese regime is using COVID-19 control measures to stop depositors whose savings were frozen by rural banks from protesting. Several depositors told The Epoch Times on June 14 that the health code on their COVID-19 app turned red as soon as they scanned venue barcodes at Zhengzhou, the provincial capital city of central Chinas Henan Province. A red health codeindicating a potential COVID-19 patientmeans that the carrier is barred access to all public places from public toilets to shops to train stations and faces mandatory quarantine in centralized isolation centers. Theyre among tens of thousands of bank depositors who have fought to recover their savings for more than two months. The crisis started in April, when at least four lenders in Henan froze cash withdrawals, citing internal system upgrades. But customers said neither these banks nor officials have since offered any information on why or how long the process would take, prompting angry protests outside the office of the banking regulator in Zhengzhou in May. An estimated 1 million customers were reportedly affected, which has left many residents life savings at stake and patients unable to pay for regular medical care. Depositors have been cut off from at least 39.7 billion yuan ($5.91 billion), according to Sanlian LifeWeek, a state-run magazine. Aggrieved depositors across the country planned another protest in Zhengzhou on June 13 to demand an answer, although previous gatherings were met with silence from local authorities and violence from plainclothes police officers. Red Code However, their plan was thwarted again as their health codes turned red at the citys train stations or highway entrances. A red code indicates the highest level of risk, meaning the person tests positive, has been close to a COVID-19 patient, or has visited high-COVID-risk areas in the past 14 days. Residents with a red code face two weeks of centralized isolation. The Chinese regime adopted three-tiered color-based QR code systems utilizing big data and mobile technology to track peoples movement as part of its COVID-19 control measures. Residents must present a green health code on mobile phones while scanning a venue code for every place they visit. Liu Yong (pseudonym), a depositor from nearby Hebei Province, drove to Zhengzhou hoping to get his money back on June 12. But he ended up stranded on a highway as his health code turned red when he scanned the venue code at the exit. Liu carried a green health code as well as a negative PCR test result when he left his hometown. He was required to return home, as police threatened to send him to a quarantine center if he refused to do so. With the red code, his return road was blocked. Liu was unable to take a break or even use the toilets at the service station while driving back to Hebei. In an interview with The Epoch Times on June 14, Liu said he was still blocked at a highway exit leading to his hometown. It was unclear how many people encountered the same issue, but one person involved told The Epoch Times that hundreds of depositors across the country shared their red code screenshots in a group chat on WeChat, the countrys popular instant message app. An employee handling the Zheng Health Commission inquiries told The Epoch Times that they had heard of the health code problems and reported the issue to relevant departments. Another bank customer, Li Yin (pseudonym), said she and three other depositors found that their health codes turned red when scanning Zhengzhou venue codes remotely on June 12. They tested the app in their homes in Inner Mongolia, a northern Chinese province thats 550 miles away from Zhengzhou. But Li said her friends husband, who wasnt connected to frozen deposits, didnt find the color change after scanning, adding to speculation that they were on authorities target list. They [officials] are like robbers, said a third bank customer who was stopped by police at Zhengzhou train station on June 12 and required to leave. Were all legal depositors. Why couldnt we even have an explanation? Read full story here Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was unable to commit to stop federal funding from going to Chinese scientific research, despite the U.S. intelligence community assessing the regime as Americas top adversary. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 17, 2022. (Anna Rose Layden-Pool/Getty Images) Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), made the remarks while appearing virtually at the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee hearing on June 16, during an exchange with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas). The NIH is still funding research in China, at least $8 million since 2020. In the Intelligence Communitys 2022 Annual Threat Assessment, the Chinese Communist Party is presented as one of the top threats to the United States, along with Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. To my knowledge, only China is receiving U.S. research dollars, said the senator during the hearing. When will you as director of NIAID stop funding research in China? Since 2020, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a total of $8.3 million in grants to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and its division National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, along with five top public universities in mainland China and Hong Kong, according to the NIH website. Although this amount doesnt capture dollars later funneled to a Chinese institution through a U.S.-based organization, such as New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, which had partnered with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to perform coronavirus-related experiments that some experts said fit the definition of gain-of-function research, that is, experiments that increase the pathogenicity or transmissibility of a virus. Fauci, in response to Marshalls question, said that the U.S. federal agencies had very productive peer-reviewed highly regarded research projects with our Chinese colleagues that have led to some major advances in biomedical research. So I dont think Id be able to tell you that we are going to stop funding Chinese, Fauci said. We obviously need to be careful and make sure that when we do fund them we have the proper peer review and we go through all the established guidelines, he continued, adding that grants that go to foreign countries, including China, have State Department clearance. Dr. Faucis remarks prove that China is the drug he just cant quit, Marshall later told The Epoch Times about the NIAID heads response. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at a Senate panel on June 16, 2022. (The Epoch Times via the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee) Read more here... China's consumption recovery gains momentum amid mid-year shopping fest Xinhua) 08:42, June 20, 2022 A worker operates on the production line at a textile company in Nanmo Township of Hai'an City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 28, 2022. (Photo by Zhai Huiyong/Xinhua) BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- China's consumption recovery has gained impetus from the mid-year online shopping spree amid the country's efforts to improve domestic market demands and upgrade consumption. During the "618" festival, a large online shopping event held in the run-up to June 18, the value of orders on JD.com totaled 379.3 billion yuan (about 57 billion U.S. dollars), up from 343.8 billion yuan in the same period last year, latest data showed. Trading in offline shopping malls also picked up momentum boosted by pro-growth policies and sales promotions during the shopping fest. Intime Department Store saw the highest customer flow in the second quarter during the period, with sales of some brands rising over 30 percent year on year, according to the company. China's retail sales went down 6.7 percent from a year ago in May, narrowing by 4.4 percentage points from April. "The recovery of consumption will pick up pace as people's lives return to normal," said Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics. A breakdown of the consumption data showed that high-end purchases such as smart home appliances and health care posted stellar performances, echoing the country's consumption upgrade trend. Sales of gaming TV and large-capacity double door refrigerator soared by 87 percent and 65 percent, respectively, data from the retailer Suning.com showed. Health products have also been favored by consumers, with significant sales increases on varying trading platforms. In the medium to long term, consumption will continue to transform toward high quality and diversification, said Wang Yun, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research. "Consumption will play a more important role in driving the economic cycle," Wang said. Thanks to sustained policy support, China's domestic vehicle market became brisk in May with production and sales up 59.7 percent and 57.6 percent, respectively, from a month earlier, boosting related service consumption such as car maintenance and repair. China's service consumption has seen rapid growth in recent years, Wang noted, calling for introducing targeted policies to further tap the potential of the super-large market. In the face of challenges brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic, enterprises have leveraged digital technologies to improve the resilience of the supply chain. The shoe brand Onemix launched customized products on JD.com in the run-up to the "618." To catch young customers, the firm has used big data to find users' needs, and design product styles and colors based on the findings. Supported by the resilience of supply chains provided by the e-commerce platform, the company was able to regulate production and reorder in a targeted manner, effectively easing inventory risk that is common for clothing brands. Digital capabilities of new entity companies will help small businesses to break through constraints concerning capital, technologies and talents, thus improving supply quality and promoting consumption upgrade, said Zhao Ping, vice president of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. To facilitate the symbiosis of small, medium and large companies, China has detailed measures to encourage large firms to build digital service platforms suitable for smaller companies. Looking ahead, technological innovation will improve supply and demand matching for online consumption, and play an important role in promoting high-quality economic development, said Zhang Chunyu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) NANCHANG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- "Under the moonlight, in silence, I started to miss you, mom." A soft, crystal-clear choir singing wafts by the breeze in the lush mountains of east China's Jiangxi Province, narrating the deep thoughts of the young minds. The Little Stream Choir was established at a primary school in the remote Dongcun Township, with the nearest county seat about 30 km away. Of the school's 282 students, 215 are left-behind children whose parents work hundreds of miles away in the coastal regions and can only come back once or twice a year. Dongcun, meaning "cave village," is surrounded by green hills and natural caves, with clear streams flowing out of the caves to nourish the paddy fields. That is also how the choir got its name. "We hope that the children, like a rushing stream, will flow along the mountains in their hometown to the big rivers and seas outside," said Zhong Linshan, head of the chorus team. A HARD-WON TRY "Mom, when will you come back?" In the dormitory, sixth-grader Yan Jiaxin is on a video call with her mother. Having joined the choir in the second grade, the once shy child has grown into a confident, sunny girl, just like her choristers. But the road to starting the choir was not even. Until 2017, there were no full-time music and art teachers in the school. The piano provided by the local education department was put in the corner, lying idle. In May 2017, a pair-up project was inked between the school and the art school of Xinyu University, with the latter sending student volunteers twice a week to give music, fine art, and handiwork lessons. But that endeavor was not quite accepted among parents, who blamed the after-class courses for taking time away from homework and academic classes. But Huang Hongbo, the school's principal, insisted on opening the courses. "Entering college or getting a job is just one aspect of life. Yet the pursuit of beauty and yearning for happiness are lifelong," said Huang, who had to commute twice a week between the school and the city center to shuttle the volunteers. Four months later, the children welcomed Zhong, their first full-time music teacher. CHANGE, HOPE, AND FUTURE "Desolate," was Zhong's first impression of the school. "I specially bought a car to commute, but it was like there was no end to the muddy road," Zhong, then 25, recalled. After graduating from the music school of Guangxi Minzu University, the young woman had a lot more to tackle. For example, children in the rural school had little knowledge about music, and she had to teach them from the very beginning, "Do-Re-Mi." The tedious, monotonous voice training also drove many kids away. "I was quite persistent and passionate when I came here and all I wanted was to make them stay," recalled Zhong. The new teacher figured out several tricks to keep the children. "I tried hard to make the training fun, drafted a seemingly formal contract with each student, and also prepared some gifts to reward their hard work," she said. Huang, on the other hand, persuaded the parents into accepting the choir. Their combined efforts bore fruit. The choir is getting more professional and even performed at the New Year music gala of Xinyu City in 2018. The children, too, have donned a new look. "They are more confident, brave and have made new friends. And by performing at bigger stages, they've broadened their horizons and are envisioning a beautiful future for life," said Huang. "Moreover, they've become more independent and cooperative." "Music consoles their hearts and helps them express their deep emotions," Zhong said, "I myself also harvested love from them and the chorus class is the moment I'm most looking forward to every day." Hundreds of people lined the streets of Brandon Saturday, welcoming back the first Pride march since 2019 with smiles and rainbow attire. Advertisement Advertise With Us Hundreds of people lined the streets of Brandon Saturday, welcoming back the first Pride march since 2019 with smiles and rainbow attire. The parade began at Brandon City Hall and meandered down to Rideau Park for Pride in the Park. The event featured performances from local artists, including drag performer Flora Hex, and booths for local organizations supporting the LGBTQ2S+ community. "Love is in the air," said Brandon Pride chair Kenneth Jackson. "This is happiness, joy. Its just wonderful to see this many people out and having fun and enjoying each others company." Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) was selected to marshal the parade, with support from local high school Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) groups. Kenneth praised PFLAG for providing support to families with LGBTQ2S+ youth, along with a growing number of active GSAs in Brandon, which are working to create safe spaces for youth to express themselves authentically. "Those GSAs are really, really getting established and growing," Jackson said. One of his key messages for the Pride march was that the fight for LGBTQ2S+ rights remains ongoing. There have been setbacks in both Canada and the United States that have the potential to create lasting harm on LGBTQ2s+ people. He cited provinces that have called on schools to expose or "out" students that join GSAs as an example. "Thats dangerous, thats creating an unsafe place." One of the ongoing goals for Brandon Pride is to host events year-round to ensure community support continues. "We are here. We are not just coming out for one day. You never just come out once in your life. You come out every day of your life, the potential is there," Jackson said. "I would love to say that we dont need Pride, but we do and were going to be here until we dont need it." PFLAG makes sure to participate in Pride events to demonstrate support for Brandons LGBTQ2S+ community, said Laura Crookshanks, Brandon and Westman chapter co-ordinator. "Its wonderful to be back in person, I think everybody has missed that for the last couple of years," Crookshanks said. "I think its really important for young people especially, and people in rural areas where maybe the community isnt as visible and people might think that they are the only one in their community who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender [and/or] two-spirited." PFLAG is accessible by phone and email for Manitobans. The organizations goal is to connect those who reach out with others who have had a similar experience and foster peer-to-peer connections along with provide resources. She said she hopes the Pride march showed there is a supportive Pride community in Brandon, and that LGBTQ2S+ people can reach out if they need to talk or access information and other resources. "There are folks here who are very supportive we are not alone; its a big community," Crookshanks said. Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School students and GSA members Flint Klassen and Amber Adolphe appreciated the opportunity to connect with LGBTQ2S+ people at the march. "Seeing all the other people that are also queer and trans and seeing all the diversity is really cool," Klassen said. The march marked the couples first Pride parade. It was an important rite of passage because they were allowed to express their individualism proudly. They said they felt welcomed and supported walking in the parade, Adolphe said, because they were surrounded by friends. It can be difficult to come out to people when you do not feel supported, they said, but when you meet the right people, it is much easier. "I want people to know that you dont have to come out to everyone as soon as you figure it out. You dont have to feel the need to tell everyone its whoever you feel comfortable with," Adolphe said. "If youre comfortable in your own skin, your being, then nothing else really matters." Adolphes hope is that the Pride march shows youth it is OK to express themselves in whatever ways feel comfortable. While some people can be judgmental, Klassen said, when you meet the right people and friends who, "accept you for who you are," it is a transformative experience. "Love yourself," Klassen said. "It doesnt matter, your sexuality or your preference you should just love yourself for who you are and you shouldnt care what other people think." ckemp@brandonsun.com Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp Brandon University professors Darrell Racine and Dale Lakevold recently received major accolades for one of their latest creative projects, titled IAP, which took home the award for best full-length play from Theatre BCs 2021 National Playwriting Competition. Advertisement Advertise With Us Brandon University professors Darrell Racine and Dale Lakevold recently received major accolades for one of their latest creative projects, titled IAP, which took home the award for best full-length play from Theatre BCs 2021 National Playwriting Competition. Talking to the Sun last week, Racine and Lakevold said they were very excited to receive the news a month ago, since this kind of countrywide spotlight increases the chances of their script getting picked up for a full stage production. And were kind of at that point where were following up on all the leads that were laid last year, said Lakevold, an associate professor of English, drama and creative writing at BU. So were still looking for a production and were hopeful. Outside of their personal gratification, the BU writing team are also hoping the play gets produced because of its weighty plot and themes, which delve into Indigenous reconciliation and the history of residential schools in Canada. The title IAP refers to the independent assessment process, a real-life government procedure residential school survivors must endure to resolve claims of physical abuse and other wrongs suffered at these facilities. The plot of Racine and Lakevolds new play revolves around two middle-aged Indigenous men who are forced to go through this process and relive the trauma theyve been carrying since childhood. It opens up a lot of old wounds for these two characters, but they rely on family to get through it and on cultural traditions and Indigenous knowledge, Lakevold said. This story has a heavy subject matter, but its very affirming by the end. IAP isnt the first time Racine and Lakevold have collaborated on a project together. In fact, the pair won the same award from Theatre BC in 2005 for their play Stretching Hide, which was later turned into a production in 2007. Since then, the team have refined their creative process and discovered a system that works, since they both bring unique qualities to the table. Dale teaches creative writing, so he understands structure and what we need in a story, said Racine, who is an assistant professor in Native studies at BU. Im Metis and I learned a little bit about storytelling, so I can make up a few stories when we need one inserted. So its really a 50-50 process. In order to lend an extra layer of authenticity to the serious subject matter featured in the play, Racine and Lakevold decided to consult with a law firm thats represented thousands of residential school survivors throughout the independent assessment process. Additionally, during a virtual script reading session in February 2021, the pair also engaged with an audience of former residential school students, mental health workers, elders and IAP adjudicators, which gave them the confidence to move forward with the script. It was very emotional and heart-wrenching to hear those former students reflect on their experiences, but they had come through it, Racine said in a news release from BU. Their courage in being there at a reading of a play about dealing with the residential school experience was inspirational. While the status of IAP is still in limbo, Racine and Lakevold remain hopeful their award-winning play will eventually make its way to the stage, especially since Manit oba theatre companies are just now returning to in-person performances following two years of inaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We werent as active in terms of finding a company [back then], because we werent sure where they were at because of COVID, Lakevold said. So with live theatre coming back, and with the award now, that definitely helps our efforts. In the meantime, the pair are already hard at work writing a followup play titled Franklins Fate, which delves into Capt. John Franklins ill-fated arctic expedition from the mid-19th century. The team also told the Sun they are developing a script about 60s Scoop survivors, with Indigenous cultures and histories being a common theme that ties most of their works together. There are plays that weve written in the past that have dealt with healing at the individual level, the community level and the national level, Lakevold said. So thats an important part of what we are doing. kdarbyson@brandonsun.com Twitter: @KyleDarbyson Woodside and Fortescue are both throwing their hats in the ring to develop a green hydrogen plant in New Zealand that will use renewable energy freed up by the possible closure of a Rio Tinto aluminium smelter. Southern Green Hydrogen, a joint venture of two NZ power providers, has announced that WAs two largest companies would enter final negotiations to develop what could be the worlds largest green hydrogen plant with a reported cost of about $4.5 billion. Both Woodside and Fortescue are keen to diversify into hydrogen as a clean fuel to decarbonise industries that are difficult to electrify, including shipping and steel-making, but have clashed over the best approach. The smelter at Tiwai Point is 79pc owned by Rio with the remaining interest held by Japan's Sumitomo. Credit:Getty Images Fortescue chair Andrew Forrest wants the miner to make 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2030 by separating it from water using renewal power. Critics say Tether essentially acts as a loosely regulated bank. Traders hand over millions of dollars and, in return, receive millions of stablecoins, which they use to bet on more volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Dogecoin. Tether currently has 70 billion coins in circulation, making it more than three times the size of TerraUSD before the crash. In a worst-case scenario, critics say, a downturn could spark the crypto equivalent of a bank run. Traders might all rush to exchange their Tethers for dollars, only to discover that Tether could not fulfill those orders. Investors would lose billions of dollars, forcing them to sell their other crypto holdings, causing a potentially devastating panic that might spill into non-crypto markets. Tether got a taste of that scenario last month. As cryptocurrencies plummeted, a flood of investors asked to exchange their Tethers for dollars, forcing the company to pay out about an eighth of its reserves, or $US10 billion, over the course of a week and a half. On cryptocurrency exchanges, Tether briefly wavered from its $US1 peg. Long one of the most scrutinised companies in the industry, Tether is facing heightened pressure from regulators, investors, economists and growing legions of sceptics, who argue it could be another domino to fall in an even bigger crash. Credit:Bloomberg Ultimately, the company said, it met the demand. Tether went on a victory lap, proclaiming it had weathered the crisis flawlessly. The crash was the best story that could have happened to Tether, Paolo Ardoino, the companys chief technology officer, said in an interview. Were not fooling around, and we take risk management extremely seriously. Then last week, the crypto bank Celsius Network announced it was halting withdrawals, causing digital currency prices to crash again. Tether had invested in Celsius in 2020 and lent it about $US1 billion in Tethers, according to Bloomberg News; the company said this week that it currently had zero exposure to Celsius apart from a small investment. Still, as the market reeled, investors pulled out about $US1.6 billion from Tether. Loading More sceptics are speaking up. Last month, a top US banking official called for new rules governing Tether and its competitors, saying the TerraUSD crash highlighted the risks of loosely regulated stablecoins. Some traders are now putting their funds into alternate stablecoins, amid fears that the next crash could test whether Tether has adequate reserves. They had enough collateral to weather this run, but that doesnt mean they have enough to weather the next run, said Bruce Mizrach, an economics professor at Rutgers University who studies cryptocurrencies. Even by cryptos often-surreal standards, Tether has a peculiar history. The company was founded in 2014 by Brock Pierce, a cryptocurrency evangelist who, as a child actor, starred in the Mighty Ducks movies. He and his partner, Reeve Collins, later handed control of the firm to a former plastic surgeon named Giancarlo Devasini, who has stored some of Tethers assets in a bank in the Bahamas run by one of the creators of the Inspector Gadget cartoon. Tether has grown rapidly. Last year, it issued roughly 50 billion stablecoins, more than tripling the worldwide supply. If we have to redeem till the last cent, we can do it, Ardoino said in the interview. The company is operated by about 50 employees in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Its CEO, JL van der Velde, is a Dutch businessman whose LinkedIn profile suggests he is based in Hong Kong; the company declined to confirm his location. He and Devasini, the chief operating officer, rarely speak publicly. Tethers public face is Ardoino, who describes his colleagues as normal people amazed by the companys growth. Tether was founded by Brock Pierce in 2014. Credit:Getty Images They didnt think initially that it would maybe go so big, Ardoino said. They werent prepared to be public persons. Theres nothing bad about it. At times, Tether has insisted that its stablecoins were fully backed by US dollars. But last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James called those claims a lie. A few years earlier, a cryptocurrency exchange affiliated with Tether had lost $US850 million in a business deal gone sour. To cover the losses, the exchange, Bitfinex, took loans from Tethers reserves, leaving the stablecoin partly unbacked, according to James investigation. Tether settled with the New York attorney general, paying $US18.5 million in penalties without admitting wrongdoing. A Tether spokesperson said the issue with the companys reserves boiled down to a communications misstep. Tether is really the lifeblood of the crypto ecosystem. f it imploded, then the entire facade falls down. Hilary Allen, a finance expert at American University. Concerns about Tether have spread to Washington. When Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified before Congress last month, she noted Tethers wavering from its $US1 peg and called for greater regulation of stablecoins. The growth of stablecoins presents the same kind of risks that we have known for centuries in connection with bank runs, she said. Ardoino said Tether was eager to work with regulators to devise a global framework governing disclosures that stablecoin issuers must make about their reserves. But Tether has resisted more aggressive proposals, which would subject it to regulatory requirements such as those of traditional banks. Loading Everyones freaking out like, I lost my life savings, said Collins, who founded Tether with Pierce and now runs a crypto venture called BLOCKv. Thats a tragedy, but its just as much of a tragedy when someone says, I went to a casino and lost my life savings. But that doesnt mean lets regulate casinos out of existence. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Its been seven years since a whitewash among Oscars nominees sparked the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag and demands for greater diversity within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that governs films most prestigious awards. The 2015 backlash which eventually led to significant reform in terms of the make-up of the Academy was in response to every single nominee in the acting categories being white. This years TV Week Logie Awards, thankfully, werent quite that bad. The complete whiteout in terms of nominations was restricted to the popular and outstanding actor categories, outstanding supporting actor category, and most popular actor or actress in an international program. This years Gold Logie nominees Karl Stefanovic, Julia Morris, Hamish Blake, Tom Gleeson, Sonia Kruger and Ray Meagher. MasterChef host Melissa Leong is also nominated. Credit:Chris Hyde Total Controls Deborah Mailman and New Gold Mountains Mabel Li were nominated in the actress categories, preventing a repeat of the infamous 2015 Oscars, though neither won. Overall, every individual winner at this years Logies was white, except for the ABCs Tony Armstrong, who picked up the Graham Kennedy Award for most popular new talent. Lets get the obvious caveats out of the way: pointing out the lack of racial diversity at the Logies is not a criticism of the actual nominees or winners, nor is it a suggestion that Armstrongs win isnt significant and deserved. Australian TV is about telling the stories of the nation, and exploring how we live our lives. What it looks like, and what is rewarded by viewers and the industry, is a statement on what we value. When Australians who arent white make up 24 per cent of the population but a vastly smaller proportion of those on TV, and an even smaller number of those rewarded with nominations and awards, it should be a wake-up call. Australias east coast electricity grid was under unprecedented pressure last week, laying bare the challenges of achieving a zero-emissions electrical system. Its hard, really hard. And its only the beginning. The next step is to expand our zero-emissions electricity generation, and hydrogen produced from it, to replace oil and gas in transport, building heating and industry. It has been easier for countries such as Norway and France because they have drawn on hydroelectricity and nuclear electricity to massively reduce their emissions. Tasmania, too, has achieved virtually 100 per cent emissions-free electricity through its combination of hydro and wind electricity. Nyrstars Port Pirie smelter in South Australia, where owner Trafigura plans to build a $750 million green hydrogen plant. Credit: Supplied From an engineering perspective, hydroelectricity and nuclear are dream players, producing electricity on demand and contributing to the secure and reliable operation of the grid. Solar and wind generation are less co-operative, but realistically thats all that mainland Australia has at hand. To deploy them, they must be supported by transmission lines, storage and arguably a modest amount of natural gas generation. Australia has made good progress. There has been record investment in the past three years that has seen our solar and wind generation in the east coast grid almost double from 12 per cent in 2018 to 23.5 per cent in 2021. On a per capita basis, our solar and wind generation is comparable with California. Looking just at solar electricity, on a per capita basis Australia is No. 1 in the world. A federal policy to spend $1 billion on new energy projects has failed to add any power to the national electricity market more than three years after the Coalition unveiled the plan with a promise to fix supply shortages and ease pressure on prices. None of the money has been spent on the 12 projects named in March 2019 when then-prime minister Scott Morrison unveiled a program to support six hydropower schemes, five gas projects and one coal-fired power station upgrade. Former prime minister Scott Morrison unveiled a program in 2019 to support six hydropower schemes, five gas projects and one coal-fired power station upgrade. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The outcome highlights the absence of federal projects to add power to the electricity grid when the nations peak regulator, the Energy Security Board, says Australia must build 50 times the capacity of the original Snowy Hydro scheme by 2050. In an alert about future shortages, the board says 4.1 gigawatts of power capacity was taken out of the grid over the past decade, mostly due to the closure of coal-fired power stations. Only 1.1 GW was added over the same period to supply dispatchable power that can be turned on at any time. Energy Minister Chris Bowen is leading talks on introducing a so-called capacity mechanism to shore up the troubled grid. The policy aims to reward assets such as big batteries and pumped hydro that can be on standby and available to support renewables through all weather conditions. But industry is now warning further increases in power bills could cripple businesses if state and territory governments splinter the national electricity market by adopting differing models for managing their transitions from fossil fuels to renewables. On Monday Bowen said it could be left up to state governments to decide whether they wanted to include existing coal- or gas-fired generators in their jurisdictions schemes. Victoria has said it would not back payments to coal and gas. NSW is open to gas but not coal, while Queensland has indicated it would support payments to both gas and coal-fired plants. The grid is in different states of development. Queenslands coal-fired power stations are younger than Victorias for example, Bowen said. Its appropriate that states can implement this in a way that is suitable for their needs, but it will need to be within that national framework, and it will complement our emissions target. The Energy Users Association of Australia, a group representing some of the nations largest corporate energy users, including Woolworths, BlueScope Steel and building material supplier Brickworks, warned differing state-by-state rules risk driving up bills and inflating costs for customers. To have states going it alone, you tend to get an over-investment into what should be shared resources its not an economically efficient way forward, Energy Users Association chief executive Andrew Richards told The Age and the Herald. Loading If you run a business that stretches across multiple jurisdictions then you are dealing with multiple programs and layer upon layer of costs, and it gets very difficult. Power industry leaders welcomed the draft plan for a capacity mechanism, which was released by the Energy Security Board (ESB) on Monday. The board said it was preferable for all capacity types to be allowed to bid under the scheme to guarantee supply. The Australian Energy Council, which represents the nations largest generators and retailers, said the scheme should support existing plants and encourage investments in new projects. The groups chief executive, Sarah McNamara, urged against allowing state-by-state variations. We would be concerned if there are jurisdictional carve-outs to the mechanism, which could lead to it being much less effective in supporting the energy transition, she said. Origin Energy welcomed the progress on a universal capacity mechanism for the market that also allows flexibility for states to navigate their own preferences and specifications. Recent events in the market have underscored the need to move with urgency to establish a mechanism that rewards dispatchable capacity, as this will be important to support reliable supply as the energy transition accelerates, Origin said. Loading We look forward to working through the detail of the mechanism through the consultation process. EnergyAustralia managing director Mark Collette said the tight east coast energy market conditions underlined the importance of planning for the retirement of existing generators as we bring online newer energy forms. We support a capacity mechanism that would help combat elevated levels of volatility by stabilising supply, and importantly, energy prices, he said. EnergyAustralia, the third-largest Australian power company, on Monday said it had returned to service both units at its Mt Piper coal-fired power station in NSW. At the companys Yallourn power plant in Victoria, two out of three units were operating, with a fourth expected to return by the end of the week. Loading Once this unit returns, we will need to take another unit offline for maintenance, Collette said. We will closely liaise with the Australian Energy Market Operator on appropriate timings. A capacity mechanism was first proposed under the former Coalition government by the Energy Security Board under the former chair Kerry Schott. Sceptics of the proposed reform, including environmental activist groups and the federal Greens, fear the policy will be designed to favour existing fossil fuel generators, dubbing the proposal coal keeper. Greens leader Adam Bandt said that the ESBs proposal should be ripped up and done again because it was designed for a broken electricity market designed to favour existing large-scale electricity generators. The Afghan government has released five British citizens from custody, UK officials said in a statement that included an apology on behalf of the men and an expression of regret from the British government. The Britons had been caught up in a crackdown on foreigners and Afghan civil society activists by the Taliban after they seized power in August. The British government did not comment on Monday (Tuesday AEST) on the circumstances of the mens release or why they had been imprisoned, but a Taliban spokesperson said they had violated Afghan laws and traditions. A Taliban fighter stands guard as people receive Chinese food rations, Kabul. Credit:AP The release coincided with a statement of contrition issued by Britains Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. On behalf of the families of the British nationals, we express their apologies for any breach of Afghan culture, customs or laws, and of their assurance of future good conduct, the statement said. BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Jinghua, former deputy secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, has been arrested on suspicion of bribery, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said. Zhang's case was transferred to prosecutors after an investigation by the National Supervisory Commission, the SPP added. London: A leading human rights barrister has questioned whether Rwanda is fit to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this week after the disappearance of family members of an Australian activist. Jennifer Robinson, of Londons Doughty Street Chambers, has taken the case of Noel Zihabamwe to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. Two of Zihabamwes brothers went missing in the central African nation after they were taken into custody by police. The case is also being supported by the Australian Human Rights Institute based at UNSW, and law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Noel Zihabamwes brothers went missing in Rwanda in 2019. Credit:Louis Douvis Earlier this year, Zihabamwe addressed a session of the group and said that more than 200 families had contacted him about similar cases since he submitted his complaint in 2021. Washington: After three public hearings spanning almost six hours, the congressional committee investigating the US Capitol attack made its most forceful case yet of potential criminality against Donald Trump. Having foreshadowed for days that the former presidents bid to overturn the 2020 election was much more than just an assault on democracy and that it was actually illegal the January 6 committee last Thursday presented the most damning evidence so far. Supporters of Donald Trump gathered outside the US Capitol before the January 6 insurrection. The committee has heard that Trump summoned the mob. Credit:AP The hearings had already heard that after losing the November 2020 election, Trump was repeatedly told by top White House aides and attorneys that his bid to overturn his defeat was unlawful. Despite knowing this, Trump continued to pressure his then vice president Mike Pence to stop Joe Bidens election victory from being certified by Congress on January 6. Pence, well aware that he did not have the authority to do what his boss was asking, resisted. A former Queensland financial adviser has been convicted and fined $1,500 after pleading guilty to three charges of breaching an ASIC banning order. Lawrence Toledo, who was banned in 2017 from providing financial services for seven years after ASIC found he had failed to act in the best interests of his clients when advising them to establish a self-managed superannuation fund to purchase properties, continued to provide financial product advice and deal in financial products despite his ban remaining in force until Sept. 5, 2024. Toledo breached his banning order by providing financial advice to a self-managed super fund (SMSF) to invest in Premier Realty Group, arranging the sale of 70,000 shares in Premier Realty Group for $70,000 to the SMSF, and arranging a second sale of 14,000 additional shares in Premier Realty Group, costing $14,000, to the same SMSF. Toledo entered his plea and was sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral of a brief of evidence from ASIC. Latest News Investors warm to long-touted sale of Suncorp's banking arm The prospect has been raised for decades, and recently, a review into the bank sale was confirmed by Suncorp NSW suffering worst labour shortage in 50 years Industry body wants federal government to help businesses Joust.com.au, an online home loan marketplace that helps borrowers connect with the right lenders and brokers, has appointed Virginia Marshall and Stuart Stoyan as non-executive directors to its board. Marshall (pictured above) is a chartered accountant with 20-plus years of experience across ASX-listed corporations in Australia and New Zealand. She joins the board after more than 10 years spent in various executive management teams and is currently a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Prior to Joust, she worked at Westpac in a number of roles, including deputy CFO for consumer bank division at Westpac in Australia, and head of transformation and investments for the banks New Zealand operations. Marshall currently serves as CFO for Society One and is a member of the board risk and audit committee at Cancer Council NSW. Stoyan (pictured below) is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in fintech, consumer lending, and open data. He is the former founder and CEO of MoneyPlace, one of Australias fastest-growing personal loan providers. Stoyan also founded Australias first and largest survey of the fintech industry, the Fintech Census. He was a co-founder and former Chairman of Fintech Australia, and is currently a member of the Australian Government's open banking Data Standards Board Advisory Committee. Earlier in his career, Stoyan was the head of strategy for NAB business and a management consultant at Bain & Company. We are pleased to welcome Stuart and Virginia as new directors to the Joust board at a time during which we are looking to drive increased and sustained growth for the business, Joust Chairman Chris Taylor said. We are confident they will provide valuable perspectives and important strategic thinking for an exciting and fast-growing business. I am looking forward to working with Virginia and Stuart to guide the Joust business through the next phase of its growth, Joust CEO Carl Hammerschmidt said. They both bring outstanding experience in the banking, lending, fintech, and scale-up sectors, and their appointments provide a wonderful opportunity for us to leverage that experience for the benefit of our consumers, lenders, and shareholders. At least 50 per cent of the 2,000-odd employees at Ford's factory have agreed to restart work at the unit, a India official said on Monday. The plant had to shut down due to a staff strike that started on May 30. The company also warned protesting workers of loss of pay, effective June 14, and urged them to get back to the shopfloor. said it would continue to hold talks with the unions. This comes after the company came out with a non-negotiable severance package asking the workers to accept it or face legal action. According to a workers' union, only about 350 employees and not 50 per cent have accepted the company's offer to restart work. The union says it will continue with the strike until the management offers a better package, as demanded by the protesting workers. Pursuant to the cascade on June 9, 2022, the company received a positive response, with close to 50 per cent of employees consenting to support production, while requesting to further discuss the severance package on offer, the company executive said. We look forward to having a constructive dialogue (with employees and union representatives) to explain the details and benefits of the severance package under the supervision of the labour department. ALSO READ: Ford resumes production at TN plant as some workers withdraw strike The information released on Mondat added that for employees going on an illegal strike, a loss of pay will be applicable with effect from June 14. To ensure the safety and security of our employees, staff and property, we have sought police support to prevent the protesters from interfering with the ingress and egress of employees supporting operations at the plant, and with materials entering or leaving the factory, he added. The union members claimed that the company had given the workers two options one, to accept the severance package or two, to agree to restart work on the agreement that they will restart talks on severance package. Some 350-odd employees of the total 2,000 have agreed to go for the second option and hence we do not see it as an acceptance of the severance package, said a union leader who requested anonymity. Undr the new package, employees have been offered around 115 days of gross wages for each completed year of service. We urge the protesting employees to call off the illegal strike and participate in resuming production as well as dialogue to understand the details of the severance package on offer, the company official added. As per the package offered by India, the cumulative amounts for components set out will be subject to a minimum amount of Rs 30 lakh and a cap of Rs 80 Lakh. The package includes an ex-gratia amount equivalent to 87 days of last drawn gross wages (May 2022) and a fixed amount Rs 50,000, both being for every completed year of service. A lump sum amount of Rs 2,40,000 and continuation of current medical insurance until March 2024 were also offered. Air India's best years are yet to come, the airline's CEO designate Campbell Wilson wrote in his first message to staff. Wilson, former chief executive officer of no-frills carrier Scoot, visited the Delhi office today. He is yet to take charge formally due to completion of formalities. " has always had a very special place in the hearts of travellers - including mine ever since I flew an 747 for the first time way back in 1995. It is a long and storied legacy that has touched millions....We should rightly celebrate this legacy...but we must also have our gaze focused squarely on the future. For I am convinced that Air India's best years are yet to come," Wilson wrote in his message. Reliance Infrastructures Limited, a company (discom) in the national capital region, will install five million smart meters in its designated areas, making it the largest rollout across the country. The company has issued a tender worth Rs 4,000 crore to procure smart meters. owns and operates two - Rajdhani Limited and BSES Yamuna Limited, across south, west and east Delhi. The smart meters rollout will start with high-consumption areas and consumers, said executives. The company aims to commence the rollout by October this year and conclude it by March 2025. Currently five states have a large-scale smart meter installation programme ongoing. Uttar Pradesh has installed 1.16 million meters, Bihar 870,000, Rajasthan 550,000, Haryana 452,000 and Assam 283,000. A smart meter has a modem (communication device) and a remote switch by which demand, supply and billing can be monitored and controlled remotely. Data from the device is collected in a cloud server. This reduces energy theft, improves billing and bill collection, and helps collect data of consumer demand patterns, which in turn, can be used to plan supply. The smart meters by BSES would provide the choice to consumers to switch to prepaid mode from postpaid. Company executives said the plan would also assist in renewable energy integration, along with load forecasting and scheduling, demand side management and load management. Overcoming its initial concerns, national reinsurer has contributed to the formation of an insurance pool to cover most imports from . While it will be called the fertiliser pool with a corpus of Rs 500 crore, it can be used to cover the risks of too. This was decided by a clutch of Indian insurance companies, led by the state-owned ones. GIC Res share is about 40 per cent in the pool. Last month, had shot off a letter to all non-life insurance that underwrite marine risks not to ask it for reinsurance of cargoes that originate from . It is understood that the finance ministry took a dim view of the refusal and the insurers met over the weekend to firm up a plan for the pool. This is the second time after the formation of the nuclear pool that Indian insurers have formed a similar risk cover that has been declined by foreign insurers. A senior industry official said, This seems like a harbinger of a new trend in the domestic insurance industry. The letter stated, All shipments are compliant with all of the sanction regimes at the time of underwriting. The letter went on to explain that all insurance in India asking for reinsurance cover from must be complying with UN, US UK and EU sanction regimes. It said, Additionally, we wish to make clear GICs expectations from our cedants when it comes to accepting risks, especially involving territories which may have sanctioned touchpoints. It added, We urge you to keep abreast of the latest developments and seek your legal advice scope ofconflict situation in Ukraine/ . Simply, the letter from the national reinsurer asked insurance to comply with the sanctions regime. GIC Re had a problem. Just as domestic insurance companies ask the state-owned reinsurer to cover their possible risks, the latter in turn buys insurance cover from abroad to save its own balance sheets. GIC has offered no response to queries from Business Standard. Under Indian insurance regulations, domestic insurance companies have to cede 5 per cent of all their reinsurance business to GIC Re, as first choice. The listed company, in turn, buys insurance cover abroad against those risks. GIC Re felt that it would be running afoul of the sanctions regime, and therefore, will be netted out of the global insurance market, dominated by European and American companies. But after the rap from the finance ministry, events moved quickly. A formal approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) is expected soon. This is necessary as the fertiliser pool is a new type of cover. Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd (KIAL), the alternate assets business of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said on Monday that it has formed a $590 million real estate fund with (AIDA) for investments in office assets in India. This is KIAL's 12th real estate fund and will be domiciled in Gujarats GIFT City. With this new fund, KIAL has so far raised, managed, or advised more than $2.8 billion under its real estate fund series. "With the closure of this fund, we have raised around $1 billion in real estate in the last one year," said Vikas Chimakurthy, CEO, Kotak Realty Fund. Chimakurthy asserted that strong demand for offshoring, the resurgence of work from office, growth of the services industry and Indian economy has created substantial scope for creating a portfolio of quality office assets. "With multiple avenues for exit from such portfolios and increasing liquidity of completed assets, we intend to curate this portfolio to cater to increasing appetite for stabilised assets, he said. Set up in 2005 to bring sharper focus to Kotaks alternate assets practice, KIAL has raised, managed or offered advice on funds worth over $5.7 billion across different asset classes. These include real estate, private equity, infrastructure funds, special situations fund, listed strategies, and investment advisory, all led by independent investment teams. Mohamed Al Qubaisi, Executive Director, Real Estate Department at ADIA said, This new platform will focus on opportunities associated with long-term demand for Indian office space, which is being driven by global organisations seeking to capitalise on the countrys skilled workforce. It also presents the opportunity to extend our relationship with Kotak, with whom we have successfully invested over a number of years. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure: Entities controlled by the Kotak family have a significant holding in Business Standard Pvt Ltd TRIPOLI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The third round of negotiations between Libyan parties, hosted in Egypt's Cairo under the UN auspices, have been continuing for days aiming to achieve constitutional consensus for a settlement to the general elections. Analysts said the negotiations are crucial and the last chance to reach a consensus on a Libyan constitutional draft that may lead to successful elections. However, if the negotiations fail, it could threaten the ceasefire agreement signed in October 2020 and bring unprecedented relative stability to Libya. In March, Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives or the parliament, and the Tripoli-based High Council of State formed a joint committee to reach a firm constitutional basis for sooner national elections. The two sides reached consensus on 37 articles of the constitution in the previous round of talks in Cario, the UN Support Mission in Libya said last month. Faraj al-Dali, a Libyan political analyst, told Xinhua on Saturday that the negotiations between the Libyan parties in Cairo are a "real and rare opportunity to close the difficult constitutional path issue," as the lack of the constitutional rule or a constitution regulating the elections is the biggest obstacle facing the elections. Al-Dali said "the negotiations are more crucial and important than the previous ones, as they seek to reach consensus on a Libyan constitutional draft or rule that can be accepted by all the conflicting parties, and may lead to a chance for successful elections after failing to hold them on the scheduled date later last year." Libya failed to hold general elections in December 2021, due to disagreements on the election laws among the Libyan parties. Iman Jalal, a Libyan law professor, believes that the international community including Egypt strongly supports consensus between the Libyans to end the constitutional dispute. "Egypt is fully aware that any elections in Libya are doomed to fail and that the results will not be accepted by all the Libyan parties, as long as a constitutional rule regulating the elections is missing," Jalal told Xinhua. Among the main factors that led to the failure of the elections are legal challenges against articles related to the powers and the term of the president, which are sensitive points to all the Libyan parties, Jalal explained. Since earlier last week, negotiations between the Libyan parties have been continuing to discuss consensus on a constitutional track. According to members of the Libyan dialogue committee, there is great agreement on most of the articles, while the dispute remains on some controversial points related to the mechanisms of election and powers of the head of state. Stephanie Williams, a special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Libya, on Thursday commended the members of the Libyan Joint Committee constitutional consultations for "continuing to work toward consensus and urge them to fulfill their duty to the Libyan people, who have demonstrated desire for an election by registering to vote by the millions." Imad Jalloul, a Libyan political analyst, believes that the Cairo meetings should lead to final understandings to avoid the possibility of war and conflict in Libya. "Cairo can play a major role in bringing the House of Representatives and the Higher Council of State together, as it has its own influential tools in the Libyan issue. The results of the third and final round could bridge the gap (between the Libyan parties)," Jalloul told Xinhua. "Failure (to agree on a constitutional path) means a new international solution or plan that will replace elections as soon as possible and prevent armed conflict," Jalloul said. Some members of the dialogue committees in Cairo told local media that those close to Williams told them that the international community has alternative plans to resolve the failure of the joint dialogue committee to find a solution to end the dispute over the constitutional path leading to the elections. The UN has not yet officially announced the steps to be taken after the end of the Libyan dialogue in Cairo during the next two days. However, the UN stressed its support for its outcomes and described it as a rare and important opportunity for the Libyans to end their differences, end the transitional stages, and hold elections. Libya has been suffering escalating violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011. Capital markets regulator on Monday imposed a penalty totalling Rs 30 lakh on and two individuals for not making prompt clarification to the stock exchange pertaining to the Jio- deal, which was disclosed through the newspaper. The other two individuals penalised by are -- Savithri Parekh and K Sethuraman. The fine need to be paid jointly and severally by them within 45 days, according to a order. "I find that the pertaining JIO deal came out on March 24 and 25, 2020, and the information to the stock exchanges about the media release titled " to invest Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms for a 9.99 per cent stake" was made on April 22, 2020, i.e. after 28 days and this calls for an appropriate penalty," Sebi Adjudicating Officer Barnali Mukherjee said in an order. The regulator said had the obligation to have enveloped the unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI), however, having come to know about the selective availability of the information it was incumbent upon the company to provide due clarification on its own. Thus, Parekh and Sethuraman should have clarified to the exchanges on the item. It was observed that Reliance Industries, Parekh and Sethuraman did not comply with the provision of principles of fair disclosure of unpublished (UPSI), which states that there should be prompt dissemination of unpublished that gets disclosed selectively, inadvertently or otherwise to make such information generally available and did not issue any clarification on the same as required under LODR Regulations. Under the LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) rules, the listed entity may on its own initiative also confirm or deny any reported event or information to stock exchanges. Accordingly, Sebi held them liable for the violation of the provisions of principles of fair disclosure for purposes of the code of practices and procedures for Fair Disclosure of UPSI under LODR Regulations. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Putting an end to its efforts of reopening the unit in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, Anil Agarwal-led has decided to sell it and has invited expression of interest (EoI) from interested parties. Through a newspaper advertisement published on Monday, the company has invited financially competent players to submit EoIs by July 4. The bid was invited in conjunction with Axis Capital. The Tuticorin plant is a national asset which has been catering to 40 per cent of our national demand for copper and has played an integral role towards Indias self-sufficiency in copper. In the best interest of the country and the people of Tamil Nadu, we are exploring options to make sure that the plant and the assets are best utilised to meet growing demand of the nation, said a spokesperson. had stopped production at the smelter and refining complex in 2018, after protests broke out against the companys plan to expand its capacity from 400,000 tonnes to 800,000 tonnes led to police firing that killed around 13 people and left around 102 people injured. Since the firing in May 2018 the unit remained closed following an order issued by the Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). Local community The local fishing community in Thoothukudi, however, has called for the shifting of the plant from the area, instead of selling it to someone else. We see it as a ploy to bring in some other player and restart the operations in another form. We want complete replacement of the unit and not any sale, said Maria Rajabose Reegan, coordinator, Country Boat Fisherman Association, . The group has faced similar protests elsewhere too. Its copper subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) faced resistance in the Zambian copper belt, where locals protested against its mines and smelters. In 2013, tribal communities in Odisha had turned down a proposal from Vedanta Aluminium to mine the Niyamgiri hills for bauxite. In Goa, too, the company had faced public ire, leading to the stoppage of iron ore mining. Economic impact India, which used to be an exporter of copper before the Sterlite unit was shut down, has become a net importer now. The plant used to produce approximately 40 per cent of Indias copper demand and contributed around Rs 2,500 crore to the exchequer, 12 per cent of the ports revenue, and 95 per cent market share of sulphuric acid in Tamil Nadu, the companys advertisement said on Monday. It used to directly employ around 5,000 people and another 25,000 indirectly. Indias copper exports fell from 419 KT (thousand tonnes) in financial year 2017-18 (FY18) to 87 KT in FY22 and imports rose from 215 KT in FY18 to 241 KT in FY22. The country incurred forex outflow of $1.2 billion in FY22 on account of copper imports. With a projected annual demand of around 1.1 million tonnes, India is looking at a further outflow of forex as coppers price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) breached $9,000 per MT last year. The board of (Vi) will meet on Wednesday to consider a Rs 500-crore fund infusion plan from Vodafone Group Plc. The infusion, the second in two months, comes ahead of the spectrum auction that will see Indian telecom battle for airwaves in multiple bands. In a stock exchange notification, Vi said the board will meet on Wednesday to consider the proposal for raising aggregating up to Rs 500 crore via equity shares or convertible warrants on a preferential basis to Vodafone group entities. In March, Vi approved a Rs 4,500-crore fund raise with two promoters pitching in with capital. While Vodafone Group has invested around Rs 3,375 crore, the Aditya Birla group put in Rs 1,125 crore. However, the company has so far been unable to raise from any external investor. In a recent interaction with Business Standard, the companys Chief Executive Officer Ravinder Takkar said the firm is looking to grow its 4G network and improve capacity with fund infusion. The bulk of the capex requirements in the next three to four years will be in these two buckets and will also include investments in 5G, Takkar said. We require Rs 25,000 crore of additional investment which the board has approved. Our promoters have recently put in Rs 4,500 crore, so we need about Rs 20,000 crore more which will be raised in combination of debt and equity, he had said. Chief Minister on Sunday expressed grief over the death of 17 persons in lightning and thunderstorm and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the family members of each of the victims. Taking to the Twitter the Chief Minister said, "6 people died in Bhagalpur, 3 in Vaishali, 2 in Khagaria, 1 in Katihar, 1 in Saharsa, 1 in Madhepura, 2 in Banka and 1 in Munger due to thunderstorm and lightning. My deepest condolences to the affected families. An ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh will be given immediately to the next of kin of all the deceased." He also appealed to people to take full vigil in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the Disaster Management Department to prevent . "There is an appeal to the people to take full vigil in bad weather and follow the suggestions issued by the Disaster Management Department from time to time to prevent . Stay at home and stay safe in bad weather," he added. Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday said that the southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of the Gujarat region, Madhya Pradesh, remaining parts of Vidarbha, some more parts of Chhattisgarh, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and . Thunderstorm activity accompanied by isolated heavy showers is likely to continue throughout North, Central and East India during the next two-three days. On Saturday, IMD in its bulletin predicted rainfall over Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal during the next few days. Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with thunderstorm/lightning/gusty winds very likely over Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal during the next five days. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as Union ministers allay misgivings over Agnipath, figures show a meagre 2.4 per cent of the ex-servicemen who applied for a government job could get one as the Centre and the states have been unable to recruit against the reserved quotas. Public sector undertakings (PSUs), ministries, and officials of Sainik Boards have blamed it on the lack of skill among ex-servicemen. They say veterans inability to qualify in selection exams is one of reasons for this. Also, non-recognition of qualifications obtained from the military are reasons why their has remained significantly low, pushing them towards low-skill jobs. As protests over the Agnipath scheme rage across the country, the government has announced reservations in job vacancies in sectors for around 34,000 Agniveers who will retire after four years of service. However, the data from the Director General Resettlement -- the nodal body responsible for rehabilitating retired military personnel -- shows that states, central PSUs, including defence PSUs, and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have failed to recruit against the vacancies reserved for veterans. ALSO READ: India Inc bullish on Agnipath scheme, vows to hire soldiers in 4 years According to a Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) provision, 10 per cent of the vacancies in central government jobs in Group C and 20 per cent in Group D are reserved for veterans. For public sector banks, central public sector units, and the CAPF, the reservations are 14.5 per cent and 24.5 per cent, respectively. But, as of June last year, ex-servicemen constituted only 1.15 per cent of the Group C strength and 0.3 per cent of the Group D strength in 94 of the 170 central PSUs. Coal India, a maharatna PSU, blamed the lack of requisite certificates among veterans as one of the reasons for the shortfall. It has not filled any of the 251 Group C and Group D posts reserved for former military men. The of non-executives is mainly done for statutory posts wherein the prospective candidates hold certain competency certificates issued by the relevant authorities. Possessing statutory certificates issued by the relevant authority is a pre-condition for applying for such posts. However, ex-servicemen usually do not possess such certificates. This is the reason for underutilisation, a spokesperson for CIL said, noting that there was a need to create awareness among ex-servicemen to acquire such certificates. The picture is more dismal in Central ministries. Among 32 of those, only 1.60 per cent of the 22,168 positions reserved for veterans have been filled. For instance, the Indian Railways, one of the worlds largest employers, has filled only 1.4 per cent (16,264 out of the 1.15 million) of the positions with retired persons of the armed forces. A spokesperson for the Indian Railways said for around 24,242 vacancies of ex-servicemen was underway. All eligible candidates who qualify with the minimum standards are selected against the stipulated quota. In recent times there has also been some contract engagement of ex-servicemen against specific requirements such as gatekeepers in traffic and engineering, he said. For the 10 defence PSUs, where the Centre has announced a 10 per cent reservation for the Agnipath scheme, veterans comprised only 3.45 per cent and 2.71 per cent of the Group C and Group D posts, respectively. DG Resettlement head Sharad Kapur refused to comment on the low employment rate. A senior official said since the body was not statutory, it did not have the powers to force ministries to implement reservations. The reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes is statutory and implemented by all Central government organisations. On the other hand, the reservation made for ex-servicemen is executive in nature. Without statutory backing, the DG Resettlement cannot perform the duties assigned to it diligently, the official said. Even the paramilitary forces havent shown much interest in hiring veterans. As of June 2021, only 0.62 per cent of the positions reserved for veterans have been filled by the five wings of the paramilitary forces: The Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Shastra Seema Bal (SSB), and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). While the central government announced that 10 per cent of the vacancies in the CAPF would be reserved for Agniveers, senior officials of the CAPF have cited organisational hurdles and a job profile different from the military as the main reason for not hiring ex-servicemen. The role of defence forces, which fight external aggression, is different from that of the CAPFs, which are responsible for internal security and must function with a softer touch. So those who come from the military will have to be retrained, said a senior official of one of the paramilitary forces. ALSO READ: Agnipath has job potential in corporate sector for youths: Industry leaders He pointed out soldiers from the army had a promotion advantage over direct recruits into the CAPFs because they joined the armed forces at a young age compared to CAPF. Paramilitary forces have been wary that it will lead to disgruntlement and demoralisation among their personnel and have objected to absorbing soldiers who have served in the army, he said. States too have been unable to find jobs for former soldiers. For instance, by December 2019, Bihar, UP, Punjab, and Haryana, which together account for 80 per cent of the armed forces in India, have given jobs to only 1.5 per cent of the 200,000 veterans who had registered for a job. Officials of State Sainik Boards say while most states have reservations under the ex-servicemen quota for all positions, they are reluctant to recognise the graduation certificate issued by the military. An army man, an airman, or a sailor joins the forces after Class 10. The armed forces provide them a graduation certificate after 15 years of service. Many states dont recognise these certificates. Even if they are recognised, ex-servicemen fail to crack the competitive exams as the papers are of graduation standards, an official of a State Sainik Board said. More protests were witnessed in parts of on Monday against Agnipath as armed forces aspirants blocked roads and demanded that the scheme be rolled back. In Fatehabad, a group of youth blocked the Lal Batti Chowk, while several others staged a protest on roads in Rohtak district. Amid continuing protests in and Punjab against the scheme, which seeks to recruit jawans into the army, the navy and the air force for a four-year-period, security has been stepped up at key installations in the two states, officials said. There was a heavy deployment of police at railway stations, including those in Ambala, Rewari and Sonipat in and Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar in Punjab to prevent any untoward incident, they said. In a communication to all police commissioners and senior superintendents of police in the state on Sunday, Punjab's Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) said offices and installations of the central government departments needed stronger security while protection around other vital installations needed to be enhanced. Noting that the protests and calls for Bharat Bandh are being mobilised through social media, the ADGP said there is a need to activate dedicated social media cells and monitor their activities, the communication said. The Centre had last Tuesday unveiled the Agnipath scheme under which youths between 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted in the three services for a four-year tenure. Twenty-five per cent of the recruits will be retained for regular service. The government projected this scheme as a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to enhance the youthful profile of the services. On Thursday, it relaxed the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment this year as protests against the scheme intensified. The announcement of the new scheme came in the backdrop of recruitment into the military remaining being stalled for over two years due to COVID-19. On Saturday, the home ministry announced that 10 per cent of vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces and the Assam Rifles would be reserved for 'Agniveers' and also gave a three-year relaxation in the upper age limit. Further, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved a proposal to reserve 10 per cent of vacancies in the defence ministry for 'Agniveers' who meet the eligibility criteria. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The three service chiefs are likely to call on Prime Minister separately on Tuesday to brief him about the Agnipath scheme as well as their plan for its implementation. The meetings are being planned amid widespread protests in several states against the new military recruitment scheme. It is learnt that the chiefs would apprise the prime minister about various aspects of implementation of the scheme. There was no official word about the meetings between the prime minister and the service chiefs. Several parts of the country witnessed violent protests after the new military recruitment model was announced on June 14. The Agnipath scheme provides for recruitment of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Days later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022. The personnel to be recruited under the new scheme will be known as 'Agniveers'. Several opposition parties as well as military veterans criticised the scheme questioning the four-year-tenure for 75 per cent of the recruits. The government has been strongly defending the scheme, saying the "transformative reform" measure for recruitment into the armed forces will provide an opportunity to the youth to serve the nation. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the last 24 hours, nine people, including three children, died in as flood situation in the state worsened. The death toll from in this year's flood and landslides in has now jumped to 71, while at least eight people have gone missing. More than 420,000 people across 33 districts, including Bajali, Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, have been affected in the second wave of deluge. Out of the nine deaths reported in the last 24 hours, three were reported from the Cachar district, two from Barpeta and one each from Bajali, Kamrup, Karimganj and Udalguri districts. Also Read: Assam villages flooded in devastating rains, PM Modi calls up Himanta Sarma Meanwhile, 4 people have gone missing from the Dibrugarh districts, and one each from Cachar, Hojai, Tamulpur and Udalguri districts. With over 127,600 people affected by the floods, Barpeta is the worst-hit district Assam, followed by Darrang with nearly 394,000 people affected and Nagaon with more than 364,000 people hit. CM held a review meeting with the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and the Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) SDOs on Monday over the flood situation in the state and disaster preparedness. Meanwhile, the Indian Army personnel, paramilitary forces, NDRF, SDRF continue to provide help with the rescue and relief operations. The water level of all major rivers of Assam is above danger levels after the torrential rains lashed the state, along with Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and neighbouring nation Bhutan. Meanwhile, the water level of Beki, Manas, Pagladiya, Puthimari, Kopili, Jia-Bharali, and Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level mark in many places of Assam. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will be on a visit to India from Monday to hold a bilateral meeting with Defence Minister to strengthen defence and security cooperation between both the countries. His visit marks the first high-level visit from after newly-elected prime minister Anthony Albanese took office on May 23. During his visit from June 20-23, Defence Minister Marles will hold his first bilateral Defence Ministers' meeting with Union Minister . " and India are Comprehensive Strategic Partners. I am committed to strengthening Australia's defence and security cooperation with India," said Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles. "I am looking forward to meeting with my counterpart, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and holding our first bilateral Defence Ministers' Meeting," he added. "Minister Singh has been instrumental in advancing India- defence ties and I look forward to working with him to enhance the defence pillar of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," Deputy Prime Minister Marles said. The Minister also noted that India is one of Australia's closest security partners and the Government is focused on revitalising Australia's historically deep engagement with our partners across the Indo-Pacific. "The rules-based international order that has brought peace and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific for decades is experiencing pressure, as we face shifts in the geostrategic order," Deputy Prime Minister Marles said. "Australia stands ready to work closely with India in support of an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific". During the visit, Deputy Prime Minister Marles will also meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and engage national security and defence policymakers and personnel. Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2022, Defence's flagship engagement activity, returns to India this year. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of India's independence. Earlier, the Australian PM Albanese said that the relationship with India is very important and ties between the two countries have never been closer. Speaking to ANI, the Australian PM said, "Our relationship with India is a very important one and it was a great honour to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi." PM Modi congratulated Prime Minister Albanese on his election victory. Both leaders reviewed the multi-faceted cooperation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defense manufacturing, renewable energy, green hydrogen, education, science and technology, agricultural research, sports, and people-to-people ties. Both Prime Ministers affirmed their desire to continue the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship. Bilateral discussions with PM Narendra Modi focused on Australia and India's full strategic and economic agenda, including clean energy technology. The momentum of the bilateral relationship intensified with regular high-level exchanges, despite the pandemic-induced disruption. Prime Minister Modi held the first in-person bilateral meeting in the post-pandemic period with former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on September 23, 2021. Prime Minister also met Morrison in Glasgow on the sidelines of CoP26 Climate Summit on November 1, 2021. Together with other leaders, they jointly launched the 'Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS)' at the World Leaders Summit at COP26, Glasgow on November 2, 2021. Former Prime Minister Morrison and Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne participated (virtually) in the Raisina Dialogue in April 2021. Prime Minister delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue, on India's technology evolution and revolution on 18 November 2021. EAM participated in the Sydney Dialogue session on "Democracies and Global Technology Governance" with Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Nick Clegg, VP, Facebook on November 19, 2021. EAM virtually delivered the prestigious annual JG Crawford Oration at the Australian National University. Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne visited Delhi and co-chaired the First India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with EAM and Raksha Mantri on September 11, 2021. The Dialogue reflected the growing convergence between India and Australia on security issues and a shared commitment for a free, open, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Several states have tightened security and have taken precautionary measures against a proposed on Monday amid the ongoing protests over the Centre's Agnipath scheme that aims to recruit people in the Indian armed forces on a short-term basis. While it is not clear which organisation called for the on Monday, hundreds social media users have supported the bandh. The call for comes amid rising violent protests in several parts of the country for the last few days after the central government announced the Agnipath scheme. The youth are not in favour of the terms of the scheme, which include four years of service and withdrawal of pension system. The scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet on June 14. How states are preparing for the proposed Bharat Bandh? The police said that there had been calls for a shutdown in the city and a march towards the national capital Delhi. Section 144 has been imposed in in the wake of Bharat Bandh. Security has been bolstered across the state, especially around the railway stations. Meanwhile all private and government schools have been directed to stay shut on Monday. Kerala The police have cancelled all leaves on Monday and directed entire force to be on duty in the wake of the strike. Police had said they will arrest demonstrators who would engage in violence in the state. Faridabad In Haryana's Faridabad that borders the national capital, police have tightened security and roadblocks have been set up at various places. Punjab will too remain on high alert on Monday over the proposed Bharat Bandh. Also Read | Military says Agnipath scheme here to stay; recruitment begins in August Over the last few days, amid the ongoing agitation against the Agnipath scheme, protesters have vandalised several trains, other vehicles, and attacked MLA's offices in Bihar. The government, owing to the protests, has raised the upper age limit to 23 years from 21. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday held meetings with Indian service chiefs amid the protests.In addition to age relaxation, the government has announced a 10 per cent quota for 'Agniveers' in MoD jobs, including the Coast Guard, defence civilian posts, and all 16 defence public sector undertakings. The Centre has also announced a 10 per cent quota for retired Agniveers in the the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), which include the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Seema Suraksha Bal and the Assam Rifles. JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel is building a U.S.-sponsored air defense alliance in the Middle East which has already thwarted attempted Iranian attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday. Dubbing the regional alliance as Middle East Air Defense (MEAD), Gantz said it is being built "in the wake of Iran's attempts to hit the region with rockets, cruise missiles and drones," according to an official transcript of his meeting with the parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The Israeli defense minister revealed that he has been working on the extensive program together with the Pentagon and the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden over the past year. Its aim is "to strengthen the cooperation between Israel and countries in the region under the auspices of the United States and CentCom (the U.S. Central Command)," Gantz said. He did not specify which other countries in the region are part of the new alliance already "in operation." Gantz said he was hopeful that the plan would be boosted by Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia in July. Israel and Gulf countries have been drawn closer over the past years amid their shared concerns over Iran as Israel has been publicly calling for defense cooperation. The will mark the eighth on Tuesday by organising yoga sessions at 75,000 places across the country with Prime Minister leading the mega exercise at a yoga event in Mysuru in Karnataka where over 15,000 people are likely to participate. Addressing a press conference, spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said on Monday that Union ministers and chief ministers of the party, its elected representatives like MPs and MLAs besides the organisation's office-bearers will attend yoga programmes. With COVID-19 stalling any major public event on the yoga day for the last two years, the party has decided to hold the exercise in a big way this year, he said. president J P Nadda will attend a yoga session in Noida while Home Minister will be in the capital. As the country is celebrating 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, an ongoing exercise to mark the 75th year of India's Independence, the party will organise yoga events at 75,000 places, Trivedi said. He asserted that the global acceptance of yoga since the United Nations declared June 21 as the in December 2014 following the proposal from the Modi government, symbolises the rise of India's cultural power. The BJP spokesperson, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said India is perhaps the country with the most expansive cultural influence globally but it was "unfortunate" that previous governments did not put this to use effectively. It was only after Modi became prime minister that on his initiative the UN decided on observing the International Yoga Day, Trivedi said and noted that 177 of 193 UN members were co-sponsors of the proposal. It was India's diplomatic success, he added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stating that the BJP-led was planning to sell assets, including land allotted to different Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in Telangana, Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao demanded the to withdraw such plans. In a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, KTR said, instead of selling the assets, the should explore the possibilities of reviving and strengthening the PSUs. "If it is not feasible then the State Government should be given an opportunity to set up new industrial units in such lands," KTR said. The Central Government's plans to sell PSUs are nothing but making a mockery of the State Government's rights, he said in the letter. The Industries Minister pointed out that many States, including Tamil Nadu, were strongly opposing the Central Government's moves to sell PSUs set up in their respective territories. Lashing out at the Central Government for its attempts to sell PSUs in the guise of disinvestment, he sought to know under what provisions or rights, the Modi Government was contemplating the sale of PSUs set up in different states. "It was unfortunate that the Modi Government did not provide job opportunities to the unemployed youth. If the PSUs were reopened, they would provide direct employment to thousands and indirectly millions would be benefited," he said. He further said that instead, the Central Government was focusing on withdrawing investment to facilitate the sale of the companies. The BJP Government was selling Hindustan Cables Limited, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, HMT, Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) and Ordinance factories in as part of its disinvestment plans, he alleged. "The state governments had allotted about 7,200 acres of land to these six companies. The value of these lands would be nearly Rs 5,000 crore according to governments rates and as per open market prices, the value could be over Rs 40,000 crore," he claimed. KTR said that the state government had allotted lands to these companies at marginal prices and in a few cases, they were offered for free, since setting up of these units would generate employment to local people, besides facilitating industrial development. When the government urged the Central Government to allot lands for the construction of Skyways to improve transportation in Hyderabad, the Center demanded compensation as per market price, he said. "In this context, how can the Central Government sell the lands that were allotted by the State Government for setting up PSUs," the Minister questioned. "I appeal to the Union Government to reconsider these plans, failing which Government will strongly obstruct the moves," KTR added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid widespread protests against the Agnipath recruitment model, Union minister on Sunday said deliberate attempts are being made to create confusion against a fabulous and far-sighted scheme. The minister also said that the scheme was rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the unemployed youth after long and careful deliberations. Agnipath will provide the youth an opportunity to get employed and also serve the nation. However, a deliberate attempt is being made to create confusion that the scheme will ruin the previous arrangement of recruitment in the armed forces, Singh told PTI. Allaying apprehensions of the youth, the minister of state in the prime minister's office said the scheme should be seen as a supplementation to the recruitment process. "The scheme provides unemployed youth an opportunity to serve in armed forces for four years. Some of them will get permanent jobs (after four years) and those who are out, will get priority in other fields through finance and other support, he said on the sidelines of a function at Patnitop hill resort in his home constituency of Udhampur. Earlier, the minister addressed a workshop Prashikshan Varg' by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) to educate party activists about its core ideology and principles and dwelt on the achievements of the Modi government in the last eight years. He said despite various challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister took the country to new heights of development which is evident from the fact that the world now perceives India as a global leader. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) leader on Monday appeared before the for the fourth day of questioning in the Herald . Appearing a day after his 52nd birthday, Gandhi arrived at the ED headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi at 11.05 AM with his "Z+" category CRPF security escort. A huge contingent of police and paramilitary personnel was deployed around the federal agency's office even as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been imposed in the adjoining area like last week. The senior leader left for lunch around 3:15 pm and is expected to re-join the questioning. Senior leaders and workers also held a protest at Jantar Mantar here against the ED action and the Centre's Agnipath defence recruitment scheme. The Congress MP from Wayanad has spent around 35 hours at the ED office during these four days, where he was questioned over multiple sessions and his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The fourth day of questioning was deferred from June 17 to this day after Gandhi requested the agency for postponing the session as he wanted to be with his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in hospital, where she is admitted for post-Covid issues. The probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the Herald newspaper. The ED is understood to be asking about the incorporation of the Young Indian Private Limited, operations of the Herald, the loan given by the party to the newspaper's publisher Associated Journals Limited (AJL), and the transfer of funds within the news media establishment. Sonia Gandhi has also been summoned by the agency for questioning in the case on June 23. The Congress has accused the Centre of targeting opposition leaders by misusing investigative agencies and has termed the entire action a political vendetta. Agency sources have said the role of Gandhi and his detailed statement in the case is vital as he is a "major shareholder" (38 per cent) in Young Indian (YI) and an "important person" in the affairs of AJL and National Herald. It is understood that the agency has put across questions to him about the assets owned by AJL. According to sources, Gandhi was reportedly asked about a loan of Rs 1 crore taken by YI from a Kolkata-based company in February 2011 and the rationale behind it. The questions put to Gandhi, the sources indicated, cover a period starting year 2011 when YI was incorporated. It has also been learnt that the questions cover the changes that took place in the shareholding pattern of the company thereafter, the procedures followed, and the salaries and VRS given to journalists working in the organisation among other issues. The Congress has denied any wrongdoing in the case, saying YI is a non-profit company established under Section 25 of the Companies Act. The party said AJL, which was established in 1937, faced huge debts and the Congress, from 2002 to 2011, gave Rs 90 crore to the National Herald newspaper, out of which Rs 66 crore was used to pay the salaries and VRS of the journalists and staffers. The rest of the money was given to the government as pending lease amount for the assets held by AJL, its electricity and building expenses and house tax, former Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said. Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal were questioned in this case recently, and Kharge said he gave "evidence" to the agency during his questioning. The ED recently registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income tax department probe against Young Indian on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013. Sonia and are among the promoters and majority shareholders of Young Indian. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholding. Swamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with YI paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress. In February last year, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response on Swamy's plea, seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court. The Gandhis had secured separate bails from the court in 2015 after they furnished personal bonds of Rs 50,000 and one surety. They, however, had contended in the high court that Swamy's plea was "misconceived and premature". The other accused in the case filed by Swamy are close aides of the Gandhis - Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda. They have denied any wrongdoing. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission decided on Monday to delete from its register 111 that were found to be "non-existent" during a verification exercise aimed at cleaning up the system. According to the poll panel, its action came after chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states had reported that these "registered unrecognised political parties" either have been found to be "non-existent" on verification or the letters issued by authorities to verify their addresses and communication details had been returned as undelivered by the postal department. Subsequently, the EC decided to withdraw various benefits accorded to these parties under the Symbols Order (1968), including allocation of common election symbol. In a statement, the poll panel said any registered unrecognised political party (RUPP) aggrieved by the decision can approach the CEO concerned within 30 days along with all evidence of existence, year-wise annual audited accounts, contribution report, expenditure report and updated list of office-bearers. Earlier this month, the EC had deleted from its register 87 such non-existent . Sources in the poll panel shared specific details of various parties that have flouted laws and rules on disclosure of funds and donations. These details are in public domain and are available on the websites of state chief electoral officers. The EC said a reference has also been sent to the Department of Revenue for necessary legal and criminal actions against three such parties involved in serious financial impropriety. A list of RUPPs that have not submitted their contribution reports in FY 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been shared with the Revenue Department for taking all consequential action as per Representation of the People Act read with the relevant provisions of the IT Act 1961, it said. Another list of 66 RUPPs which have claimed income tax exemption without submitting contribution reports as mandated under law has also been shared with the Revenue Department. There are nearly 2,800 registered unrecognised in India. The poll panel had been pushing the government to allow it to de-register political parties. On multiple occasions, it has written to the Law Ministry to amend the election law to give it the power to de-register so that it can deter the parties that indulge in financial and other irregularities. Citing a May 25 order of the Election Commission, sources said various such parties across India have been availing tax relief without properly sharing their audit and contribution reports. Quoting details available on the websites of state CEOs, they said several parties were found to be flouting rules and laws. Rajiv Kumar has been spearheading the cleanup drive against such political entities. During his earlier posting as the financial services secretary, Kumar had taken the decision to ask banks to flag shell companies deregistered by the Registrars of Companies and take appropriate action. Over 2.26 lakh shell companies were deregistered in 2017-18. The sources said the Apna Desh Party from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh had two different persons as president. In the verification format, one name is mentioned as president, but the sign was by another person. Quoting details, they said the party also failed to provide the mode of donations received by it. Similarly, they cited the example of the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Party in Maharashtra whose balance sheets of two consecutive years were not matching. The party, the sources said citing details on the website of the CEO Maharashtra, was investing in gold. The Bharatiya Rajnitik Vikalp Party received around Rs 28 crore donations in two years, but no annual audit accounts were available on the website of the CEO Bihar. For the Jan Sangharsh Virat Party in Madhya Pradesh, the auditor certified a one-line profit and loss statement without any detail, they said. The poll panel has been urging the government that anonymous contributions of Rs 2,000 and above should be prohibited. It has also pointed out that the present format does not incorporate the contributions amounting to a sum below Rs 20,000. "Form 24A needs to be amended by including a column for mentioning the total contributions received in amounts less than Rs 20,000. This will be in the interest of transparency," one of the EC proposals sent to the government read. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eleven people were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district, officials said on Monday. All of them were rescued after a six-hour-long operation, they said. Eleven people were stranded mid-air in a cable car at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Solan as rescuers began bringing them to safety one by one, a state disaster management official said. All 11 tourists were rescued, the officials said, adding the incident was reported around 11 am. #WATCH | Himachal Pradesh: Rescue operation underway at Parwanoo Timber Trail where a cable car trolly with tourists is stuck mid-air. 2 people have been rescued, 9 are still stranded. NDRF team shortly to reach the spot: Dhanbir Thakur, SDM Kasauli pic.twitter.com/gygYHK0II0 ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2022 Earlier, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that the rescue operation was going on at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Solan. I will also reach the site soon. Teams from NDRF and district administration are at the spot and all the passengers will be rescued, Thakur said in a tweet in Hindi. One of the rescued persons told the media that all 11 tourists were from Delhi. According to Solan Superintendent of Police Virendra Sharma, another cable car trolley was deployed to rescue the people. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team also reached the spot. Earlier, State Disaster Management Director Sudesh Mokhta said eight people were stuck in the timber trail due to some technical snag in the cable car. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Live updates: Amid the ongoing nationwide protests against the Centre's Agnipath military recruitment scheme, some organisations have called for a on Monday. Several state governments and local authorities have tightened the security as precautionary measures in the view of the proposed . However, the central government has stayed firm on its roll out of the short-term military recruitment scheme in the armed forces even as youths across the country continue to protest. The party will hold a nationwide protest on Monday as will appear before the for questioning in connection with the Herald money laundering case. It would be the fourth day of Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the agency. will hold peaceful protests across the country against the central government's "vendetta politics". Congress' protests will come in line with the nationwide demonstrations against the Agnipath scheme, as the party has strongly criticised the government's new policy and has asked to roll back the scheme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a two-day visit to Karnataka on Monday to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects worth over Rs 27,000 crore. French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies lost their absolute majority in the Assembly on Sunday, in a blow to his plans for the second term. French ministers and close aides acknowledged their lose, saying they would now have to reach out to others beyond their alliance to govern the country. Union Minister V Muraleedharan will lead the eighth International Day celebrations to be held in the city and Kochi respectively on June 21. The event is being organised in the state by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India (MORTH) following the Centre's decision to celebrate the International Day at 75 iconic locations across the country, as part of ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation, Gen (Retd) Dr V K Singh, will participate in the session at Fort Kochi, which will be conducted under the supervision of senior Yoga instructor Dr Jaidev, from 5.30 AM on June 21. Minister of State for External Affairs, Muraleedharan, will lead the celebrations on Tuesday in the state capital at the east entrance of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. At the venues, there will be a live telecast of Yoga Day programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mysore. The Parade Ground, near St Francis Church in Fort Kochi has been readied for the event. The theme of this year's International Day of Yoga is "Yoga for Humanity". People from all walks of life including students of various colleges, yoga instructors, public representatives and senior officials of the state and central government are expected to participate. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The advanced into most parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar on Sunday, the Met department said, forecasting heavy rain in the next two days. The weatherman said that conditions are favourable for the monsoon's advancement into the remaining portion of Gangetic Bengal and Jharkhand over the next three days. With the monsoon setting in, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand are likely to receive isolated heavy on Monday and Tuesday, the weatherman said. The Met has also forecast heavy to very heavy in sub-Himalayan and Sikkim. Thunderstorms with lighting are likely in Kolkata in the next few days. The city sky was overcast throughout the day on Sunday with one or two spells of light rain. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The will reach around its usual date, June 27, and the will be compensated for by June end, meteorologists said on Monday. Pre-monsoon showers over the last three days have brought down the in to 34 per cent and the maximum temperature to around 30 degrees Celsius. On Sunday, the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's base station, recorded a maximum temperature of 30.7 degrees Celsius, the lowest so far this month since June 17, 2013. The city has gauged 23.8 mm of rain as against the normal of 36.3 mm since June 1, when the monsoon season starts. All of it came in the last four days. A cyclonic circulation will come up over parts of West Bengal, north Odisha and adjoining Bangladesh in the next two to three days which will change the wind pattern in the Indo-Gangetic plains, said G P Sharma, president (meteorology), Skymet Weather. "This cyclonic circulation will initiate the typical easterly flow which is crucial for the advance of the monsoon into northwest India. will get the first monsoon rains around the usual date, if not exactly June 27," he said. Senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist R K Jenamani said the monsoon is progressing normally and there is no forecast of a system which could stall its progress for now. The on Monday said the monsoon has further advanced into most parts of Madhya Pradesh, entire Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, most parts of Jharkhand and Bihar, and some parts of southeast Uttar Pradesh. It said on Thursday that the monsoon is likely to cover many parts of northwest India between June 23 and June 29. Easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal and western disturbances are predicted to bring light or moderate rainfall to the region during this period, it had said. Last year, the had forecast that the monsoon would arrive in Delhi nearly two weeks before its usual date. However, it reached the capital only on July 13, making it the most delayed in 19 years. The monsoon had entered a "break" phase and there was virtually no progress from June 20 to July 8. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CAIRO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Libya advisor urged on Monday the rival factions in Libya to meet within 10 days at an agreed-upon location to bridge "outstanding issues" as their final round of negotiations ended in Cairo with no breakthrough. The UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Libya Stephanie Williams said in a statement that the joint committee achieved a great deal of consensus on the contentious articles in the Libyan draft constitution, but " differences persist on the measures governing the transitional period leading to elections." The negotiation between Libya's east-based parliament and the Tripoli-based High Council of State aimed to achieve consensus on a Libyan constitutional draft that may lead to successful elections. Libya failed to hold general elections in December 2021 because of disagreements on the election laws among the warring parties. In March, the rival parties formed a joint committee to reach a firm constitutional basis for national elections. Libya has been suffering escalating violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Odisha Chief Minister on Monday met India's Ambassador to Italy, Neena Malhotra, after reaching as part of his 11-day foreign trip, CMO officials said. Patnaik left Delhi early in the morning and reached the Eternal City later in the day. He wore spotless white kurta pyjama and slippers while meeting the Indian ambassador. During his second official foreign tour in his 22-year-reign, the Odisha chief minister will also visit Vatican City and Dubai. In Rome, Patnaik will attend a function of the World Food Programme (WFP) and share transformative initiatives of Odisha in the field of food security and disaster management. On the occasion, he will also meet the WFP Executive Director David Beasley and other senior office-bearers and have detailed discussions on Odisha's partnership with the organisation and future projects. During his stay in Rome, Patnaik will meet Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, in Vatican City. He will also meet the Odia diaspora from various parts of Europe and discuss ways to engage the NRIs in promoting Odisha's art and culture and also be a partner in the state's transformational journey, the CMO officials said. On his way back from Rome, Patnaik will meet potential investors from across West Asia in Dubai in the . He will invite them to invest in Odisha. Patnaik is also scheduled to have one-on-one meetings with some big potential investors from West Asia. A high-level delegation from Odisha will also be present during the investors' meeting on June 29 for possible partnerships with foreign investors. Opposition BJP and Congress, meanwhile, criticised Patnaik for not taking any ministers in the delegation, which comprises only bureaucrats. "Patnaik trusts babus, not ministers. The ministers in charge of industries, food supplies and revenue and disaster management could have been made part of the delegation," BJP leader and former MLA Pradip Purohit said. Senior Congress leader and MLA Suresh Routray said it was "unacceptable" to not take any ministers and only bureaucrats with him on an official foreign tour. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallick, however, defended Patnaik, saying, "Being the chief minister for 22 years, he has details of every department. There is nothing wrong in taking officials with him." The delegation comprises chief minister's Secretary V K Pandian, Food Supplies Department Principal Secretary V V Yadav and Odisha's Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, Ravi Kant. Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra will join them in Dubai. The delegation will return to Odisha on June 30 evening. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhiites enjoyed pleasant weather on Monday as maximum temperatures at most places in the city settled below the 35 degrees Celsius-mark. The Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's base station, recorded a maximum temperature of 32.8 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal. It was 30.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the lowest so far this month since June 17, 2013. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the maximum temperature at Safdarjung is likely to remain below 35 degrees Celsius for the next three to four days and under 38 degrees Celsius till June 26. The city may see thundershowers on Tuesday. Meteorologists said that the southwest monsoon will reach Delhi around its usual date, June 27, and the rain deficit will be compensated for by June end. Pre-monsoon showers over the last three days have brought down the rain deficit in Delhi to 34 per cent. The city has gauged 23.8 mm of rain as against the normal of 36.3 mm since June 1, when the monsoon season starts. All of it came in the last four days. A cyclonic circulation will come up over parts of West Bengal, north Odisha and adjoining Bangladesh in the next two to three days which will change the wind pattern in the Indo-Gangetic plains, said G P Sharma, president (meteorology), Skymet Weather. "This cyclonic circulation will initiate the typical easterly flow which is crucial for the advance of the monsoon into northwest India. Delhi will get the first monsoon rains around the usual date, if not exactly June 27," he said. Senior IMD scientist R K Jenamani said the monsoon is progressing normally and there is no forecast of a system which could stall its progress for now. The IMD on Monday said the monsoon has further advanced into most parts of Madhya Pradesh, entire Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, most parts of Jharkhand and Bihar, and some parts of southeast Uttar Pradesh. It said on Thursday that the monsoon is likely to cover many parts of northwest India between June 23 and June 29. Easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal and western disturbances are predicted to bring light or moderate rainfall to the region during this period, it had said. Last year, the IMD had forecast that the monsoon would arrive in Delhi nearly two weeks before its usual date. However, it reached the capital only on July 13, making it the most delayed in 19 years. The monsoon had entered a "break" phase and there was virtually no progress from June 20 to July 8. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime minister on Monday sought a wider panel of names for the post of director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, official sources said. The tenure of the incumbent director, Dr Randeep Guleria, which was set to end on March 24, was extended by three months. Earlier in March, the names of three doctors, short-listed by a search-cum-selection committee and subsequently approved by the Institute Body, the top decision-making body of the AIIMS, were sent to the ACC for final approval. The three doctors whose names were recommended earlier were Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology; Rajesh Malhotra, chief of Trauma Centre and the head of the department of orthopaedics; and Pramod Garg, professor in the gastroenterology department. "...the Competent Authority in the ACC has directed to return the instant proposal with the request to send a wider panel of names for consideration of the ACC," an official source told PTI, quoting an office memorandum sent to the Union Health Ministry by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Personnel and Training on June 20. The four-member search-cum-selection committee tasked with short-listing names for the AIIMS director's post is headed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. Apart from Bhushan, the committee includes Secretary of Department of Biotechnology Rajesh S Gokhale, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K Vijay Raghavan, and University vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Police are on high alert mode as the intelligence agencies have warned that protests on the Agnipath scheme might break out during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public rallies in . Modi is visiting the state for a 2-day tour after one-and-a-half years. He will arrive at the Bengaluru Yelahanka Indian Air Force Base at 11.55 a.m. on Monday. Modi will participate in 10 programmes organised in Bengaluru and Mysuru cities, including the International Yoga Day on June 21. The state police department taking no chances has deputed more than 10,000 police personnel to ensure no untoward incident takes place during the Prime Minister's programmes according to sources. The focus would be on the Kommaghatta public function where PM Modi is addressing a massive rally. The sources said that the protesters on the pretext of BJP workers might enter the venue in Kommaghatta where PM Modi is addressing a massive rally and stage a condemning the Agnipath scheme. Several organisations have given a call for against the Agnipath scheme. The routes through which the PM's convoy passes have been monitored by the police personnel since Sunday. The shops have been asked to close down and schools and colleges in the vicinity are being asked to declare a holiday. Congress State President D.K. Shivakumar has condemned the move of declaring holiday for schools and raised questions "Whether students are being considered as terrorists?" Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy himself is monitoring the security arrangements. Two Additional Police Commissioners, 2 Joint Police Commissioners, 12 DCP's, 30 ACP's, 80 police inspectors will be on field to ensure security. The police department has deputed more than 10,000 police personnel around the city. Modi will inaugurate, dedicate and lay the foundation for 19 projects worth more than Rs 33,000 crore. He will inaugurate the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) built at a cost of Rs 280 crore at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at 12.30 p.m. The creation of CBR and the vital research being carried out in rural will provide appropriate, evidence- based public health interventions to delay the onset of dementia and slow its progress. PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone for 832-bedded not-for-profit Bagchi-Parthasarathy Hospital, which will be built at a cost of Rs 425 crore. This will integrate science, engineering and medicine on a single campus, taking full advantage of the century-old excellence of IISc in science and engineering. He will arrive at the Bengaluru University Campus at 1.45 p.m. and dedicate 150 ITI's upgraded as Technology Hubs at a cost of Rs 4,736 crore. He will inaugurate Babasaheb Dr B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University (BASE) and unveil the statue of Ambedkar. Modi will reach Kommaghatta at 2.45 p.m. to inaugurate a slew of programmes and address a massive public gathering. He will dedicate the project of 100 per cent Electrification of the Konkan Railways at a cost of Rs 1,287 which saves 70 per cent fuel expenditure. Sir M. Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal in Bengaluru, built at a cost of Rs 314 crore, the centrally air-conditioned terminal -- a first in south India will be dedicated to the nation. He will flag off new train services between Arsikere-Tumkur and Yelahanka-Penukonda as work of doubling of tracks is completed at a cost of Rs 758 and Rs 1,104 crore respectively. PM Modi will lay the foundation stone for the ambitious and decade-old plan of Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project which will be built at a cost of Rs 15,767 crore with a route length of 148 kilometres. He will lay the foundation for 5 national highway projects and development of Multi-Modal Logistic Park in Bengaluru. He will reach Mysuru and take part in the function organized at the Maharaja College Grounds at 5.30 p.m. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A probe has been initiated into the fire in a Delhi-bound SpiceJet aircraft after take-off from Patna and two other air incidents, involving the IndiGo and SpiceJet flights, a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday. On Sunday, a Delhi-bound aircraft of the SpiceJet airlines carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after taking off from the Patna airport and made an emergency landing minutes later. "The aircraft landed safely in Patna and the passengers de-boarded safely. Post flight inspection showed bird hit, with three fan blades damaged," the airline had said in a statement. In another incident on Sunday, a SpiceJet flight for Jabalpur had to return to Delhi due to a pressurisation issue, the official said. The SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 aircraft with registration no. VT-SUU, operating its flight SG-2962 (Delhi-Jabalpur) was involved in air turnback due to pressurisation snag, he said. During initial climb, the crew observed the cabin pressure differential was not building up along with rise in cabin altitude, he said. The aircraft was levelled off at 6,000 feet, and non-normal checklist actions were carried out but pressurisation was not regained and airturn back was initiated, he said. The aircraft landed safely at Delhi, the official said. The SpiceJet, in a statement, confirmed the safe mid-air return of its Delhi-Jabalpur flight on account of cabin pressure differential". In another incident on Sunday, the pilot-in-command of an IndiGo-operated Airbus A320neo plane, VT-ITB, operating flight 6E-6394 from Guwahati to Delhi, decided to take the flight back to Guwahati on a single engine after the aircraft suffered a bird hit, which resulted in one of the engines getting damaged when the aircraft was at an altitude of 1,600 feet, the official said. The aircraft could not climb to 6,000 feet. After clearance maintained 2,000 ft and (flight crew) did ECAM (Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitor) actions. Engine 01 was shut down per ECAM, he said. The aircraft, however, landed back safely at the runway 20 of the Guwahati Airport, he added. The ECAM is a system on Airbus aircraft for monitoring and displaying engine and aircraft system information to the pilots. In the vent of a malfunction, it will display the fault and may also display the appropriate steps of the remedial actions. The official also said that the flight crew initially declared a 'Mayday' call on board the IndiGo airline's flight, which was later cancelled and changed to Pan Pan call. IndiGo Airbus A320neo (VT-ITB) operating flight 6E 6394 from Guwahati-Delhi returned to Guwahati airport, due to a suspected bird hit after take-off. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Delhi, IndiGo said in a statement. A probe has been instituted in all the three incidents, the official said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An investigation was ordered after pro-Pakistan slogans were allegedly raised when AIMIM chief arrived at airport on Sunday, officials said. Owaisi, the MP of Hyderabad, was in Jharkhand to campaign for the by-election to the Mandar assembly seat. "A video of the incident went viral on social media. In a bid to check the authenticity of the video, a joint committee of magistrate and deputy superintendent of police has been set up to probe it," deputy commissioner (DC) Chhavi Ranjan told PTI. Ranchi's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) has also set up a team to investigate the technical aspects of the video, he said. AIMIM's Jharkhand unit president Mohammed Shakri said it was an attempt to tarnish the party's image. "None of our workers raised such slogans. If any such incident took place, the administration should immediately arrest the person behind it," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) has announced a nationwide strike on Monday as party leader will appear before the again, for the fourth time, for questioning in a related to the Herald probe. The investigation agency had last week extended the summon to Monday after Gandhi's request owing to the hospitalisation of Sonia Gandhi, who is recovering from Covid-19 infection. Thousands of workers from across the nation are expected to join the protest as a party delegation will meet President Ram Nath Kovind to discuss the alleged manhandling and harassment by the Delhi Police of the party MPs. The MPs have been protesting on the streets of the capital against ED's summon to Rahul Gandhi, who has been questioned for almost 30 hours in three consecutive days. The Delhi police had imposed prohibitory orders in the central part of the city and several Congress leaders were detained last week for violating the restrictions. The party has said Congress workers will hold peaceful protests across the nation against the governments vendetta politics" in targeting Gandhi. "Tomorrow lakhs of Congress workers across the country will continue peaceful protests against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme and against Modi government's vendetta politics targeting its MP Rahul Gandhi," party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter. Congress said that their protest will also be in support of young demonstrators, who have been protesting for a few days against the Centre's Agnipath scheme and have called for a Bharat Bandh on Monday. "We'll sit on Satyagraha at Jantar Mantar today and in the evening at 5 pm we'lll meet the President and demand that Agnipath scheme be withdrawn. The scheme should first be discussed with youth and in Parliament, but before that, it should be withdrawn", Congress' Ajay Maken said. Gandhi on Sunday hit out at PM Narendra Modi-central government over ongoing protests and said that the Centre has forced the youth to walk on Agnipath of unemployment by repeatedly giving false hope of jobs. The party had also held a 'Satyagraha' on Sunday, in support of Agnipath protesters. The government of Rajasthan, which recently announced a policy to boost film shootings, is now planning to set up a film institute in the state. has not only been one of the popular tourist destinations in the world but is also widely captured in cinema. In fact, it has been a favoured location for both Indian and International filmmakers. Many as well as Hollywood movies have been shot in the state. According to the state government, availability of trained manpower and talented artists is essential for creating an adequate eco-system for the in the state. A senior official of Rajasthans tourism department said the state government would soon coordinate with the Centre for opening a branch of the Film and Television Institute in . Here, aspiring talented youth of the state can be trained. This would ensure availability of skilled manpower, technical staff and crew for shooting and production of films in the state, he added. Students of the state receiving training at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata, will be granted an annual scholarship of Rs 50,000. However, this comes with a rider. The maximum number of students for both the institutes will be 10 each per year, he pointed out. Giving details about the new Film Tourism Promotion Policy-2022, which was officially announced in April, the official said that the main aim is to establish Rajasthan as the most-film-friendly state and an important destination for film shooting. The policy will also boost cultural benefits such as screen tourism and branding of the state. Besides, we hope to generate employment opportunities and enhance skill development in the state, he added. According to the policy, to encourage filmmakers to shoot more films in the state, certain incentives, with some riders, will be provided for the production of films in any language. Amid countrywide protests, a Bharat Bandh, and the Oppositions criticism of the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme, Prime Minister on Monday said some decisions may appear unfair at first, but would help in nation-building later. Several decisions look unfair at present. In time, those decisions will help in building the nation, the PM said addressing a gathering in Bengaluru, but without mentioning the scheme by name. The Army issued a notification for the first round of recruitment on Monday. Registration for the recruitment rallies begins from July, it said. However, the country continued to be roiled by anger, and more protests are in store. On June 24, farmers collective Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a nationwide protest against the scheme, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said on Monday, seeking the support of youths, civil society, and political parties for the demonstrations. Originally, the protest was planned for June 30. It will be held at tehseel and district headquarters. Tikaits Bharat Kisan Union (BKU) was part of the SKM-led 2020-21 protests against the now-withdrawn farm laws in Delhi. On Monday, much of north India saw mayhem and inconvenience. While there were no reports of arson or attacks, more than 500 trains were cancelled to prevent damage to property. Passengers kept waiting for trains, in many cases, stranded at railway stations with no word about when their train would arrive. Thousands of vehicles were stuck at Delhi-Gurugram and Delhi-Noida entrypoints due to security checks. Police at the entrypoints of the national capital were keeping a strict vigil on all vehicles to ensure no Agnipath protester managed to enter Delhi. Thousands of Opposition Congress workers across the country were taken into custody they were protesting both at the continued questioning of leader Rahul Gandhi and the recruitment scheme. A delegation of Congress leaders also met President Ram Nath Kovind and marched to the Parliament House demanding that the government withdraw the scheme. In Punjab, Delhi, and at other railway stations, police bandobast was deployed in force to deter any attacks on railway property. But despite this, Youth Congress workers stopped a train at Delhis Shivaji Bridge railway station. The government of India needs to roll back the Agniveer scheme. Youth Congress will fight for the unemployed youth of this country, who want to serve the country and arm its forces, the Youth Congress statement read. The Bharat Bandh saw no shops shutting. Business went on as usual in most parts of the country. There wasnt the slightest indication that the government was planning a roll back of the scheme or even considering diluting it. The Indian Armys notification indicated clearly that Agnipath remains the only entrypoint for soldiers into the Army, except technical cadres of the medical branch. Online registration is mandatory on www.joinindianarmy.nic.in once it is opened from July. Agniveer will be a distinct rank, says the notification. It says the Agniveers pay is a composite package and he will not be eligible for any dearness allowance and military service pay. The Agniveer soldier will get applicable risk and hardship, ration, dress, and travel allowances. The recruits will get life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period, it adds. The government has announced measures to address the protesters reservations. The Home Ministry has already decided to give three years of age relaxation and a 10 per cent reservation to Agniveers for recruitment in the Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles. While those who join after Class 10 will get a Class 12 certificate at the end of four years, an easier three-year bachelors degree after the four-year service has been announced for those who already have passed Class 12. Union Minister Hardeep Puri has said public sector units under his housing and petroleum ministries are also working on plans to induct Agniveers. Some business group owners also tweeted that they would give jobs to these recruits. BJPs Kailash Vijayavargiya drew outrage in social media when he said Agniveers would be honoured by jobs as guards at BJP offices when they retired. He has since said his remarks were misconstrued. United Airlines is scheduled to begin daily flights from here to in the last quarter of 2022, according to Kempegowda International Airport, . Australian national carrier Qantas will begin four weekly flights to Sydney from September 14, the airport said in a statement on Monday while giving an update on the international flight operations. Two weekly flights to Tel Aviv (Air India) and daily flights to Seattle (American Airlines) are also planned in the near future, it said. Additionally, new routes launched a few months before the outbreak of the pandemic have already been re-connected. Addis Ababa, (connected by Ethiopian Airlines), Amsterdam (by KLM), and Tokyo Narita (by Japan Airlines) have been reinstated from Bengaluru, it said. Japan Airlines will increase frequency to Tokyo Narita to thrice a week, effective August this year, and KLM plans to further increase frequency on the Bengaluru-Amsterdam route from the current three weekly frequencies to four-times-a-week beginning next month. The Kempegowda airport said it has witnessed robust growth in international flight operations, connecting 23 international destinations in May 2022 -- the highest in south India. The airport witnessed 15 per cent higher international Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) per day between March and April this year while May alone saw 48 per cent growth in ATMs. Additionally, average daily international traffic increased to 9,300 passengers by the fourth week of May, compared to 6,500 in April and 5,500 in March, the statement added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WINDHOEK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's borders are open for asylum seekers, a government official said Monday, as Namibia joined the World in commemorating World Refugee Day. The day in Namibia was commemorated under the theme, "Whoever, Wherever, Whenever, everyone has the right to seek safety". "The theme reminds us that seeking asylum is a human right," Namibia's Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, Daniel Kashikola said at an event held at Osire Refugee Camp located some 240 km far from the capital city Windhoek. "The remembrance of this day has a significant memory to many Namibians who were refugees for many years in other sister countries," he added. According to Kashikola, Namibia has an open asylum policy toward asylum seekers and refugees. "As a product of international solidarity, Namibia will continue to accommodate asylum seekers and refugees in its territory," he added. He said that Namibia is host to 8,118 asylum seekers and refugees from the following 17 countries. "I must stress that these figures will increase because the ministry continues to receive asylum seekers through its reception centre in Katima Mulilo in Zambezi Region," he added. Kashikola said Namibia together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will continue to be at the forefront to promote the well-being of asylum seekers and refugees by carrying out their noble responsibilities. "We stand in solidarity with Namibia, as you uphold your international obligations of receiving and hosting displaced persons, amid what are very difficult conditions globally and having already done so for over three decades," the UNHCR Senior Legal Officer in Namibia, Bernadette Muteshi said. World Refugee Day is celebrated annually on June 20, to signify the universal challenges and achievements of refugees in the world. The Ministry of Education initiative to use ICT under the "PM eVidya" scheme during the Covid pandemic has won UNESCO's recognition, officials said on Sunday. The PM eVIDYA programme was initiated as part of the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan' by the ministry in May 2020 which unifies all efforts related to digital, online, on-air education to enable multi-mode access for imparting education by using technology to minimise learning losses. "The Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), a constituent unit of the NCERT has been awarded with the UNESCO's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the use of ICT (Information And Communication Technology) in Education for the year 2021," a senior official said. "This award recognises innovative approaches in leveraging new technologies to expand educational and lifelong learning opportunities for all, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goal 4 on Education," the official said. Established in 2005 with the support of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the prize rewards individuals and organisations that are implementing outstanding projects and promoting creative use of technologies to enhance learning, teaching and overall educational performance in the digital age. An international jury selects two best projects annually. Each prizewinner receives USD 25,000, a medal and a diploma during a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on June 24. The ministry has a mandate to deploy affordable technology to enhance educational opportunities for all, augment the quality of education and bring equity into the educational system in the country keeping in view the recommendations of the new National Education Policy (NEP), the official said. Therefore, it has been working tirelessly and meticulously in designing, developing and disseminating a large number of e-books and e-content like Indian sign language videos and talking books among others, the official said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid violence over the 'Agnipath' scheme, Union minister and former Army chief General V K Singh (retd) on Sunday slammed the protesters saying if they don't like the new policy for recruitment into the armed forces they shouldn't opt for it. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Maharashtra's Nagpur city, Singh said the doesn't conscript soldiers and that aspirants can join of their own volition. "Joining the Army is voluntary and not a compulsion. If any aspirant wants to join, he can join as per his will, we don't conscript soldiers. But if you don't like this recruitment scheme ('Agnipath') then don't come to (join). Who is asking you to come? You are burning buses and trains. Who told you that you will be recruited into the armed forces. You will be selected only if you fulfil the eligibility criteria," he said. Tagging a video of Singh's comments, Congress' media department chairman Pawan Khera took a dig at him saying, "the man who went to court to postpone his own retirement is asking the youth to retire at 23." Singh also hit out at the Congress over party leader Priyanka Gandhi's statement against the 'Agnipath' scheme and alleged that the grand old party is finding fault with even the best work of the Modi government as it is upset with Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the ED. Replying to a question over Priyanka Gandhi's statement made earlier in the day in Delhi that the 'Agnipath' scheme will destroy the youth as well as the Army, Singh said, "Congress is upset because Rahul Gandhi is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Hence, the party finds fault with even the best of the best work of the government." "The Opposition, particularly the Congress, is trying to mislead the youngsters. The only work that the Opposition is left with is to criticise and stop any government scheme. They want to create unrest in the country to defame the government," he said. The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022. However, massive protests have erupted in many states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with youths taking to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the scheme. Anyone involved in protests, arson and vandalism against the 'Agnipath' scheme would not be allowed to join the three services under the new recruitment model, a senior military official said on Sunday. Singh said the concept of the 'Agnipath' scheme was conceived when the Kargil Committee was formed after the 1999 war. "The primary idea was that a soldier can join the armed forces for a short period....which will solve two things," he said in an apparent reference to the demand for compulsory military training in India and maintaining the young age profile of the armed forces. Singh said the demand for compulsory military training for the youth and other citizens of India had been made for the last 30 to 40 years. "In the past, it was said that the training can be imparted through the NCC but the demand for military training was always there," he added. Singh said the short-period recruitment scheme was thought about wherein the service period will be for four years and performers will be retained. Besides, the remaining 75 per cent of retirees would be adjusted in employment at various places. He said the Army is neither an employment agency nor a company or a shop. People join the Army out of their interest to serve the nation, he added. When asked if the discontent over the 'Agnipath' scheme will discourage aspirants from turning up at recruitment rallies to join the armed forces, the former General said the government relaxed the entry age limit to 23 years (for one time) because the recruitment to the armed forces remained stalled due to the pandemic for two years. "If a person had missed out on earlier recruitment opportunities he is still eligible to apply. This is a voluntary scheme and anyone who fits the criteria can apply," he added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Department of Telecom has launched an incentive scheme for design-led manufacturers and extended the duration of the Rs 12,195 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme by a year, an official statement said on Monday. The incentive for design-led manufacturing is part of the which was notified on February 24, 2021. "With the objective to build a strong ecosystem for 5G, the Union Budget 2022-23 has proposed to launch a scheme for design-led manufacturing as part of the existing . "After consultations with stakeholders, the guidelines for the for telecom and networking products have been amended to introduce the Design-led Manufacturing with additional incentive rates," the statement said. The application window will open from June 21 till July 20. The incentives will be given from the Rs 4,000 crore which is left from the total outlay. "Further, DoT based on feedbacks from stakeholders including the selected PLI applicants, has decided to extend the existing PLI Scheme by one year. The existing PLI beneficiaries will be given an option to choose financial year 2021-22 or financial year 2022-23 as the first year of incentive. "DoT has also approved addition of 11 new telecom and networking products to the existing list, based on suggestions from the stakeholders," the statement added. The Department of Telecom (DoT) had notified the PLI scheme on February 24 last year, for which a total of 31 companies, including Nokia, Foxconn, Akashastha Technologies, ITI and HFCL Group, were given approval on October 14. The approved companies have committed to make total investments of Rs 3,345 crore by 2025-26. The companies interested in the incentive scheme will have to satisfy the minimum global revenue criteria to be eligible. The company may decide to invest for single or multiple eligible products. The scheme stipulates a minimum investment threshold of Rs 10 crore for MSMEs and Rs 100 crore for non-MSME applicants. Land and building cost will not be counted as investment under the scheme. The allocation for MSME has been enhanced from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government on Monday took stock of credit growth and the performance of (PSBs) on parameters including asset quality, financials, and recoveries from bad loans. State-owned lenders have been asked to expedite the resolution of non-performing assets (NPAs). officials took stock of PSBs NPAs of over Rs 100 crore, an official said. The meeting was scheduled to be chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but she could not attend it. Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad presided over the meeting, which was attended by Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra and senior officials of the Department of Financial Services (DFS). With conducting a credit outreach programme during the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav last week, the progress made on sanctioning loans was reviewed. Growth in lending by improved to 7.8 per cent in March 2022 from 3.6 per cent a year ago, but was lower than the 15.1 per cent by private banks in the same month, according to the Reserve Bank of Indias quarterly statistics. An evaluation of PSBs capital-raising plans and efforts made to improve investor relations was also done. After the launch of the EASE 5.0 reforms agenda earlier this month, banks were asked to share the progress on preparing a three-year bank-specific strategic road map, the official said. officials reviewed the off-Budget borrowings by state government entities from . With regard to financial inclusion, which was the second broader theme for review, the progress made by state-owned lenders on opening Jan Dhan accounts, and various schemes of the Centre such as the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development (AHIDF), Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food-Processing Enterprises (PMFME), was also assessed. Banks have been asked to put up branches in unbanked villages, the official said. The progress made by banks on setting up 75 digital banking units, as announced by Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2022-23, was looked at. Banks have identified 75 districts that cover all states and Union Territories in the country. All PSBs, along with some private banks, have initiated work on having these units operational for launch in August this year. Corporate India has gone all out to support the government on the Agnipath scheme, which triggered a mass agitation across the country. Top business leaders on Monday promised to hire the soldiers (Agniveer) once they retire from active military services in four years. The stir against the controversial military scheme has continued for several days now. Capturing the gesture, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a Twitter message that top industry leaders were hailing the pathbreaking scheme of the Modi government as a much-needed reform to strengthen the Armed Forces and a great opportunity for the youth to serve the nation. N Chandrasekaran, chairman of the salt-to-software Tata group called the scheme a great opportunity for the youth to serve the nation. He added Agnipath would help the industry including the Tata group get a pool of disciplined and trained youth. We recognise the potential of the Agniveers and welcome the opportunity this represents, he said in a statement. promises jobs for Agniveers in four years. ALSO READ: Agni pareeksha Highlighting the employment potential of Agniveers in the corporate sector, another business leader, Anand Mahindra, said these soldiers provide market-ready professional solutions to industry. The chairman of the Mahindra group pointed out that the Agniveers can cover the full spectrum from operations to administration and supply chain management. The Union government has approached top 85 Indian companies including Reliance and Bharat Forge to hire Agniveers once they retire four years later and the feedback has been positive, Lt Gen Anil Puri, additional secretary, ministry of defence, told a TV channel on Sunday. Welcoming the opportunity, Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG group, said, I do hope other companies will join us to take this pledge and assure our youths of a future. CEOs are of the view theres no better place than the armed forces for training the youth. Countries like Switzerland, Israel, Singapore mandatorily make their citizens undergo military training and values of nationalism and discipline are taught by the military to build character and strength of a nation, said Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW group. For a young country like ours, having access to a larger pool of disciplined and educated young individuals Agniveers-- for by organisations is a boon. Four years of military training will groom the individuals get the best jobs available in the market, Jindal said. The Agnipath scheme will have a significant positive impact on society, and contribute greatly to nation building. Agniveers will play a key role in furthering economic growth and strengthening society in the coming years, said Sudarshan Venu, managing director of TVS Motor Company. Some CEOs, however, wondered if four years were enough for the training. It would depend on the candidate and not automatically guarantee that ex-servicemen of Agnipath would be good candidates. We have few ex-servicemen currently on our payrolls and find years of training make them committed and diligent in work, said Ameera Shah, MD of Metropolis Healthcare, a national diagnostic chain. Bullish on the prospects, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder chairman of pharma major Biocon, said Agniveers will have a distinct advantage in in the industrial job market. According to Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman and MD of Bajaj Finserv, Aginveers after leaving the defence forces can be inducted into various domains of the corporate sector. For example, those who are getting technical training, such as in military communication, navigation, and electronics, can be absorbed in the telecom or IT sectors. Those who are getting trained in engineering will be suitable for infrastructure and those who are getting trained in vehicle maintenance can be easily absorbed by the automotive sector. He suggested a career and skill assessment of Agniveers towards the end of their career in services to assess their fitment in industry and thereafter, if required provide industry orientation training programmes to make them readily employable. (Dev Chatterjee with inputs from Sohini Das, Shine Jacob and Shally Mohile) Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Amid rising cases of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 and Monkeypox, a team of researchers at has launched a long-term research project to study cohabitation of animals and humans, and pathogen sharing among species. With its first field station coming up in Western Himalayas, the research is looking to set up more field stations in regions like Western Ghats, Aravallis and southern India, backed by funding from the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability at . According to Balaji Chattopadhyay, Assistant Professor, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, while enormous resources have been spent over the years on curative measures for such infections, little is known about the ecology, biology, and evolution of such outbreaks. Moreover, the current pandemic has exposed these and highlights the need for a systematic approach to understand the complex dynamics of zoonotic spillovers. "Ashoka University, through its Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (3CS), has initiated a long-term study on the impact of climate change on small mammal communities and the risks of spillover infections. Climate change plays a crucial role in the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases, posing continual threats to human health, and creating economic challenges. It has created a favourable environment for spillover infections, and a vast majority of emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from wildlife to humans (zoonotic diseases)," said Chattopadhyay while adding that outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Monkeypox, SARS-Cov2 highlight the need for a systemic approach to understand all complex dynamics of zoonotic spillovers The research team also includes assistant professors of biology Imroze Khan, Shivani Krishna and Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman, along with faculty fellow Kritika M Garg, a Ramalingaswami Fellow from the Department of Biology and senior project associate Dailu Pilot Dovih. The researchers will be using next generation sequencing tech to sequence genomes of pathogens, instead of working on live viruses or pathogens. "We look to study coerced cohabitation of animals and are looking into reservoirs, species, changing habitats, sharing of pathogens as well as kinds of pathogens shared. We are not virologists who will study live viruses but track gradients of habitats and how wildlife evolves and how that is affecting pathogen turnover and pathogen movement between various hosts and reservoirs. Such a study may go on for 5, 10 or even 15 years," Chattopadhyay added. The first leg of the long term research will span over three years, backed by a seed funding of roughly over Rs one crore by 3CS, to understand the diversity of potential pathogens circulating in the wild in multiple well-established sites in different landscapes and under changing climatic conditions. Further, the study looks to understand the risks and whether or not such pathogens are of public health concern. While the team is looking to set up a field station in Western Himalayas, going forward, more such stations could come in other similar biodiversity rich regions like the Western Ghats or Eastern Ghats, North East, Aravallis, or southern India. Kerala SSLC result 2022: The Kerala state board will declare the result for Kerala SSLC result 2022 for Class 12 on Tuesday, June 21, for more than 450,000 students. Kerala's Department Of Higher Secondary (DHSE) will declare the results for Class 12 at 11 am on Tuesday via a press conference first and after that, the board results will then be published on the official website. The Kerala DHSE exams were held at various exam centres across the state from March 30 to April 22. The Kerala SSLC result 2022 will be declared on the official websites, at keralaresults.nic.in, dhsekerala.gov.in, prd.kerala.gov.in, kerala.gov.in, results.kite.kerala.gov.in. Once declared, candidates can also check their Kerala SSLC result 2022 via SMS. Here's how you can check your results on the website: Step 1: Go to the official website of the Kerala board, keralaresults.nic.in, Or, visit the alternate websites mentioned above Step 2: On the homepage, click on the results link Step 3: Log in using your credentials Step 4: Your results will now appear on the screen, download it and take out a hard copy for future references. State-owned (BoI) is mulling to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore in fresh as it requires to increase the public in the bank to 25 per cent to comply with regulatory norms. Presently, public in is 18.59 per cent. According to the Sebi norms, listed companies are required to comply with the minimum public guidelines. "The present public shareholding in the bank is 18.59 per cent and the bank has to increase this to 25 per cent or above in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirements...Hence, the bank proposes to issue fresh to increase the public shareholding to 25 per cent or above," BoI said in a regulatory filing. The lender said that it proposes to raise fresh equity shares for cash as such premium up to an amount of Rs 2,500 crore in such a way that the central government shall at all times hold not less than 51 per cent of the paid-up capital of the bank, whether at a discount or premium to the market price, the bank said in the filing. said the capital is to be raised during the period of one year from the date of passing of the resolution in one or more tranches and it will seek shareholders' approval for the same in its ensuing annual general meeting on July 15, 2022. The shares can be issued by way of qualified institutions placement (QIP), public issue, rights issue, private placement, preferential issue or such other modes, the bank added further. Shares of Bank of India closed at Rs 41.00 apiece on BSE, down by 1.68 per cent from the previous close. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry of is planning to bring more representatives from the insurance sector into the (BBB), in a bid to expand and relaunch the body, a news report in Mint said. With this move, the ministry aims to empower the body to recommend people for public sector insurers and fasten hiring at the top level of state-owned financial institutions. The union ministry, over the next couple of months, is planning to identify new members, restructure the bureau, and recommend new names to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), Mint reported quoting people aware of the matter. The restructured BBB, which will have a remit over a wider set of financial institutions, may also get a new name, the report said. After revamp, the board will be able to recommend full-time appointments at financial institutions, where currently the executives are given additional roles through interim arrangements. The move to revamp BBB comes after a Delhi High Court bench last year pushed the same, saying that the body was not competent enough to recommend appointments to select general managers and directors at PSU general insurers. There is also a case pending in the Delhi HC, where a PSU insurer executive has challenged the appointment of the chairman and managing director of United India Insurance selected by BBB. Amid these issues, appointments by the BBB have been suspended. The BBB is now practically non-functional as the body's part-time chairman BP Sharma and other members' extended-term came to an end in April. Now, the ministry is looking not only to expand the body but to rename it and give it a fresh mandate for appointments, according to the report in Mint. The was set up in 2016 by the government with the aim to select executive directors and managing directors and chief executives of PSBs and financial institutions. The board has been recommending appointments for directors, chairpersons, and MDs for PSU general insurers firms since 2018. Photo taken on June 21, 2022 shows murals painted by Namibian visual artists in Windhoek, Namibia. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua) WINDHOEK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Namibian visual artists have come together to start a mural project around the capital city Windhoek in a bid to inspire, educate and promote visual artists while establishing the city as an arts and culture hub. Emmanuel Enkara, the head of the project, who is also the creative director and founder of the ENK Institute for Public Art, told Xinhua that the concept behind the project was to showcase the country's national identity through art. "When people come to this country, they do not know what our national identity is and this was the main drive behind the idea. We are also doing this to promote visual artists. It is time for our visual artists to have a platform to show our national identity and our work while also giving them large-scale lucrative projects that will help them make a living," he said. The Windhoek Mural Project commissioned five artists who have so far painted 10 murals at different spots around the city centre. "It's important to have public art in the city because it creates a difference to the open and neglected areas of the city that are sometimes dull and uninspired," Enkara said, adding that art has a unique ability to change the psychology of the people, especially during the devastating COVID-19 times where everyone is living under stressful conditions. "People are affected by what they see. We are hoping that the public art will change people's moods and put a smile on their faces as they walk around the city going about their business," he said. Above all, Enkara says, they want the art to add to the attraction of the country, to have some visitors who come just for the art. "The presence of art is more important than ever, the importance comes from adding something to our tourism sector that gives Namibia an identity, because these artists are expressing themselves on a large scale," he said. John Kalunda, one of the artists who contributed to the project, said he painted his mural to express himself and pay homage to Namibia's athletes, especially for the good work they did last year. "I wanted to show the world the skills and talent that we have in Namibia both in arts and in sports. It is an appreciation for our young athletes who put our country on the map," he said. Michelle Isaak painted a mural called, 'A much-needed escape', which is an array of emojis that she says is the language most young people use so the mural is reaching out to the young generation. "In our daily lives, we fit into our busy routines, the mural is an interactive display of how all our human emotions are represented in very cute emojis," she said. According to Enkara, Namibian visual artists struggle to showcase and make a living through their craft because the country lacks art collectors who appreciate local art. "Young visual artists are struggling to penetrate the market because traditional art collectors are older and so they support older artists which are forcing visual artists to become more contemporary. This is killing our industry and so this is a way of keeping it alive," he said. Photo taken on June 21, 2022 shows murals painted by Namibian visual artists in Windhoek, Namibia. (Photo by Musa C Kaseke/Xinhua) Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank and other are planning to tie up with Russian banks, which have not been sanctioned by the West, to facilitate bilateral payments, a media report said. To ensure smooth trade flow without violating the West's economic sanctions on amid the Ukraine war, the will open accounts with their Russian counterparts and vice versa, The Economic Times reported. The will likely issue an operational circular to pave the way. An executive, who attended last week's meeting in New Delhi, where officials from the Centre, RBI and the Bank of were present, told ET, "While Indian authorities have shown unprecedented seriousness to expand bilateral trades, the Russian delegation ensured every possible measure to promote trade relations." State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank were also in the meeting, ET reported. Meanwhile, from Russia, nearly a dozen not under sanctions held talks with Indian regulators, government and bank officials. Petersburg Social Commercial Bank, Zenit Bank, Tatsotsbank, CentroCredit Bank, Bank Soyuz, MTC Bank and Gazprombank were among the Russian banks that participated in the meeting, ET reported. From the Russian delegation, some members proposed to make transactions in rupee, requesting the Indian central bank to allow them to invest in Indian assets. "If they cannot convert the rupee into rouble immediately, those Russian banks can invest in Indian financial assets via a dedicated route to earn yield on the idle money," another executive present at the meeting told ET. Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the West has imposed sanctions on Russia's nine major banks that contribute to the nation's four-fifths of the banking industry. The other one-fifth is constituted of nearly 450 small banks. The West has also put a firewall on Moscow's access to the SWIFT banking platform, a move that has affected the payment networks, upsetting the lenders. After the war, became India's second-largest oil supplier after Iraq, as private refiners made big bets on deep discounts being offered by Moscow. In May, India's oil purchases from Russia rose to 18 per cent, at nearly 8,19,000 barrels a day, as the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air reported. Over the next few weeks, will churn out a record 10.8 million college graduates. Finding them jobs is proving to be an unexpected headache for President Xi Jinpings government, which has been struggling to contain Covid-19 outbreaks with citywide lockdowns. Prospects are so dire, some universities have been urging seniors to delay graduation. Students complained to Caixin that they were not allowed to defend their thesis unless they had found a job. Some were forced to declare they would be self-employed, just so they could get their diploma. As of April, less than half of the graduating class had received a job offer, according to online recruitment site Zhaopin Inc. State-funded universities are under a lot of political pressure. In May, urban youth hit a record 18.4%. By July, the peak of graduation season, it could reach 23%, according to estimates by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As such, universities need to do their part to keep this number down. After all, strict Covid controls at the expense of soaring youth is not a good look for Xi, who is expected to win an unprecedented third term late this year. Increasingly, new college graduates are hoping that the government can provide their first jobs. State-owned enterprises are the most highly desired placements, while only 17.4% of the class of 2022 wants to work for a private business, according to the latest Zhaopin survey. This is not what the state is prepared to offer, however. Since the late 1990s, SOEs have pared hiring, with the number of urban workers halving to just about 55 million. Government jobs are also well sought-after, but the number of new recruits has remained stable at around 170,000 per year. Instead, in the past decade, the private sector has become Chinas biggest employer, with about 150 million urban workers. In the cities, there are also more than 110 million self-employed residents, who pick up part-time contracts, odd jobs or gig work. A few managed to become social-media influencers. In a clear sign of how scarce city jobs have become, southwestern Yunnan province recently offered new college graduates an annual subsidy of 50,000 yuan ($7,464) per person to work in rural villages. Some netizens joked it was a replay of the 1968 down to the countryside movement, when Mao Zedong sent privileged urban youth to remote areas to learn from farmers. As to whether Yunnan can deliver, it is anyones guess. The subsidy is no small sum it would be about five months of the average starting salary for graduates from the elite Tsinghua University. Two years ago, Chinas job market bounced back quickly from the initial pandemic outbreak. There was not much economic trauma then. Only a small area around Wuhan, Covid ground zero, was affected. Within three months, life was back to normal. The job market is not as resilient now. A yearlong tech crackdown has wiped out a big chunk of demand for young, educated and internet-savvy workers. Shanghai and Beijing which produced 18 out of the top 20 schools with the highest graduate salaries have been struggling with Covid outbreaks since April. Meanwhile, the soaring college admissions rate over the last decade is churning out a labor force increasingly incompatible with what the needs. Fresh college graduates now account for more than half of the new labor supply, estimates HSBC Holdings Plc. Literature and arts are among the most popular majors. During his reign, Xi has elevated the economic status of state-owned entities and cracked down on the private sectors disorderly expansion of capital. Well, hes got more than what he had wished for. Drawn to the states prestige and financial security, young people now wish his government could offer jobs. Apart from president for life, perhaps Xi could also become Chinas chief career planning officer? Nearly one in four European in are considering shifting their investments out of the country as the ongoing Covid outbreaks and lockdowns dim the outlook for the worlds second-largest economy, a survey showed. Some 23% of the businesses that responded to the survey are thinking of moving their current or planned investments away from China, according report released Monday by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in . The survey was conducted at the end of April, when Shanghai was still in shutdown and restrictions in places like Jilin disrupted business activity. The number of European firms reassessing their options in was the highest proportion in a decade in the survey, and also more than double the 11% recorded in a February poll, according to the chamber. Some 372 businesses responded to the April poll, whereas 620 responded to the February one. Chinas current policy -- with no exit strategy from its zero tolerance approach to combating infections -- leaves headquarters no option but to look for other locations, said Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the chamber. The world does not wait for China. Of the firms considering a shift in investment, 16% said they were looking at relocating to Southeast Asia, while 18% said they were looking elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. Some 19% said Europe, 12% said North America and 11% said . China has started easing some of its Covid restrictions, but the economic recovery has been mixed. In May, industrial production unexpectedly increased, while consumer spending and the property market continued to contract. The outlook for the rest of the year remains uncertain as Beijing continues to rely on lockdowns and other curbs to contain the virus. Nobody is leaving China but the issue is new investment, European Union Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis said in an interview Monday. European are delaying decisions because everyone is waiting for an exit strategy in China for Covid restrictions. We will have to wait to see if the government of China will decide to align itself with the rest of the world, Chapuis said. Foreign businesses have struggled significantly with the curbs: Foreign industrial firms operating in China saw a profit drop of 16.2% from January-to-April, much worse than the 0.6% decline at private Chinese firms. State-owned enterprises recorded an uptick in profits of 13.9% during that time. Its not clear when the property and the automotive sectors -- two major drivers of the -- will recover, Schoen-Behanzin said. American firms have also reported challenges recently. Just 31% of manufacturing and services surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai earlier this month said they were fully operational. Of those operating at less than full capacity, most reported that staff found it difficult to travel to work. Other highlights of the European chambers report: had an operation on his sinuses under general anaesthetic on Monday, his office said. Johnson's spokesman, Max Blain, said the prime minister was back at his 10 Downing Street home and resting after the routine procedure. He said the operation had been scheduled in advance and was performed by medics working for the state-funded National Health Service at a London hospital. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab filled in for Johnson during the operation. Johnson was hospitalised in intensive care with the coronavirus in April 2020. Blain said Monday's procedure was unrelated to COVID-19. Johnson, 58, is due to travel to a Commonwealth conference in Rwanda later this week and to attend Group of Seven and NATO summits later this month. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) continued to snap up Russian energy products last month, including a record quantity of crude oil, lifting purchases to $7.47 billion -- about $1 billion more than April and double the amount of a year ago. The increase in shipments came as the war in Ukraine entered a fourth month and other buyers continued to shy away from Russian oil, gas and coal. Chinese demand also started to show some improvement as virus restrictions were loosened, easing logistical snarls and allowing industrial production to rebound. Chinas total imports from Russia accelerated in May, surging 80% on year to $10.27 billion, as Beijing continues to offer support to an otherwise isolated government in Moscow. Crude imports rose 55% from a year ago to 8.42 million tons, with Russia overtaking Saudi Arabia as Chinas main source of oil, according to customs data released on Monday. Russian liquefied natural sales rose 54% to 397,000 tons, despite a 28% decline in Chinas overall purchases of the super-chilled fuel. The volume of gas excludes imports from pipelines, which havent been reported by customs since the start of the year, but are the main mode of transporting the fuel from Russia to . Other highlights of the trade in commodities between and Russia in May include: Total coal imports fell 5.2% on year to 4.73 million tons Coking coal for the steel industry rose for a fourth month to 1.71 million tons, an increase of 70% compared with last years level China also bought more steel-making coal from Mongolia after Covid curbs eased at major border crossings Refined copper imports grew 15% to 31,267 tons Refined nickel imports fell nearly 90% to 300 tons, a record low Aluminum imports dropped 21% to 32,713 tons Palladium imports rose 19% to 769 kg Wheat imports declined 87% to 1,883 tons closed schools and halted non-essential government services on Monday, starting a two-week shutdown to conserve fast-depleting fuel reserves as an Monetary Fund (IMF) team began bailout talks in the island nation. Many protesters accuse President Gotabaya and his influential family of mishandling the . suspended payment on $12 billion of foreign debt in April and is seeking up to $3 billion from the to put its public finances on track and access bridge financing. A nine-member team, which arrived in the commercial capital Colombo on Monday, held talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on how to structure what will be Sri Lankas 17th loan programme with the global lender. The prime minister commenced discussions with the team, Wickremesinghes office said in a statement. But public distress at the prolonged shortages is growing. Protesters blocked an entrance to the finance ministry and police had to help out an official due to attend the IMF talks. The protesters were not letting him leave. So the police had to go in and get him out," a government source who declined to be identified told Reuters. Police said they had arrested 21 people for blocking the gates of the ministry, which adjoins the office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, outside which protesters have staged a sit-in since early April. Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the country had only 12,300 tons of petrol and 40,000 tons of diesel. "The central bank has released $90 million to purchase two shipments. We are hoping a petrol shipment will arrive on Thursday and a diesel one on Friday," Wijesekera told Reuters. In February, Sri Lanka's daily consumption of diesel stood at around 40,000 tons, according to a former energy minister. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist camp scrambled on Monday to secure support from rivals to salvage some of its reform agenda after weekend elections delivered a fragmented parliament that leaves France at risk of political paralysis. The loss of his Ensemble alliance's absolute majority is a bitter setback for Macron, himself elected for a second term in April. French governments have long been used to having a lower house of parliament that shares their political line and largely rubber-stamps proposals. Sunday's second-round vote left Ensemble as the biggest party, with a fledgling leftwing alliance determined to make its voice heard in second place, the far-right stronger than ever and the conservatives as potential kingmakers. "It's going to be complicated," government spokeswoman Olivia Gregoire told France Inter radio. "We're going to have to be creative." Losing control of parliament means Macron will need to shed his top-down approach to politics, which he himself called "Jupiterian", for a much more consensual stance. "Such a fragmented parliament will likely result in political deadlock, with a much slower reform agenda," said Philippe Gudin of Barclays. "This will likely weaken France's position in Europe and endanger the country's fiscal position, which is already weak." Gregoire said he would soon reshuffle his government, which could see Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne lose her job after just over a month in office. What next? It is unclear whether the broad leftwing Nupes alliance of Jean-Luc Melenchon can stay united and what influence Marine Le Pen's strong far-right contingent will wield. "We will try to bring on board with us, especially to convince the few moderates in parliament to follow us," Gregoire said. One key question is whether Macron will try to strike a coalition deal with the conservative Les Republicains (LR) - who have for now rejected that option - or enter into messy negotiations with lawmakers on a bill-by-bill basis. A few lone voices aside, lawmakers from LR who gathered on Monday to discuss the election fallout, have so far rejected a coalition pact - but the door may be open to deals on a case by case basis. Les Republicains chief Christian Jacob said again on Monday he opposed striking any deal with Macron. "We just had a debate and what I am telling you here is our almost unanimous position, reflecting an overwhelming majority," Jacob told journalists as he headed out of a meeting. Ensemble and LR have compatible platforms on economic matters, including pushing up the retirement age and promoting nuclear energy. Together, they would have an absolute majority. Asked about possible defections from LR, Jacob said his lawmakers "have been campaigning together and we will stick together without any difficulties". First Tests If no agreement with the opposition can be found, the euro zone's second biggest economy faces political deadlock and possible snap elections down the line. A first major test will be a cost-of-living bill which Gregoire said the government will put to lawmakers in eight days, when the new parliament sits for the first time. Proposals in the summer on renewable energy will test the solidity of the left, which is divided over nuclear power. Final figures showed Macron's centrist camp won 245 seats - well below the 289 needed for an absolute majority, Nupes 131, the far-right 89 and Les Republicains 61. Macron himself has yet to comment on the election result, and the opposition urged him to break his silence. Painful setback The vote was a painful setback for the 44-year-old president, whose victory in April made him the first French president in two decades to win a second term, as voters rallied to keep his far-right opponent Le Pen out of power. In his final term, he had wanted to deepen European Union integration, raise the retirement age and inject new life into France's nuclear industry. Financial markets took the result largely in their stride, with little impact on the euro and stocks in early trading on Monday. French bond spreads saw some widening pressure. "The hope that some foreign exchange traders placed in Macron in 2017 evaporated some time back, so that election victories or defeats do not play a major role for the euro exchange rates any longer," Commerzbank analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann said in a note. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Monetary Fund (IMF) team began bailout talks in on Monday, as the country's cabinet cleared a constitutional amendment to dilute presidential powers that could assuage protesters amid rising tensions. Economic mismanagement and the COVID-19 pandemic have left battling its worst financial problems in seven decades, and a lack of foreign exchange has stalled imports of essentials including fuel, food and medicines. The island nation of 22 million people is scrambling to get fuel shipments in the next three days, the energy minister told Reuters, as public disaffection grows because of a persistent shortage of diesel and petrol. Sri Lanka's cabinet on Monday approved an amendment to the constitution that could reduce presidential powers, in a move to appease protesters calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit. "The 21 amendment was tabled and passed in cabinet today," Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said in a tweet, adding that the proposal will now be sent to the country's parliament. Many protesters accuse Rajapaksa and his influential family of mishandling the economy. suspended payment on $12 billion of foreign debt in April and is seeking up to $3 billion from the to put its public finances on track and access bridge financing. A nine-member team, which arrived in the commercial capital Colombo on Monday, held talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on how to structure what will be Sri Lanka's 17th loan programme with the global lender. "The prime minister commenced discussions with the team," Wickremesinghe's office said in a statement. But public distress at the prolonged shortages is growing. Protesters blocked an entrance to the finance ministry and police had to help out an official due to attend the IMF talks. "The protesters were not letting him leave. So the police had to go in and get him out," a government source who declined to be identified told Reuters. Sit-in protest Police said they had arrested 21 people for blocking the gates of the ministry, which adjoins the office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, outside which protesters have staged a sit-in since early April. Sri Lankans angered by long queues, often overnight, for fuel faced off with security forces over the weekend, and troops at two petrol stations fired shots in the air to control the crowds, military spokesman Brigadier Nilantha Premaratne said. Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the country had only 12,300 tons of petrol and 40,000 tons of diesel. "The central bank has released $90 million to purchase two shipments. We are hoping a petrol shipment will arrive on Thursday and a diesel one on Friday," Wijesekera told Reuters. In February, Sri Lanka's daily consumption of diesel stood at around 40,000 tons, according to a former energy minister. Dhananath Fernando of the Advocata Institute think tank said social unrest over the shortages was highly likely, even as Sri Lanka attempts to reach a preliminary agreement by the end of the delegation's visit on June 30, with any serious relief funds still months away. Bondholders expect the IMF visit to give clarity on how much debt Sri Lanka can repay and what reduction in asset value investors may face, analysts said. "Even if a staff-level agreement is reached, final programme approval will be contingent upon assurances that official creditors, including China, are willing to provide adequate debt relief," said Patrick Curran, senior economist at U.S. investment research firm Tellimer. "All considered, the restructuring is likely to be a protracted process." (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After years of dabbling, major are finally planning the kind of large-scale investments that would make green a serious business. Theyre chasing a very particular vision of a low-carbon future multibillion dollar developments that generate vast concentrations of renewable electricity and convert it into chemicals or clean fuels that can be shipped around the world to power trucks, ships or even airplanes. "The oil majors have been building multibillion-dollar projects since forever," said Julien Rolland, head of power and renewables at commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte Ltd. "This green hydrogen, green ammonia stuff will be the new energy industry." Also Read: Green Hydrogen policy to support renewable energy capacity addition The plan is well suited to the companies natural strengths in project management and their financial heft, but even with those advantages theyre still making a big bet on an unproven technology that could fall short of its potential. I dont think any company out there has developed anything to these kinds of scales, said Gero Farruggio, head of Australia and global renewables at consultant Rystad A/S. Deep Pockets This month has seen a flurry of big news about . BP Plc is taking the lead in the $36 billion Asian Hub, a project that aims to install 26 gigawatts of solar and wind farms over a vast 6,500-square-kilometer (2,500 square-mile) stretch of Western Australias Pilbara region, and use the electricity generated to split water molecules into and oxygen. Once fully developed, each year it would produce about 1.6 million tons of green hydrogen or 9 million tons of ammonia, which can be used to make fertilizer. TotalEnergies SE has joined Indian billionaire Gautam Adanis conglomerate in a venture that has the ambition to invest as much as $50 billion over the next 10 years in green hydrogen. An initial investment of $5 billion will develop 4 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity, about half of which will feed electrolyzers producing hydrogen used to manufacture of ammonia. The venture could expand to 1 million tons of annual green hydrogen production by 2030, driven by 30 gigawatts of clean power. It's only a matter of time before Shell Plc follows with a megaproject of its own, said Paul Bogers, vice president for hydrogen at the company. Shell is looking for a place where there are sufficient wind and solar resources for a large-scale project that would play to its strengths, he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Financial Times Hydrogen Summit in London. "The size of these projects isn't something done by a small startup," Bogers said. "It requires deep pockets." US giant Chevron Corp. is ready to spend billions on a mixture of green and blue hydrogen, which uses a chemical reaction to split natural gas and capture and store the carbon dioxide. Smaller players in the oil market are also getting involved, with Trafigura looking at a number of mid-size green hydrogen projects, such as a 440-megawatt development near Adelaide, Australia. While the trading house doesn't have the balance sheet of an oil major, it's looking to develop large-scale projects of multiple-gigawatt capacity, including one n South America, and then bring on a larger partner to actually build it, Rolland said. Lifeline to the Future The global supermajors still spend the bulk of their money on oil and gas, but are devoting a growing proportion to low-carbon energy. That has included major investments in areas well outside their core business -- offshore wind farms, solar plants, battery technology and electric-car chargers. Electrons don't need the type of infrastructure that the oil majors specialize in, said Meredith Annex, an analyst at BloombergNEF. But hydrogen is a molecule and "these are that understand molecules and infrastructure design around molecules. Until recently, the majors hydrogen plans have been modest. BP is developing an electrolyzer at its Lingen refinery in Germany and its Castellon plant in Spain, making green hydrogen for use in those facilities. Shell started up a 10 megawatt plant producing hydrogen for its Rheinland refinery in Germany last year and already has plans to expand its capacity. The nature of hydrogen, with its complex processing plants, pressurized pipelines and storage facilities, and the specialized tankers required for distribution, makes it a lifeline into the future for Big Oil, said Annex. Theres another natural synergy for that have a long history of seeking the largest concentrations of energy and the biggest markets in the world and finding low-cost ways to connect them. For green hydrogen one of the key attributes is having very competitive resources, said Tom Ellacott, a senior vice president at consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. BP has gone to Australia because you've got a lot of sun, while TotalEnergies is in India because low-cost ammonia is potentially a very big market. Long Game While giant projects may be the future of green hydrogen, there's a long way to go before they're proved to be commercially viable, said Pierre-Etienne Franc, chief executive officer of Hy24, a joint venture between asset managers Ardian SAS and FiveT Hydrogen. "You can't move from 10 megawatt size to gigawatt size just like that, Franc said. First it will be necessary to build facilities at the scale of hundreds of megawatts -- 10 times the size of pilot projects currently operating in Europe. Those will enhance the operational knowledge and the electrolyzer manufacturing capacity necessary to scale up to the next level, he said. Rystad estimates that the average size of a green hydrogen electrolyzer is 3 to 4 megawatts. That should increase by 20 times by 2025, leaving a lot of groundwork still to be done for gigawatt-scale developments. Theres a long way to go before one of these projects actually starts seeing significant capital investment, said Farruggio. It will possibly be a stretch to see this coming in prior to 2030." That fits with the announced timetables for full expansion of the BP and TotalEnergies green hydrogen ventures, and is well within the 2050 deadline for the companies to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. Large-scale hydrogen, unproven though it may be, could represent the best chance for the current generation of oil majors to remain as key players in a mid-21st century, climate-compatible energy industry. At some point, oil and gas will have to start declining to get on that Paris-aligned trajectory, said Ellacott. Green hydrogen is the best fit for a new low-carbon profit center because its such a big long-term growth market, it's really in the majors' sweet spot in terms of synergies with their existing businesses.'' Prime Minister on Sunday asked how long could her country bear such a huge burden of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. More than 1.1 million sheltered in are causing a long-term social problems in the country, as many of them are engaged in arms, drug, and women trafficking, she told newly-appointed Canadian High Commissioner, Lilly Nicholls, who called on her at her Sangsad Bhaban office. The Prime Minister said is providing temporary shelter to 100,000 on Bhasan Char Island where they will get better facilities. The High Commissioner said that Canada will always support Bangladesh in this regard, and that her country is creating an additional fund, through charity, for . She also said Canada is highly pleased to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Bangladesh, while also congratulating Bangladesh on the celebration of the golden jubilee of its Independence and the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Noting that Canada has been supporting Bangladesh since its Liberation War, said Canada had worked closely with Bangladesh since the beginning of the Covid pandemic and thanked it for donating vaccines and equipment. She appreciated Canada saying that the number of Bangladeshi students is increasing in its universities and requested the Canadian government to include Bangladesh in the Student Direct Stream programme. "We have special relations with Canada," she said. Both discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and agreed that war always causes suffering to people. As both agreed that bilateral trade and business can grow further, said that she looks forward to boosting trade and investment with Canada and that the large Bangladeshi diaspora in Canada is positively contributing in enhancing people-to-people contact between the two nations. The Premier said that she expected that Nicholls would play her role in strengthening the existing excellent relations between the two countries, and assured all possible support to her for discharging her duties. Ambassador-at-large M. Ziauddin and Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus were present at the meeting. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) by Ronald Ssekandi KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the world commemorates the annual World Refugee Day Monday, the UN refuge agency here warned that the refugee crisis in Uganda is worsening amid increased conflicts in the region and reduced international financing of refugee affairs. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Uganda Joel Boutroue described the situation as dire, according to a tweet by his office Monday. "We may not be in a position anymore to finance the 4,000 plus teachers and 3,000-4,000 health workers we are paying. That is the situation," Boutroue said. UNHCR office here says only 8 percent of the 48-million-U.S. dollar emergency appeal for the refugee response in Uganda has been received. Humanitarian agencies in the East African country in April made the appeal to cover a three-month initial urgent response for an influx of up to 60,000 refugees. Relief agencies said the funds were needed to provide urgent assistance to new arrivals, mainly women and children in dire need of protection. The appeal came at a time when Uganda's response to more than 1.5 million refugees in the country is critically underfunded. An interagency report said as of the end of March, only 41 million dollars had been received against the country's refugee response plan of 804 million dollars in funding needs for 2022. Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the third in the world after Turkey and Colombia, according to UNHCR figures. The refugee situation has since worsened in recent weeks after fighting erupted in the neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), forcing thousands of Congolese to seek refuge in Uganda. Uganda Red Cross Society said the recent influx was overwhelming the provision of social amenities in the host communities. Esther Anyakun, the minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, said that while Uganda continues to be a haven of safety and security for thousands of people fleeing conflict, the international community equally has to play its role in sharing the burden. "This growing refugee population serves as a reminder that we must find long-term solutions to the world's conflicts and assist countries grappling with the refugee crisis," a statement from Uganda's Office of the Prime Minister said. Boutroue, the UN Refugee Agency chief here, has previously argued that Uganda's asylum policy must continue to be supported generously. The country has an open-door refugee policy where refugees are allowed to work, cultivate the land they have been given and move freely. The rapid dwindling of resources has led to multiple cuts in food rations since April 2020, with some refugees receiving only 40 percent of their survival food basket, according to the UN World Food Program (WFP). "We must build strong partnerships to effectively respond to the needs of refugees and make sure no one goes hungry," said Abdirahman Meygag, the WFP Uganda country director. Francis Iwa, the executive director of Care and Assistance for Forced Migrants, a local nongovernmental organization, said that while the world's attention is on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the eastern DRC crisis needs urgent attention. Failure to do so, according to Iwa, the world would face another humanitarian catastrophe, which could have been prevented if acted upon earlier. East African Community (EAC) member countries are now gathering support to address the recent fighting between the Congolese troops and M23 rebels who overwhelmed the government forces and took over the border town of Bunagana. The fighting also comes amid a diplomatic spat between DRC and Rwanda with DRC accusing Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels. Rwanda has denied the allegations. EAC states are working on deploying a military force in eastern DRC that will fight negative forces that have failed to enter negotiations with the Congolese government. Regional leaders on Monday gathered in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to discuss the DRC crisis. has become China's biggest supplier of oil as the country sold discounted crude to Beijing amid sanctions over the Ukraine war, media reports said. Imports of Russian oil rose by 55 per cent from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider, BBC reported. has ramped up purchases of Russian oil despite demand dampened by Covid curbs and a slowing economy. Chinese companies, including state refining giant Sinopec and state-run Zhenhua Oil, have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months after being offered heavy discounts as buyers in Europe and the US shunned Russian energy in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine, BBC reported. The imports into China, which include supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea, totalled nearly 8.42m tonnes last month, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs. That pushed Saudi Arabia - formerly China's biggest source of crude oil - into second place with 7.82m tonnes. In March, the US and UK said they would ban Russian oil, while the European Union has been working towards ending its reliance on Russian gas, as the West steps up the economic response to the invasion of Ukraine. At the time, US President Joe Biden said the move targeted "the main artery of Russia's economy". Energy exports are a vital source of revenue for but the move is also likely to impact Western consumers. Last week, a report said earned almost $100 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine, despite a fall in exports in May, BBC reported. The European Union made up 61 per cent of these imports, worth approximately $59 billion. Overall, exports of Russian oil and gas are falling and Moscow's revenue from energy sales has also declined from a peak of well over $1 billion a day in March. --IANS san/arm (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has agreed to help cash-strapped Pakistan negotiate a deal with the for the revival of the country's economic bailout programme with the global lender, a media report. Pakistan and the have not yet been able to reach close to a staff-level agreement for the revival of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), leaving Pakistani authorities in a tight spot to bridge the gap and get the updated federal budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 passed by the National Assembly, the Dawn newspaper reported. The US has agreed to help Pakistan negotiate a deal with the Monetary Fund (IMF), the newspaper, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, as saying on Sunday. Earlier, media reports had claimed that Islamabad was seeking Washington's support for renewing its EFF with the . As the largest shareholder, the US has considerable influence over the IMF's decision-making. On Saturday, Pakistan's Ambassador to the Masood Khan met Assistant US Trade Representative (USTR) for South and Central Asia Christopher Wilson to discuss expanding trade relations between the two countries and encouraging US investments in Pakistan, a statement said. The office of the USTR is responsible for developing and coordinating US trade, commodity, and for directing investment policy. It also oversees trade negotiations with other countries, the newspaper reported. Pakistan signed a 39-month, USD 6 billion EFF in July 2019, but the IMF stopped the disbursement of about USD 3 billion when the previous government reneged on its commitments, the report added. Currently, Islamabad wants the IMF to not only resume disbursements but also expand the size and duration of the programme, the report said. A top finance ministry official confirmed on Sunday night that they had not yet received the first draft of the memorandum of economic and financial policies (MEFP) from the IMF as targeted earlier because certain matters remained unsettled. We are working very closely with the IMF and will soon reach some conclusion, the official said. The government is aiming to secure the passage of the budget 2022-23 from the National Assembly on June 27-28, according to the finance ministry. Pakistan has repeatedly been seeking aid to support its failing . In May, Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Pakistan with a "sizable package" of around USD 8 billion to help the cash-starved country bolster dwindling forex reserves and revive its ailing . Pakistan secured the deal during the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia in April. The financial package includes doubling of the oil financing facility, additional money either through deposits or Sukuks and rolling over of the existing USD 4.2 billion facilities. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US is considering whether to extend a Trump-era waiver that would allow certain officials of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to continue to travel abroad, the media reported. According to the 2020 Doha Agreement signed between the US and the Taliban, the extension of the exemption will end on Monday. "The Biden administration is locked in a fierce internal debate over whether to extend a Trump-era waiver that would allow select officials to travel abroad as they grapple with how to pressure the regime on Afghanistan's deteriorating human rights situation," TOLO News quoted a report by Foreign Policy as saying. Meanwhile, Heather Barr, director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, said that the exception means a lack of commitment to Afghan women. To start peace negotiations with the Taliban, the administration of former US President Donald Trump lifted travel sanctions on the leaders for a temporary period of time. "The force elements were used during the past 20 years but they didn't have any positive result. I believe that the community should understand this issue to solve the problems via engagement," TOLO News quoted Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, as saying. This comes as the UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan human rights, Richard Bennett, is expected to speak at the European Union during his visit to Brussels. --IANS ksk/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of "greater hostile activity" by Russia in the coming days, as Kiev awaits news on its bid to join the (EU), the media reported on Monday. In his nightly video address to the nation, the President said on Sunday: "Tomorrow a historic week begins. One of the most important since 1991. A week when we will hear the answer from the on the candidate status for . "And in such a week, we should expect greater hostile activity from Russia. Purposefully, demonstratively. And not only against Ukraine, but also against Europe. "We are preparing. We warn partners. And we are grateful to everyone whose strength today means our victory tomorrow." Just four days after Russia launched its invasion of Kiev on February 24, Zelensky had signed an official appeal to the EU asking for the accession of via a new special procedure. And on June 11, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc will finalise the assessment on granting EU candidate status by the end of that week. Von der Leyen gave the EU membership questionnaire to the Ukrainian President during her visit to Kiev in April. The first part of the document was submitted to the EU on April 18, while the second was delivered on May 9. However, observers say even with candidate status, it may take years, if not decades, for Ukraine to obtain EU membership. Zelensky's warning comes amid an ongoing Russian assault in the east of Ukraine, the BBC reported. Moscow's forces in the region have been attempting to take complete control of the Donbas, parts of which were already held by pro-Russian separatists prior to the invasion. --IANS ksk/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Today: The are likely to open on a subdued note amid dampened cues from the global peers. As of 07:30 AM, the SGX Nifty futures quoted at 15,261, indicating a marginal loss of 30-odd points at the opening bell on Monday. Meanwhile, here are the stocks that are likely to see some action in trades today. eMudhra: The recently listed company has reported a strong 62.2 per cent surge in profit for the financial year ended March 2022 at Rs 41.14 crore when compared with Rs 25.36 crore in FY21. Total income was up 38.7 per cent at Rs 183.74 crore from Rs 132.45 crore. Vodafone Idea (Voda Idea): The companys board is scheduled to meet on June 22 to consider a proposal to raise up to Rs 500 crore by way of issue of equity shares or convertible warrants on preferential basis to one or more entities of Vodafone Group. REC: The company has scheduled its board meet on June 30 to consider a proposal for bonus issue of equity shares. AU Small Finance Bank (SFB): The bank issued a clarification to the exchanges with regards a CDSL & NSDL disclosure in the banks foreign shareholding. According to the CDSL & NSDL disclosure they stated that foreign shareholding had reached within 3 per cent of the sectoral cap. The bank however has clarified that foreign shareholding was around 38 per cent as of June 17, 2022, well within the sectoral cap of 49 per cent for private sector banks. YES Bank: The debt-ridden private lenders plan to sell Rs 12,000 crore worth bad loans to ARC faces delay as the RBI wants the bank to avoid any conflict of interest with the ARC as plans to hold a minority stake in the same ARC. READ MORE Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court has rejected an interim application filed by a promoter group entity of Dish TV seeking to restrain YES Bank, a shareholder of the company, from exercising its right over shares held by the bank. HDFC Life Insurance Company: The private insurer plans to raise debt capital of up to Rs 350 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis. The company said the bonds will carry coupon rate of 8.20 per cent per annum. Delhivery: The logistics provider has launched its guaranteed same-day delivery (SDD) service in 15 Indian cities, seeking to help brands in winning customer loyalty. The company expects the service to improve consumer experience and reduce return rates, improving brands margins. READ MORE Hindustan Unilever (HUL): According to a release issued by the company, the Bombay High Court (HC) has passed an injunction restraining Sebamed from airing its advertisements that compared the pH value of its soap to that of HULs Dove, Pears and Lux. TVS Motor: Norton Motorcycles, the iconic British motorcycle maker, now owned by TVS Motor, plans to develop and build an electric motorcycle in the UK that it claims will have racing performance, touring range and lightweight handling as part of a 30-month project co-funded by a government program. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank: Global rating agency Moodys has upgraded and Axis Banks baseline credit assessments (BCA) to baa3 indicating medium grade financial strength from ba1 indicating speculative financial strength. The upgrade in BCA reflects improvements in credit fundamentals - asset quality, capital, and profitability. Moodys also affirmed the Baa3 deposit ratings of both Indian private sector lenders. READ MORE Indo Wind Energy: The company reported a net loss of Rs 1.03 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 as against a net profit of Rs 0.53 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total income, however, grew 33.3 per cent to Rs 4.48 crore from Rs 3.36 crore. Dilip Buildcon: The companys joint venture company RBL-DBL has won a Rs 1,061 crore order in Gujarat for the Surat Metro Rail Project. The company has also received the completion certificate for two road projects in Karnataka. Alken Laboratories: The company has received Form 483 from the US FDA with three observations on inspection of its US unit. Indian Hume Pipe Company: The company has won a Rs 110 crore order the Public Health Engineering Department of Rajasthan for various operation and maintenance work for 10 years. Engineers India: The company has secured multiple orders worth Rs 80 crore from the specialized chemicals, sunrise and infrastructure sectors. Stocks in F&O ban: Delta Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance and RBL Bank are the three stocks in F&O ban period on Monday. The pharma company on Saturday announced that its manufacturing facility located at St. Louis, USA received Form 483 with three observations from the US drug regulator. The inspection was carried on from 6 June 2022 to 17 June 2022. The company said that it shall submit to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) within the stipulated timeline, a detailed response to close out all the observations associated with this inspection. As per USFDA, an FDA Form 483 is issued to firm management at the conclusion of an inspection when an investigator(s) has observed any conditions that in their judgment may constitute violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act and related Acts. Alkem Laboratories is a leading Indian pharmaceutical company with global operations, engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. The company produces branded generics, generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and nutraceuticals, which it markets in India and International markets. On a consolidated basis, the company reported a 55.2% decline in net profit to Rs 107.58 crore despite of a 13.3% increase in net sales to Rs 2,483.86 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Shares of Alkem Laboratories were down 0.07% at Rs 3,095.65 on the BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian shares declined for a seventh straight session on Monday, 20 June 2022, with benchmark S&P/ASX200 closing at fresh 16-month lows, as lingering concerns of global economic slowdown cast a pall on the market amid a dearth of new trading incentives Market sentiments weighed down by fears about the deteriorating U. S. economy as expectations grew that the Federal Reserve will make aggressive rate hikes. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell by 41.43 points, or 0.64%, to 6,433.37. The broader All Ordinaries index declined by 53.83 points, or 0.81%, to 6,609.46. Shares of miners declined amid a commodities selloff on short-term demand woes. BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group plummeted 5-9%. Falling oil prices weighed on the energy sector, with Woodside Petroleum and Santos declining 5-6%. CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6981 after dropping late last week from above $0.70. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The IT solutions company on Monday announced that it has entered in a global partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate its digital transformation journey. The IT company said that it has been focusing on driving the benefits of cloud transformation to its customers through enhanced business integration and expanded business value chain. Birlasoft has been closely working with its customers on their digital transformation journeys across its chosen industry verticals - Manufacturing, Life Sciences, BFSI, and Energy and Utilities. Leveraging Birlasoft's expertise on Google Cloud's technology offerings will enable customers across various verticals to meet their cloud priorities with speed, the company said. Birlasoft and Google Cloud have partnered to accelerate cloud-enabled digital transformation strategy for Bestseller India, a part of Denmark based family-owned fashion company BESTSELLER. Birlasoft brings end-to-end cloud adoption capabilities complemented by Google Cloud's engineering capabilities and domain expertise. The partnership will help Bestseller India achieve business continuity, create channelless digital experience and journey for their customers, enhance data analytics capabilities for better marketing, forecasting, and insights, and develop smart customer support. Roop Singh, chief business officer at Birlasoft, said, "Our endeavor is to raise enterprises to the power of digital and cloud adoption is a crucial step in that transformation journey. This partnership, combined with our deep-rooted industry expertise and proven credentials in developing proprietary cloud solutions and implementation approaches, will help us deliver innovative cloud solutions to our customers to expedite their digital transformation journeys." Karan Bajwa, vice president, Asia Pacific, Google Cloud, said, "The partnership with Birlasoft holds great potential and complements our GTM plans across India. With Birlasoft's cloud transformation solutions and legacy of providing business transformation services, we hope to drive re-imagined customer experiences that will benefit businesses of all sizes." The Birla Group company said that as part of this partnership with Google Cloud, Birlasoft will also set up a Google Cloud Center of Excellence (CoE) with 200+ Google Cloud Platform (GCP) specialists. The CoE will focus on building services and solutions in the areas of applications and data platforms migration and modernization, data and AI and advanced analytics, specialty workloads like ERP on Google Cloud, and hybrid cloud strategies. Birlasoft, part of the CK Birla Group, provides digital and information technology consulting, services, solutions and products for organizations across industries, worldwide. The company reported a 16.6% rise in net profit to Rs 132.9 crore on a 2.8% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 1,101.4 in Q4 FY22 over Q3 FY22. Shares of Birlasoft were down 2.21% to Rs 323.60 on the BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 28 others, including a provincial health official, wounded after a bomb explosion ripped through a district bazaar in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Monday, a local official said. Cipla: The drug major on Friday announced that it has signed definitive agreements for acquiring 21.05% stake (on a fully diluted basis) in Bengaluru-based Achira Labs for a cash consideration of Rs 25 crore. Aurobindo Pharma: The board of directors of the company has approved the acquisition of 51% equity shares in GLS Pharma Limited, operating in oncology business and having manufacturing facility in Hyderabad for a total consideration of Rs 28.05 crore. Alkem Laboratories: The company informed that US FDA had conducted an inspection of its manufacturing facility located at St. Louis, USA from 6 June 2022 to 17 June 2022. At the end of the inspection, the company has received Form 483 with three observations. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank: Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the Baa3 deposit ratings of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. At the same time Moody's has upgraded both the banks' baseline credit assessments (BCA) to baa3 from ba1 reflecting improvements in credit fundamentals, in particular asset quality. The outlook on ratings for both banks remains stable. Indian Oil Corporation: The state-run oil marketing company issued 25,000, 7.79% unsecured, listed, rated, taxable, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Rs 10,00,000 each, aggregating to Rs 2,500 crore on private placement basis on 17 June 2022. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: CRISIL Ratings has reaffirmed its ratings on the debt programmes and bank facilities of the company at 'CRISIL AA+/FAAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'. Engineers India: The company said that it had been entrusted by its clients for three separate projects across the diversified sectors of specialized chemicals, sunrise and infrastructure. South Indian Bank: The private lender announced an increase in marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 10-15 basis points across different tenors, effective from 20 June 2022. Paisalo Digital: The board of the NBFC fixed 1 July 2022 as the record date for the proposed 10-for-1 stock split. Omaxe: The real estate developer said it has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in the name of Blackbull Retails on 16 June 2022. The subsidiary will carry on the business of construction and real-estate development. Indian Hume Pipe Company: The company on Saturday announced that it has secured a work order aggregating to Rs 110 crore from civic body in Rajasthan. Rama Steel Tubes: The board of Rama Steel Tubes is scheduled to meet on 5 July 2022, to consider the proposal for sub-division of company's equity shares having face value of Rs 5 each. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With this partnership, Coforge will bring agile, next-generation solutions to the transportation & logistics industry. The digital services and solutions provider announced a partnership with Estes Express Lines (Estes), the largest privately held freight carrier in North America. The go-to-market launch will initially focus on a platform-powered application specifically created to address multi-dimension pricing plans required to generate the optimal freight rates for shippers and brokers who depend on carriers like Estes to move freight of all kinds around the world. The global freight handling market has experienced a number of first time ever milestones over the last several years which have accelerated the demand for nimble technology, giving carriers the ability to address market opportunities and challenges swiftly, with less dependence on IT resources, Coforge said in a statement. The Coforge Freight Pricing & Rating (PRISM) application is a platform-based solution that will be offered to carriers in North America and Europe. PRISM was designed and developed with a few key tenets: industry standard-based, configurable / template-based constructs, designed for business analysts to make changes easily, and architected to add new pricing schemes, such as dimension-based pricing, as market adoption occurs. This transformative approach gives carriers the ability to focus pricing analysts and strategy teams on those critical activities, creates an expansive offering of pricing plans, and provides nimbleness to address market shifts swiftly by any dimension such as region, freight class, customer categories, handling, etc. Todd Florence, chief information officer, Estes said, "At Estes, we're committed to building technology that not only makes freight shipping as frictionless as possible for our employees and customers, but that can also help the rest of the less than truckload (LTL) industry do the same." He added, "With the partnership with Coforge, Estes is able to share the PRISM framework with other companies that can customize it to meet their specific needs." Stuart Chandler, senior vice president - Digital Process Automation (DPA), Coforge said, "The partnership with Estes opens up a new road for Coforge to leverage its industry expertise, brand, and relationships in the dynamic transportation and logistics sector worldwide. The sector is subject to several macro and microeconomic factors, including pandemic-impacted supply chains, that are creating challenges in profitability. We believe that automation, such as the PRISM framework, is key to tackling industry-wide challenges." Coforge is a global digital services and solutions provider. It leads with its product engineering approach and leverages Cloud, Data, Integration and Automation technologies to transform client businesses into intelligent, high growth enterprises. The firm has a presence in 21 countries with 25 delivery centers across nine countries. Coforge reported 13% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 207.7 crore on a 5.1% increase in gross revenues to Rs 1,742.9 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q3 FY22. Shares of Coforge rose 2.55% to Rs 3378.70 on Friday. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coforge announced a partnership with Estes Express Lines (Estes), the largest privately held freight carrier in North America. With this partnership, Coforge will bring agile, next-generation solutions to the transportation & logistics industry. The go-to-market launch will initially focus on a platform-powered application specifically created to address multi-dimension pricing plans required to generate the optimal freight rates for shippers and brokers who depend on carriers like Estes to move freight of all kinds around the world. The Coforge Freight Pricing & Rating (PRISM) application is a platform-based solution that will be offered to carriers in North America and Europe. PRISM was designed and developed with a few key tenets: industry standard-based, configurable / template-based constructs, designed for business analysts to make changes easily, and architected to add new pricing schemes, such as dimension-based pricing, as market adoption occurs. This transformative approach gives carriers the ability to focus pricing analysts and strategy teams on those critical activities, creates an expansive offering of pricing plans, and provides nimbleness to address market shifts swiftly by any dimension such as region, freight class, customer categories, handling, etc. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) announced that Fitch Ratings - has affirmed the ratings of HUDCO at BBB- level (i.e., at the sovereign level). At the same time, Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook of HUDCO to 'Stable' from 'Negative'. The rating action follows the change in outlook of Govt. of India rating to 'Stable' from Negative' on 10 June 2022. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The key equity indices traded near the day's high with decent gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 15,300 level. FMCG, financial services and IT stocks advanced while metal, oil & gas and realty shares declined. FMCG shares snapped their losing streak of six days. At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 292.01 points or 0.57% to 51,652.43. The Nifty 50 index gained 71.55 points or 0.47% to 15,365.05. The broader market underperformed the benchmark indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 1.05% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 1.98%. Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 787 shares rose and 2,451 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged. Economy: India's domestic coal production continues to witness an increasing trend in the current financial year as well, following a record-breaking coal production of 777 Million Ton (MT) in 2021-22. The total domestic coal production in 2022-23, as on 31st May, 2022 is 137.85 MT, which is 28.6% more as compared to the production of 104.83 MT in the same period of last year. This trend is being maintained in June, 2022 also. The coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) is 28% more than the production in the same period of the previous year (as on16th June, 2022). Domestic coal production target for the current financial year is 911 MT which is 17.2% more than the previous year. Derivatives: The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.38% to 22.8450. The Nifty 30 June 2022 futures were trading at 15,364, at a discount of 1.05 points as compared with the spot at 15,365.05. The Nifty option chain for 30 June 2022 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 29 lakh contracts at the 16,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 38.5 lakh contracts was seen at 15,500 strike price. Buzzing Index: The Nifty FMCG index rose 1.98% to 36,938.30, snapping its six days falling streak. The index lost 3.14% in six trading sessions. Among the components of the Nifty FMCG index, Godrej Consumer Products (up 4.36%), Hindustan Unilever (up 3.87%), Dabur India (up 2.41%), United Breweries (up 2.37%) and Radico Khaitan (up 2.25%) were the top gainers. Stocks in Spotlight: Aurobindo Pharma was down 1.20%. The drug maker on Saturday announced that its board has approved acquisition of 51% stake in Hyderabad-based GLS Pharma for a cash consideration of Rs 28.05 crore. Aurobindo Pharma said that the investment is undertaken to expand the foothold of the company in oncology business in the domestic market and for inorganic addition to capacity and revenues in oncology business. Engineers India fell 1.22%. The company said that it had been entrusted by its clients for three separate projects across the diversified sectors of specialized chemicals, sunrise and infrastructure. The three projects involve consulting services for EPCM services for MIBK, MIBC, and offsite & utilities projects; RBI's greenfield data center at Infovalley-II, EMC Park, Khurda (Bhubaneswar), Odisha; and pre-award activities for lignite to methanol project. Rama Steel rose 1.53%. The board of Rama Steel Tubes is scheduled to meet on 5 July 2022, to consider the proposal for sub-division of company's equity shares having face value of Rs 5 each. Further, the board will also consider the proposal for acquisition of majority stake in some of the companies and matter related thereto. Paisalo Digital was up 0.72%. The board of the NBFC fixed 1 July 2022 as the record date for the proposed 10-for-1 stock split. The board on 17 June 2022 approved splitting each share of face value of Rs 10 each into ten equity shares of face value Re 1 each (10-for-1). Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The domestic equity benchmarks reversed initial gains and traded with minor cuts in the morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 15,300 level. FMCG and financial services stocks advanced while metal, oil & gas, and realty shares lagged behind. At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 79.04 points or 0.15% to 51,281.38. The Nifty 50 index shed 35.15 points or 0.23% to 15,258.35. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.28% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 2.05%. The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 816 shares rose and 2,263 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 7,818.61 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 6,086.92 crore in the Indian equity market on 17 June, provisional data showed. Buzzing Index: The Nifty Metal index slipped 3.67% to 4,551.50. The index rose 0.08% in the past trading session. Vedanta (down 7.71%), Hindustan Copper (down 5.32%), National Aluminium Company (down 4.95%), Hindalco Industries (down 4.53%), Jindal Stainless (down 4.47%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.43%), Steel Authority of India (down 4.16%), Tata Steel (down 3.94%), NMDC (down 3.91%) and Welspun Corp (down 3.81%) edged lower. Stocks in Spotlight: Coforge rose 0.85% after the digital services and solutions provider announced a partnership with Estes Express Lines (Estes), the largest privately held freight carrier in North America. With this partnership, Coforge will bring agile, next-generation solutions to the transportation & logistics industry. The go-to-market launch will initially focus on a platform-powered application specifically created to address multi-dimension pricing plans required to generate the optimal freight rates for shippers and brokers who depend on carriers like Estes to move freight of all kinds around the world. Cipla fell 0.44% after the drug major on Friday announced that it has signed definitive agreements for acquiring 21.05% stake (on a fully diluted basis) in Bengaluru-based Achira Labs for a cash consideration of Rs 25 crore. Cipla said that investment will enable it to enter into the business domain of designing, developing and manufacturing microfluidics-based PoC immunoassay and molecular assay technologies. Post-acquisition, Achira will become an associate of Cipla. Dilip Buildcon gained 2.82% after the company through RBL-DBL joint venture was declared as lowest (L-1) bidder for 'Surat Metro Rail Project' by Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC). The contract entails construction of 10.559 km elevated viaduct and 11 nos, stations (excl. E&M, architectural finishing and roofing) from Bheshan dead end to Majura Gate Station. It will also include construction of viaduct ramp to depot entry near Bheshan for Surat Metro Rail Project Phase - I, Corridor-2. The cost of project is Rs 1,061 crore. The period of completion of the project is 26 months. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NIIT Life Sciences, the life sciences division of NIIT, has entered into a multi-year learning services agreement with a Swiss multinational leader in healthcare. Under the agreement, NIIT will provide a full range of learning services to the client to help streamline their regulatory operations using Veeva Vault RIM. NIIT Life Sciences will support the client's Vault RIM initiative end-to-end through global training services that will be delivered in multiple phases until 2024. The learning services that NIIT will provide are designed to integrate seamlessly with the company's current Vault RIM implementation roadmap. NIIT will also provide scale and deep subject matter expertise to the client's training program so that their teams can focus on 'making the change happen'. Sailesh Lalla, executive vice president at NIIT said, "We are honored to have been selected as the learning partner for a Veeva Vault RIM initiative with one of the world's largest biotech companies. With our deep expertise in training on Veeva technologies, coupled with our business-outcome focused approach to learning, we are excited about playing a key role in enabling highly efficient and streamlined regulatory operations for our client." NIIT is a leading skills and talent development corporation. It offers training and development solutions to individuals, enterprises and institutions. NIIT has two main lines of business across the globe - corporate learning group and skills & careers business. On a consolidated basis, net profit of NIIT rose 44.8% to Rs 67.38 crore on 34.5% rise in net sales to Rs 374.98 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Shares of NIIT were down 1.20% at Rs 384.05 on the BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vadilal Industries USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vadilal Industries, has signed a stock purchase agreement for subscription of 100% voting rights of Krishna Krupa Corporation, USA (KKC). KKC is a corporation organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Illinois, USA. It operates an ice creams parlour in the state of Illinois, USA. The acquisition of KKC will provide Vadilal USA with ready platform to understand the parlour business operations in USA. Key learnings from KKC operations will help in preparation of a successful business plan for a nationwide parlour business. The cash consideration for acquisition is $250,000. The acquisition will be completed by 30 September 2022. KKC had total revenue of $89,000 during the year 2021, $73,000 during the year 2020 and $65,000 during the year 2019. Vadilal Industries is engaged in the business of manufacturing ice-cream, flavored milk, frozen dessert, processed foods, other dairy products. On consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 31.1% to Rs 21.69 crore on a 26.3% increase in net sales to Rs 212.86 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Shares of Vadilal Industries were down 5.11% at Rs 1,754.30 on the BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The telco on Sunday, 19 June 2022, announced that its board will meet on 22 June 2022, to consider a proposal to raise upto Rs 500 crore via preferential issue of equity shares and / or convertible warrants. The company said it plans to issue equity shares and / or convertible warrants on a preferential basis to one or more entities belonging to Vodafone group, one of the promoters of the company. Vodafone Idea is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. The company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G and 4G platforms. The teleco reported consolidated net loss of Rs 6563.10 crore in Q4 March 2022 as against a net loss of Rs 7022.80 crore in Q4 March 2021. Revenue from operations was up 6.6% YoY to Rs 10,239.50 crore during the quarter. Shares of Vodafone Idea were down 2.92% at Rs 7.97 on the BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The steady uptick in the COVID-19 infections in the Philippines signals the start of the peak of cases, the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday. "Right now, (we see) that the number of cases is continuously increasing," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a television interview. "We can see that this is really the start in the peak in the number of cases." Vergeire said the Southeast Asian country is seeing a trend similar to what happened in September 2021 and January 2022. The Philippines reported the highest single-day tally on Jan. 15 this year, with 39,004 new cases. The Philippines has seen four COVID-19 waves since the pandemic hit the country in January 2020. Vergeire said the DOH recorded around 2,458 cases across the country last week. In Metro Manila, she said, the number of cases has doubled already. "In their average number of cases from the previous week, we can see a 70 percent increase in the number of cases." Infectious diseases expert Edsel Maurice Salvana downplayed the spike in COVID-19 cases, saying the uptick in cases is expected due to the detection of the new, more transmissible coronavirus variants. Salvana said the country's COVID-19 cases "remains manageable at this time due to the low healthcare utilization rate." The DOH blamed the slight increase of COVID-19 infections on the spread of the more transmissible variants, the increase in people's mobility, and the people's "waning immunity." The Philippines has fully vaccinated over 70 million people. The Philippines now has 3,696,264 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 60,467 deaths. The government announced two hiring programmes during the week that began on June 13, but angry protesters set ablaze public property through the week. On June 14, the government announced that the Prime Minister had instructed that a million people must be employed by the various government ministries over the next 18 months on mission mode. The emphasis was on providing to the youth. This is ambitious and a very big announcement. To place this number in perspective, India added 2.8 million in 2019-20, the last normal year, in a sense. The addition of a million by the government is therefore very big. Government are also the most coveted. This makes the Prime Ministers instruction even more important. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Many parts of north India have been rocked by protests against the new scheme for the Indian armed forces, which the government has called Agnipath. Last week, the Union Cabinet cleared the new system, which it described in glowing terms: (A) transformative move to modernise the countrys armed forces which would create opportunities for the youth and upgrade their skills. Reducing the manpower intake of the army in order to transfer its focus to advanced weaponry has long been advised. India cannot maintain a World War One-style army to fight 21st-century wars the conflict has made it clear what a disadvantage poor military organisation can be. It is also necessary, given the mistaken decision to introduce one rank, one pension (OROP) for political reasons, to reduce the ongoing drain on the government finances caused by a personnel-heavy military. For both these reasons, Agnipath is not only a step in the right direction but also long delayed. The serving military establishment has come out strongly in favour of the move, citing, among other concerns, that the average age of the soldiers is too high. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The Central government has been caught unawares by violent agitations against Agnipath, its short-tenure recruitment programme to the armed forces. The navy chief is on record saying that he had not expected "protests like this". Perhaps his counterparts in the Army and the didn't either. The government itself is surprised. Yet attempts to blame conspiracies organised by the Opposition or a foreign hand mock the public's intelligence. Its geographical spread shows that the agitations are organic and spontaneous. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Amid raging protests against the Centre's Agnipath scheme, the AAP on Sunday dubbed it "a big fraud" with the country's youth and demanded its rollback, alleging that the Narendra Modi government is making misleading claims about the benefits of the new military recruitment plan. At a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Sanjay Singh presented representatives of about 4,000 job aspirants who claimed to have cleared all the tests conducted for recruitment into paramilitary forces in 2018 but were yet to get their appointment letters. "Remember these faces sitting with me whom Modi ji did not give job till date despite they having cleared the physical, written and medical tests conducted for filling up 60,000 vacancies in paramilitary forces in 2018, he said. They have been agitating for over one year, sat on a fast-unto-death agitation at Samvidhan Chowk in Nagpur for 72 days and marched to Delhi on foot from Nagpur 19 days ago demanding that they be given their appointment letters, he said. "When you (Centre) could not recruit these youths despite them clearing all the stages of the tests, how will you give jobs to Agniveers after they complete their four years of service? This shows how you are fooling, deceiving the country's youth," the AAP MP charged. Singh dismissed as misleading the Centre's claim that 25 per cent of those to be recruited under the Agnipath scheme will be absorbed in the armed forces after completion of their four years of service, saying not all of them would be retained. "After completion of four years, all the Agniveers will be moved out and they will have to apply again seeking their retention. The scheme says up to 25 per cent, not 25 per cent, of Agniveers will be retained as per the available vacancies. The actual percentage of those to be retained under the scheme may drop to even 2 per cent, he claimed. Besides, the Agniveers will not get "martyr status", neither will they be entitled to pension, canteen and other facilities. "It takes at least a year of training to make a soldier battle ready but the prime minister is ready to compromise with their military capabilities by giving them only six months of training, he charged. He said the central government claims that Agniveers will get priority in other jobs, but the reality is that only two per cent of ex-servicemen get jobs. The AAP MP also dismissed the government's proposal to provide Rs 10-12 lakh to the Agniveers on completion of four years of their service as a sham, saying that about Rs 5 lakh of this amount to be given to them will come from their own salary as a certain part of their customized pay package will be deducted towards Agniveer corpus fund every year. "Agnipath scheme is a big fraud with the youth of the country and a move towards compromising with the bravery of the Indian armed forces, he alleged. It takes at least a year of training to make a soldier battle ready but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready to compromise with the country's military capabilities by giving those to be recruited under the scheme only six months of training, he charged. Singh said the chief ministers, MPs and MLAs who are defending the scheme by listing its benefits should send their kin to become Agniveers first. "When they will lead a life of despair after four years, you ( leaders) will come to know the reality of this scheme, he added. Demanding the scheme's rollback, the AAP MP hit out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to come out of his cave and break his silence in the face of nationwide outrage over the scheme. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM will attend the opposition meeting called by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday to discuss the candidate for the presidential election. Several other parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal and YSR Congress are likely to skip the meeting. This will be the second such meeting of the opposition parties. On June 15, TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called a meeting to discuss the candidate for the July 18 presidential poll, which was attended by 17 parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Left parties, and Shiv Sena among others. The AIMIM did not participate in the meeting. "On the instruction of our party president Asaduddin Owaisi, I will represent the AIMIM in tomorrow's opposition meeting," party MP Imtiaz Jaleel told PTI. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Going against his party line, Congress MP Manish Tewari has come in support of the Central government's Agnipath scheme. This comes amid a major nationwide protest launched by the party, which is demanding its rollback. Speaking to IANS, Tewari said, "The process of Defence reforms, including right sizing the military started in the US way back in 1975 when Donald Rumsfield was the Defence Secretary in the Ford Administration and every successive administration has seen it through. "Rumsfeld initiated the conceptual basis of preparing the armed forces for future warfare as he could envision the changing nature of the battlefield. "Even the Chinese started the process of right-sizing the PLA way back 1985." "PLA's size was cut by 10 lakh in 1985; 500,000 in 1997; 200,000 in 2003; 300,000 in 2015 and from 2017 onwards the People's Liberation Army of China is being further right sized from 20 to 10 lakh by 50 per cent. "The defence reform is a part of a larger strategic horizon and not merely an act of internal reorganisation," he said. Tewari in his book '10 Flashpoints 20 Years' has mentioned about why the country urgently needs defence reforms. Out of every Rupee spent on defence in India 25 paisa goes towards pensions only. Salaries take away an additional substantive chunk leaving little room for capital expenditure on defence modernisation, Tewari said. "The reforms now being implemented by the government were recommended by the Kargil review committee (KRC) in 1999 and the Group of Ministers constituted to vet the recommendations too had supported the reforms, including right sizing the armed Forces. "Even the Naresh Chandra committee had also endorsed many of the recommendations of KRC and GOM that Defence Forces need to be leaner in their disposition," he said. Tewari's remarks are in contrast to the official line of the Congress on the Agnipath system. Last week he said in a tweet, "I do empathise with youth who have concerns over Agnipath recruitment Process. Reality is India needs a younger armed force with lighter human footprint savvy on technology, equipped with state of art weaponry. Armed forces of Union shouldn't be an employment guarantee programme." The MP from Anandpur Sahib has raised some concerns and tweeted, "As MP from a rural constituency I stand with Concerns /Fears of Youth desirous of joining Armed Forces, apart-Rough calculation of impact of new recruitment paradigms on even largest employer Army shows issue not insurmountable if retirees are transitioned to CAPF's/SPF's. "In ten years as a consequence of these new recruitment paradigms the size of the Army for example would only come down from the present 14 lakhs to 10,47,500 an attrition of 3,52,500 over ten years or 35,200 per year or to put it more simply 2933 per month. These many retirees that too after six years and not now can be easily accommodated in 10 CAPF's or the 30 odd state police forces. It is not really such an insurmountable issue if you de- horse the ." --IANS miz/dpb (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) workers will hold "peaceful" protests across the country on Monday against the "anti-youth" Agnipath scheme and the central government's "vendetta politics" targeting party leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. Taking to Twitter, General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday, "Tomorrow lakhs of workers across the country will continue peaceful protests against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme and against Modi government's vendetta targeting its MP . A Congress delegation will also meet Rashtrapati in the evening." A delegation of Congress leaders is also likely to meet President Ram Nath Kovind today and submit a memorandum on the issue of entry of Delhi Police into their party headquarters and the alleged misbehaviour with party MPs during protests against Rahul Gandhi's ED questioning. The grand old party held a 'satyagraha' on Sunday at Jantar Mantar in solidarity with the youth protesting against Central Government's Agnipath Recruitment Scheme. is scheduled to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for the fourth round of questioning in a money laundering case linked to the Herald case Regarding his questioning by ED on Monday, as per official sources, the Congress leader, a Z+ category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi family's Special Protection Group cover in 2019, was confronted with several documents collated by the ED as evidence recovered so far in the case to get his version. After the Agnipath scheme, which allows Indian youths to serve in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces for a period of four years, was announced on June 14, protests erupted in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. As the agitation intensified in some places, protestors went on the rampage setting trains on fire, torching vehicles and damaging both private and public properties. A total of 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year but a top military officer said it will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future. The entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been fixed as 17.5 to 21 years of age. However, following protests, the announced an increase in the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022 as it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh minister and state president Swatantra Dev Singh on Sunday alleged that the and the are fuelling protest against the Agnipath scheme, launched for recruitment in the armed forces. The minister alleged that the opposition was trying to obstruct every good work of the government. Talking to reporters at the Circuit House here, Singh said that the opposition parties, which he said have become weak after being rejected by the people, have now come down to committing petty acts of instigating the people. Targeting the SP, Singh said that the president of the party had opposed the Corona vaccine as a vaccine, even though the same vaccine proved to be effective. He said the two parties are "fuelling protests" against the Agnipath scheme. He appealed to the youths to understand that the scheme is "very good" and will be of great interest to them. On Congress, Singh said the party has only looted the country. People rejected and SP because they promoted dynastic politics, so now they are instigating the people and doing petty . Singh, who is Jal Shakti minister in the state government, also held a meeting with the officers of the irrigation department in Bareilly and instructed them to expedite the irrigation projects. He said that as the monsoon is approaching, flood control arrangements should be completed immediately. Singh later left for Rampur to campaign for BJP candidate Ghanshyam Lodhi. Rampur parliamentary seat had fallen vacant after the resignation of senior leader Azam Khan. Bypoll in the constituency is scheduled for June 23. SP has fielded Asim Raja, considered close to Khan, from the seat. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Following protests against the Agnipath scheme, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary on Sunday said that like others he would prefer to employ an Agniveer for security at the party office. "I will give preference to an Agniveer to hire him as security in office, even you can. One of my friends hired 35-year-old retired army personnel as his security guard stating that he has faith in him. He is a soldier so I am not scared. This means a soldier is the name of self-confidence," said Vijayvargiya. He also highlighted that people have faith in armymen. Taking a jibe at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and he said that his (Baghel's) statement had hardly made sense to him. "Yesterday I saw the statement of Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. He said, if you teach youth to use arms in the army, they will become terrorists-- this is a foolish statement. By saying this you are insulting the retired soldiers of the army and are doing the work of instigating the youth" he added. The General Secretary also stressed that the opposition was least concerned about issues but the chair. "Congress is concerned not about the country but the chair. Such decisions (of Agneepath plan) are not political decisions, but are the suggestions of the army chief and the government," he concluded. The Agnipath Scheme was launched by the Union Defence Ministry on Tuesday with the intent to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces and provide a fresh lease of 'Josh' and 'Jazba' whilst at the same time bringing about a transformational shift towards a more tech-savvy Armed Forces. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspended leader Nupur Sharma on Monday sought four week's time to appear before the in connection with her recent controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad. Sharma, who was supposed to be present at Narkeldanga Police station in Kolkata on Monday, emailed the request. The city police are yet to decide over their next course of action. On June 13, issued summons to Nupur Sharma under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, asking her to be present at Narkeldanga Police under Eastern Suburban Division of on June 20. The notice was mailed to her and a hardcopy of the same was the sent to her by registered speed post. A senior official of the city police said that Sharma was silent for so many days and this morning, the city police received her mail expressing her inability to appear and seeking four weeks for the same. It is leant that a resident of Narkeldanga area in the norther neighbourhood of Kolkata had filed a complaint in the local police station against Nupur Sharma, alleging that the latter's controversial comments about Prophet Muhammad had provoked tension in different pockets in the state as well in the entire country. The city police summoned Sharma on the basis of that complaint. Soon after Sharma's controversial comments went viral, there were severe tension in several minority- dominated pockets in West Bengal in certain districts like Kolkata- adjacent Howrah, Murshidabad and Nadia. Clashes erupted between the agitators and police in which Domjur police station in Howrah district was attacked, police vehicles were torched and several police personnel were injured. Internet services were suspended in several areas. Following countrywide tension over the controversial comments, suspended her from the party. The also suspended another leader Naveen Jindal who shared her comments on Twitter. --IANS src/shb/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Macron's alliance leads legislative elections without absolute majority: reports Xinhua) 08:45, June 20, 2022 A resident casts her ballot at a polling station in Nice, southern France, June 19, 2022. (Photo by Serge Haouzi/Xinhua) Macron, who defeated Le Pen for his second presidential term in April, had the absolute majority in the National Assembly during his first term. PARIS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance Ensemble is leading the French legislative elections without winning the absolute majority in the new National Assembly, French news channel BFMTV reported on Sunday. According to estimations by Elabe for BFMTV, Ensemble won 205 to 235 seats, while 289 seats were needed for an absolute majority. French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the press conference after a special meeting of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, May 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong) Left-wing alliance NUPES (la Nouvelle Union Populaire Ecologique et Sociale) led by Jean-Luc Melenchon won 170 to 190 seats and the far-right National Rally led by Marine Le Pen has made history with 75 to 95 seats, according to BFMTV. The 15 ministers of Macron's cabinet who were not elected as deputies in their constituency will have to leave the government, said BFMTV. Sunday's elections include 572 run-off races with a total of 1,148 candidates to elect the 577-member National Assembly. Marine Le Pen, candidate of the far-right National Rally party, attends a rally after the presidential runoff in Paris, France, on April 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Gao Jing) Macron, who defeated Le Pen for his second presidential term in April, had the absolute majority in the National Assembly during his first term. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) VIENTIANE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Laos earned more than 870 million U.S. dollars from the export of agricultural produce over the past six months of 2022, equaling 72.57 percent of the target for the whole of 2022. The main farm products exported were bananas, rubber, cassava, sugarcane, cattle and buffaloes, with China being the largest purchaser. Local daily Vientiane Times on Monday quoted Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Phet Phomphiphak as saying at the Third Ordinary Session of the National Assembly (Ninth Legislature) of Laos last Friday that the government will encourage more domestic and foreign business operators to invest in agriculture, in order to boost exports. "Several local companies plan to invest in agriculture, to produce food for consumption in Laos and for export, in line with the government's policy to bolster productivity in this sector," he said. There are currently more than 2,000 livestock farms in Laos, of which 655 raise cattle, 553 are pig farms, 711 are poultry farms, and the rest raise goats, sheep and other animals. However, farmers and producers in Laos are severely hampered by steep rises in production costs, mainly due to the spiraling price of fuel. In addition, the cost of machinery, fertilizer and animal feed has risen sharply because these items are imported and must be paid for in foreign currency, which is costly because of the continuing depreciation of the kip. To tackle this problem, the government is promoting the use of organic fertilizer and locally-produced animal feed to cut the cost of imports. Farmers in Laos need about 2 million tons of fertilizer a year but at present only 600,000 tons of organic fertilizer can be produced. In addition, farmers need about 600,000 tons of animal feed, but the six manufacturing plants in Laos can supply less than 400,000 tons, equal to just 60 percent of the demand. However, Laos has a huge opportunity to boost crop yields for export, particularly to China, with the China-Laos railway now able to transport perishable goods more efficiently and quickly. The growth of exports can earn more foreign currency for Laos, which would help to stabilize the value of the kip. In 2021, Laos earned more than 900 million dollars from the export of agricultural produce, accounting for 82 percent of the target figure set for that year. Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader on Monday recalled that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh inaugurated the flagship project Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics in 2017. Notably, Prime Minister today will visit Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE), Bengaluru, where he will inaugurate the new campus of BASE University and unveil the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar. In a veiled attack on the Centre, the Congress leader tried to highlight that the Centre merely inaugurates the flagship projects of the Congress party. In a series of tweets today, wrote, "Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh inaugurated our flagship project Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics in 2017. It gives us immense pleasure to recollect the satisfying memory of dedicating a world class University to the people of . #DrBRAmbedkar" "The project was envisioned to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar. The BASE was established in 2017 on a 43.45 acre on Bengaluru University land. Our government had allocated Rs 350 crore for land and for the infrastructure," he said. Former President Late Pranab Mukherjee had laid the foundation stone for BASE and our government completed the construction of the building in just 6 months. Bsc (H) Economics classes were started in June 2017, he said. "Prime Minister is set to inaugurate a new building of BASE today. I wish you the best for the event," he tweeted. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's office on Sunday informed that PM Modi will inaugurate the new campus of Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) University, Bengaluru. The residential University was set up in 2017 in recognition of the exemplary contributions made by Dr B.R Ambedkar in the development of Independent India and as a tribute to his memory on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary. During the Programme at BASE University, Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation '150 Technology Hubs' that have been developed by transforming the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across . This unique initiative developed at a cost of over Rs 4600 crore is supported by many industry partners. It aims to create a skilled workforce to address Industry 4.0 manpower needs. These Technology Hubs, through its various innovative courses, will provide high-skill training in cutting-edge technology and improve opportunities for ITI graduates in employment and entrepreneurship. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior Trinamool Congress functionary Monday said its national general secretary is likely to represent the party at the opposition meeting convened by NCP chief on June 21 over the upcoming presidential poll. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to participate in the meeting due to prior engagements. "The CM has asked to be present at the meeting. He was also there with Mamata Banerjee at the last opposition meeting on June 15," the TMC functionary said. During the June meeting called by Banerjee in Delhi to formulate a strategy for the upcoming presidential poll, it was decided that a common candidate, who will "uphold the democratic ethos of the country", will be chosen as the opposition nominee. As many as 17 parties attended the meeting. Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left were present at the meeting called by the TMC supremo, while the AAP, SAD, AIMIM, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Odisha's ruling BJD skipped it. The presidential election is conducted indirectly through an electoral college consisting of members of Parliament, and the legislative assemblies of states and Union territories. In the electoral college of around 10.86 lakh votes, the BJP-led alliance is estimated to have more than 48 per cent share, and is hopeful that non-aligned regional parties will support it. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan cabinet on Monday passed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution aimed at empowering Parliament over the executive president and now it will be tabled in Parliament, a top minister has said. The 21st Amendment is expected to annul the 20A to the Constitution, which gives unfettered powers to President Gotabaya after abolishing the 19th Amendment that will strengthen Parliament. "The 21 amendment was tabled and passed in cabinet today and will be tabled in @ParliamentLK soon. Like to thank @RW_UNP and @wijerajapakshe for pushing it through," Minister of Tourism and Lands Harin Fernando tweeted. The 21A aims, among other reforms, at barring dual citizens from contesting elections to hold public office. A section of the ruling Podujana Peramuna party (SLPP) was opposed to bringing in 21A without addressing the current . Prime Minister had batted for the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, saying it will curb the president's unlimited powers while enhancing the role of Parliament in governing the debt-ridden country which is also facing an unprecedented political turmoil. The powerful family tightened their grip on power after their massive victory in the general elections in August 2020, which allowed them to amend the Constitution to restore presidential powers and install close family members in key positions. Wickremesinghe was the main sponsor of the 19th Amendment in 2015 which empowered Parliament over the executive president. The constitutional reform was a major plank of the agreement between and Wickremesinghe when he took over the job of prime minister on May 12. has been grappling with unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka's has created political unrest with protesters demanding the President's resignation. Under the 21A, the President will be held accountable to the Parliament. The Cabinet of Ministers is also accountable to Parliament. The National Council is also accountable to Parliament. Fifteen Committees and Oversight Committees are accountable to Parliament. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Agniveers will make a solid talent pool for the IT and software sector to hire, says Naren Lokwani of Frshr Technologies Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 20 (ANI/TPT): Naren Lokwani, CEO of Bengaluru based Software firm, Frshr Technologies, said "Agniveers", who graduated from the Military's "Agnipath" program will make a solid talent pool for IT and Software companies to hire and recruit. Speaking to Reporters on the sideline of a Startup event, Naren Lokwani said, "Hiring sound technology experts is an increasingly difficult task in today's competitive IT and Software Industry. Innovative government programs like "Agnipath" will create a large pool of tech trained, disciplined and eager for success youngsters, which will be a great pool for IT and Software companies to dive in and hire their talent pool." "IT Sector growing at double the pace of GDP is finding it difficult to hire fresh professionals amidst large inflow of VC investments and Angel funds. Agnipath program will make it easy for companies like Frshr Technologies to hire candidates who understand the Defence domain, the Technology ecosystem and the application of latest technologies like AI and Machine Learning to country's forward sectors. A lot of complex tech programs in software will benefit from hiring Agniveers and by providing them with a bridge of 3-6 months of Software training, companies will benefit from their 4-year service in the Military. This will help the growth of the country, reduce unemployment and generate more profits for IT sector as well as create great software products in the Defence sector." Frshr Technologies, winner of DRDO's Dare to Dream 2.0 contest, is a specialist in AI, Machine Learning, Blockchain and Mobile Technologies. Naren Lokwani, CEO of Frshr Technologies said, "In addition to Software and Tech, Agnipath program can also provide a boost to Private Security Industry. With increase in growth of business and economic activity, there is huge demand for private security personnel, personnel security experts, and Agniveers will be the right fit for these roles in corporate security and premium residential sector. Frshr Technologies pledges to hire 25 per cent of their annual fresher talent-hiring from the Agnipath graduate pool and we look forward to a successful launch of this defence program. We congratulate Govt of India and the Defence Ministry for this ambitious program and wish them success in their nation-building endeavours." Frshr Technologies (www.frshr.tech) designs and develops Software Products based on AI, ML and Mobile Technologies for hi-tech sector. Frshr Technologies is also a "Startup for Startups" and provides Software Product Development, AI and ML, Mobile App Development, and Web App Development services for other startups and companies in India and across the globe. CEO of Frshr Technologies, Naren Lokwani is a veteran executive in Software and IT sector. He has launched several product startups, raised VC funds and managed profitable exits for his companies. At Frshr Technologies, Naren Lokwani has built a team of 60+ software engineers who build innovative software products and provide Software Product Engineering Services to companies in India and across the globe. For further details, please contact: Frshr Technologies Pvt Ltd Website: (http://www.frshr.tech) This story is provided by TPT. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/TPT) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 20 (ANI/NewsVoir): Avesthagen Limited, a biotechnology major that specializes in predictive, preventive and personalized healthcare through the convergence of food, pharma and population genetics, has entered into a four-year strategic alliance with Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, for making its genetic testing portfolio commercial. The portfolio includes genome panels offering highly specific, disease-centric analysis for conditions including cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders and rare disease conditions. Together, Avesthagen and Wipro will execute the project titled, "Cancer Risk Assessed by NGS profiling of Circulating free DNA and RNA for Lung Cancer Project related Genomics Sequencing services." The Project will be jointly led by Avesthagen and Wipro where Wipro's state-of-the-art Lifesciences lab will perform initial processing of the samples, generate data on the latest Next-generation sequencing platforms, compile genomic sequences and analyze detailed molecular information using computational AI/ML based tools. Wipro's expertise across multi-disciplinary areas of genomics and biomarker discovery, will help Avesthagen in building well-regulated workflows during the development of CALiBRx gene panels. The tests would be predominantly offered in super specialty clinics and hospitals that focus on oncological disorders. It will later strategically release diagnostic tools that address upper respiratory cancers such as head, neck and esophageal cancers. In the medium and long term, the project would lead to a new generation of genome-led medicine. CALiBRxO - the 624 gene panel - will be available in the market from Q3 2022 and will target cancers and neurological conditions. It presents a targeted screening approach of 624 genes implicated in oncological conditions. "Genomics based innovation is part of Avesthagen's DNA. The Avestagenome Project that we started in 2008 is the largest epidemiological study ever conducted on a consanguineous population worldwide. The diagnostic tools portfolio that we are launching today is the result of the collective knowledge we have amassed since and are looking forward to working with WIPRO to take clinical genetics based precision diagnostics to the people," says Dr Villoo Morawala-Patell, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Avesthagen Limited. "We are excited to join forces with Avesthagen Limited. This partnership will leverage our Tarang Lifesciences labs and R & D expertise, with the goal of identifying new disease specific biomarkers, improving genomic diversity, better healthcare outcomes and smart precision therapeutics," says Srikumar Rao, General Manager and Delivery Leader, Wipro Engineering, Wipro Limited. As per Cancer Statistics, 2020: Report From National Cancer Registry Programme, India, Lung cancer is estimated to account for over one lakh cases in the next five years in India, and almost half of the patients get diagnosed when the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body, thus critically reducing their chances of survival. This highlights the importance of identifying it at an early stage in order to increase the survival rate. The India launch will be followed by expansion in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the MENA region in Q4 2022. Over the next decade, it will license its IP and product outcomes to digital health, pharma and food companies and Fortune 500 biotech companies. Set up in 2001, Avesthagen is an India-based globally-focused biotechnology company with a corporate mission to utilize innovative science to develop new products and novel technologies for predictive, preventive and personalized healthcare and food security through the convergence of food, pharmaceuticals and population genetics. Through the Avestagenome Project, it has been championing the cause of genomic data bias where India with 1.3 billion people represents 20 per cent of the world's population but contributes less than 1 per cent of genomic data and insights. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, Cloud, analytics, and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. The company is recognized worldwide for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, and has more than 240,000 dedicated employees serving customers on six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better, bolder future. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI/SRV): Manas Ranjan Majhi, Founder & Executive Director of Majhi Group, has been honoured as "Entrepreneur of the year, 2022" by the prestigious Indian Achievers' Forum, for his achievement and contribution in Nation Building. Majhi Group is a New York based staffing and recruiting firm run by Manas Ranjan Majhi, an Indian entrepreneur. Majhi Group is a 100 per cent remote company and the first to operate globally. The award was presented to Manas in a virtual ceremony by Harish Chandra, President & Director of The Indian Achivers' Forum. The forum states, "the aim behind felicitation is to reocgnize the outstanding achievements by groups and individuals that directly or indirectly impact socio-economic welfare of India". This award recognised Manas' work in the field of revolutionising staffing services and the human first approach of recruiting, across the globe. Alongside several businesses established in the covid lockdown in 2021, Manas looks at Majhi Group as an opportunity to give back to the society, with all his learnings and resources. On receiving the award, Majhi commented, "I'm truly honored and humbled by this great recognition. We're overjoyed that our consistent efforts are making a noticeable difference in the society." Manas Majhi has been in the staffing industry for over 5 years now. Prior to his entrepreneurial journey he has worked for companies like American Express, Synpulse Management Consulting and Spartoi Group. For the last two years, Manas has been working towards building Majhi Group as a staffing solution that focuses beyond the resume-tossing culture, and takes a human-centric approach to the practice of recruitment. Majhi further added, "According to a recent report from analyst Gartner, businesses think that talent shortage is the biggest barrier to the adoption of 64 per cent of new technologies. Post pandemic, the job market globally is all the more vulnerable and needs notable efforts. At Majhi Group we focus mainly in IT recruiting and strive to support innovation-led businesses. I believe nation building heavily depends on technological development and innovation. Human capital is one of the most critical factors in this process. We are just trying to fill that gap, with the most humane approaches." During his entrepreneurial journey, he aims at driving a socio-economic change by solving human capital problems for entrepreneurs of every stage, especially start-ups. Majhi further expressed his gratitude over receiving the honour and said "We picked up a social problem and tried to solve it in the best possible way. Over the years, we have witnessed that most startups fail because there's a huge mismatch between the job roles and the talents' profiles. Getting the best talent to work for a start-up has its own set of challenges. At Majhi group, we are trying to solve that. As per CNBC reports, a March survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that a record-high 42 per cent of start-up owners had job openings that could not be filled. This hints towards how the talent acquisition process around the world is witnessing a cultural shift, especially with the rising start-up ecosystem." Taking the journey forward, Manas aims to continue working towards bringing a cultural, social & operational shift in talent acquisition ecosystem. To know more, please visit - (https://www.majhigroup.com) This story is provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI/PNN): Known for its freshness and healthy ingredients, Kerala based food Product Company Nuttery recently launched its D2C website (https://nuttery.co) to bridge the gap between the brand and its consumers. The website aims to provide its consumers with a seamless user experience with information at their fingertips. The elegant and minimal user interface design is used in the website to give the customers an easy and user-friendly experience. Nuttery aims to produce high-quality, tasty, and healthy food products in ergonomic and beautiful packaging so that consumers can enjoy the moments and share happiness with family, friends, and the community. Interestingly, the packaging and website are specifically designed to bring cheer to faces, and be fun and inspirational. Considering this in mind the packaging was designed to incorporate elements of food and kitchen artwork in vibrant colors which resonate with kids and families. How it all started? FMCG products are usually 1-3 months old by the time customers gets their hands on it. This happens because of the age old supply channels and distribution networks. Adding to the fact that 12 months shelf life (with preservatives and artificial additives) is only a way for the manufacturers to sell the product even after months from production. Breaking this chain of practice, Joseph Joy and Divya Paul came forward with the idea to sell the customers fresh products with the use of modern day technology and logistics. The mission was simple- deliver fresh peanut butter to the customers and spread joy. After a lot of researches and contacting various international manufacturers, and machinery suppliers, finally Nuttery came into existence, bringing a revolution in the Indian FMCG market. Speaking about the brand, Joseph Joy the Founder of Nuttery said, "We wanted to start with a product which is healthy, new to the Indian market, and something that can be enjoyed by a family on the breakfast table, at lunch break or as part of a cozy evening snack. We aim to manufacture today and ship tomorrow so that customers can enjoy the real taste. We wanted to serve a healthy product avoiding all the artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors." Nuttery products Nuttery produces creamy and crunchy varieties of peanut butter. The best quality peanuts are collected directly from the farms in south India and the peanut butter is prepared in small batches using minimal high-quality ingredients, avoiding artificial colors, preservatives, and taste enhancers. What makes it interesting is that the butter is served fresh to the customers, so that they can enjoy its real taste. Along with this, Nuttery is soon going to introduce a single ingredient 100 per cent natural peanut butter and sugar-free peanut butter shortly to the market. Currently, they are working on new variants of peanut butter. You can follow Nuttery on social media platform such as Instagram at (https://www.instagram.com/nuttery.co) for interesting recipes and future updates. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI/NewsVoir): Solis Yanmar, the flagship brand of International Tractors Limited, has been significantly expanding its market presence not just in India but across the globe. After making a grand debut in 2013 in Turkey - the 4th world's largest tractor market, the premium tractor brand now strongly holds the No.1 tractor exports position in the country. Powered by its advanced technology-equipped tractor range, the company is also the fastest-growing tractor brand in Turkey. Banking on the 100 years of Japanese technology experience, Solis Yanmar is now fully prepared to remain ahead of the competitive market and expand its compact tractor range with launch of 3 new models in up to 30 HP segment in Turkey. Equipped with proven Japanese technologies, the tractors will further raise the performance bar in the local tractor market. The company also recently unveiled the Solis 75 HP CRDi tractor in the Izmir and Konya National fairs held in February & March 2022 respectively. The company has a leadership position in 12 European countries in the addressable segment. Turkey has been among the leading markets with 70,000+ tractor sales annually and Solis Yanmar has a strong product offering in the less than 100 HP segment with more than 10 models and 20+ variants for the Agricultural and Compact tractor category. Solis entered into a strategic partner with Yanmar Turkey Machine a.s. in 2017 to set up an assembly plant and tractor distribution operations in Izmir, Turkey. The state-of-the-art facility is well equipped with superior tools and techniques to roll out 3,000+ units locally annually. Solis Yanmar has established a robust presence in the entire Turkish market with 50+ dealerships & close to 100 sales points across the country. The company also has 200+ dedicated service centres linked to these dealers to serve its end customers. Sharing his thoughts on the growing market performance, Raman Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Solis Yanmar, said, "We are proudly a happy family of 5,000+ customers of Solis tractors that are running successfully on Turkish fields. We feel delighted to share that we are the fastest growing tractor brand in Turkey while strongly holding the No.1 tractor exports brand position. The Turkish market has a huge demand for tractors between 30-90 HP making our Solis 50 and Solis 90 to be the star products for us. Our S26 model has 88 per cent market share in calendar year of 2021 and overall we have captured 8 per cent market share in Turkey. We also recently unveiled the 75 HP CRDi tractor in the Izmir and Konya National fairs held in February and March 2022 respectively which was much appreciated. We are now expanding our compact tractor range in up to 30 HP with the launch of 3 new models with Japanese technologies to address the niche segment and take the Turkish tractor market by storm." This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) . So far, the outcome of most World Trade Organization or WTO meetings has been nothing but disagreement. Members of the inter-governmental organization -- which regulates and facilitates international trade -- had agreed only once on a global deal in its 27-year history. That happened in 2013 at the Ninth Ministerial Conference in the Indonesia island of Bali. And the deal struck was the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which cut red tape on the treatment of goods crossing borders. The second-ever such multilateral agreement, which was related to fishery subsidies, that created new global trading rules came nearly nine years later last Friday at twelfth Ministerial Conference, dubbed the MC12, in Geneva. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called it unprecedented. The Ministerial Conference is the topmost decision-making body of the WTO that typically meets every two years and brings together all its 164 members. The latest meeting was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020 but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially scheduled to end on June 15, the ministerial gathering was extended by two days to allow more time for reaching agreements. On June 17, after more than five days of gruelling negotiations, WTO members hammered out a string of decisions on fishing subsidies, COVID-19 vaccine production, food security and e-commerce, among others. The WTO works on the principle of consensus, which means even a single member can block an agreement for any reason. The accord to curb subsidies and overcapacity in the fishing industry wrapped up 21 years of negotiations on the matter. And it was the first time that an agreement was concluded on sustainability grounds. Governments dole out $35 billion in fishing subsidies annually, of which $20 billion directly contributes to overfishing. The WTO agreement bans any subsidy for vessels or operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, with a two-year exemption for developing countries including India within their exclusive economic zones, or 200 nautical miles. Similarly, it also prohibits subsidies for fishing in overfished stocks, with a two-year relief for poorer nations. Indias demand to extend the 12 nautical mile limit to 200 has been agreed but its demand for a 25-year transition period for developing countries was not granted. India argued that it gives barely $15 in subsidy every year to a fisher family while some developed countries give as much as $75,000. Nearly 9 million fisher families in India receive support from the government. India and some other developing countries, however, won concessions that removed an entire chapter from a proposal that could have threatened some types of subsidies favouring small-scale, artisanal fishing. The fisheries subsidy agreement expires in four years unless WTO members broaden it to include new rules to fight overfishing and overcapacity. After over 20 months of discussions, a partial patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines found its place in the so-called Geneva Package. India, South Africa and 60 other countries had sought a waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. But the deal only allows developing countries to issue licences to domestic companies for the manufacture and export of Covid-19 vaccine for five years without the consent of the patent holders, although they must be compensated. Coming too late into the pandemic, the deal may not have a meaningful impact on production amid an oversupply of vaccines. WTO members will however consider extending the waiver to therapeutics and diagnostics after six months. Indias demand to allow it to export foodgrain from its public stockholding could also not be agreed upon. Existing rules dont allow WTO members to export subsidised grains, as it may distort global food prices. WTO members, meanwhile, agreed against imposing export restrictions on foodstuffs purchased for humanitarian purposes by the UN World Food Programme. India has also been constantly demanding a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security. This was in fact Indias topmost priority for the Geneva WTO meeting, according to Commerce Minister . But the issue has been pushed to the next ministerial. Agricultural subsidies for developing countries such as India are capped at 10% of the value of production, based on the 1986-88 reference price. WTO members also agreed to maintain the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until the next ministerial conference. Such e-transmissions are worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year. The moratorium was adopted in 1998 and has been periodically extended. An end to the moratorium, which India has been demanding, would pave way for tariffs on movies and music streaming, emails and video calls, game downloads, software updates, financial transactions and corporate data flows. India, along with countries like South Africa and Indonesia, insists that the moratorium is depriving them of customs revenue from digital products, especially new technologies like 3D printing, big-data analytics and artificial intelligence. India says a reconsideration of the moratorium is important for developing countries to preserve policy space for their digital advancement, regulate imports and generate customs revenue. . . . The Tanaiste and Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment, Leo Varadkar, the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy and Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English today announced a new 85m fund to help Irish businesses go digital. The Fund will be used to help companies use digital technology like AI, cloud computing and big data to improve their products, processes, supply chains and services. The funding aims to help companies at all stages of their digital journey from going online to facilitating exporting and to using digital technologies to reach new markets and improve their productivity and competitiveness. The Digital Transition Fund has been allocated funding of 85m during the period to 2026 as part of Irelands National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Of this, 10 million will be available in 2022. It will be administered by Enterprise Ireland. A new online website is also being developed which will allow companies assess what their needs are and point towards their next steps to improve their offering through digital technology. Additionally, Minister Troy will host a series of Grow Digital Workshops in regional locations from the end of June and throughout July. Commenting on the initiative, The Tanaiste said, "Digital technology has transformed so much of our everyday lives, vastly improving it in many ways. From how we get around, to how we work, to how we access services and communicate with one another, digital technology has massively disrupted traditional ways of doing things. The trend is only going one way and our lives are only going to become more integrated with digital technology. That is why we need to make sure our SMEs are prepared. This 85m will fund businesses looking to use cutting edge technology like artificial intelligence to improve how they make their products and services. It will fund new equipment and software, staff training and expertise." He added, "I know the whole area can be a bit overwhelming to some and many businesses dont know where to start. Rest assured, we will meet you at whatever stage youre at. Were also developing a new website that will allow you input your details and find out what help is available for you, according to your individual circumstances." Source: www.businessworld.ie JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 28 others, including a provincial health official, were wounded after a bomb explosion ripped through a district bazaar in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Monday, a local official said. The incident occurred in Ghani Khil district in the morning and the wounded were transported to hospitals, district chief Mawlawi Seddiqullah told Xinhua. The blast took place when the vehicle of the district hospital chairman Hijratullah was passing by the area, the official said, adding that he was wounded in the incident. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. In recent months, the country has been hit by a series of terror attacks reportedly staged by militants of the Islamic State (IS) group opposing the Taliban-led caretaker government. On Saturday, two people were killed and seven others were wounded in an armed attack against a Sikh-Hindu temple in the Afghan capital Kabul. The IS group claimed responsibility for the attack later. More houses were ruined as Russia launched new attacks in Ukraines two biggest cities Kyiv and Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials said that Russia fired 14 missiles at the Kyiv region on Sunday morning, causing at least one death and four injuries. More people were evacuated from the premises of the Azot chemical plant after Russia announced full control of Severodonetsk Saturday after weeks of fierce fighting Jun 27, 2022 06:48 PM MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A Saudi Arabian Airlines plane from Riyadh veered off the runway shortly after landing in the Philippine capital Manila on Monday, with 399 passengers and 21 crew on board all evacuated. The initial report said the Boeing 777-368 aircraft landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 1:47 p.m. local time and was taxiing to a terminal when one of its landing gears got stuck in a grassy area. Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio told Xinhua over the phone that all passengers and crew were safe. He said the accident did not affect the airport's operation, saying the investigation is underway. At this point, were not entirely sure if this was supposed to be a secret, but thanks to a couple of sales agents, we finally have our firs... VIENTIANE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Laos have for the first time achieved the two-way transmission of electricity since the two countries' grid connectivity project was launched 12 years ago. The Nam Tha 1 Hydropower Station in northern Laos successfully sent electricity to Yunnan Province in Southwest China on Monday. In order to help consume the surplus hydropower in Laos during the rainy seasons, China Southern Power Grid (CSG) and Electricite du Laos (EDL) signed a 115 kV power trade agreement in March. China and Laos agreed to send extra hydropower from Laos to Yunnan Province in rainy seasons, while in dry seasons, CSG will supplement the power supply to northern Laos. Re. Bad luck or just bad drivers? (Castanet, June 18) I drove to Vancouver and back last weekend and I must say, the traffic was crazy busy all the way to and from downtown Vancouver. But the scariest and most dangerous parts of the whole trip were from Kelowna to Gormans Mill area in West Kelowna. The (drivers) in Kelowna take bad and dangerous driving to a new level. Drivers running red lights in this town are the scariest of all. They blow through intersections, smiling as if its their God-given right to do so. This is particularly upsetting for me as I was almost killed by a three-quarter ton truck blowing through a red light at night two years ago. Telling drivers to smarten up is not working. We need red light cameras in the city in the worst way. Bill Ferguson As Putin claims, it would appear the Western democracies' sanctions on oil and natural gas are backfiring. Prices are up, non-aligned countries are buying. Russia is supplying their choice of addicts and in Canada , our virtuous and righteous environmentalists and climate crusading politicians can take a bow for making it easy for Putin to refill his war chest. Canada has indirectly, and directly, helped supply both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Canada, of similar population and economic might as Australia, and having larger natural gas reserves, has zero LNG export capabilities compared to 10and countingdown under. Australia (receives) tens of billions of dollars in cash yearly via exports of LNG to Asian buyers. Canada zero. China and India are two obvious export targets for Canadian oil and LNG from the west coast, and are soaking up Russian hydrocarbons instead. TMX and LNG Canada lost the race because Ottawa was watching the weather forecast. And Russia's war chest fills with gold. Europe is heading toward natural gas rationing in a heat wave because a country like Canada wouldn't easily share its resource wealth with the world. We have a coastline directly opposite that of Europe. Europe is going back to coal thanks to a lack of LNG supply. Where's Canada been? Everybody's looking elsewhere. Maybe LNG from Africa. Maybe heavy oil from Venezuela. More oil from Saudi Arabia. Blunder after strategic blunder. Our federal and many provincial leaders somehow conflate huge and cold Canada, population 37 million, with small, conjoined European countries having a total population of 445 million and more temperate climates with a walk or bicycle ride between towns. We cannot be an equal member of that climate crusading club. We are different. We could be the clean energy dealer. Europe is addicted and we could supply clean drugs coal is a dirty fix. If Canada had actually gone ahead years ago and built pipeline capacity to the east coast via Energy East and not delayed and red-taped every pipeline and LNG proposal in the West and maybe championed our natural wealth and innovation, we could have been a major blow to Putin's war designs on Ukraine and Europe and NATO would not be so hesitant to curtail Russian oil and gas imports as they are. We also could have offered India and China a viable alternate, as a long-term resource host. Conflict-free, ethical energy from Canada. The federal Liberals are now scrambling with talk, and promises - more apt to be broken than acted upon - based on its seven-year history. An east coast LNG terminal has been promised. But its too little and way too late. It'll be 10 years, if ever and Russia will continue to supply Asia. LNG Canada is three years out, and TMX is well over a year into late 2023. Too little too late, Canada. we've missed the chance to offer the world energy options. Most of the world, envious of our rich wealth of natural resources, must shake their head, if not in wonderment at our naivete and folly, then in anger at what could have been a more peaceful path of global history. If only Canada had acted. We need to act with decisiveness and intent in our immediate use of Canada's natural wealth. This in our realization that the world is not close at all to the globalist commune of Liberal sunny days envisioned for Canada's future seven years ago. Canada can make a worldly difference if we choose a new future wisely. We have helped create a warring monster through our energy naivete and delays once. Let's not be foolish twice. Neil Stephenson, Kelowna Photo: The Canadian Press Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures after arriving at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, England, Saturday, June 18, 2022. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had an operation on his sinuses under general anaesthetic on Monday, his office said. Johnsons spokesman, Max Blain, said the prime minister was back at his 10 Downing Street home and resting after the routine procedure. He said the operation had been scheduled in advance and was performed by medics working for the state-funded National Health Service at a London hospital. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab filled in for Johnson during the operation. Johnson was hospitalized in intensive care with the coronavirus in April 2020. Blain said Mondays procedure was unrelated to COVID-19. Johnson, 58, is due to travel to a Commonwealth conference in Rwanda later this week and to attend Group of Seven and NATO summits later this month. Photo: Ian Harland/Canada's National Observer International student and Save Old Growth leader Zain Haq is worried the Canada Border Services Agency plans to deport him. ?An international student leading a controversial civil resistance campaign to end old-growth logging in B.C. is fearful the Canada Border Services Agency is looking to deport him. Zain Haq, a co-founder of the Save Old Growth (SOG) protest group behind a recent series of highway blockades across the province, has been ordered to show up at a CBSA office. The third-year history major at Simon Fraser University who hails from Pakistan is in Canada on a study permit, a document issued by Immigration Canada. The 21-year-old activist has gone into hiding after talking to a number of lawyers who advised him its likely CBSA wants to detain him. He has yet to find a lawyer who will represent him. Basically, what all of them suggested to me was that I should pack light and be prepared to travel, Haq told Canadas National Observer on Thursday. Ultimately, Haq is worried CBSA intends to deport him because of his activist work. Its my suspicion and other people's suspicion that its due to political reasons, he said. Im feeling very anxious because it's very rapid. Its a lot to actually process and work with. Some conditions for obtaining a study permit include obeying the law and the absence of a criminal record. The SFU student has been arrested 10 times for acts of civil resistance at various climate-related protests since 2020. And on Feb. 15, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail for criminal contempt of court after violating an injunction involving the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX). He was also fined $1,500 in B.C.'s Provincial Court for his involvement in an Extinction Rebellion protest against TMX on Nov. 27 that blocked a Canadian National Railway line in Burnaby. And hes currently facing five charges of mischief, he said. But despite being locked up for contempt of court, Haq doesnt believe it technically results in a criminal record. CBSA officers visited his apartment twice early this week when he wasnt there, Haq said. In the first instance on Monday, CBSA officers left a letter for him with his roommate ordering Haq to attend the border agency offices the next morning or risk arrest. They returned again the following day. Haq said he didnt see the letter until the morning in question and had no time to respond or seek legal advice. The threatening letter did not provide any information about why he was being told to attend the border agency. The CBSA summons occurred the same day Save Old Growth launched its recent campaign pledging a rash of road blockades in June. Thered been no prior phone calls or letters before agents suddenly knocked on his door, he added. Haq will try to avoid contact with CBSA until he can finish preparing along with SOG organizers for his possible deportation. But he also intends to present himself to the border agency once he's obtained legal counsel. Because Im one of the central co-ordinators, this is a really bad time for this to happen, he said. It's really important that our mobilization doesn't collapse. So, Im just trying right now to figure out what the plan is for me potentially not being in the city. CBSA cant provide information on specific cases generally considered protected under the Privacy Act, said Rebecca Purdy, CBSA senior spokesperson in an email to Canadas National Observer. However, the agency has a legal obligation to remove all foreign nationals and permanent residents who violate the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Purdy wrote. But before taking any enforcement action, CBSA reviews all relevant factors related to a case in tandem with IRPA violations outlined in sections 34 to 42, she said, noting cases that involve safety and security issues are prioritized. Serious inadmissibility cases (those involving criminality, national security, war crimes, humans rights violations and organized crime) are a top priority for the CBSA, she added. All individuals who are subject to enforcement action by the CBSA have access to due process and procedural fairness, she said. Those being removed have either exhausted, or chosen not to pursue further legal recourse and have no legal right to remain in Canada. But Haq questions whether his activities to emphasize the gravity of the climate catastrophe should be deemed illegal while governments' failure to act in the global emergency is not. Our framing is that the illegal activities are being conducted by the government, and we're trying to do something about it. He acknowledged theres a measure of risk for anyone who takes part in civil disobedience movements. Other people stopped caring about their status, their jobs and their careers to enter resistance and risk arrest, Haq said. Putting ourselves in harm's way is how we maximize the likelihood of success, he said, adding SOGs fearlessness has made it possible to attract and mobilize a large number of people. The dangers of the accelerating climate crisis are greater than any individual personal risk, he said. Were faced with mass starvation and extreme likelihood of societal collapse over the next few years. The 21-year-old activist said he could face political persecution if he is indeed deported back to Pakistan. Its very likely because I'll obviously be engaging in similar activities if I go back, and that could obviously lead to my imprisonment, or worse, Haq said. Whether Im in Canada or back home, I think political persecution is going to be common if you're going to be on the right side of history. With files from Patricia Lane / Canadas National Observer Photo: The Canadian Press Former leader of the Parti Quebecois Andre Boisclair arrives at the courthouse in Montreal, Monday, June 20, 2022. Former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair has pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault. Boisclair, 56, was charged in separate cases involving two alleged victims whose identities are covered by a publication ban.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes Former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair pleaded guilty today to two charges of sexual assault. Boisclair, 56, was charged in separate cases involving two alleged victims whose identities are covered by a publication ban. He pleaded guilty in a Montreal courtroom to one count of sexual assault with the participation of another person and one count of sexual assault. A third count of sexual assault with a weapon that he faced was suspended. Boisclair was a provincial cabinet minister and served as PQ leader between 2005 and 2007 when the party was in opposition. He was later Quebec's delegate general in New York from 2012 to 2013 and was president of the Urban Development Institute of Quebec from 2016 until his arrest. White tower, a recently built replica of Dharahara that was built two centuries ago, got illuminated with lights on the eve of International Day of Yoga in Nepal. The tower, which stands next to the Army Pavilion, was beaming with lights as messages of 'International Day of Yoga 2022' and 'YogaForHumanity' were rolled out. "On the eve of #InternationalDayOfYoga2022 the Iconic #Dharahara tower in #Kathmandu spreading the message of #YogaForHumanity #YogaForPeaceAndHarmony," the Indian Mission in Nepal tweeted with photos where some of the yoga enthusiasts were seen posing in various "yogasanas" The lighting ceremony was organized by Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center under the Indian Mission in Nepal on June 20. International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on 21 June since 2015, following its inception in the United Nations General Assembly in 2014. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his UN address, had suggested the date of 21 June specifically as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares a special significance in many parts of the world. June 21 is observed as the International Yoga Day, recognising the benefits of the ancient Indian practice of Yoga. On the eighth International Day of Yoga which will be celebrated on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform Yoga at Mysore Palace in Karnataka, while 75 Ministers from his cabinet will do Yoga at 75 historical and cultural sites in the country. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will perform Yoga at Delhi's Lotus Temple. (ANI) Iranian cement sales decline in May ICR Newsroom By 20 June 2022 The Iranian cement market contracted 11.6 per cent YoY to 5.11Mt in May 2022 from 5.78Mt in May 2021, according to the Iranian cement association. In addition to domestic deliveries, 0.301Mt of cement and 0.558Mt of clinker was exported in May 2022. This represents a YoY decrease of 11.5 per cent for cement (May 2021: 0.34Mt) and 29.4 per cent for clinker (May 2021: 0.79Mt) Output of cement declined 11.8 per cent YoY to 5.38Mt in May 2022 when compared with the year-ago period when cement production reached 6.1Mt. However, clinker production increased 3.4 per cent YoY to 6.91Mt from 6.68Mt. Published under DHAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The floods triggered by heavy seasonal rains and onrush of water have wreaked havoc in parts of Bangladesh with the deluge claiming more casualties Monday, taking the death toll to 20. Millions of people have still been left marooned or homeless by the severe floods in about a dozen Bangladesh districts. According to the daily flood report of the country's Health Emergency Operation Center and Control Room on Monday, at least eight people have died in lightning in the flood-hit areas of four Bangladesh districts while four died in a landslide in southeastern Chattogram district since June 16. Another death was reported Monday from Sylhet's Sunamganj district, some 296 km northeast of Dhaka, where the body of a policeman who was washed away in flood waters on Thursday night was recovered on Saturday night. Also, an ill-fated baby was swept away by the major Teesta after he slipped from his mother's lap on their way to a flood shelter on Sunday in Bangladesh's Gaibandha district, some 268 km northwest of capital Dhaka. Apart from them, six more people died on Sunday with tens of thousands evacuated to nearly 1,000 flood shelters, mainly in the country's northeastern Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, where the entire six million population is reported to have been affected by the worst-ever floods in more than a century. In the disaster situation report prepared by the country's National Disaster Response Coordination Center under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, thousands of families were forced to flee home in about 10 Bangladesh districts. Local TV reports showed widespread damage to habitation, crops, roads and highways across vast swathes of the country's mainly northeastern region due to the flooding. According to Flood Forecasting and Warning Center, water levels in different rivers of the country may rise again this week, leading to fresh flooding in some areas. Md Kamrul Hasan, secretary of Bangladesh's Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, had earlier told Xinhua that tens of thousands of policemen, Bangladesh Army soldiers and emergency service staff members have been deployed in parts of the country to assist search and rescue efforts. "Bangladesh Army soldiers have already been deployed as floods devastated the northeastern districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet," he said. Officials said the onrush of water from hills across the Indian borders has virtually worsened the situation in the northeastern Sylhet region. Bangladeshi State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman told journalists Saturday that both the government and private agencies of the country are working together in the Sylhet region, which has been facing the worst floods in 122 years. Charles Smith did the ornate stonework on the First National Bank building at Eighth and Broad 521 Pine when it was the Stoneleigh Apartments - photo by From the Pat St. Charles, Jr., Collection scanned by Sam Hall, Chattanoogahistory.com A tall stone house with distinctive windows circled by stone on the left front and the sides was a landmark on the side of historic Cameron Hill. The home of marble and stone dealer Charles Edward Smith at 521 Pine St. was among those toppled by Urban Renewal. Smith was born in Germany and as a youth made his way to America. He trained in the stone works of Muldoon Marble Co. at Louisville, Ky. When a wealthy Cleveland, Tn., family wanted to build a handsome white marble Gothic mausoleum in honor of their daughter, the young Smith was sent to oversee its construction. Nina Cragmiles was seven years old when she went on a buggy ride on Oct. 18, 1871. The horse spooked at a railroad crossing and she was struck by a train and killed. The Cragmiles family also built a church at the site, St. Luke's Episcopal. There is an urban legend that the white marble "bleeds" out of sadness for the loss of Nina. Smith met and married a Cleveland girl, Annie A. Hartdegan, so he did not return to Louisville. The couple lived at Cleveland until moving to Chattanooga in 1881. He started a marble and stone business on Market Street at the site where D.B. Loveman's Department Store was later built. His first job was to place stepping stones across muddy Market Street so pedestrians could make their way across to the jewelry store of the Fischer brothers. Smith did the stonework on many of the city's leading buildings, including the First National Bank building and the Dome Building. He did many of the monuments at Chickamauga Battlefield, including all of those honoring the Ohio soldiers. This included the towering Ohio Monument at Missionary Ridge. Charles Smith built his handsome stone home at the end of Pine near Sixth Street in 1890. The Smiths lived there until they moved to a house on Oak Street about 1902. Daniel H. Debardalaben was the next occupant of the stone house. Frank L. Miller, vice president of Miller Brothers department store, lived there in the 1920s. Later it was in use as the Eagles Home. As the final days of Cameron Hill approached, it was converted to the Stoneleigh Apartments. A woman on Pisgah Avenue told police that a man parked his RV on her property without permission. She said he ignored her when she asked him to move the RV and she did not hear from him. Police spoke with the man and he said he would be on the way to resolve the issue. The woman said she needed a report made in case she has to tow the RV. * * * A man called police from the tow lot at 4300 Rossville Blvd. and explained that his vehicle (a Cadillac Escalade, TN tag ) was towed from his apartment complex to this location. He said that he was parked in the handicap spot and has a handicap placard that goes on his dashboard. He believes that his car was improperly towed. Police then spoke with the owner of the tow lot, who said that he did tow the vehicle and there was no handicap markings of any kind. Police and the man went to the vehicle and found that the handicap placard was near the cup holder of the vehicle, appearing as if it had fallen off of the dashboard and was not clearly visible. The man agreed to pay the tow fee and then left the lot without further incident. * * * A woman on N. Moore Road told police that someone signed for a mail delivery and stole concert tickets worth $147. * * * A manager told police that a gas tanker pulled up to deliver gas at the Sam's Club Gas Station, 6101 Lee Hwy. At the same time, a man driving a white diesel truck became angry because he was now cut off from getting gas. She said the man got out of his vehicle, removed one of the cones and told a couple of workers that he would be back to "kick their -----." The man inched his vehicle slowly towards one of the workers, and then vacated the area. The manager said she just needed to document the report in case the man returned to Sam's Club. Police told her to contact Dispatch if he returned. * * * A woman told police that she came out to the parking lot from work at Amazon, 7200 Discovery Dr., and she observed the rear driver's side door of her vehicle ( Black Jeep Cherokee with a Temp-tag) was damaged. Police observed a small dent in the rear driver-side door. * * * A man showed police a video he took of a white male trying to open the side door to Ankar's restaurant at 510 Broad St. It appeared the man was going through several keys on a key ring to try to unlock the door. The man finally gave up and walked off, the video shows. Police were not able to locate the man. * * * Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop at 2300 E. 3rd St. on a black Infiniti sedan. The vehicle fled, headed south, and Police were unable to gather any suspect information. * * * A vehicle reported stolen from the Speedway, 3956 Brainerd Road, was located and recovered by East Ridge PD at Camp Jordan. The vehicle was removed from NCIC and the owner took possession. * * * Police observed a black Chevy Trailblazer displaying temp tag at 1801 Duncan Ave. Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop, when the vehicle fled. Police deployed a GPS tracking device, which fell off the suspect vehicle after approximately three minutes. * * * A woman on Givens Road told police that her husband has been harassing her since they separated. She said he has sent her text messages making vague threats. She said one of the texts said he was serious when he said "until death do us part." The woman wanted a paper trail made in case he came to the home. * * * While Police were responding to a disorder at the Hayden Place Apartments, 271 Acorn Oaks Circle, a prescription bottle of Dimenhydrinate was found in the area. The suspect and victim both claimed it belonged to an unknown party, who Police could not locate. The prescription pills were taken down to Property. * * * A disorder was reported at a residence on 14th Avenue. A man and woman said they were in a verbal argument over the man supposedly having an affair with another woman. Police were able to get both of them to calm down and separate for the night. * * * Police observed an unoccupied black Jeep Compass behind Notre Dame High School, 2701 Vermont Ave., after hours. Police spoke with a man in the vehicle, who identified himself as an alumni of the school and said he was just reminiscing. A warrant check was conducted showing no active warrants. The man left the area without incident. * * * While on scene for a different call for service, police observed a white Jeep Compass with a black top and Florida tag come from the rear of the hotel connected to City Cafe, 901 Carter St. As it passed the police vehicle, the officer recognized the windows to be tinted darker than the legal limit. At that time. the officer turned his vehicle around to get behind the Jeep and activated his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop. At that time the Jeep accelerated at a high rate of speed on the entrance ramp of I-24 southbound. The vehicle continued onto I-24 westbound and turned off all its lights. At that time the officer turned off his emergency equipment and disengaged. * * * A woman on August Drive told police that she and a man were not getting along and having issues about him continuing to stay in the residence. Police were able to get the man to stay somewhere else for the evening. The man left without incident. * * * Police observed a woman walking through the parking lot at the Motel Six, 2440 Williams St., around 4:30 a.m.. Officers asked her if she was okay and she said she was staying in the hotel and needed some fresh air. * * * A man told police that when he arrived at work at SAK Construction, 2701 Chestnut St., that morning, he found that three truck batteries (worth $1,500) had been stolen. No suspect information was available. * * * A man at LeafGuard pf Chattanooga, 4054 S. Access Road, told police that someone stole two catalytic converters off of two of the company's work vans sometime during the night. He said the second of the two vehicle's catalytic converter was hanging off the vehicle. He tole police he will continue to view the business security footage and if anything helpful is on it he will contact police. * * *' Police located a woman sleeping on the sidewalk at 306 Market St. She was awakened and found to be ok. She got up and gathered her things to leave the area, including throwing away the trash found around her on the ground. She left the area to find sleep elsewhere, as requested. * * * A man at Star Construction, 4030 S. Access Road, told police that someone attempted to take the catalytic converter off one of the company's vehicles, but left it hanging. He said the suspect(s) tool several small construction tools off the back of two of the company's vehicles. He also said the suspect(s) left a backpack that contained several items, including a cell phone, inside. He reported it was found outside of the business's locked front fence that morning. He told police he will view the business security cameras and notify police if he observes anything that will assist with the incident. The back pack was collected and turned into the CPD Property Division as evidence found. * * * A woman told police that the day before around 4-4:30 p.m. she was at Pop's & Granny's Thrift store, 3238 Wilcox Blvd. She said she left her wallet lying on the front seat of her cousin's Subaru with the window down. She said while inside the store, someone stole her wallet and its contents. * * * An employee with Fresenius Medical Care, 3810 Brainerd Road, told police someone stole the catalytic converter from the business vehicle. He said the vehicle was parked inside a fenced area when the theft occurred. There is no suspect information. * * * A man on Vista Hills Drive told police he was in a disorder with another man. He said he paid the other man to work on his vehicle, but the other man is not returning the vehicle. He said he wanted police to stand by as he spoke with the other man and reclaimed his property. Police spoke to the other man, who said the man owes him money for the work that he completed. Both men came to an agreement and exchanged property. Police left the area without further incident. * * * A disorder was reported at the First Church of the Nazarene, 5455 Terrace. A man told police he and a woman were in a meeting at the church and the woman started accusing him of things that were not true. He said the woman got in his face yelling, and spit landed on his face. He said she was threatening him, but then said she was just yelling at him for things they were disagreeing on. The man said he wanted this documented. The BLVD Project and Rossville Downtown Development Authority are teaming up to host a series of open-air markets this summer. The second market will be hosted on Friday, July 1, from 4-8 p.m. with a live performance by Ryan Oyer beginning at 5:30 p.m. Flora De Mel will be the alcohol and food vendor and vendors with Culture Chatt will also be there to provide ethnic food options. Guests can expect a wide variety of other retailers, including produce, flowers, original artwork, and consumable goods. The first market in June was a success, with 15 vendors and hundreds of visitors, said officials. The market will be at 207 Chickamauga Ave. in Rossville, with the last market of the summer on Aug. 5. The Executive Director of The BLVD Project, Heather Herweyer, said the group decided to host open-air markets after completing a series of workshops led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The workshops were granted to a select few cities across the country to stimulate economic development, repurpose vacant lots, and increase community access to fresh produce. A market in this area seemed like it would have the most potential to lead to future development," said Ms. Herweyer. "Residents in our area are always traveling to other parts of Chattanooga/North Georgia to have fun and procure goods. We wanted to test our hypothesis that if fun events were offered in our area, people would stay here and spend their money on our local businesses here. Executive Director for Rossville Downtown Development Authority, Tobey Hill, says the markets will give residents a chance to feel Rossville. This event gives us a much-needed opportunity to be a destination - even if it is just for a few hours," said Mr. Hill. "We want people to begin to see and experience Rossville differently, and I think this outdoor market series will be a vital step forward in inviting people to come in and experience our community." The markets will feature local businesses like Flora de Mel. Owner Jay Martin says the events will be a welcomed change. As a new business in Rossville, Flora de Mel is thrilled to see more light coming to the area. Artists' markets bring energy, creativity, and much-needed love to downtown Rossville, and we very much look forward to participating." The Blvd is a group of neighbors, businesses, property owners, and passionate citizens. Several sponsors are committed to the inaugural markets, including Bridge Innovate, Simply Bank, and CSL Plasma. To become a vendor, learn more about the event, or donate, visit www.rossvillega.gov/rossville-blvd-market for more information. CHI Memorial Hospital Chattanooga has received the American Heart Associations Gold Plus Get With The Guidelines - Stroke quality achievement award, and CHI Memorial Hospital Hixson has received the AHAs Silver Plus Get With The Guidelines - Stroke quality achievement award. "These awards show CHI Memorials commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability," officials said. "Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times. "Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines - Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death." CHI Memorial is committed to improving patient care by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines, Diona Brown, market senior vice president, cardiovascular and neurosciences. Get With The Guidelines makes it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, which studies show can help patients recover better. The end goal is to ensure more people in Chattanooga and the surrounding counties can experience longer, healthier lives. "Each year, program participants qualify for the award by demonstrating how their organization has committed to providing quality care for stroke patients. In addition to following treatment guidelines, Get With The Guidelines participants also educate patients to help them manage their health and recovery at home," officials said. We are incredibly pleased to recognize CHI Memorial for its commitment to caring for patients with stroke, said Steven Messe, M.D., chairperson of the Stroke System of Care Advisory Group. Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates a win for health care systems, families, and communities. CHI Memorial Hospital Chattanooga and Hixson also received the American Heart Associations Target: StrokeSM Elite Plus award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patients arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-busting medication. Both hospitals also received the American Heart Associations Target: Type 2 Honor Roll award. Target: Type 2 Diabetes aims to ensure patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke. CHI Memorial meets specific scientific guidelines as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. Within the Chattanooga city limits, the 6300 block of Fairview Road, a residential Hixson yard continuously displays two full-size flags, offensive to most locals, on a tall pole close to the street. That street has major exposure as a heavily travelled main, two-lane route. One flag defames by name an elected official with a huge obscene four-letter word, illegal in many public communications. The other is a defaced United States flag, half stars and stripes and half Confederate flag. A Chattanooga City Councilman tells residents personally, upon inquiry, there is no ordinance, law, etc., to prevent this. If true, what a shame, that we neighbors must see these daily, must explain them to our children, and must apologize to Chattanooga visitors for unnecessary foul language and unpatriotic disrespect for our country's flag. Is this the kind of resident who would yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, if he/she could get away with it? As responsible city citizens, let's tell our city fathers to clean up Chattanooga in every way. A way can always be made through conscientious government. Even with the city's many problems, in these times there are no small problems. Rebecca Rolston-Miller * * * Nowadays, many people think ideas offensive to them, or just different from what they believe, should be "cleaned up" or outlawed altogether. I agree with Ms. Rolston-Miller that Chattanooga has problems bigger than hurt feelings caused by someone's flags -- like the epidemic of violent crime, which the mayor and police chief can't seem to get under control -- but wonder if "most locals" find the flags in question as offensive as she does. Censorship ("free speech for me but not for thee") is dangerous and leads to ever-tightening government grip on the people - think North Korea, Russia, and China -- and it's happening in the United States too. The Biden administration is trying to control what's "acceptable speech" with its truth czar, and both mainstream and social media platforms are curtailing dissemination of thought contrary to government or woke social dogma. Example: Fauci and the CDC have been wrong repeatedly about COVID, yet those who question vaccine efficacy and mask mandates are ignored or labelled purveyors of "disinformation" and "anti-science". If it's okay to force removal of the flags on Fairview Road, and thereby limit the property owner's right to free expression, what else is okay to remove or restrict? Who decides what's offensive and must go away? (Traditionally, courts have decided what is unacceptable or "obscene".) Are we willing to accept curtailment of our own speech if it offends others? Nope, the vast majority are not. I'm thankful for our Constitution and particularly the protections it provides. Morgan Smith Col. Donald Lee (Don) Boyett USA/Ret. passed away on Sunday, June 19, 2022. He was born in Detroit, Al., on June 15, 1933, to Elton and Vina (Todd) Boyett. He was preceded in death by brother, Hebron Boyett; sister, Jean Boyett Eitson; brother, Willard Boyett of Hillsboro, Alabama; and a twin sister Marie Grigsby of Fayetteville, Tennessee. He is survived by his loving wife, Martha (Marti Hoback) of 40 years; two children, Jimmy Boyett of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Laura Jane Lepley (Stephen) of Knoxville, Tennessee; four grandchildren, Rachel Cullor (Alex) and Kevin Boyett (Kara) of Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia; Amy Lepley Brown (Martin) and Morgan Lepley Lingerfelt (Blake) of Knoxville, Tennessee. He is also survived by seven great-grandchildren; two stepsons, Michael Halliburton and Ben Halliburton (Anne); five step-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Don grew up on a small cotton farm in Alabama. He graduated from Lawrence County High School in Moulton, Alabama. Following high school, he enrolled in North Alabama University at Florence and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Finance and Accounting. While in college, he also took Military Police ROTC and was commissioned as a Military Police Officer in the United States Army. Immediately following graduation from college, he was required to serve two years on active duty as a Military Police Officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He then moved to Chattanooga where he worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority as an accountant and as a supervisor in property management for several years. During his work with TVA, he was transferred to Knoxville where he was able to obtain a Master of Science degree from the University of Tennessee. Following another mandatory active-duty military tour, he returned to Chattanooga where he served as comptroller for Williams Printing Company for 22 years. Don loved the military. He had 30 years of service (1955-1985) including both active duty and Army Reserve assignments. He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. He served as Chattanooga liaison officer for the United States Military Academy at West Point where he recruited 25 cadets for the academy including the first woman from Chattanooga. His reserve military service included two short tours in the Pentagon. He was nominated for Brigadier General while serving in the Pentagon. He was called back on active duty in 1977 where he was the project officer for a nation-wide study designed to improve the administration in Army Reserve units. He retired in 1985 as a Colonel. Don was an active member of Brainerd Baptist Church for over 50 years. He served as a deacon, Assistant Treasurer, member of the finance committee, and Director of a singles Sunday School class for many years. A celebration of life will be at 12 p.m. on Friday, June 24, at Chattanooga Funeral Home, East Chapel. A visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. prior to services at the funeral home. Graveside services will be in the Chattanooga National Cemetery with military honors performed by the U.S. Army. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Brainerd Baptist Church Missions. Arrangements are under the care of Chattanooga Funeral Home Crematory and Florist East Chapel, 404 South Moore Road, East Ridge, Tn. 37412. Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com. Last year saw many celebrity kids come into the world. Everyone from rapper Nicki Minaj to actors Rupert Grint and Mindy Kaling had babies. Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymon were among the new parents, although they were more secretive than most. The 34-year-old Get Out actor and the 39-year-old star of The Last Kingdom quietly welcomed their first child in 2021. Alexander Dreymon and Allison Williams spent quarantine together Alexander Dreymon in November 2018 and Allison Williams in May 2019 | Jim Spellman/WireImage; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Alexander Dreymon is a German actor famous for playing Uhtred in the period drama The Last Kingdom. In late 2019, he began dating Get Out actor Allison Williams. The pair met when filming the thriller Horizon Line. Their relationship came fresh off the heels of Williams end of her four-year marriage to CollegeHumor founder Ricky Van Veen. Williams and Veen finalized their divorce in July 2019, and she and Dreymon began dating later that year. However, sources close to the two noted they werent trying to hide their relationship but kept it low-key. The source said Dreymon and Williams had been doing their best to keep a low profile. Dreymon and Williams also spend quarantine together during the COVID-19 shutdown. Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymon welcomed a child last year Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymon Welcome First Baby, Son Arlo: 'Over the Moon,' Says Source https://t.co/EYKiYM4HUH People (@people) April 25, 2022 Allison Williams and Alex Dreymon took their relationship to the next level when they had a baby. According to People, Dreymon and Williams quietly welcomed their first child a son, Arlo last year. The magazine reports that the couple was spotted vacationing in the Bahamas with baby Arlo and Williams newsman father Brian Williams in tow. A source close to the pair says they are happy and in love. People also notes that Williams was wearing what looked like an engagement ring, which might indicate the Last Kingdom actor might have popped the question. According to a source, the pair wanted to keep the news under wraps. They are both private people individually, the source said, and they made the decision to keep this happy news to just a small circle of family and friends. The source added that the new parents were over the moon. Reps for both actors declined to comment on the news. The 2 actors careers converged for a 2020 movie Alexander Dreymon made his screen debut in a French drama and followed it with a role in Christopher and His Kind, co-starring Doctor Whos Matt Smith. Dreymon worked on various U.S. independent projects, including American Horror Storys third season, during which he played Luke Ramsey. However, Dreymons most prominent role came as Uhtred of Bebbanburg in The Last Kingdom. The historical drama catapulted the actor to fame. The series debuted in 2015 on BBC 2 before moving to Netflix during its third season, where it garnered a larger audience. The Last Kingdom is airing its fifth season, the shows last. On the other hand, Williams rose to fame in the Lena Dunham comedy Girls. After a successful audition to play Marnie Michaels alongside Dunham, Williams landed her now-famous role. The actor portrayed the character for the series entire six seasons. She took advantage of the breaks between seasons to appear on The Mindy Project and worked on some short films. However, Williams saw her star rise when she portrayed Rose Armitage in Jordan Peeles Get Out. The role made her one to watch in the horror genre, leading to her landing a part in the 2018 thriller The Perfection. Get Out also earned her an MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Villain and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as part of the cast. Two years later, Dreymon and Williams co-starred in the 2020 thriller/drama Horizon Line. The film wasnt as enthusiastically received as the news of the couples other production, baby Arlo. RELATED: Allison Williams Is Developing a Being Erica Adaptation Josh Duggars sentencing recently finalized in 2022, and his arrest and trial brought a lot of negative attention to the Duggar family. Before Josh Duggars arrest, the media brought his past scandals involving Jill Duggar, Jessa Duggar, and other family members to light. Jill and Jessa Duggar spoke out about the 2015 scandal after the release of a police report. Now, a recent report reveals what Jessa said in her deposition. Jill Duggar and Jessa Duggar sued Arkansas police for releasing information about the past Josh Duggar scandal Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar, Jill Duggar, and Jana Duggar visit Extra | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra Duggar family followers likely remember Josh Duggars scandal in 2015. In Touch published a police report that revealed Josh allegedly molested a few of his sisters and a family friend around 2003. At the time of the crime, Josh was a teen but his sisters were much younger. In the wake of the news, TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting. Duggar family parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, spoke out in interviews regarding the situation. Additionally, Jill and Jessa Duggar two of the sisters directly affected by Joshs actions came forward to discuss the situation and the release of the report. After the release of the police report, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, and Joy-Anna Duggar sued Springdale and Washington County officials in May 2017. The four sisters claimed the officials released redacted investigation documents to the publication. Unfortunately, the judge dismissed the invasion of privacy lawsuit in 2022, according to People. Jessa Duggars deposition reveals how she felt about the release of the police report Devastating details. In newly released court docs, Jill and Jessa Duggar opened up about how much Josh Duggar's molestation scandal took a toll on them. https://t.co/fKls3yfkdw Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) June 19, 2022 Jill and Jessa Duggars bombshell interview with Megyn Kelly brought much attention to Josh Duggar and the Duggar family. Now, newly unsealed court papers obtained by The Sun reveal more about how both Jill and Jessa Duggar felt when the media aired their public business in 2015. The stress from it all caused me to be so stressed that, like, I almost, like almost thrown up a couple of times, Jill revealed in her deposition taken on Sept. 1, 2021. Jill also mentioned she had hair loss, likely as a result of the stress. As for Jessa, she also revealed she felt negative emotions from the report of Josh Duggars scandal. In her deposition taken on Sept. 13, 2021, she mentioned she felt the pain definitely faded. Its kind of like you get injured, and it bleeds, and you bandage it. And youre never quite the same, but you do get a scar eventually, she added. Jessa noted she never received professional counseling after the scandal. I mean, if you call my husband a counselor, she added. I certainly have cried my heart out to him and stayed awake a lot of nights talking through things with him. But thats the extent of it. What are the Duggars saying about Josh Duggar now? Josh Duggar | Kris Connor/Getty Images The Duggar family rallied behind Josh Duggar after his scandal in 2015. However, after his recent trial and sentencing, the family seems more divided than ever. Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard, stated they agreed with the sentencing. Jason Duggar, one of the younger Duggar siblings, also posted on Instagram about how he felt. My heart is grieved over the choices my brother has made, his actions do not reflect that of a Christian believer and have doubtlessly defamed my Lord and Saviors name!! Jason posted. Amy Duggar King, a Duggar family cousin, remains outspoken about Joshs crimes. She believes hes deservedly in prison, and she wishes Josh Duggars wife, Anna Duggar, would leave him. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar remain quiet after sentencing. How to get help: If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 for free and confidential support. For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheets YouTube channel. RELATED: Josh Duggar Still Hasnt Been Transferred to Prison Heres Why Maisie Williams, best known for her role as Arya Stark in the iconic series Game of Thrones, became a star when she was just a teenager. These days, as a young adult, Williams is working harder than ever, portraying punk icon Pamela Jordan Rooke in an all-new miniseries, Pistol. Recently, Williams opened up to Wired about her dream role, which would involve Williams playing another music star. What role does Maisie Williams play in Pistol? The miniseries Pistol recently premiered on FX. It focuses on the iconic group, the Sex Pistols, primarily the groups guitarist, Steve Jones. It details their rise to fame as musicians and highlights some memorable interactions the Sex Pistols had with other prominent figures in the punk rock scene in the 70s. Maisie Williams plays Pamela Rooke, better known as Jordan, a fashion icon and close associate of the Sex Pistols. The role was something entirely new for Williams. As she recently told Variety, she was initially slightly unsure of herself. I was quite intimidated, really, Williams said, discussing the first time Pistol viewers meet Jordan when the fashionable woman takes public transportation wearing a see-through outfit. But I dont think that thats anything new to her. But I think that shes just undeniably herself. When you are in the presence of someone who is so confident and calm its rare. And that can be overwhelming. What did Maisie Williams say about her dream role? Maisie Williams attends the Thom Browne Fall 2022 runway show on April 29, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) With Williams making waves in Pistol, its no surprise that the star has set her sights on some roles involving icons from history. In a recent interview with Wired, Williams admitted that theres one person she would love to portray onscreen. Id love to play Kate Bush, Williams said, responding to a question about her dream role. Honestly, anything. Id like to do a lot of things. But Kate Bush would be fun. I think that shes really interesting. I think shes got a really interesting story as well. Williams went on to muse, But its quite like, its a bit arrogant to be like, I wanna play Kate Bush because who knows if I should play Kate Bush. But if the opportunity arises and I did a good enough audition, then Id love to play Kate Bush. What other series is Williams set to star in? resave my number as miss Dior svp https://t.co/sLSaz7fcqh via @thr Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) May 12, 2022 Playing Kate Bush isnt on the docket just yet. But the young actor is on a roll with portraying historical figures. After Pistol, Williams can be seen in another miniseries titled The New Look, which should air on Apple TV+ sometime in late 2022 or early 2023. Williams portrays Catherine Dior in The New Look, the younger sister of famed fashion designer Christian Dior. In her Wired interview, Williams gave an intriguing sneak peek at the upcoming series. She said she is having a good time filming the series in Paris and that she considers Catherine Dior an incredible woman. From Arya Stark to Catherine Dior, Williams career trajectory has been impressive so far. And her future is looking brighter than ever. RELATED: Game of Thrones:Why Maisie Williams Thought Arya Starks Sex Scene Was Weird Meghan Markle wowed fans with a monochromatic look during this months Platinum Jubilee festivities. Many of the events the royal family attends have particular cultural significance, and this one was no exception. The Platinum Jubilee, marking Queen Elizabeth IIs 70 years on the throne, was a multiday spectacle providing plenty of memorable moments. For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the celebration marked a notable return to the United Kingdom for a bit of pomp and circumstance after many marked absences following Megxit. Though Markle still faces extreme scrutiny from critics, fans delighted at her fashion during the festivities. Meghan Markle wore head-to-toe ivory at a Platinum Jubilee event Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on June 3, 2022 | Victoria Jones WPA Pool/Getty Images Fashion plays a significant part in royal family events. And Megan Markles style choices prove she understands the assignment. The duchess sported multiple looks for the days-long event, but the one that has drawn the most attention is her day 2 attire. On June 3, she and her husband, Prince Harry, attended the National Service of Thanksgiving at St. Pauls Cathedral in London. For the Platinum Jubilee event, Markle was a vision in soft white. Meghan Markle wore simple yet elegant accessories | Toby Melville/pool/AFP via Getty Images Town & Country describes the ensemble as an ivory look from the Dior Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2022 collection including a belted coat and skirt set. Markle accessorized simply but elegantly with cream gloves and pointed-toe pumps. She wore her hair pulled back in a low knot and topped it with a Dior wide-brimmed hat. Her diamond earrings are thought to be her oft-favored Snowflake Snowstorms from Birks. The Sussexes return to the UK for the Platinum Jubilee was notable Megan Markle and Prince Harrys appearance at the Platinum Jubilee was an important one. Since the couple pulled away from their royal duties, speculation has run rampant about where the two stand with the rest of the royals. Their decision to go public with accusations of racism and mistreatment has tarnished many royal family members reputations, and its rumored that this airing of the dirty laundry hasnt sat well with those closest to the throne. The Sussexes return was notable for its significance and relatively low-key nature, The Guardian reports. In addition, it marks the first time Lilibet Megan and Prince Harrys daughter made the trip across the pond. According to The Guardian, their placement at the event was a bit of a snub: [A]ides appeared to have averted any such comparison [with interactions with the Cambridges] by seating the Sussexes far away from the Cambridges and, indeed, from the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. Their place on the second row, behind the Wessexes and separated from the most senior royals by an aisle, was indicative of their reduced official status as non-working royals, despite Harrys bloodline. Meghan Markle earns frequent praise for her fashion sense As #MeghanMarkle returns to the UK to mark the #QueenElizabeths #PlatinumJubilee, revisit her best looks from her time at the forefront of royal life https://t.co/AXLGQXaI4h VOGUE India (@VOGUEIndia) June 5, 2022 The drama and tabloid gossip surrounding Megan Markle and Prince Harry will unlikely end soon, but that hasnt stopped fans from both sides of the Atlantic from rallying around the young family. Markle, in particular, has garnered praise for her impeccable style. Elle recently cataloged some of the duchess most iconic looks, and theyre inarguably impressive. Whether shes visiting Harlem schools in a chic Loro Piana two-piece or brushing elbows with the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations while wearing a black top from The Row and a pencil skirt, she always looks polished and poised. Markles monochromatic look for the Platinum Jubilee event is emblematic of the way she frequently presents herself. The duchess prefers simple sophistication, taking care to draw eyes without ostentation. RELATED: People Are Sick of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Poll Shows Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop speaks at the Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 20, 2022. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticized developed nations for lack of responsibility for the global refugee crisis during a video address to the Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration that opened in Istanbul on the annual World Refugee Day. (Xinhua) ISTANBUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticized developed nations for lack of responsibility for the global refugee crisis. "The real burden of the issue of migration and refugees is felt by countries like ours that are neighbors of the crisis regions, and not the developed countries who cry out loud," Erdogan said in a video address to the Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration that opened in Istanbul on the annual World Refugee Day. "According to the UN figures, high-income nations host an average of 2.7 refugees per 1,000 people, while middle and low-income nations host 5.8 refugees," the Turkish president said. "Those who make an advertisement campaign out of a few hundred refugees they have taken in do not actually take any responsibility for the deepening humanitarian crises," he added. The Turkish leader warned that the global refugee problem has reached levels not seen since World War II. Turkey, a country of 84 million people, has hosted more than 3.6 million refugees since the outbreak of a civil war in Syria in 2011, according to Turkish official figures. The Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration is held in Istanbul, Turkey, June 20, 2022. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticized developed nations for lack of responsibility for the global refugee crisis during a video address to the Global Parliamentary Conference on Migration that opened in Istanbul on the annual World Refugee Day. (Xinhua) Southern Charm Season 8: Things Seem to Be Going From Bad to Worse for Kathryn Dennis Southern Charm OG Kathryn Dennis is back for season 8 of the hit Bravo reality series. But since the cast wrapped filming late last year, a lot of things have changed for the mom-of-two. Her relationship with Chleb Ravenell has ended. Shes been dropped by her lawyers in her custody battle. And now, the reality star is reportedly getting evicted for not paying her rent. Kathryn Dennis | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images The Southern Charm star has been in a custody battle for years Fans will recall that Dennis was in a relationship with former South Carolina state treasurer Thomas Ravenel when Southern Charm began back in 2014. In the earlier seasons when Ravenel was still part of the cast the couple welcomed two children, Kensie and Saint. But after their nasty split, Dennis and Ravenel have been involved in a non-stop custody battle over their children who are now seven and six years old. Ravenel currently has full custody, with Dennis only getting visitation. That battle recently took yet another turn when Dennis was dumped by the lawyers handling her custody case. According to All About the Tea, the Southern Charm star is now scrambling for new legal representation after her team of attorneys abruptly resigned from her case. Kathryn Dennis Temporarily Loses Custody of Kids with Thomas Ravenel, Is Granted Supervised Visits https://t.co/chwXaQJ4HW People (@people) March 9, 2021 The reason that attorneys Susan Rawls Strom and Pete Currence cited for wanting off of Dennis case was that the attorney/client relationship was irretrievably impaired. Grounds for the motion are that counsel and defendant can no longer communicate, and can not agree on matters of importance to the case, and the attorney-client relationship is irretrievably impaired so much that undersigned can not effectively represent defendant., the motion read. Things are going from bad to worse for Kathryn Dennis An insider claims that Dennis isnt paying for her lawyers services in a timely manner, and they refuse to put their stellar reputations on the line without transparent cooperation from the reality star. This is like lawyer number 12 for herthey all keep quitting, because she shows up late, tells them lies and doesnt pay them, despite her big paycheck from Bravo, the source shared. EXCLUSIVE: Kathryn Dennis EXPLODES After Her Lawyers Abruptly Quit Custody Case, Find Out Why They Dumped Her! Details Here: https://t.co/PuAS26aanS #SouthernCharm #Exclusive #KathrynDennis pic.twitter.com/OxdBJQC2WJ All About The Tea (@AllAboutDaTea) June 7, 2022 RELATED: Southern Charm Star Kathryn Dennis Dumped AgainBy Yet Another Lawyer Speaking of paying bills, the latest claim from The Sun is that Dennis is getting evicted from her home for failure to pay over $9,000 in rent. According to local realtor info, Dennis has been living in a high-rise apartment block in Charleston known as 10 WestEdge since selling her Mount Pleasant home in 2021 for $342,500. The Southern Charm star was hit with a rule to vacate notice Dennis relocated to the apartment with her then-boyfriend, Chleb Ravenell. But according to court documents, the Southern Charm star received a rule to vacate notice in the spring of 2022 the first step in the eviction process. A clerk for Charleston County says that Dennis missed her February and March payments this year of $4,626 each, totaling $9,252. The rule to vacate notice was filed by the owner of the apartment complex on March 16, and an eviction notice was later sent. The situation was eventually settled, and it appears that Dennis has vacated the property. EXCLUSIVE: Kathryn Dennis EXPLODES After Her Lawyers Abruptly Quit Custody Case, Find Out Why They Dumped Her! Details Here: https://t.co/PuAS26aanS #SouthernCharm #Exclusive #KathrynDennis pic.twitter.com/OxdBJQC2WJ All About The Tea (@AllAboutDaTea) June 7, 2022 Southern Charm Season 8 premieres Thursday, June 23 on Bravo. RELATED: Which Southern Charm Stars Has Kathryn Dennis Dated? Country music icon Tammy Wynette died in 1998 while still married to her fifth husband. And he remarried before he died in 2010, but was initially buried in Wynettes crypt. What dispute occurred before someone decided to have Richey removed? And why did some of Wynettes daughters consider moving her out of the burial space, too? (L) Tammy Wynette | Harry Langdon/Getty Images (R) Tammy Wynette and George Richey | Paul Harris/Getty Images Why were Tammy Wynettes daughters suspicious about her death? Following Wynettes death at 55 in 1998, her daughters filed a wrongful death suit that included her doctor and her last husband, George Richey. They accused both parties of contributing to Wynettes dependency on pain relievers but later dropped Richey from the suit. But they also suggested their stepfather manipulated their mother while she was under the influence of those medications. They implied it could have played a part in how he walked away with so much of what shed earned, as reported by Taste of Country. Wynettes net worth was less than $1 million when she died. She was buried without an autopsy another note that struck her children as odd. She was interred in Nashvilles Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in the Cross Mausoleum. The name marker on her crypt originally read Tammy Wynette. There was supposedly a handwritten list of valuables the whole family was aware of before Wynettes death. She decided who she wanted to receive each of her possessions after she died and took the time to write it down. But Richey claimed he couldnt find that inventory when the time came. So, her children were left with hardly anything while he kept much of her estate. He also held the rights to her music, which her daughters claimed they should have. He sold those before his death. Richey seemingly left the profit and much of Wynettes remaining estate and possessions to his family. Why was there a dispute over Tammy Wynettes crypt? The name on Tammy Wynette's crypt isn't "Tammy Wynette." Complicated legal disagreement explains why: http://t.co/uU0jVvT3IQ Alex Heard (@alexheard) March 3, 2014 In 2012, CMT reported the name on Wynettes crypt was changed from her stage name to her married name, Virginia W Richardson. Her stepdaughter said it was decided amongst her children and stepchildren for reasons they knew. Wynettes only daughter with George Jones, Georgette Jones, said her stepsister told the family that the name change would be legally necessary just temporarily. She added, [The change] was in regard to things that were going on regarding Sheila, Richeys widow. We did agree, but we wanted Moms name to be changed temporarily to her maiden name, which we thought was going to be Virginia Wynette Pugh, she explained. Of course, as you can see, it was changed to Virginia W Richardson, which was not what we agreed to. I wont speak for all of us, but I can say my sisters Tina, Jackie, and myself are very upset. According to USA Today, Sheila had Richey who died in 2010 removed from Wynettes crypt after her name was changed. What name is on Tammy Wynettes crypt now? ICYMI: Tammy Wynette name to be restored to her crypt http://t.co/KH34ukh2CZ Tennessean (@Tennessean) March 23, 2014 The marker on Wynettes crypt was restored to read Tammy Wynette in 2014. According to Taste of Country, her daughters were prepared to have her removed from the plot, which their stepsister owned. They think the media attention put the right amount of pressure on her to change the name before they did that. Notably, some of Wynettes daughters believe Richey abused her, which led her to concoct a kidnapping story. He denied their allegations. How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357. RELATED: Reba McEntire: Tammy Wynette Set the Standard for Country Songs About Heartbreak Running on CBS from 1990 to 1995, Northern Exposure is a comedy-drama TV series about a small, remote Alaskan town named Cicely. Primarily filmed in Roslyn, Washington, many critics are of the opinion that Cicely is widely based on the historic village of Talkeetna, Alaska. Northern Exposure aired 110 episodes, winning 27 awards out of 57 nominations. Among the major awards, it received two Golden Globes, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Despite all the awards and praise from critics, as with all things, the show came to an end after five years. Why did CBS cancel Northern Exposure? Rob Morrow as Dr. Joel Fleischman and Janine Turner as Maggie OConnell in Northern Exposure | CBS via Getty Images In July 1995, the LA Times published: The show was the aurora borealis of TVmagical, mystical, musical. As it passes from the scene, a viewer reflects on its life-affirming nature. American literary, television, film, and cultural critic John Leonard referred to Northern Exposure as the best of the best television in the past 10 years. Unless youre emotionally akin to Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, most readers have a TV series or two that captivated them. When that series finally reaches its finale, it may feel similar to saying farewell to a close friend. As stated by the LA Times, if Woody Allen liked television, Northern Exposure would have been his favorite series. Dealing frequently with mortality, loyal fans handled the shows expiration gracefully. However, while the show ended gracefully, the catalyst that resulted in its cancellation was anything but graceful. The beginning of the end started when the show lost Rob Morrow who played Joel Fleischman, the doctor from New York. While details seem sketchy, the LA Times reported in July 1992 that Universal Pictures sued Morrow for allegedly breaching his contract. The article states: Morrow is said to be demanding double the $30,000 per episode he currently receives, even though he signed a standard seven-year contract with built-in salary increases when the sleeper series premiered two summers ago. Morrows lawyer declined to comment further, but Universal wasnt shy about stating it was actively pursuing a recast. In other words, the film production and distribution company preferred to gamble with a replacement rather than bend to Morrows demands. Northern Exposure caught fire and quickly burned out John Corbett revealed during #VultureFestival that he stole most of the props from Northern Exposure pic.twitter.com/9buxppaQSl Vulture (@vulture) October 26, 2020 While Northern Exposure began centered around the tale of urban-dwelling Dr. Joel Fleischman, the focus gradually shifted towards the oddball residents of Cicely, Alaska. After all, the series has a natural shelf-life built into it, with Joel only obligated to remain in Cicely for four years. CBS added an extra year to the script midway through, ostensibly an artful critique of Morrows tumultuous contract negotiations. Presumably, Joel would have returned to New York at some point, with various alternatives if the show were to continue longer. For example, Joel fell in love with Maggie and chose to stay or he merely grew to like living in Alaska. Nevertheless, due to the shows delicate dynamic, either option couldve potentially been equally problematic. Thus, as Roger Ebert surmised, it probably shouldnt be that surprising that a show with such creative power, commercial success, and critical acclaim had such a quick burnout. Northern Exposure was TVs first holistic series, according to USA Today As USA Today put it, Northern Exposures sixth season shook up the formulaic prime-time world with what might be called TVs first holistic series. It catered to viewers emotional and inner well-being. Using material mainstream dramas lacked back then, Northern Exposure featured things ranging from Jungian debates and lesbian partnerships to Native American mysticism. RIP the great #peterbogdanovich who was a fan of #NorthernExposure and asked to be a guest star, confirming my notion that the show was the beginning of the cinematizing of TV. He played himself in the aptly titled episode Rosebud, offering inspirational advice to Cicelys pic.twitter.com/A5Nduzk96I Rob Morrow (@RobMorrow_) January 7, 2022 Plato meets Pluto, its cartoonishly philosophical, which might be why it ranked 53rd on the Writers Guild of America list of the 101 best-written TV series. If you want to stream Northern Exposure, youre out of luck. However, you can purchase the complete series on DVD on sites like Amazon. RELATED: Every Show Netflix Has Canceled in 2022 (So Far) You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on May 19, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Friday, June 10, 2022, Haaland rolled out guidelines for a new youth service program meant to create job opportunities for Native Americans while boosting their cultural connections to nature through conservation projects on tribal and public land. VALLETTA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Tourists are flocking back to popular destinations across Europe as peak travel season heats up, only to find businesses largely unprepared because of a severe shortage of workers, a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. STRONG START IN 2022 With travel resumption in full swing, airlines are ramping up flight capacity to meet the surge in demand, according to an analysis published by global travel data provider Official Aviation Guide. The analysis showed that scheduled airline capacity from western European airports was up 29 percent in March from February. April saw a 24 percent increase compared to March, and May saw a further 14 percent increase from April. British think tank Oxford Economics is also optimistic about the recovery of the European tourism sector, saying it continues to shine bright despite headwinds to the eurozone economy. For households, pent-up demand for travel after two years of pandemic seems to be trumping the cost-of-living crisis, the think tank said, adding that in a context of gloomy consumer sentiment, households are "prioritising holiday spending at the expense of other expenditure." Malta, a popular tourist destination in the Mediterranean Sea, expects to attract 80 percent of the record 2.7 million arrivals it registered in 2019. Bookings have picked up greatly since the pandemic eased its grip, but tourist facilities operators are now struggling to recruit staff. "Malta went from a longer than usual winter straight into a hot summer and skipped the spring. It seems that the tourism industry has followed the weather," Tony Zahra, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, told Xinhua. He said that while the rebound was expected, its strength "has caught the industry by surprise." Greece's tourism sector, a vital pillar of the country's economy for decades, has been forecast to recover and reach the 2019 pre-pandemic record levels this year by local officials and industry experts. Revenues from tourism soared 342 percent in the first three months of 2022 compared with the same period the previous year, Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said recently. According to the Croatian National Tourist Board, the country logged 2.9 million tourist arrivals in the first five months of 2022, up 175 percent year on year. "We are at about 90 percent of the traffic from the record-breaking and pre-pandemic year of 2019, and we can expect a very good high season," Damir Kresic, director of Croatia's Institute for Tourism, told Xinhua. "Due to rising prices, I believe that Croatia will earn more this year from the tourism industry than it has ever earned." Slovenia's tourist market has also witnessed a strong recovery. The number of tourist overnight stays in the first four months of 2022 was eight times higher than in the same period of 2021, the country's statistical office reported in May. STAFFING CHALLENGE While operators across Europe applaud the return of tourists, they also find themselves saddled with a severe staff shortage. The main reasons include furloughed staff finding work elsewhere and relatively low wages in the sector. "Given that the industry was running at just about idling speed, only necessary staff were retained," Zahra said. "Now, we have an industry at practically full capacity and revving up the staff complement to service this demand - this is proving a challenge for everyone." Philokypros Roussounides, director general of the Cyprus Hotel Association, told Xinhua that the country's tourism sector is short of 5,000 workers, or 20 percent of its total needs, adding that qualified workers were not easy to find, with new hires requiring extensive training. Kresic told Xinhua that his country has been struggling with labor shortages for several years. The wages offered were still far too low to attract people to the sector. According to a recent study conducted by the Research Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation, 22 to 24 percent of the job positions in the country's hotels were not filled last year. At main European airports, such as in Spain, France and Britain, staff shortages are causing chaos, delays and missed flights. Some restaurants and hotels lost throngs of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were forced to close for several months amid a general lockdown. Many of those employees have since found jobs in other sectors and no longer work in tourism. A research briefing published on May 12 by the House of Commons, the lower house of the British parliament, showed that from December 2021 to February 2022, there were 166,000 job vacancies in the country's hospitality sector, equalling 7.8 percent of all jobs. Labor shortages are reportedly worse in London and regional tourism hubs. HIGHER PAY Many operators of tourist facilities are now trying to lure back workers with higher pay. Herman Mallia, who runs a restaurant on Malta's Gozo Island, said he will pay his staff up to 12 euros (12.6 U.S. dollars) an hour this summer against 7 euros last year. "I am eating away at my profits, but I prefer that to having a restaurant packed with people and everyone complaining about the dismal service they were receiving here," he told Xinhua. Kate Nicholls, chief executive officer of UKHospitality, an industry trade organization, said that while pressure is mounting on businesses to increase wages, they remain mired in debt accumulated during the pandemic. That period, she said, was a "reset moment" for the industry to reassess its working conditions, and training and skills development practices. "In general, for the whole hotel, we are recruiting every day, and no day passes without us meeting new potential hires signing new employment contracts," said Peter Hogh Pedersen, managing director of Villa Copenhagen hotel in Denmark's capital Copenhagen. Pedersen said that his hotel now employs people of around 40 nationalities. "When the Chinese tourists return, we will need Chinese-speaking front desk officers." He expects the Danish government to act quickly and lower the bar for work permits in order to attract more staff from abroad. However, he did not expect a quick solution as demand for workers has long exceeded supply. The Danish Chamber of Commerce has suggested that all available labor resources be utilized to the greatest extent possible and the unemployment benefit be reduced to encourage more people to work. Croatia's tourism companies have started investing more to attract employees. They offer seasonal workers accommodation free of charge and other benefits, Kresic said, adding that the state is subsidizing seasonal workers even during non-working months. Kresic noted that wages have increased by around 30 percent, while accommodation costs rose 80 percent. "Obviously, this is not enough," Kresic said, "wages in the tourism industry are still too low." The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a recent spate of violence in Mozambique that claimed the lives of eight people in late May. The attacks targeted Christian villages in the Cabo Delgado region. In claiming responsibility, the Islamic State posted pictures of six decapitated bodies and burned villages, according to International Christian concern. Six villages bore the brunt of the attacks, which took place between May 23rdand May 31st. Save the Children also reported that more violence broke out in the region between June 2nd and 9th, with four people being beheaded. The attacks led to the displacement of as many as 10,000 people. This marked the first time that the Ancuabe district had been hit by violence since the Civil War in Cabo Delgado began in October 2017, The Christian Post reports. Many of the people displaced in the most recent attacks had fled to the Ancuabe district from other regions that were plagued by violence. They were living in refugee camps and now have been moved to emergency shelters. The children were only just getting their lives back together, and now they are again forced to flee with just the clothes on their backs, seeking refuge with their families in transit centers in Pemba and neighboring districts, said Brechtje van Lith, Save the Children Country Director in Mozambique. These attacks represent a major setback and have forced the humanitarian actors in the area to shift their activities to respond to the most urgent needs of children and their families in the places where they are now living. Violence has claimed over 4,000 lives since the Civil War broke out in Cabo Delgato, a region overflowing with natural resources such as graphite, gold, oil, and rubies. Eight hundred thousand people fled their homes to avoid the violence, with 85 percent of those who fled being women and children. The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Welfare estimates that between 370,000 and 400,000 children have been displaced. The United States finally labeled the Islamic insurgents in Mozambique as global terrorists in 2021. Twenty-four nations have sent troops to help shield the innocent from violence. Related: Police in Sudan Arrest Church Leaders from Bible Study Police in India Assault, Charge Pastor for Family Devotional Photo courtesy: Getty Images/dk photos Scott Slayton writes at One Degree to Another. On World Refugee Day, we pause to think about what it means to be a refugee. For those of us who care for refugees each day, like we do at Medical Teams, it is a day to recognize the resilience of the now 100 million men, women and children who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. For others, it is an opportunity to thoughtfully consider the refugee experience and perhaps confront long-held notions, fears and understandings. The origin of the global refugee movement is widely recognized as beginning after WWII, when the Nazi persecution of Jews created a massive refugee movement across the world. Today, we use terms to define the people who move across borders from their home countries: migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced. Oftentimes, migrant and refugee are used interchangeably, but they are not the same. The most basic distinction is that a migrant chooses to leave their home, while a refugee does not. An asylum seeker has left their country because of a serious human rights violation and is seeking protection but has not yet been legally recognized as a refugee. An internally displaced person is forced to leave their home but remains inside their countrys borders. (UNHCR) Most refugees leave their countries because of human rights violations: war, genocide, systematic abuse, natural disasters, climate crises and religious/other persecution. In the decades since WWII, we have witnessed a cascade of complex and deeply traumatizing humanitarian crises. Many have been caused by bloody civil wars, corrupt regimes, ethnic cleansing and weaponized starvation in places like Afghanistan, the Congo, Syria, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Colombia. These crises have led to a record-breaking number that should have never been met: 100 million people are now forcibly displaced around the globe. A Global Mindset If the magnitude of these crises shows us anything, it is that the refugee crisis is a global crisis. We must confront the truth that it is no longer their crises but rather ours. Our collective humanity and interconnectedness demand a renewed mindset, joint responsibility and actionable compassion. It is fitting that the UNHCR's theme for WRD 2022 this year is: Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. The recent Ukraine refugee crisis underscores this reality as we witnessed unexpected and unprecedented displacement of nearly 14 million people in 100 days. The sheer numbers are mind-numbing, even for me, someone who has worked in the humanitarian space for nearly three decades. It took seeing and talking to Ukrainians myself to comprehend the level of shock and loss experienced by this conflict. I believe the Ukrainian invasion exposed some existing biases that are hard to admit about what we think refugees look like and where they come from. Watching what has happened in Ukraine is a critical reframe that conflict or a crisis can happen anywhere, to anyone. The Journey to Hope Despite these seemingly unsurmountable challenges, we know refugees emerge as incredibly resilient and hopeful individuals. I have seen this truth among refugees around the globe from Lebanon to Moldova, Uganda to Bangladesh. In dimly-lit tents and straw-roofed huts, in the labyrinths of congested camps and makeshift clinics, I have listened to their traumatic stories. Villages being torched, rape and terrorization. Harrowing journeys through ink-black nights and tumultuous seas. It is the making of nightmares that no human should ever endure. And yet, there is a common thread that ties each testimony together: hope. Many have narrowly escaped the unthinkable, stopping just short of the edge of death, and yet emerged alive on the other side. Somehow, they find hope. What can we learn from them? Id like to share about two refugees who have much to teach us about this hard-won hope. Emmanual Image: Photo Courtesy of Medical Teams International Emmanual works in our Ugandan settlement. He is South Sudanese, and has been a refugee twice- once when he was young and his family was forced to flee after civil war broke out. He was repatriated back to South Sudan in 2016 but after another war began, he fled back to Uganda. It was terrible watching friends lose their life is very terrible. Leaving your home it is traumatizing. Emmanuel fought for his life and crossed the border into Uganda again, where he got resettled and began to reshape his future by working for Medical Teams to serve others. I see my journey as a hope journey. My life has taught me that there is hope. Maryna Image: Photo Courtesy of Medical Teams International Maryna fled Ukraine with her two boys and her 71-year-old mother. Before the war, Maryna said her life was normal. "It had some problems, but now they seem so small compared to the war." Through tears, Maryna recalled what her life was just months ago. I was working in a kindergarten as a nurse before I left. We're still in a state of shock. No past, no future, just hanging in a state of unknown. Despite her world turning upside down, Maryna wanted to help others who were also fleeing Ukraine. She volunteered in Moldova with our medical team while she was staying at a Refugee Accommodation Center and focused her energy on treating the urgent health needs of her fellow Ukrainians. Emmanual and Maryna are just two refugees of millions that show us is it possible to continue to press on when everything has fallen apart. They show us that hope can, and always does, find a way. This World Refugee Day, lets resolve to think differently about refugees. Lets consider what theyve overcome instead of where theyve come from. And lets celebrate their resilience and the example of hope they offer us in our own hardships and trials. The Better Samaritan blog is produced by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, a research institute which specializes in resilience and spiritual fortitude. To learn more and apply for a M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership, visit our website Martha Newsome is the President and CEO of Medical Teams Intl. Alabama church gunman drank alcohol moments before opening fire, survivor says A survivor of the shooting during a potluck dinner at an Episcopal church in Alabama that left three dead recalled that the suspected gunman sat alone and rejected invitations to socialize before the killing started. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills was hosting a "Boomers Potluck" for older attendees when the suspect, who authorities identified as 70-year-old Robert Findlay Smith, produced a handgun and began shooting. The man is a formerly licensed federal gun dealer cited by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on Feb. 7, 2018, for shoddy recordkeeping. According to authorities, he's now facing capital murder charges for the deaths of one man and two women related to the shooting incident. As The Associated Press reported Sunday, 73-year-old Susan Sallin was seated at a table with the three people who died. She remembered that Findlay seemed "disengaged," sitting by himself and drinking from what appeared to be a small bottle of scotch. While Findlay had previously attended services at the church and gatherings for baby boomers, Sallin claims he didn't interact much with others. "I personally invited him to come and sit at our table twice because I wanted him to feel a sense of inclusion, but he did not come," she said. A woman married to a man who was later killed in the shooting had offered to fix a plate for Smith, but he declined. Sallin didn't remember any arguments or conflicts breaking out before the shooting started. But she did recall hearing a "loud metallic sound," which she mistook for a metal chair falling over. "And then there was another sound and another sound, and I realized it was a gun," she said. "People were diving for the floor. I was diving for the floor. When I got down to the floor, I realized that two of my girlfriends who were sitting at the table with me had been hit." The woman crawled across the floor to reach her friends to calm them, saying, "'You are not alone. You are not alone.' That's the message that I wanted them to get." The Rev. Doug Carpenter, a former pastor at St. Stephen's who retired in 2005, heard another man at the potluck subdue the gunman by hitting him with a folding chair before wrestling him to the ground and taking the gun. "I did see him get the gun out of the man's hand and hit him on the head with the gun," Sallin said. During a Friday press conference, Vestavia Hills Police Captain Shane Ware called the man who subdued the gunman a "hero," stating that the act was "extremely critical in saving lives." He also revealed that police officers and the Vestavia Hills Fire Department were dispatched at 6:22 p.m. to deal with the active shooter situation. Ware identified 84-year-old Walter Rainey and 75-year-old Sarah Yeager as victims who died at the church. An 84-year-old woman was also injured during the shooting and taken to the hospital. An update posted on the Vestavia Hills Police Department's Facebook page Friday afternoon revealed the third victim succumbed to her injuries and died. Bishop Glenda Curry of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama discussed the shooting during a prayer vigil at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook on Friday. "I am proud of my people for praying, for hitting their knees," she said. "We're going to help everybody walk through it by reminding them that we're a people of hope." Curry said services will continue as scheduled throughout the diocese and encouraged people to "come to church." "Go to a church and pray for peace and pray for healing and pray for the love of Jesus to transform the world," she said. "When Christians are slapped, they try to reach out in love. That's what we do and we try to pray for guidance which is beyond us when things beyond us are happening." Taiwanese American church shooting suspect charged with hate crime The 68-year-old man suspected of shooting up a Taiwanese American church in California that left one person dead and a few others wounded has been charged with hate crimes by prosecutors. David Chou, a 68-year-old Chinese American resident of Las Vegas, was arrested last month after he allegedly entered Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods and opened fire. The Office of the District Attorney of Orange County announced last week that they have amended the complaint to add hate crime allegations, finding that "Chou intentionally killed his victim because of his race, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin." "After a review of additional evidence in this case, the Orange County District Attorney's Office has filed an amended criminal complaint to include hate crime allegations," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. Chou is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 19 and will be held without bail. If convicted, Chou could be sentenced to death. On May 15, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, Chou went to Geneva Presbyterian Church and opened fire on the Taiwanese congregation as church members were holding a reception for a pastor who had recently returned from Taiwan. The shooter secured the doors before attacking the congregants, injuring five and killing a sixth. He was overpowered and restrained by the surviving members of the congregation. Even before the addition of hate crime charges against Chou, authorities contended that he carried out the mass shooting because he was "upset about political tensions involving China and Taiwan." Tensions between China and Taiwan stem from China's view of the island as a part of the People's Republic of China while leaders of the democratically elected government of Taiwan insist that it is a sovereign state. Don Barnes, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner, stated last month that the "tragic incident was fueled by politically motivated hate," which "is something we do not tolerate." Describing Orange County as "a community that celebrates diversity and takes pride in being a place people feel safe to worship, work and live," Barnes stressed that "While someone from outside our community has attempted to diminish these ideals through an act of violence, we remain united in our commitment to tolerance and acceptance." Barnes commended 52-year-old Dr. John Cheng, the lone fatality, who tackled the shooter while sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, allowing others to disarm the suspect. "Dr. Cheng was a loving family man, dedicated doctor and a beloved member of our community, and we send our deepest condolences to all who knew him," he said. Peter Wu is the pastor of Taiwanese Presbyterian Church of Greater St. Louis, a Missouri-based congregation that, like the Laguna Woods congregation, belongs to Presbyterian Church (USA). In an interview with The Christian Post last month, Wu said his congregation has some personal ties to the Laguna Woods congregation, with some of the church's members having relatives and friends who attend Geneva Presbyterian Church. "Most of our church members are saddened, grieving," Wu said, adding that most are "concerned with what happened to the shooting incident." Despite the sadness and concerns, Wu sees an opportunity amid the tragedy to have Chinese and Taiwanese churches in the U.S. come together in unity. "It would be wonderful if Chinese-American churches can pray for the victims and incident in response to the Laguna Woods shooting," he maintained. "I believe this incident can create an opportunity for conversation and collaboration between Chinese and Taiwanese churches in the United States." Iowa Supreme Court: No right to abortion in state constitution The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that there is no right to an abortion in the state constitution, which reversed an earlier ruling by the states highest court a few years earlier. In the case of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland et al. v. Kim Reynolds et al., the state supreme court issued a ruling Friday, reversing a lower court decision against the states 24-hour waiting period for an abortion and remanding for further proceedings. Justice Edward Mansfield delivered the majority opinion, concluding that the court rejects the proposition that there is a fundamental right to an abortion in Iowas Constitution subjecting abortion regulation to strict scrutiny. [T]he Iowa Constitution is not the source of a fundamental right to an abortion necessitating a strict scrutiny standard of review for regulations affecting that right, wrote Mansfield. Constitutionsand courtsshould not be picking sides in divisive social and political debates unless some universal principle of justice stands on only one side of that debate. Abortion isnt one of those issues. Mansfield also took issue with the 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision that had declared abortion a state constitutional right, writing that the earlier decision lacks textual and historical support. It is doctrinally inconsistent with prior Iowa jurisprudence concerning family rights that followed a balancing approach. Its rhetoric is one-sided. Its constitutional footing is unsound, he continued. While it is true that some other states have provided heightened protection for abortion rights, they have done so by invoking more relevant substantive constitutional guaranteessuch as the right of privacynot a procedural clause like due process. Justice Brent Appel filed a dissenting opinion, arguing that by overturning the 2018 decision, the state Supreme Court created a jurisprudence of doubt about a liberty interest of the highest possible importance to every Iowa woman of reproductive age. We found [in 2018] that fundamental liberty interest in familial relationship holds a place for reproductive choices, continued Appel. We thereby declared that, Autonomy and dominion over ones body go to the very heart of what it means to be free. At stake in this case is the right to shape, for oneself, without unwarranted governmental intrusion, ones own identity, destiny, and place in the world. American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen denounced the decision, labeling it a devastating and shocking reversal. With the constitutional right to abortion under Roe threatened, Iowans are relying on the protection of our state constitution, stated Austen. The right to abortion for Iowa women is essential to their freedom, equality, health, and safety, and its something that Iowans overwhelmingly supportnow, more than ever. The Urbandale, Iowa-based social conservative group The FAMiLY Leader celebrated the state Supreme Court's decision, seeing it as a victory against judicial activism and for unborn children. In 2018, five unelected judges brazenly admitted to ignoring the original meaning of the Iowa Constitution to invent a so-called right to abortion, said Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The FAMiLY Leader. Todays ruling moves us closer to the day the people of Iowa can protect pre-born children, he added. The future of abortion in Iowa remains uncertain. But this back-and-forth in the courts reveals the Protect Life Amendment is needed now more than ever. The Protect Life Amendment Vander Plaats referred to was approved by both houses of the Iowa General Assembly last year and declares that the state constitution does not recognize, grant, or secure a right to abortion or require the public funding of abortion. In order to take effect, the Iowa General Assembly must pass the Protect Life Amendment in the next session, which begins next year, and voters must approve it in a ballot referendum. The Iowa Supreme Courts decision comes as the nation waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a case involving a Mississippi state law banning most abortions after 15 weeks into a pregnancy. Known as Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, many believe the U.S. Supreme Court case will reverse the landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, which struck down abortion restrictions before fetal viability. Politico published a leaked draft opinion in the case last month, which indicated that a majority of justices expressed support for striking down Roe and leaving the issue of abortion up to each individual state to decide. The Dobbs decision is expected to be released by the end of the month. In the absence of Roe, Iowa would be able to enforce its law banning abortions after six weeks gestation. Iowa is one of 21 states that would either ban abortion completely or restrict abortion more severely if Roe is overturned. Sixteen states would continue to allow abortion throughout most or all of pregnancy as the right to abortion has been codified into state law, three states could put the issue of abortion before voters and the remaining 10 states will continue to enforce existing abortion laws and/or restrictions. Juneteenth: 7 milestones in the struggle to abolish slavery On Sunday, Americans across the United States will be celebrating Juneteenth, a holiday that marks the anniversary of when U.S. Major Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, declaring that the area's slaves were free. Although first celebrated locally in the 19th century, Juneteenth is the newest of the 12 federal holidays, having only been given the official designation last year. A key theme of the observance is remembering the abolition of slavery, a cause that unfolded over several generations in U.S. history, having its share of successes and failures. Here are seven notable milestones in the effort to abolish slavery in the U.S. They include the banning of international slavery, the release of the novel Uncle Toms Cabin, and the passage of the 13th Amendment. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next Sudanese police arrest 2 Christians leaders during church Bible study JUBA, South Sudan Police in Sudan walked into a church Bible class on Tuesday (June 14) and arrested two Christian leaders for violating public order, their attorney said. Officers in Omdurman, across the Nile River from Khartoum, took Pastor Kabashi Idris of the African Inland Church and evangelist Yacoub Ishakh of the Independent Baptist Church into custody in the presence of those at the Bible study at the Baptist church in the Hai Al Thawra West area of the city, said attorney Shinbago Awad. Charged with violating public order under Article 77 of Sudans penal code, they were released on bail the same day, he said. They were accused by a radical Muslim neighbor who filed a case against them at the police station in the area, prompting the police to arrest the two church leaders, Awad said. The radical Muslim told police his children were singing the songs of the Christians and feared they might convert to Christianity. Last month the radical Muslim whose house is near the church building filed a complaint of disturbing the peace, ostensibly because the church was worshiping in song, Awad said. Police on May 19 summoned and interrogated the two church leaders and released them. A guilty verdict could result in a prison sentence of up to three months, a fine or both, and the court could issue an order to cease worship services, Awad said. Following two years of advances in religious freedom in Sudan after the end of the Islamist dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the specter of state-sponsored persecution returned with a military coup on Oct. 25, 2021. After Bashir was ousted from 30 years of power in April 2019, the transitional civilian-military government managed to undo some sharia (Islamic law) provisions. It outlawed the labeling of any religious group infidels and thus effectively rescinded apostasy laws that made leaving Islam punishable by death. With the Oct. 25 coup, Christians in Sudan fear the return of the most repressive and harsh aspects of Islamic law. Abdalla Hamdok, who had led a transitional government as prime minister starting in September 2019, was detained under house arrest for nearly a month before he was released and reinstated in a tenuous power-sharing agreement in November. Hamdock had been faced with rooting out longstanding corruption and an Islamist deep state from Bashirs regime the same deep state that is suspected of rooting out the transitional government in the Oct. 25 coup. Persecution of Christians by non-state actors continued before and after the coup. In Open Doors 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan remained at No. 13, where it ranked the previous year, as attacks by non-state actors continued and religious freedom reforms at the national level were not enacted locally. Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in the 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. State Departments International Religious Freedom Report states that conditions have improved somewhat with the decriminalization of apostasy and a halt to demolition of churches, but that conservative Islam still dominates society; Christians face discrimination, including problems in obtaining licenses for constructing church buildings. The U.S. State Department in 2019 removed Sudan from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom and upgraded it to a watch list. The State Department removed Sudan from the Special Watch List in December 2020. Sudan had previously been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018. The Christian population of Sudan is estimated at 2 million, or 4.5% of the total population of more than 43 million. This article was originally published by Morning Star News. UK sanctions Russian Patriarch Kirill over Ukraine invasion, slams forced adoptions The United Kingdom has announced a new round of sanctions in connection with Russia's war in Ukraine, including sanctions targeting Moscow Patriarch Kirill for "his support and endorsement of Putin's war." Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has "repeatedly abused his position to justify the war" in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement last Thursday. "Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of Putin's war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children," she continued. "We will not tire of defending freedom and democracy, and keeping up the pressure on Putin, until Ukraine succeeds. Putin's allies continue to choose to turn a blind eye to alleged war crimes and support his bloody offensive." Vladimir Legoida, head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Synodal Department for the Church's Relations with Society and Mass Media, condemned the sanctions. "Attempts to intimidate the head of the Russian Church or to force him to abandon his views are meaningless, absurd, and futile," Legoida said in a statement translated by Catholic News Agency. "The Patriarch's family went through years of godless persecution, and he himself grew up and formed under tremendous pressure on the faith, to which he has always honorably resisted," he continued. "The Church especially now is the last bridge, the means of communication, which they are trying to destroy for some reason. It may be needed only by those political forces who have made escalation of conflict and alienation of peace their important goal." According to the United Nations Office for High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 4,509 people had been killed and 5,585 had been injured since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Between 12 million to 14 million Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes. In late March, the Orthodox Public Affairs Committee called for sanctions to be enacted against leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, claiming they are complicit in the Russian invasion. Last month, a branch of Ukraine's Orthodox Church severed ties with Russia over Putin's invasion of Ukraine, declaring its "full independence" against Russia's spiritual authorities. The decision followed a meeting of the church leadership. In a statement, its council condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Patriarch Kirill for supporting the "special military operation" in Ukraine. In March, the Russian Orthodox Parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam announced its intention to leave the Russian Orthodox Church in opposition to Kirill's support for the invasion. The announcement was "extremely painful and difficult for all concerned" and came in response to what the parish called a "threat to the parish and the clergy." The U.K.'s new sanctions also target Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children's rights in Russia, who has been accused of overseeing the transfer of about 2,000 vulnerable children from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine and facilitating their forced adoptions in Russia. Sergey Savostyanov, the deputy of the Moscow city Duma and member of Putin's political elite, has also been sanctioned "for publicly supporting Putin's war in Ukraine." Also sanctioned is Alexey Isaykin, president and board Member of Volga-Dnepr Group, a Russian transport company with significant air operations contracted by the Russian government to create air bridges that carry critical goods. Four colonels from Russia's 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, "a unit known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians in Bucha," have also been sanctioned. Sanctions also impact the so-called Salvation Committee for Peace and Order an entity that collaborates with the Russian army to support the occupation of the Kherson Oblast. The sanctions include freezing assets, which prevents U.K. citizens and businesses from "dealing with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by the designated person." The sanctions also include travel bans and transport bans, making it a criminal offense for any Russian aircraft to fly over or land in the U.K. Russian ships are banned from U.K. ports. Two British citizens, Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner, were sentenced to death by a court in "Donetsk People's Republic" earlier this month for fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported. Truss said U.K. officials were in touch with the Ukrainian government about Aslin and Pinner. "These people are prisoners of war," Truss declared. "They were fighting legitimately with the Ukrainian army. What Russia has done is a complete violation of the Geneva Convention. We are taking all steps we can." Pastor, author Andy McQuitty journals 'moral education' of his own kids in new book Thirty years ago, Andy McQuitty, who pastors the Texas megachurch Irving Bible Church, started writing down parental words of wisdom in five separate journals one for each of his five children. Covering topics such as relationships, faith, discipline, work ethic and even politics, McQuittys handwritten journals were written over some 18 years, up until the day his children went off to college. It wasnt until years later that McQuitty compiled, digitized and published those journal entries into a single devotional format titled,Your Best Life Later, which the pastor says features deeply personal insights written straight from the heart of a Christian father to his five children. McQuitty told The Christian Post that despite having written three other books, he never intended to publish this one. I started these journals to my children when they were small, with the goal of communicating things to them from the heart of a Christian dad, things that I felt they needed to know in order for their life to flourish. It was written as a very personal love letter/journal from a father to his children, with their best life walking with Christ later in mind, he added. McQuitty says the idea was originally inspired by his own father, who wrote him a letter when he was young about the life he envisioned for his son. It just meant so much to me that he had given this personal piece of himself that I would have forever, and I just thought, I want to do that for my kids too, he said. The book which has both parents and young adults as its target audience features practical methods for raising serious Christ-followers. Using Proverbs 1:7-9 as the project's biblical underpinning, McQuitty calls on parents to examine their own walks as disciples of Christ and how they can influence their children with eternity in mind. I envisioned my young child reading that verse and asking the Lord, My fathers instruction? My mothers teaching? What instruction? What teaching? he said. Because people's lives are inundated with various forms of media, Mcquitty says thats precisely what makes personal writing so powerful. It shines like a light in a dark place because its personal and its lasting, he said. After serving his church family as senior pastor to Irving Bible Church in Texas for 32 years, McQuitty now serves as pastor emeritus and has turned his focus to writing and ministry. He's concerned about the erosion of Christian values in the public square and kind of a persecution, almost, of Christian parents who stand up against this crazy trans stuff and woke-ism and CRT." McQuitty said now more than ever, its time for parents to take personal responsibility for the moral education of their children. I think its a way for parents in Christian homes to reclaim that ground thats been stolen by the public square the moral education of their children, he said. I think it has implications for the survival of our country, actually. In 2018, McQuitty said Christians need to treat members of the LGBT community just like it would "any community of people who are hurting and far from God, calling it a crisis because we've got thousands, if not millions, of young LGBT people in America today, many of them Christians, followers of Christ, who have left the Church because they feel rejected. "We need to treat them like Jesus treated them," he said. "How did Jesus treat the tax collectors and the harlots and sinners of his day? Well, the Pharisees will tell you how He treated them; they criticized Him and said, 'He's one of them. He has dinner parties with them.' Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector hated by his people, to be His disciple. Jesus embraced everyone, regardless of who they were." The pastor emphasized that while churches should "love and welcome" members of the LGBT community, they should first establish their position on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. If Jesus were physically here today, Hed promote capitalism Roger Olson, Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University, recently published an essay with the title, Why I Am a Socialist: Because I Am a Christian. He added, I do think that laissez faire capitalism, especially its Social Darwinist variety, is contrary to the spirit, the ethos, of Jesus Christ, which is compassion for the weak, the vulnerable, the little ones.What would Jesus advocate for if he were here, in person, physically, today? In other words, today Jesus would be a socialist, according to Olson. But the professor errs in his logic, hermeneutics, history, and economics. The obvious error in Olsons reasoning is his logical leap, called the non sequitur fallacy. Olson believes that compassion requires the state to steal from the rich and give to the poor. Otherwise, there is no compassion. What about charity? Olson never mentions it. Is there really nothing between socialism and ruthless oppression of the poor? Olson believes so. The Bible says we should care for the poor, but insisting that only the state can provide for them is an Evel Knievel logical leap across the Grand Canyon. A PhD in theology ought to be familiar with the principles of hermeneutics, which are logic applied to interpretation of the Bible. One of the primary rules to guide this interpretation is to consider the audience. When Jesus said, Blessed are the poor, and encouraged His followers to give to them, was He addressing politicians? No, politicians avoided Jesus and He wasnt a political policy wonk, anyway. He spoke to crowds of the most common people in the nation, many of whom would become part of His Church. So, He encouraged individual charity to the poor. Charity in the Bible is never enforced by the state. It is required by God, not the government. Another important principle of hermeneutics is to consider the historical context. Olson needs to read Jerry Bowyers book, The Maker Versus the Takers: What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics, which shows that Jesus attacks on the rich took place when he preached in Judea where most rich people had stolen their wealth from others. The Bible often condemns the wicked wealthy, but portrays wealth gained honestly as a gift from God. Olson is also ignorant of the 150 years in which economists proved Marx wrong. But for Olson, ignorance of economics is no problem; Marx said it, and that settles it: The socialism I embrace is not tied to any political party It is not Marxism, although it believes Marxs critical analysis of capitalism has merit.its best visible representations are in the Scandinavian countries. Olson is unaware that Finland (9), Denmark (10), and Sweden (11), rank above the U.S. (25) in terms of economic freedom according to the Heritage Foundations index. But that doesnt mean those Scandinavian countries are capitalist. They are not. It means the U.S. is more socialist than the socialist countries Olson admires. Nor does he care that the poor in the U.S. are wealthier than the poor in Scandinavian countries because our standard of living is higher. But he recognizes that the U.S. has implemented many socialist programs: Much of socialism is actually manifested in many things American society take for granted such as social security and Medicare and Medicaid and public ownership of many of the means of transportation, etc. Olson ignores the warnings of 19th century Christians who feared giving too much to the poor instead of too little, as Marvin Olasky demonstrates in The Tragedy of American Compassion. Indiscriminate giving, which government welfare programs do, encourages drug and alcohol abuse, laziness, and single mother-headed households that produce most of our criminals. Indiscriminate giving to the poor vastly increases their numbers as more choose not to work and encourages the vices that keep people poor. We have proven that any American who finishes high school, stays off drugs and alcohol, doesnt commit crimes, shows up to work on time, and is faithful to his wife or her husband, can live a middle-class American lifestyle, the highest standard of living in human history. Allowing Marx to define capitalism for him, Olson offers a dishonest depiction of it: What would Jesus advocate for if he were here, in person, physically, today? I believe he would speak out prophetically, as did the Hebrew prophets, against those who advocate government that allows the weak, the disadvantaged, the sick, the disabled, the poor to fall through the cracks simply to keep in place economic freedom for the rich and powerful. But having a drunk atheist define capitalism is as reasonable as letting atheists define Christianity; they wont come close to the truth. The 19th century was the golden age for laissez-faire capitalism in the U.S. and U.K. because theologians considered it to be Christian economics. It lifted citizens in both nations to extraordinary levels of prosperity compared to previous centuries. And because of our greater wealth, Christians took care of the poor better than anyone in history, without subsidizing alcoholics or men who refused to work. Yet Olson considers capitalism a great evil. Does he analyze the economic theology of great proponents of capitalism, such as Francis Wayland, a Baptist Pastor, president of Brown University when it was a Christian school, and author of one of the most popular economic textbooks of the 19th century? No, Olson doesnt bother. Few theologians have devoted the time necessary to learning economics. Like Francis Wayland, Paul Heyne was one who did, and he is worth reading, especially Are Economists Basically Dishonest? Christians should shun PhD-gilded theologians who, bored with theology, stray into the lanes of other disciplines like economics. They know no more than any random man off the street in other fields. And doing so, they dishonestly try to project the authority of their PhD in one field onto their ill-informed opinions in another. What would Jesus advocate for if he were here, in person, physically, today? He would promote laissez-faire capitalism, because He wrote the Book from which the principles of capitalism came. RAMALLAH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is following the same policy as its predecessors in dealing with the Palestinian cause, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday. "Just like the predecessors, the Biden administration provides military and financial support to Israel, and also provides it with political support and protection in the UN and other international forums," Salleh Ra'fat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told Voice of Palestine. Ra'fat said that Israel continues its measures and violations against the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in addition to the daily assaults of Israeli settlers, who are receiving complete protection from the Israeli army. Ra'fat added that Biden's campaign promises regarding the Palestinian cause have not been implemented. He called for an international conference "in which major countries participate to implement the UN resolutions that lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital." Megachurch pastor advises young adults to forgive absent, neglectful dads ahead of Father's Day As Americans get ready to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday, a young adult ministry leader is encouraging Christians to forgive their absent fathers and others who have inflicted harm in their lives. David Marvin, a pastor at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, gave a sermon Tuesday titled "How to forgive" before the church's young adult group, The Porch, which ministers to thousands of young adults through live stream affiliations with 15 churches across 10 states. "Christians are not called to just have the title of Christians, but the lifestyle of Christians. And Jesus over and over said: 'If you're going to follow me, you will forgive people.' And I know represented in this room there's a lot of pain," Marvin preached. "When we brought up Father's Day a second ago, that's not a day of celebration. It's a day that reminds you of what you didn't have or the terrible father you did have. God wants you to experience the healing that happens when you decide to forgive, which is why over and over He commands it." He assured forgiveness can change the trajectory of someone's life. Marvin, who's been on staff at Watermark for over a decade and has a biblical studies master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, said many people don't know what steps are needed to forgive. He believes there's a lot of misinformation on forgiveness, noting that "forgiveness is not forgetting." "If anything, you have to remember in order to forgive someone. Forgiveness is not excusing what happened. It's not pretending like, 'man, it wasn't a big deal when they abused me.' That was a huge deal. But you're still called to forgive," Marvin preached. "Forgiveness is not minimizing or belittling it. The sin that happened against you was such a big deal Jesus had to come on the cross and die. Forgiveness is not the restoration of a relationship. In other words, you can forgive someone, which doesn't make you best friends. But it is a command." He stressed that "forgiveness is not fair" and laid out three steps to take. Knowing what to forgive The first step of forgiveness, Marvin said, is to "identify what to forgive." "It is a really difficult thing to forgive or release the need for payback, to release that debt that was created if I don't know what was taken," he explained. "In other words, I can't forgive you for what you stole from my house if I don't know what you stole from my house." Marvin said many never process what others did to hurt them, which can block the process of forgiveness to those who hurt them. "Canceling that debt involves identifying what was taken. ... Every time somebody hurt you, sinned against you, neglected, abandoned, abused, sinned; there's the fact that it happened, then there's the impact it had, and the fact of what was taken," Marvin said. "What do I mean by that? That every time somebody has sinned against you or me, there's a debt that is created. And part of the way that we forgive is by looking it in the eye and saying, 'This is what was taken and I'm not holding that against you anymore.'" Marvin offered himself as an example, speaking to the resentment he used to hold against his father for largely being absent from his life growing up. "We'd see each other at holidays, and my siblings would drive across town two times a month due to custody orders, and we'd see him in this tiny little apartment," the pastor explained. "And I realized I was carrying some real hurt. And somebody gave me the teaching of forgiveness. It's really hard to forgive someone if you don't know what they took from you." Years ago, Marvin began writing a journal to chronicle the different things his father "took" from him growing up. "You took from me having a dad in the home. You took from me having a father show up at sporting events," Marvin recounted. "You took from me the ability to see what God's design for marriage was meant to look like. You took from me every other Monday night where I had to drive across town and go to that apartment. You took from me having a father close in my life.'" 'Let go' Forgiveness is a decision that needs to be made, Marvin said, referencing Ephesians 4:31. The verse reads: "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." The second step on the path to forgiveness and "by far the hardest," Marvin said, is making the decision to "let go" of the debt and release it to God. "Maybe it was the fact that you grew up in a broken home like I did, and it led to some brokenness in your life ... that's not your fault and you didn't ask for it," Marvin said. "But if you're going to forgive and experience healing, you've got to make the decision: 'I'm going to identify what was taken because I can't release that debt if I don't know what it is.'" Marvin stressed that "forgiving is an act of faith" and warned of the potential consequences of failing to forgive. "To say to God, 'I am choosing to not forgive this person,' is to say 'the eternal torment of Hell is not enough for the pain they created.' Or if they're a believer, it's saying to God, 'the death of your one and only Son Jesus on the cross, that may be enough for you God, it's not enough for me. And they need to pay. And however I can make them pay through the way that I treat them, or the way that I avoid them, or the way that I refuse to forgive them, I'm going to do,'" Marvin said. "God says: 'the forgiven forgive people.' We forgive because we've been forgiven. ... God's grace doesn't just flow to us and His forgiveness doesn't just flow to us. It's to flow out through us and how we interact with other people." Forgive daily The third step to forgiveness, Marvin said, is to "choose to forgive daily." Marvin discussed the Lord's Prayer, which includes the portion that states, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," which is also rendered as "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." "Forgiveness is a medication you will have to take for the rest of your life," Marvin said. "Is holding on to that bitterness going to help you? Jesus says, 'No.' It's going to hurt you and your future." In New Yorks Finger Lakes, an overlooked old church Most of the visitors to New Yorks Finger Lakes come for world-class lakes and spectacular wines. Many undoubtedly overlook a historic church tucked away among farmhouses, vineyards and cottages on Bluff Point, which divides Keuka Lake the third-largest of the 11 glacial lakes that make up the Finger Lakes region into two branches and gives the lake its distinctive Y-shape. Designed by architect Mortimer Freehof and built between 1930 and 1931, the Garrett Memorial Chapel was commissioned by Paul and Evelyn Garrett in memory of their fourth son, Charles, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 26. Paul Garrett, an Episcopalian by confession who claimed to be descended from Jamestown colonists, ran Garrett and Co., a wine company that had its roots in North Carolina but operated vineyards in and around the Finger Lakes before, during and after Prohibition. Garrett and Co.s marquee brand carried the name of Virginia Dare, the first English birth in the New World. Freehofs design is simple but striking, not least because of its setting above the east branch of Keuka Lake. The granite walls add a rustic flare to what has been called Norman architecture even though the windows feature a pointed arch, the telltale sign of Gothic. Thus, its a rather late example of Gothic revival. Meanwhile, the interior is renowned for its 10 stained-glass windows depicting the life and ministry of Christ by Frederick Wilson, the one-time head of ecclesiastical art at Tiffany Studios. Describing the chapel, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2001, Paul Garrett wrote shortly after its construction: Built of rugged Pennsylvania seam-faced granite, on the solid rock foundations of Bluff Point, it should stand to see another 2,000 years, or even until the era of Christianity has reached its five thousandth year. With a couple exceptions namely the cast stone decorative details and steel-encased concrete beams the chapel could be mistaken for a medieval church that one might find on travels somewhere on the backroads of France or England. The chapel hosts a seasonal worshiping community that is nondenominational mainline Protestant in matters of doctrine and practice but is otherwise under the care of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, a see based about 60 miles away in its namesake city. Scheduled preachers during the Sunday services this summer are the Rev. Anne Waasdorp (July 3), the Rev. Joy Bergfalk (July 10), the Rev. Eric Detar (July 17), the Rev. Peter Peters (July 31), the Rev. Kit Tobin (Aug. 7), the Rev. Michael Hartney (Aug. 14), the Rev. James Gerling (Aug. 21), the Very Rev. Troy Preston (Aug. 28) and the Right Rev. Stephen Lane, the Episcopal provisional bishop of Rochester and formerly bishop of Maine (Sept. 4). All services begin at 9 a.m. If you go While the grounds of Garrett Memorial Chapel are open daily, the interior can only be accessed outside Sunday services on Tuesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For navigation devices, use the address 5251 Skyline Dr., Penn Yann, N.Y. 14527. Stay at either the Best Western Plus in Hammondsport or the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel overlooking Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen. Besides Rochester, the closest major cities are Syracuse (83 miles), Buffalo (122 miles) and Ithaca (60 miles). Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post. Youth For Christ ministry points incarcerated youth, young dads to God as the ultimate 'good father' While dads across the country are set to celebrate Fathers Day with their families, many of them will mark the holiday in a detention facility. An estimated 684,500 state and federal prisoners were parents of at least one minor child in 2016, totaling nearly half of state prisoners (47%) and more than half of federal prisoners (58%), according to government data. The vast majority of parents incarcerated in a U.S. prison or detention facility 92% are fathers. So this Fathers Day, Youth For Christ, a ministry focused on fostering Christ-sharing relationships with high-risk youth from juvenile offenders to teen parents, is looking to bring hope to those within prison walls. The group's Juvenile Justice Ministry is geared toward young people in the United States justice system, meeting them in a variety of juvenile justice settings, including detention centers, probation, correctional facilities, group homes, residential treatment centers, and emergency shelters. Alex Mathew, executive director of Youth For Christ, told The Christian Post that the ministrys focus for Fathers Day is to be a steady voice and presence in the lives of those they serve. Were going to focus on Jesus, but were not going to focus and reflect on their earthly fathers, because so many of them have been disappointed or theyre even modeling the negative choices their fathers are making, Mathew said. For many in the cycle of fatherlessness, Mathew says incarceration has become a rite of passage, almost like graduation for some. We want to break that cycle, he added. The ministry came about when Youth For Christ was holding an outreach in a detention center and someone asked the question, Who is Jesus to you? One young man replied, A father figure, Matthew said. We realized, Lets start reconstructing what a good father looks like, even though you might not have it in your life, he added. The program seeks to put father in Christ figures around young people dealing with relational trauma, racial trauma, community violence, and lack of access to basic needs to show them what fathering looks like, said Mathew. He said in Scripture we find all sorts of models of good and bad fathers, even good fathers-in-law such as with Moses and Jethro. For Mathew, though, the real question is helping to define biblical fatherhood for those who never had an example of their own. What if the purpose of us as men from God is not necessarily to be this billionaire or millionaire, but maybe its to be a good father, and all of these things will fall into place according to His will? he said. And while building up young men and pointing them to the One who can transform them into good dads is never easy, Mathew said its not uncommon for those who go through the program to struggle once theyve moved on. I always tell young people, You cant control your genetics, you cant control your environment, but you can control your choices, he said. With young people who have been institutionalized, Mathew said theres often a lack of community to receive them and build them back up once theyre released: theres usually a honeymoon period when they want to go all in and then a couple of weeks later, they tend to go back to their old ways because their environment really sabotages them. Our desire is to have a safe place where they can come, even if they slide backward, to encounter God, just by baby steps maybe. Researchers have found children who grow up with an engaged dad are less likely to drop out of school or end up in jail compared to children with absent fathers or no other male role model in their lives. Children who have close relationships with their fathers also tend to avoid high-risk behaviors, are less likely to have sex at a young age and are more likely to have high-paying jobs and healthy, stable relationships as adults. And its not just behavioral: researchers in 2017 said they discovered a biological link that shows how the loss of a father significantly affects children at the level of their DNA. Children raised without a dad have much shorter ends of their chromosomes, known as telomeres. These chromosomal protective caps are believed to affect health and longevity more positively for those with fathers in the home, according to studies. Fort Worth Episcopalians vote to join Texas diocese after losing $100M property battle A group of Episcopalians in Texas who recently lost a legal battle with a breakaway diocese over church property valued at $100 million have voted to join another Episcopal diocese. The Episcopal Church in North Texas (ECNTX), formerly known as the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, unanimously approved a proposal Saturday to join the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. At a special meeting of the Diocesan Convention at Trinity Episcopal Church of Fort Worth, the ECNTX voted 69 to 0 in favor of a "reunion" with the Diocese of Texas. Bishop Scott Mayer said during a sermon that the special meeting was "not about closure" but "an outward visible sign of faith, hope, and love by a liberated people." "You did more than weather the storm. You did more than survive the journey. You chose life and love," said Mayer regarding the years of litigation over the Fort Worth Diocese property. "The communities and people you serve can testify that your presence and witness matters in this world. You make a difference. And you are great." The ECNTX vote came several days after the Episcopal Diocese of Texas's Diocesan Council voted 526-14 in favor of the plan, in which ECNTX would become the Houston-based North Region of the Diocese of Texas. The majority of the Fort Worth Diocese voted in 2008 to leave The Episcopal Church over a disagreement with the mainline denomination's progressive theological views following the ordination of the first openly gay Episcopalian bishop. The separation led to years of legal battles over trademark and property disputes. In February 2021, the Anglican Church in North America secured control of the Diocese of Fort Worth after several years of litigation against The Episcopal Church and ECNTX. The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a state court ruling allowing the breakaway diocese to take control of up to about $100 million in church property. Currently, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas has around 160 congregations and about 72,000 active members, while the ECNTX has 13 congregations and approximately 5,000 active members. In April, the Diocese of Texas and ECNTX released a joint statement announcing that they were pursuing reunification, as ECNTX originally was part of the diocese in the 19th century. "Just as they did in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 schism, the resilient faithful people of the diocese found new places to worship and missed not a beat in carrying on the vital ministries and outreach to their neighbors," the joint statement reads. "On April 12, the Standing Committee of ECNTX voted to engage in conversations with the Diocese of Texas about potential reunification. On behalf of the Standing Committee, Bishop Mayer reached out to Bishop Doyle with an invitation to visit ECNTX and open formal conversations between the dioceses." The next step in the process will be for the merger to be approved by the Episcopal Church General Convention, which is slated to meet in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 8-11. If both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies approve the reunification, it will become effective following the end of the General Convention. Judge rules Jewish university isn't a 'religious corporation,' must recognize LGBT club The Jewish Yeshiva University in New York City is not a "religious corporation" and must recognize an LGBT club as the city's anti-discrimination law demands, a state judge has ruled. New York Supreme Court First Judicial District Judge Lynn Kotler directed the university in an order last Tuesday to give the school's Pride Alliance "full equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups at Yeshiva University." In 2020, seven LGBT student activists and allies filed a lawsuit with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, claiming the university founded in 1886 discriminated by not recognizing the gay pride group. In the ruling, Kotler said YU is chartered not as a religious organization but is considered an "educational corporation," and it is, therefore, subject to New York City Human Rights Law. "The record shows that the purpose students attend Yeshiva is to obtain an education, not for religious worship or some other function which is religious at its core," Kotler wrote. "Thus, religion is necessarily secondary to education at Yeshiva." The order also said that YU and its president, Ari Berman, be "permanently restrained from continuing their refusal to officially recognize the YU Pride Alliance as a student organization because of the members' sexual orientation or gender and/or YU Pride Alliance's status, mission, and/or activities on behalf of LGBTQ students." Jewish Queer Youth, which represents the interests of gay Orthodox Jews, praised the decision as "a victory for human dignity, mental health and safety on campus." However, the Manhattan-based university believes the court's orders violate its religious liberty and would impact many other institutions maintained by religious groups. "The decision permits courts to interfere in the internal affairs of religious schools, hospitals and other charitable organizations," the university told the campus student newspaper, The Commentator. "Any ruling that Yeshiva is not religious is obviously wrong," the statement continued. "As our name indicates, Yeshiva University was founded to instill Torah values in its students while providing a stellar education, allowing them to live with religious conviction as noble citizens and committed Jews. While we love and care for our students, who are all each and everyone created in God's image, we firmly disagree with today's ruling and will immediately appeal the decision." Orthodox Jewish law prohibits homosexuality. However, within Modern Orthodox settings, there is some acceptance of those who identify as queer. YU, inspired by modern and centrist Orthodox Judaism, has four campuses in New York City and provides yeshiva and Judaic studies programs. Although most university students are Jewish, not all subscribe to the Jewish faith. Megachurch pastor says it's 'very unloving' for Christians to affirm friends' LGBT lifestyles A Virginia megachurch pastor recently tackled questions about how Christians should respond to LGBT activism in today's society, stressing that Christians must "communicate truth in love" and not affirm their friends' LGBT lifestyles. Gary Hamrick, senior pastor of Cornerstone Chapel of Leesburg, took part in a question-and-answer session on June 8, where he answered a series of questions on a wide assortment of issues from illegal immigration to religious exemptions to vaccine mandates. During the discussion, one person asked how parents can guard their children against "the push for the acceptance of sexual fluidity in their generation and future peer groups." "It's unavoidable. All you can do as parents [is] pray a lot for your kids. And it is OK to shelter them as best as you can," Hamrick replied. "You do your best and you trust God to protect their hearts and their minds in Christ Jesus." Hamrick said parents will often expose their children to ideas of gender fluidity and sexuality too early because they are fearful their children will be too "sheltered" from "the real world." "You can shelter your kids as best as you can. And they're still going to eventually have to come to grips with the evils of the world. But you don't have to expose them at an early age. That's what's key," Hamrick said. "When kids get exposed to things at an early age, that's where it's much more detrimental." Hamrick encouraged parents to direct their kids to Bible passages such as Genesis 1:27, which reads, "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Another audience member asked: "How should Christians respond to LGBT friends who argue: 'Love is love.'" Hamrick replied, "if you really believe the Bible is the basis for your belief system, then you are going to recognize that God calls homosexuality sin." "And if you operate from that standard, from that description, from that definition, then it's a matter of 'how do I communicate truth In love?'" he said. "Being loving is not denying the truth. That's a very unloving thing. Being loving toward somebody is figuring out a sensitive way to communicate the truth. It's a very unloving thing to say: 'Well, I'm just going to affirm them and not really tell them the truth.' So you're not doing them any good, and you're not being honest before the Lord or to yourself." Hamrick believes that "the Church has not done a very good job on this topic of homosexuality" because they fall into two "extremes." "[Churches are] either really harsh against homosexuals, or they're ... really affirming and [claim that] 'it's no big deal and God loves everybody,'" Hamrick said. "And the truth is, it's really easy to live in the extremes of life and to live in extreme conversations. I mean, that's easy. What's hard is to find that balance in the middle where you're communicating the truth in love. And to affirm somebody in their sin is just lying to them." Hamrick said Christians might face backlash when sharing the Bible's stance on homosexuality but encourages them to stand strong. "They may not accept it. But that's not on you. What's on you is 'how can I communicate this with sensitivity and love, without affirming what is wrong?'" Hamrick said. He stressed that sharing the truth about the Bible's stance on sexuality can be challenging because "our world and our culture has now affirmed something that God does not." "It's really easy to confront someone, even if you do it in a loving way, about something that the culture and God both agree on" but challenging when "the culture is saying the opposite," Hamrick said. "Just the fact that you might hold the belief that homosexuality is wrong, you're going to be labeled a hater, intolerant, a bigot," he warned. "You can't control that. All you can control is: 'I want to honor God and I want to always be truthful, and so I'm going to look for a gentle and sincere way to communicate truth when necessary when it comes up." Hamrick asserted that Christians shouldn't "affirm anyone for whatever the sin might be." "If somebody is a pathological liar, [and we tell them], 'Well, that's OK, everybody lies.' Why are you saying that?" said Hamrick. "Or somebody is a gossip, or somebody is in premarital heterosexual sex, [and you say], 'Well, that's OK. You know, we all have urges.' Why are we compromising the truth for the sake of just appeasing people?" Hamrick's son, Austin Hamrick, the church's assistant pastor, was on stage with his father during the Q&A event and said he disagrees with the phrase "Love is love." "The phrase: 'Love is Love' is not a very stable motto to stand on. I mean, I love a lot of things that are not beneficial for me. My daughter, she's 4. She loves to run in the middle of the road. And if she just said, 'Hey, love is love. Why would you infringe on what I love to do?' Well, it's because I know that there are harmful consequences to her love for running in the middle of the road," Austin Hamrick said. "You love Krispy Kreme doughnuts," he said to his father. "Now, to indulge in a lifestyle of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, there might be some harmful consequences to that." The younger Hamrick said Christians should look to the Bible to find what is truly "good love." Within Scripture, Austin Hamrick said Christians can discover what "God says [about] how we should flourish in our sexuality and in relationships." "Love is love means you should affirm everything that I want or desire. It's not true love. True love is to will the good of another," he added. As the session neared the end, the Hamricks were asked about being attracted "to both genders" and if same-sex attraction is a sin. "There are a lot of things that we might be drawn to in our hearts. And the one thing that we have to guard against is acting on it,' Gary Hamrick replied. "It's one thing to have certain feelings, but the Bible [in] Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he said, 'take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.' So we need to rein in our thought-life." It is not uncommon for Christians to have "unnatural sinful thoughts," Hamrick continued, but "the main thing" is "don't act on it." "You don't give in to it. You 'take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.' So at the thought level, as long as you are not taking it to a place of fantasy and lust, that's not going to be sinful. It's at the behavioral level that it's going to be sinful," he added. The senior pastor then quoted Martin Luther: "I cannot control the birds flying over my head, but I can control whether or not they make a nest in my hair." "There are a lot of things that are going to come in my head, and I can't always control that. And some of those desires or thoughts are wrong," Hamrick stressed. "But the main thing is, don't let it take root. Don't let it nest and don't act on it. That's the main thing. Fight those thoughts and those desires that aren't pleasing to the Lord." Supreme Court declines $100M Episcopal Church property case, lets breakaway diocese's victory stand The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from The Episcopal Church over a dispute with a breakaway Texas diocese leadership over an estimated $100 million in church property. In orders released Monday, the high court denied certiorari in the combined cases of All Saints Episcopal Church v. Diocese of Fort Worth and The Episcopal Church et al. v. Diocese of Fort Worth. As a result, an earlier ruling awarding the 60 church properties to the breakaway diocese that voted to leave the denomination over theological differences on issues like same-sex marriage and the ordination of women will stand. The breakaway diocese's Bishop Ryan Reed said the court's decision marked "a turning point" for the diocese. "After directing so many resources to this dispute, we can now put our entire focus on Gospel ministry and Kingdom work," Reed said in a statement. "We are nearing completion on a strategic plan that will keep us focused on sharing the transforming love of Jesus Christ and our mission to equip the saints for the work of ministry." The Christian Post reached out to The Episcopal Church for comments on the decision. A response is pending. In 2008, a majority of the Fort Worth Diocese voted to leave The Episcopal Church over the overall liberal theological direction of the mainline Protestant denomination. A prominent example was the ordination of The Episcopal Churchs first openly gay bishop, the Rev. Gene Robinson, which resulted in other churches and dioceses leaving the denomination. The Fort Worth diocesan leadership then decided to join the Anglican Church in North America, a more theologically conservative denomination. Years of litigation followed over who rightfully owned the approximately $100 million in church property the mainline denomination or the departing Texas-based diocese. The Episcopal Church argued that it controlled the property via the Dennis Canon, which labeled all church properties as being held in trust for the denomination's benefit. In 2018, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church. The court noted that the parties agreed that the corporation held legal title to all property in dispute. Individual members of a parish may decide to worship elsewhere; a majority of individual members of a parish or diocese may decide to do so, stated the ruling, in part. But when they leave, they are no longer Episcopalians as identified by TEC; they become something else. And that something else is not entitled to retain property if that property, under the terms of the deed, is held in trust for a TEC-affiliated diocese or congregation. In May 2020, Texas Supreme Court partially reversed the earlier ruling against the breakaway group, citing changes made to the dioceses constitution and canons in 1989. While it is true, as TEC says, that the dioceses organizational documents prohibited the adoption of canons inconsistent with the national churchs constitution and canons, revocation is not inconsistent with a revocable trust, wrote Justice Eva Guzman for the state supreme court. Moreover, in the twenty years between revocation and eruption of a dispute over the property, TEC lodged no objection to the amended canon and does not now contend the 1989 amendment is invalid for any other reason than purported inconsistency. DOJ urged to act after Jane's Revenge declares 'open season' on pro-life organizations Pro-life leaders and lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the wave of firebombings and vandalism targeting churches and pro-life pregnancy centers as a radical abortion activist group declared "open season" on pro-lifers. Jane's Revenge, which has claimed responsibility for multiple recent acts of vandalism and arson, has published another communique that threatens the safety of pro-life activists and pregnancy centers. The group had previously called for the "disbanding of anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next thirty days" in a manifesto published last month. "Your thirty days expired yesterday," Jane's Revenge stated in the communique published on the anarchist website Abolition Media Tuesday. "We offered an honourable way out. You could have walked away. Now the leash is off. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue." The group recalled "how easy and fun it is to attack," listing off all the acts of vandalism it has claimed responsibility for in the past month, which includes Madison, Wisconsin; Fort Collins, Colorado; Reisertown, Massachusetts; Olympia, Washington; Lynwood, Washington; Asheville, North Carolina; Buffalo, New York; Frederick, Maryland; Denton, Texas and Portland, Oregon. The group vowed that "from here forward, any anti-choice group who closes their doors, and stops operating will no longer be a target." "But until you do, it's open season, and we know where your operations are. The infrastructure of the enslavers will not survive," the communique reads. "We will never stop, back down, slow down, or retreat. We did not want this; but it is upon us, and so we must deal with it proportionally. We exist in confluence and solidarity with all others in the struggle for complete liberation." The group indicated that additional vandalism would extend beyond acts "easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti." The rise in attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches, as well as Jane's Revenge's first message, followed Politico's May 2 publication of a leaked draft opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The leaked opinion, verified by the court, suggests that a majority of Supreme Court justices supported overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The draft opinion is not final. The pro-abortion activists affiliated with Jane's Revenge predict that if attacks keep happening, insurance companies and the financial backers of pro-life pregnancy centers and pro-life advocacy groups will "realize you are a bad investment." The communique encouraged other pro-abortion activists to carry out their own acts of vandalism. "Everyone with the urge to paint, to burn, to cut, to jam: now is the time," the communique added. "Go forth and manifest the things you wish to see. Stay safe and practice your cursive." A group of pro-life leaders sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, urging the agency to open an investigation into the acts of vandalism committed by Jane's Revenge and other abortion activists. Led by Brian Burch of CatholicVote, the letter contends that "the relative silence from the Administration" on the vandalism "endangers Americans even more." They called on the Justice Department to "publicly condemn these unlawful attacks; to commit to vigorous efforts to prevent them; and to investigate and prosecute them; and to proactively engage with the affected faith communities to ensure their concerns and security needs are being met." Other signatories to the letter included Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Ben Carson, Ryan Anderson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Jeannie Mancini of the March for Life Education & Defense Fund, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life Action, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Penny Young Nance of Concerned Women for America. Members of the U.S. Congress have also written to Garland demanding a stronger response from the Department of Justice. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., specifically mentioned Jane's Revenge in a letter to Garland the day after Jane's Revenge published its latest communique. "The most recent statement by Jane's Revenge makes unmistakably clear that violence will soon follow if the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) does not act accordingly," he warned. "Despite the damage that has already been done and even though these groups have kept their promise to raise the violent stakes, the DOJ has not been faithful to its promise of ensuring the public's safety against these violent, radical activists." "[T]here has not been a single charge brought against any individual or group despite the countless pro-life centers in America that have been firebombed and vandalized in recent months," Rubio insisted. "[T]he DOJ and the Biden Administration can no longer remain silent." Sixteen U.S. senators and more than 120 members of the House of Representatives wrote similar letters to Garland before Jane's Revenge's last statement expressing concern about the DOJ's handling of the pro-abortion violence. The Department of Homeland Security published a memorandum last month warning that violent threats targeted at Supreme Court justices and others involved in the abortion debate, including politicians, members of the clergy and healthcare providers "are likely to persist and may increase leading up to and following the issuing in the court's official ruling" in Dobbs. Should the Dobbs ruling overturn Roe, the legality of abortion will be decided on a state-by-state basis. Twenty-one states will either completely ban or restrict abortion more severely than they do now, 16 states will continue to allow abortion throughout most or all of pregnancy because the right to abortion has been codified into law, 10 states will continue to enforce existing abortion laws and/or restrictions while the remaining three states could let voters weigh in on abortion policy at the ballot box in the near future. Trump: 'Greatest danger to America comes from within;' talks Jan. 6, 'rigged election' and puberty blockers Former President Donald Trump said the greatest danger to America comes from within and maintained that the House Select Committee's hearings on the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol are a witch hunt during a speech in Tennessee on Friday. At the Faith & Freedom Coalitions Road to Majority conference in Nashville, the former president spoke to those gathered about the dangers of the radical Left, asserting that they are trying to destroy organized religion and trying to shred our Constitution. The greatest danger to America is not our enemies from the outside, as powerful as they may be, said Trump. The greatest danger to America is the destruction of our nation from the people from within. This is not just a political problem, this is a spiritual problem. For the radical Left, politics has become their religion. It is warped their sense of right and wrong. They dont have a sense of right and wrong. Trump also criticized certain members of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, protests that turned into a riot in part of the Capitol, labeling the politicians as the un-selects and claiming that they are engaging in an insurrection hoax, insisting they are not after me, they are after you. Theyre con people; theyre con artists, he said. Every one of them is a radical Left hater. Hates all of you, hates me even more than you. The un-selects have shredded every standard of decency, fairness, precedent, tradition, separation of powers, executive privilege and due process. Nobodys ever done this before. They are knowingly spinning a fake and phony narrative in a chilling attempt to weaponize the justice system against their political opponents. The former president also touched on other topics, such as Russia's war in Ukraine and the dangers of prescribing puberty blockers to children suffering from gender confusion. The Republican Party, he added, "must become the party of parents' rights" and upend the "radical Lefts corrupt education cartel." He accused the public education system of being "so upside down that school prayer is banned, but drag shows are absolutely allowed," adding: "You cant teach the Bible, but you can teach children that men can get pregnant and kindergarteners are allowed to pick their own gender." Pushing gender ideology on young people is nothing less than child abuse. And when Republicans retake Congress, they also need to crack down hard on Big Pharma for giving puberty blockers and other dangerous drugs to mutilate our children and our youth." Earlier in his speech, Trump condemned the Jan. 6 Committee and said they should question Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who he accused of rejecting requests to have thousands of National Guard soldiers at Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, as offered by the Department of Defense ahead of scheduled events, including planned protests and counter-protests. According to Politifact, however, there is no evidence that Trump made a formal request for the National Guard units, or that Pelosi ever rejected such a request. Theres still no record of any such authorization being made, or of Pelosi standing in the way. The D.C. National Guard reports solely to the president of the United States, per its website, noted the fact-checking website. In fact the House committee noted that then-Vice President Mike Pence had called for the National Guard on Jan. 6 not Trump. Trump also devoted time in his speech to reiterate his claims of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, citing the movie 2,000 Mules, directed by conservative activist Dinesh DSouza, as evidence of ballot fraud in targeted regions of the country. Kellyanne Conway, who served as campaign manager for Trump in 2016 and was one of his prominent aides, acknowledged in a recently published memoir that Trump had legitimately lost the 2020 election. Despite the mountains of money Trump had raised, his team simply failed to get the job done. A job that was doable and had a clear path, if followed, wrote Conway. The team had failed on November 3, and they failed again afterward. By not confronting the candidate with the grim reality of his situation, that the proof had not surfaced to support the claims, they denied him the evidence he sought and the respect he was due. Instead supplicant after sycophant after showman genuflected in front of the Resolute Desk and promised the president goods they could not deliver. Additionally, as part of the select committee testimony, former Trump Attorney General William Barr referred to claims that the 2020 election was stolen as bull---. Trumps remarks came as part of the annual gathering of conservative activists that aims to advance conservative policy ideas and often features prominent Republican speakers. Earlier this month, Faith & Freedom Coalition announced that Trump would be their keynote speaker, with Executive Director Timothy Head saying it was a privilege to welcome the former president to the event. Six years ago, he began the fight to make America great again, and since that moment he has delivered some of the most consequential victories for our movement and our nation victories that continue to inspire leaders in states and communities around the country, stated Head. His presence at this conference will undoubtedly inspire attendees to stand firm in defending conservative values and electing leaders that will do the same this November. Shooting at Alabama Episcopal church small group meeting leaves 3 dead A shooting during a potluck dinner held at an Episcopal church in Alabama Thursday left three dead, including one member who authorities confirmed Friday has succumbed to her injuries after being rushed to a local hospital. Details are still emerging about a shooting that took place at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. At a press conference Friday, Vestavia Hills Police Captain Shane Ware said that at 6:22 p.m., police officers and the Vestavia Hills Fire Department were dispatched to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, which found itself in an active shooter situation. "The church was hosting a small group meeting referred to as a 'Boomers Potluck Dinner,'" he said. "Our investigation, while ongoing, has revealed that an occasional attendee of the church that I will only identify as a white male, aged 71, was at the dinner. At some point, he produced a handgun and began shooting, striking three victims." Ware identified 84-year-old Walter Rainey and 75-year-old Sarah Yeager as the victims who died at the church. An unidentified 84-year-old female was taken to a nearby hospital. However, the Vestavia Hills Police Department posted an update on social media Friday afternoon stating that the third victim has died. According to Ware, "Another attendee at the event subdued the suspect and held him down until law enforcement arrived." Ware described the unnamed parishioner's subdual of the shooter as "extremely critical in saving lives," characterizing him as a hero. He did not specify how many people were at the church at the time of the shooting. "The suspect is currently in custody at the Vestavia Hills Police Department and will remain here while warrants for capital murder are issued by the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office later today," the captain said. "The suspect acted alone. There is no threat to the community." The motive for the shooting remains unclear as the investigation continues. The suspect's name will be released as soon as the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office issues the warrants for capital murder, Ware said. Bishop Glenda Curry of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama spoke about the shooting at a prayer vigil at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in nearby Mountain Brook Friday. "I am proud of my people for praying, for hitting their knees," she asserted. "We're going to help everybody walk through it by reminding them that we're a people of hope." Curry assured that services will go on as scheduled throughout the diocese on Sunday and encouraged people to "come to church." "Go to a church and pray for peace and pray for healing and pray for the love of Jesus to transform the world," she proclaimed. "When Christians are slapped, they try to reach out in love. That's what we do and we try to pray for guidance which is beyond us when things beyond us are happening." Curry released a statement Thursday lamenting that "what felt impossible became a reality." "We know that we are not alone," she added. "This evening, we gathered as a community to pray. We have received calls and emails from across the country and around the world, and we are grateful for your love." Rev. John Burruss, the rector of St. Stephen's, was in Greece at the time of the shooting and is working to return to the United States as soon as possible. In a video message, he indicated that he was in Athens as part of a church pilgrimage with members of the St. Stephen's community. The building is inaccessible for the time being because of the ongoing investigation, Burruss said in a statement. Bishop Curry plans to be with the congregation on Sunday morning. "People have gathered as followers of Christ for 2000 years because of the belief that God's outstretched arms can reach all of humanity through pain and the most unfathomable loss," the rector said. "We gather because we know that love is the most powerful force in this world, and tonight, and in the days, months, and years that come, will hold onto that truth to know that Christ's love will always shine." States that promote giving kids puberty blockers, trans hormones have higher suicide rates: study WASHINGTON A new study is challenging the oft-repeated claim among trans activists that unless children suffering from gender dysphoria are given puberty blockers and pursue a chemical gender transition, they are likely to die by suicide. In a report released Monday by the Heritage Foundations Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at the Center for Education Policy, the scholar explained that contrary to the Biden administration and LGBT activists' assertions that so-called gender-affirming care is necessary healthcare for trans-identifying youth and that it prevents them from killing themselves, prescribing cross-sex hormones to children and teens without their parents' consent actually increases suicide rates. Greene's empirical analysis found that in states where it was easier for youth to access what is euphemistically referred to as gender-affirmative care, there was a spike in suicides relative to states where it's harder to access such experimental treatments, finding a 14% increase in youth suicides. Speaking at a Tuesday presentation at the Heritage Foundation, Greene explained that existing research on youth suicide rates among those suffering from gender confusion is thin, methodologically flawed, and has led to false assumptions being pushed on parents who are told their children will die if they are not chemically castrated or their bodies mutilated. In response to a question from The Christian Post, Ginny Gentles, director of the Education Freedom Center at Independent Womens Forum, shared how parents navigate the fear-inducing claim that their children are bound to "commit suicide" unless they undergo an experimental cross-sex hormonal regimen. She stressed that the claims of transgender activists lose their strength once parents start to learn more about what has been happening across the culture. Hope can overcome fear, she said, noting that when parents are first told that their children will kill themselves if they're not allowed to transition, they are psychologically paralyzed and then learn about the policies in the schools and elsewhere in law that reinforce their children's confusion. She added that when parents start digging into this issue and begin seeing that there are alternative paths to helping their gender-confused children with underlying mental health issues that often accompany the adoption of a trans identity, such as depression or autism spectrum disorder, they are empowered to confront the fear-inducing claims. What Ive noticed is that parents spend maybe the first year or so, when their child is embracing this identity, just petrified really, really afraid. And then they switch to anger. Because as they look around, as they learn more, they realize that this is a social contagion, she said. They then realize that the suicide claim is a pernicious lie, she added, and professional institutions have been captured ideologically. And theyre furious, she reiterated. I think were going to see more and more angry parents. Were going to see detransitioners speaking up, [saying] that the adults in their life so mistreated them and led them down this dangerous path. That potent combination of anger and hope is going to overcome this. In an opinion piece for The Daily Wire, Greene said they took into account the fact that some U.S. states allow children to obtain medical care without the consent of their parents in some circumstances, while other states do not. The variation in state policies pre-dates the introduction of experimental puberty-blocking drugs and opposite-sex hormones as medical interventions, which began in the U.S. around 2010 and then accelerated around 2015, he said. Greene compared annual youth suicide rates in states that allow minors to access the experimental gender drugs without parental consent to states that do not. The results showed no difference in those rates between these two groups of states for over 10 years before 2010, when the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones began. Around that time, a difference in suicide rates emerges and the gap accelerates after 2015 when cross-sex treatments become more common, he said. There is a 14 percent increase in suicide rates among young people by 2020 in states that have a provision allowing minors to access care without parental consent relative to states that do not. Easier access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones by minors actually exacerbated suicide rates. The scholar pointed out that research cited by transgender activist groups to promote their claims is defective in several ways. One way in which such studies are flawed is that the surveys employ heavily skewed samples of respondents, measuring adults who both identified as trans and were recruited from trans support groups. Thus, they cannot accurately assess all people, particularly those who experienced gender confusion during their youth. Additionally, such are less likely to include those who resolved their mental distress without hormonal administrations or surgical procedures or those who regretted undergoing chemical puberty blockade and opposite-sex hormones. Arguing in favor of the so-called gender-affirmative model in an op-ed for The Washington Post following Texas policies seeking to investigate these experiments and body mutilation as child abuse, University of Virginia Law School professors Anne Coughlin and Naomi Cahn argued that cross-sex hormones have been shown to reduce the risk of depression and suicide for transgender youth, and claimed that banning it creates an excruciating conflict for parents, as the steps they take to preserve their childrens lives may lead the state to investigate and punish them. Greene believes the data show otherwise. Despite what left-leaning activists may tell us, science does not demonstrate that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are necessary to prevent suicides. In fact, if anything, it demonstrates the opposite, Greene stressed in his piece for DW. The new research comes amid a considerable amount of White House-backed federal administrative policy changes, including executive orders that have redefined sex to include the nebulous concept of gender identity. The White House has decried efforts at the state level, specifically Alabamas recent move to prohibit the hormonal and surgical trans-ing of youth, insisting that puberty blockers and opposite hormones constitute medically necessary, life-saving healthcare. Conversely, Greenes statistical analysis also comes on the heels of increased conservative scrutiny of gender ideology more broadly and pediatric gender medicalization in the form of documentary films like What is a Woman? by the Daily Wires Matt Walsh, which was released on June 1, and Fox Nations upcoming Tucker Carlson Originals documentary Transgressive: The Cult of Confusion which is slated to be released in July. Who will be qualified to hear well done, my good and faithful servant? In Mathew 24:3 the disciples of Jesus asked Him what would be signs of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus answered them and gave them what they should expect as signs before His ultimate return. The essence of the parable was to help them to be watchful. Jesus likened His return to a man who is going on a journey and gave some bags of gold and responsibilities to the servants, and after a long time, returned and demanded accountability from the servants concerning all that he had entrusted into their hands (Mathew 25: 14:19). After careful appraisal of the activities of the servants, the master came up with two verdicts. For one of the servants, The master was full of praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Lets celebrate together! (Mathew 25:21). And to the other, he said, Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mathew 25:30). The first servant who was good and faithful received praises and approval while the second servant was condemned by the master and ordered to be cast into outer darkness. The man who went on a journey and returned is Jesus who has ascended to Heaven. The mans servants were the disciples of Jesus then the past generation of Christians and all Christians throughout history. The bags of gold are the talents, spiritual gifts, and financial resources that God has bestowed on believers. The responsibility that the man entrusted to the care of the servants is the mandate of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His disciples, and by extension to us. The good and faithful servants are those who obey the word of Jesus and faithfully carry out the assignment of soul-winning while the useless servants are those who disobey Jesus and bury their God-given gifts, talents, and financial resources that they can use for the sake of the Gospel. How I wish that all Christians will hear this wonderful proclamation from Jesus. Our ability to recognize our responsibility here on earth is the first step towards accessing these congratulatory words of Christ. The mandate of the Great Commission is not an option to be considered by Christians, it is a command that must be obeyed. Embracing the mandate of go ye will inevitably help us to preach the Gospel and disciple converts as Christ commanded us. Obedience to the Word of God is non-negotiable. The greatest mistake that we can make as Christians is for us to be oblivious to the fact that we will give an account of our stewardship here on earth. Developing accountability consciousness will guide us and help us rein in our fleshly excesses. It will help us to always recognize when we are deviating from Gods calling in our lives. We can easily go back to God for help when deviations and weaknesses are identified. We should also remember that we will give an account for everything God has given to us including our talents and resources. In the parable of the bags of gold, the amount given to the servants was not equal. The same is true of the various abilities and resources that are given to believers by God. It is important to note that even though we have equal callings, we are not given equal responsibilities. Some are called to reach nations, some are called to reach cities, some are called to reach villages while others are called to reach streets. One thing that is certain is that every Christian has this calling. In getting prepared to hear Jesus say well done my good and faithful servants to us, all hands must be on deck, and everyone must contribute his quota by effectively carrying out this assignment. Some are given the responsibility to go to the mission fields, some are given the responsibility to support the goers with resources, while some are saddled with the responsibility to pray for the success of missionary work. If we are all carrying out these assignments faithfully, we can all rest assured that we are carrying out Jesus mission for our lives. Christian factory worker fired for wearing cross necklace awarded $26K in religious discrimination suit A Christian factory worker in Scotland who was fired after he told his line manager that he wouldn't take off his crucifix necklace as it had a deep and profound meaning for him, has won more than $26,000 in a religious discrimination suit. Jevgenijs Kovalkovs, a quality inspector, was fired by his employer, 2 Sisters Food Group Limited in Coupar Angus, for wearing a silver necklace that had been sanctified during a baptism ceremony for his godchild, according to The Telegraph. Kovalkovs, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, had lost a job as a result of the discrimination toward him, Employment Judge Louise Cowen at the tribunal in Dundee was quoted as saying. His religion and the wearing of his necklace were of deep and profound meaning to him. The Christian man joined the chicken wholesalers in November 2019 and was promoted to the role of quality inspector, The U.K. Times reported, adding that he wore a white coat over his clothes at work while his colleagues wore lanyards, identity passes and keys around their necks. His line manager ordered him to remove the cross, a gift from his mother, saying it was deemed a hazard at the workplace. Kovalkovs was later seen wearing it again at the factory and refused to take it off. As per the companys foreign body control policy, staff were not allowed to wear jewelry, except a single plain band ring, in the production areas on site. And religious jewelry required a risk assessment before being allowed. The line manager did not carry out a risk assessment, thinking that the issue had been dealt with, the panel was told. Kovalkovs was then fired for not obeying an instruction. His employment ended immediately as he was in his probationary period. The panel found that his sacking was based entirely on the non-declaration of the necklace during the induction course he went through at the time of joining. In a similar case in 2013, Nadia Eweida, a British Airways employee, won a landmark legal battle at the European Court of Human Rights to wear a cross at work. The airlines had asked her not to wear her white gold cross visibly. The court ruled it was a violation of her rights as per article nine of the European Convention on Human Rights, The Telegraph reported at the time. Police in India beat, detain pastor for singing hymns at uncle's house Pastor suffers internal, external injuries after officers beat him with batons, leather strap NEW DELHI Nearly two months after police arrested a pastor in India from his grandmothers home, tied him to a tree and beat him, threats from officers and others have kept him from filing a complaint on the brutality, sources said. Pastor Pravesh Kumar of Amamahua, Uttar Pradesh state, was visiting a sick uncle at his grandmothers house in nearby Bhais Khur village on April 22 when police arrested him after a Hindu neighbor videotaped them singing during a family devotional on the roof, he said. The neighbor had sent the video clip to police after recording it from the adjoining rooftop, Pastor Kumar said. Officers immediately arrived and questioned him about the purpose of the visit and about their singing. When he explained that they were singing hymns, police told him they were arresting him on suspicion of forcible conversion because hymns were part of converting people, he said. They completely ignored the fact that the family we were visiting were all followers of Christ, Pastor Kumar said. Officers took the 26-year-old pastor to Bijauli police outpost at about 8 p.m., tied him face forward to a tree and physically assaulted him as they reviled him in coarse language, he said. I was beaten so brutally on my legs that they swelled up, and I was not able to walk, Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. I was limping. His 55-year-old uncle arrived, noticed he was limping and pleaded with the policemen to stop the assault, he said. The officers demanded $256 to $320 (20,000 to 25,000 rupees) to release them, and because Pastor Kumar told them he had no money and had committed no crime, they said they would send him to the Bardah police station, he said. Pastor Kumar and his uncle were transported to the Bardah police station, where an officer asked about his limp and scolded the officers for hitting him on body parts that bore readily visible marks. The officer demanded a leather strap and told the junior policemen, I will show you what body parts you should target while assaulting a person, and then lashed the pastor 30 to 40 times and also beat his uncle, Pastor Kumar said. As he struck Pastor Kumar, the officer demanded that he shout slogans hailing Hindu gods and goddesses: Jai! Sri Ram [Hail! lord Ram]! and, Jai! Durga Ki [Hail! Durga], and as he refused, he was further beaten. When one of the junior policemen asked the officer if they should let Pastor Kumars uncle go, he refused, saying they would fabricate a report that the pastor and his uncle had fought each other. He then ordered the officers to beat Pastor Kumars uncle. Word spread of them being beaten in custody, and Christian leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi called police to inquire about the arrest. When my well-wishers and concerned Christians called the police station, the officer came and told me that he received a call and beat me all the more, accusing me of having a big group of supporters, Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. As the officers kicked and struck Pastor Kumar and his uncle with police batons and a leather strap, the police continued to revile them with coarse language, he said. The two Christians sustained several internal and external injuries. Pastor Kumar was beaten on all major joints, including the wrists and knees, with a ruptured nerve on a wrist that turned black, he said. Police registered a complaint against them under the Indian Penal Code for five or more assembling and disturbing public peace, abetment and abetting commission of offense. They appeared before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate court in Lalganj, Azamgarh District after a medical exam, and the evening of the next day they were released on bail. Pastor Kumar was still taking pain medication two weeks after his release, he said. Morning Star News refrained from calling police for comment as it could exacerbate mistreatment of the Christians, though Pastor Kumar gave permission to report on the case. On the day of their arrest, Dinanath Jaiswar, a human rights activist and Christian leader in Uttar Pradesh, reached the police station along with other church leaders at about midnight. Jaiswar told Morning Star News that he was utterly shaken when he saw Kumars condition. He was brutally beaten in custody, Jaiswar said. I had tears in my eyes when I met him in the police station. A religious rights activist from Delhi who requested anonymity said that when he called the officer in-charge of the Bardah police station that same night, the chief refused to talk. The moment I spoke about Pastor Praveshs detention, he cut my phone and then stopped answering my calls, the activist said. Another Christian leader speaking on condition of anonymity said that he went to the police station the same night and asked police why were they torturing Kumar, a charge they roundly denied. It was so heart-breaking to see Pastor Pravesh, the leader said. We felt so helpless. We panicked as to whom should we approach for protection, when the protectors themselves have become assaulters. Threats When police sent Pastor Kumar and his uncle for medical examination, they instructed the accompanying constables that they must state that the pairs injuries were the result of a scuffle between them, he said. The station chief had warned him that if he told doctors or any senior police officer about the assault in custody, the officers knew where to find him. The officer told me that he would falsely implicate me and my uncle under the anti-conversion law and send us to jail if we tried to take any action against them, Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. Jaiswar said the hospital doctor told him he could explain the injuries truthfully. The doctor at the hospital, shocked at Praveshs condition, told him that he can mention in the medical report the brutality, in which he was beaten with leather stap marks and got baton marks all over his body, Jaiswar said. But Pravesh was very scared of the warning the police officer had given him of the consequences of revealing the truth. Pastor Kumar was also hesitant to reveal anything that could spoil his brothers imminent wedding, he said. I did not want to bring any kind of trouble upon the family and jeopardize my brothers wedding, he said. Even after my release, my mother and other family members persuaded me to not do anything that would bring any kind of trouble upon the family. Jaiswar said he was an eyewitness to the injuries police inflicted on Pastor Kumars back, wrists and knees, and his difficulty in walking. I persisted that we must file a counter-complaint against the police, Jaiswar said. I wanted to make him stand before the senior officials and question the brutality of the police department for a small complaint like this one. But Kumar was too scared to take any action. Formerly a Hindu, Pastor Kumar had begun to follow Christ 18 months ago, along with his siblings and their families. The church where they worshiped was about 25 miles from their village, so his pastor encouraged him to start a fellowship at his house. For the past six months I have been conducting prayers in my house, and about 60 to 70 people attend the house church, he said. Since his arrest, he has not led the regular church service nor met for their regular Friday prayer meetings, he said. Residents in Amamahua have threatened him, saying they will follow the example set in Bhais Khur and call police if people gather in his house for prayer or worship. The villagers told me that they had no idea that they could do this to me, he said. Now they have learned from my arrest, and they will follow the same by complaining about me to the police if I conduct church service or meet for prayers. Complicity A rise in the number of assaults on Christians in Uttar Pradesh has raised concern in the minority Christian community. The water has gone over our heads now, said Jaiswar, a member of a rapid action team that helps Christians in Uttar Pradesh persecuted for their faith. While we are extending help in one case, we are informed of two more incidents elsewhere. We are forced to shift our attention from this one to the others. By the time we are tackling the new two, there are one or two new cases. We are puzzled as to how to reach out to all of them when they are geographically miles apart from each other. An area Christian leader who requested anonymity said that government, administration, police and media have come together to target Christians. The government has instructed the administration to carry out arrests wherever people are gathering for worship and file complaints against them under the law, he said. The right-wing groups get the police along, and without cross-questioning, the police arrest the pastors and lay leaders. Within two to three hours an FIR [First Information Report] is registered against them. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India with more than 200 million inhabitants and is also the most populous country subdivision in the world. Its Christian population is 0.18%, while the Hindu majority is 79.73% of the population, according to the 2011 census. The hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, against non-Hindus, has emboldened Hindu extremists in several parts of the country to attack Christians since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in May 2014, religious rights advocates say. India is ranked No. 10 on Christian support organization Open Doors 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, as it was in 2021. The country was ranked No. 31 in 2013, but its position worsened after Modi came to power. Originally published at Morning Star News Abstract art: five names to know Specialists Anna Touzin and Isabel Millar select five abstract artists whose reputations are on the rise, all with works coming to auction in Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale or First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online Winston Branch (b. 1947) In March this year, Artsy published a feature on eight artists who had had breakout moments in recent auctions. Number two on the list was Winston Branch, a Saint Lucian-born British painter of bold, abstract canvases featuring clouds of red, yellow and blue. Despite winning the British Prix de Rome in 1971 and a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in painting in 1978 as well as having had an impressive career teaching in London, at the Slade, Chelsea Art School, Kingston School of Art and Goldsmiths commercial success had eluded Branch until he was in his seventies. For most of his life he had no major gallery representation, and his secondary market was virtually non-existent. Open a larger version of this image Winston Branch (b. 1947), Untitled, 2005. Acrylic on canvas. 24 x 49 in (62.6 x 124.6 cm). Estimate: 12,000-18,000. Offered in First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online, 21 June-5 July 2022 at Christies Online Brice Guilbert (b. 1979) Brice Guilbert was born in Montpellier in the south of France and now resides in Brussels, Belgium. Between the ages of two and 14, however, he lived in the shadow of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Since around 2016, Guilbert has predominantly been making semi-abstract pictures of volcanic eruptions created with thick layers of luminous, homemade oil sticks. The sticks themselves are made using a heat machine in my studio, he said in a recent interview. So in a way I work with fire to make fire. Over the past two years, Guilbert has been attracting the attention of big-name galleries. In 2020, he was included in Mendes Wood DMs show at Villa Era, a 19th-century Italian country house between Milan and Turin; and the following year he exhibited at Pace Gallery in Geneva, Siegfried Contemporary in London, Anat Ebgi in Los Angeles and ADZ in Lisbon. For 2022, he already has an enthusiastically reviewed show under his belt, at Polina Berlin Gallery in New York, and a work in the permanent collection of Beijings stylish X Museum. The upcoming sale of Fournez (2017) (above) marks Guilberts eagerly anticipated auction debut. Caragh Thuring (b. 1972) The Belgian artist Caragh Thuring creates abstract assemblages of motifs that she describes as an accumulative portrait of my environment. These images, made at her studios in east London and Argyll in Scotland, are often painted on top of custom-made tapestries that feature recreations of her earlier paintings and photographs. Thuring graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 1995, but didnt start exhibiting regularly until 2006. By 2012, she was gaining prominence after featuring in group shows at two of Londons most influential private galleries, the Zabludowicz Collection and Saatchi Gallery. She had also racked up solo shows at Simon Preston Gallery in New York and Thomas Dane Gallery in London. Two years later, Thuring had her first solo show at a public space: Chisenhale Gallery in east London. In 2017, a work by Thuring appeared in an auction of art from Mario Testinos collection. The painting, which had been purchased from Thomas Dane Gallery, sold for 17,500, almost double its estimate. In 2019, another work with Thomas Dane Gallery provenance achieved 30,000, three times its estimate. Thurings reputation has continued to grow, with her paintings appearing in shows at two more major London institutions, the Whitechapel Gallery and the Hayward Gallery. Examples of her work can also be found in the collections of Tate, the Arts Council and the British Government. Sabine Moritz (b.1969) Working from her studio, a former cardboard factory in Cologne, German artist Sabine Moritz creates large, gestural, abstract canvases that she says interrogate memories and the way theyre formed. In 1988, Moritz enrolled at the Offenbach University of Art and Design, then three years later joined the Academy of Art Dusseldorf, studying under the German abstract painter and her future husband Gerhard Richter. Moritzs auction record currently stands at 52,500, the price achieved in 2015 by Aurora I (2006), which sold for more than five times its low estimate. Since then, however, she has had two solo shows at Marian Goodman in Paris, and exhibited at Art Basel in Hong Kong and Miami Beach four times with Pilar Corrias. In 2019, she staged a solo museum show at the Kunsthalle in Rostock, Germany. Alongside this, the Tate Collection holds no fewer than 28 of her works. The sale of Cheerful Spleen IV (2022) (above), which has been donated by the artist to raise funds for the foundation Art for Tropical Forests, marks her first appearance at an international auction house after this flurry of attention. Susan Te Kahurangi King (b. 1951) Susan Te Kahurangi King is the second septuagenarian to make the list, having also found late-career fame. She was born in Te Aroha, a small town in rural New Zealand and, owing in part to her autism, stopped speaking at around the age of four. Instead, her richly patterned, brightly coloured abstract and figurative artworks became her way of communicating. King drew prolifically until her thirties, when she suddenly stopped. She only started again in 2008, after a documentary filmmaker persuaded her to return to making art. Sign up today Christies Online Magazine delivers our best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week Subscribe This year is panning out to be a roller coaster in the financial markets. From supply-chain woes to probable regulations on cryptocurrencies and NFTs, there are a number of trends tech-heads and investors should look out for in the coming months. There has been an increased adoption of crypto tokens within the traditional financial system in recent months. El Salvador, for example, became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. Expanding on this trend, the Central African Republic became that continent's first nation, and the world's second, to approve Bitcoin as legal tender. It's becoming increasingly likely that other countries will embrace some form of cryptocurrency into their existing financial models. This should likely increase adoption rates within the system, creating further trust among potential users. Related: Explore the Modern World of Cryptocurrency 2. DeFi to grow in leaps and bounds Though decentralized finance is only in its development phase, with numerous risks involved in adopting it fully, 2022 is lining up to be a positive year for DeFi bringing about some crucial changes mainly, transforming centralized inefficient automated blockchain based programs to smart contracts. As for security, projects with large amounts of capital committed to them should be looked at favorably as more people believe in their respective investment proposition. Interestingly, there are even possibilities to generate passive income with DeFi. 3. The potential for NFTs Non-fungible token potential is huge, as they are able to transfer rights related to both virtual and physical property. Therefore the interest in NFTs is likely to grow, be treated and held by traditional institutions like museums and galleries. As a matter of fact, some large corporations and celebrities have already been looking at embracing NFTs as the new bedrock of the virtual economy. The beauty of the NFT market is that it is similar to when the internet was first established, and multiple new tech companies were rushing to break into the sphere with their individual passion and flair. Related: What Is an NFT? Inside The Next Billion-Dollar Crypto Sensation. 4. Impending regulations enforced by governments Though most countries worldwide have yet to decide on regulating the cryptocurrency industry or not, this remains a pressing topic. A lack of framework can smother ongoing innovation, which can severely impact the sphere. Innovative concepts like DeFi, NFTs or even the metaverse will fortunately make the industry more difficult to regulate for government entities. As a matter of fact, it is likely that policymakers will have to focus on creating legal frameworks for projects like the metaverse. The technology has gained worldwide media attention from enthusiasts and skeptics alike, so clear guidelines on what can and can't be done in virtual reality will help to legitimize efforts. 5. Job and business opportunities for crypto experts As the crypto sphere expands, a greater demand for blockchain and crypto skills grows too. The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies and the technology that makes them possible fuels growth in the blockchain industry, contributing to a higher demand for experts in the sector. Blockchain, for example, is at a point where corporations and even governments are beginning to realize the potential that the tech has to improve people's lives and create more robust organizations. It's the same story with agencies specializing in public relations, some dedicated businesses hire experts in the field to service clients and help increase coverage in business and media. Whatever crypto-related field, companies need experts to meet their business goals. Related: How You Can Build a Career in Blockchain Though the landscape is continually evolving and will continue to do so, the technology and points outlined should certainly revolutionize how we do things for decades to come. DeFi, NFTs and universal adaptation are just some points where the rubber is finally hitting the road and enabling practical use cases. Get some! Business Strategies, Entrepreneurial Advice & Inspiring Stories are all in one place. Explore the new Entrepreneur Bookstore. Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - To say that a lot has happened in the world since the first Something in the Water festival in Virginia in 2019 is an understatement. Protests over racial justice, a contentious presidential election that ended in an insurrection, horrific gun violence - all in the midst of a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 1 million Americans. Indeed, when rapper Lil Uzi Vert performed his hit "XO Tour Llif3" at the festival Saturday in downtown Washington, his spiked hair poking against the Capitol dome backdrop, the song's refrain - "all my friends are dead" - hit a bit differently. Festival creator Pharrell Williams opened his Saturday-night set with "Freedom," an appropriate tune for a holiday weekend that marks the end of slavery in Texas. "Look at our people," Williams told The Washington Post on Sunday morning, recalling the thoughts going through his mind as he took the stage Saturday. "Listen to our people and feel our people while we are giving reverence to this amazing holiday." The award-winning producer then tore through more than 20 years of hits, sometimes nodding along to his many beats as if it were an intimate listening session. At other times, he got help from friends such as N.O.R.E., Justin Timberlake, T.I. and Clipse, who reunited after about a decade off. "Music has always been one of the most amazing couriers for a much-needed message and to break down the walls into partitions," Williams said. "[Saturday] night debunked and dispelled a lot of stereotypes. There were no fights or violence. It was just love." But the night was not without its hiccups. Several festival attendees took to Twitter to complain about being squeezed on the narrow street or not being let back in because of safety concerns regarding the size of the crowd. Those not allowed back will receive refunds, Williams said. "There are a lot of kinks to work out," he said. On social networks and at the scene, however, it seemed as if most people were having a good time. Kevin Thaxton, 47, said he was glad that coronavirus restrictions have abated enough, "so we can do things like this in the city." Thaxton, a D.C. native, had just finished listening to hometown favorite Backyard Band delight the audience Saturday afternoon with a bevy of crowd-pleasers, including their cover of Adele's "Hello." But the celebratory nature of the weekend couldn't stop the real world from creeping in. "Put them guns down and stop killing each other," Anwan Glover, the band's co-founder, pleaded to the audience. The brother of the go-go legend turned actor was gunned down in D.C. 15 years ago. Glover wasn't the only one taking the moment between sets to get a message across. "Make some f---ing noise for the ancestors one time," said the rapper JID before launching into "Skegee," a song he released during Black History Month in 2021. "I don't care if you want to hear it." At most music festivals, there's a mad rush for the front row, but on Friday, Something in the Water concertgoers craved the shade. They huddled on the pavement, stretched their legs and nodded their heads to the music. It was hot - scorching, with temperatures in the high 90s - and no amount of free water faucets or cheery sunscreen reminders could take that away. The weather on Saturday and Sunday came like a miraculous reversal: breezy with temps in the high 70s. More than 70 musical acts - including Usher, Pusha T and the Dave Matthews Band - and an estimated 50,000 or more attendees descended on six blocks of Independence Avenue SW. The highly melanated event took place on Juneteenth weekend, a time usually celebrated by free events and inclusive gatherings for D.C.'s Black community. The price tag, however, was hardly accessible. Three-day tickets started at almost $350 ($299 without fees) and quickly sold out. The $50 discounts offered to D.C. and Virginia residents were available for only one day in April. Those who snagged the coveted wristbands justified the hit to their wallets. "Last time, he brought out Jay-Z, and I didn't pay for Jay-Z," said Xavier Jackson, 28, on Friday, referring to the previous Something in the Water festival he attended. "It's worth it." "When I put in my time-off request, I said it was to celebrate my Blackness," said Jackson, an Apple employee, as he stood in a long merchandise line. "That's what this is." On Saturday afternoon, groups of 20-somethings in multicolored bucket hats, Bohemian pants and jumpsuits jogged to each stage to snag a decent spot. Until the crowding increased, every angle was perfect, and no matter where people stood in the crowd, the beats vibrated through them. During the set by Yvngxchris, a native of Chesapeake, Va., a fan threw futuristic sunglasses onstage for the artist to wear. They didn't stay on long. Neither did his pants during his second-to-last song, revealing his turquoise paisley boxer briefs. The cluster of people dancing in front of him weren't fazed. They continued jumping, their box braids and Afros bouncing to the beat as they filmed on their phones. "That was the last song, but y'all want more?" Yvngxchris asked. "Yeah!" the crowd yelled. This was the first time the festival was held in the nation's capital. Something in the Water was previously staged in Virginia Beach, Williams's hometown. The name is a nod to the cluster of musical talent from the area, such as Missy Elliott, who performed at the 2019 festival, and Pusha T, who performed this weekend. Williams moved this year's festival a few months after Virginia Beach police killed his cousin, Donovon Lynch, in March 2021. Following the shooting, Williams proposed that the city hold a forum to "talk about your issues, talk about your struggles." But, according to Williams, they never did. Six months later, Williams said the city's "toxic energy" couldn't be home to the festival. D.C. was chosen instead. "Ultimately, the goal is for Virginia Beach to realize that they messed up and that they could have just addressed the situation if they wanted to, and they didn't," said Jackson, a Virginia Beach native. "I think it makes total sense, what Pharrell did." Kristopher Lee, 17, and his mother, Karen Lee, 64, attended the concert together and stood far from the stage - not in the shade, because those spots were taken - as Lakeyah rapped Friday. "I've been wanting to go to this festival since it was at Virginia Beach. He's here to keep me company," Karen said as she gestured to her son, whose tall, lean stature bears a strong resemblance to Pharrell's, although that's just a coincidence. The move from Virginia Beach wasn't the only thing that loomed over the festival; some were concerned about their safety after recent mass shootings. Before it began, festival organizers said 800 to 850 guards would be working on the grounds during the day, and another 100 patrolling at night. College students Leila and Nalani Butler and Jenai Roberson chose two meeting spots: one in case of a minor emergency, such as losing each other in the crowd, and another in the case of something bigger, such as gunfire. "I'm a little more nervous now that it was so easy to get in," said Roberson, 19. "We got here early and walked through an open gate. They asked if we had wristbands, and that was it." "I think we're just trying our best to be safe," said Nalani, 20. "All we can do is at least try to plan and savor the good." Will the festival be back in D.C. next year? "There's conversations," Williams told The Post on Sunday. "It would be different. It's got to be different. "We need a much bigger street." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Linda Collins had been in menopause for almost a decade when she started bleeding again. The bleeding was light occasional spotting, really and she barely gave it a passing thought. When she finally went in for a checkup, her doctor refused to let her leave until she underwent a biopsy. Within days, Collins learned she had cancer of the uterus and an especially aggressive form of it. I had no pain, no other symptoms, and I didnt think seriously about it, said Collins, 64, a retiree in New York City. That was a mistake. Cancer of the uterus, also called endometrial cancer, is increasing so rapidly that it is expected to displace colorectal cancer by 2040 as the third-most-common cancer among women and the fourth-leading cause of womens cancer deaths. The mortality rate has been increasing by almost 2% a year overall, with even sharper spikes among Asian, Hispanic and Black women, according to a recent study in JAMA Oncology. Despite the increase, there has been little public attention to the disease. Overall survival rates are high when uterine cancer is detected early, but few women are aware that a change in menstrual bleeding, before or after menopause, is one of the main warning signs, along with pelvic pain and painful urination and intercourse. Uterine cancer was long believed to be less common among Black women. But newer studies have confirmed that it is not only more likely to strike Black women but also more likely to be deadly. Black women die of uterine cancer at twice the rate of white women, according to a report in March from an expert panel convened by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The gap is one of the largest racial disparities observed for any cancer, the report said. Black women are also more likely to develop a form called non-endometrioid uterine cancer, which is more aggressive. Among all populations, uterine cancer is being detected more often in younger women who are still in their childbearing years as well as in women who dont have any of the known risk factors, such as obesity, infertility and never having been pregnant, said Dr. Shannon Westin, a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. When she first started caring for women with uterine cancer, she said, there were about 39,000 new cases a year. Now, there are more than 65,000 and she has been in practice only 15 years. Thats a clear indicator we should be ringing the alarm bells, Westin said. Dr. Carol Brown, a gynecologic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, called the surge in cases an epidemic. The striking statistic is that right now, in the year 2022, the number of women who will lose their lives to endometrial cancer in the U.S. is almost the same as those who will die of ovarian cancer, which is unbelievable to those of us in practice for the last 30 years, said Brown, who is the centers senior vice president and chief health equity officer. The JAMA Oncology study analyzed racial trends in uterine cancer while correcting for hysterectomy rates. Thats important, because Black women have a higher rate of hysterectomies, said Megan Clarke, the lead author. (Women who have had a hysterectomy do not have a uterus, so they cannot develop endometrial cancer; including them in the calculus artificially lowers the incidence rate.) By making the correction for hysterectomy rates, we are more confident the increase is real, said Clarke, a fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Black women represented just under 10% of the 208,587 uterine cancer cases diagnosed in the United States between 2000 and 2017, but they made up almost 18% of the nearly 16,797 uterine cancer deaths during that period, Clarkes study found. The uterine cancer death rate for Black women is 31.4 per 100,000 women ages 40 and older, compared with 15.2 per 100,000 for white women in the same age group, Clarke reported. (Comparable death rates for Asian American women were 9 per 100,000, and for Hispanic Americans, 12.3 per 100,000.) That makes uterine cancer an outlier, since progress has been made toward narrowing the racial gap in death rates from most cancers over the past two decades. Another National Cancer Institute report, published in JAMA Oncology in May, found that overall, death rates from cancer have declined steadily among Black Americans between 1999 and 2019, although they continue to be higher than those of other racial and ethnic groups. The reasons for the increase in uterine cancer cases are not well understood. The most common form, endometrioid cancer, is associated with estrogen exposure, which is higher when obesity is present, and obesity rates have been rising in the U.S. But non-endometrioid cancer has increased in prevalence, too, and it is not linked to excess weight. Clarkes study found that Black women are more likely to have this aggressive form of uterine cancer. They are less likely to be diagnosed early in the course of the illness, and their survival rates are worse no matter when they are diagnosed and what subtype of the cancer they have. At every stage of diagnosis, there are different outcomes, said Dr. Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society. Are they getting access to the same quality of cancer care? She has called for more research into the factors driving the trends. The expert panel convened by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found racial and ethnic disparities in the care given to Black and Hispanic women with uterine cancer. They were less likely than white women to undergo hysterectomy, less likely to have their lymph nodes properly biopsied to see if the cancer had spread and less likely to receive chemotherapy, even for a more threatening cancer. Adrienne Moore, a respiratory therapist who is Black and lives in the Atlanta area, was 45 when she found out she had uterine cancer, but she said it took her almost a year to obtain the diagnosis. She went from one doctor to another complaining of heavy, very painful monthly bleeding that had started after several months without periods at all. Moore, who is now 51, was uninsured at the time, and doctors she consulted dismissed her complaints as symptoms of perimenopause or fibroids. After Moore purchased health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, she saw a gynecologist who performed another scan. It showed a thickening of the uterine wall, which can be suggestive of cancer, and the doctor immediately ordered a biopsy. Three days later, the doctor called her to the office. I knew what it was then. I knew it was cancer, Moore said. Moore said she is alive today because she was persistent. If your body is telling you something, youve got to listen to it, and then youve got to get other people to listen to you, she said. Dr. Kemi Doll, a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, has been doing research for years to figure out why so many Black women die of endometrial cancer. She has found that ultrasound scans that measure the thickness of the uterine wall are less accurate when patients have the more-lethal non-endometrioid type of uterine cancer, which is more common among Black women. The scans are also less effective when women have uterine fibroids, which obscure the scanners view, she found. That may explain why Black women, many of whom suffer from uterine fibroids, are more often diagnosed later in the disease process, Doll said. If thickening is not discovered, physicians will generally not go on to perform a biopsy to test for the cancer. Premenopausal women who have erratic menstrual cycles may not recognize that they need to check for uterine cancer because they think of the irregularities as normal, Doll said. And women in perimenopause who expect abnormal bleeding may also not recognize when something is wrong, she said. We need to rethink our guidelines, Doll said. Women who have abnormal cycles and unusual bleeding throughout their lives are at highest risk: It is the abnormality of the cycle that increases the risk of endometrial cancer, because of the dysregulation of hormones. But the bigger problem, she said, is that there is so little public awareness. Women know they should have mammograms and Pap smears to screen for breast and cervical cancer. If someone found a lump in her breast, would she put off doing something? Everybody would tell her, No, no, no, go right now, Doll said. Uterine cancer is four times as common as cervical cancer, she added, and we have not had any national dialogue about it. When she gives women a diagnosis of uterine cancer, most say they have never heard of it, Doll added. Treatment typically requires a complete hysterectomy, with surgical removal of the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes and cervix. Radiation and medication therapies may also be required, depending on the stage of the disease. Having a hysterectomy can be life-altering for young women, plunging them into surgical menopause and possibly requiring hormone treatment to manage the side effects, and disrupting the plans of those hoping to have children. Caught early, however, uterine cancer is considered highly curable. Angelyn Jackson, a 55-year-old elementary school teacher outside Atlanta, decided last summer to resume annual checkups disrupted by the pandemic. When she reported light bleeding, her gynecologist immediately checked her for uterine cancer. Jackson got the diagnosis July 8 and had a hysterectomy 20 days later, catching the disease at an early stage, she said. She is still being closely observed. It has been three years since Collins hysterectomy and radiation therapy. She now goes out of her way to tell friends and acquaintances to immediately talk to their doctors about unusual bleeding or other symptoms like pain, bloating or sudden weight loss. I tell them, Dont wait; dont wait. If it doesnt feel right, if you dont think it should be happening check it out, Collins said. I should have looked into it sooner. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - As he aborted 11 pregnancies at a clinic here one busy Friday this month, Aaron Campbell also was training a medical student in a procedure that soon could be outlawed in this state and many others. Case by case, he narrated the nuances of pelvic examination, pain-blocking injection, cervical dilation and, ultimately, the removal of embryonic or fetal tissue. Lindsey Gorman observed throughout and participated when appropriate, under Campbell's guidance. With her hands she checked the size and tilt of the uterus. She also practiced ultrasound techniques and used speculums, swabs and local anesthetic to prepare patients. The student from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pennsylvania was the seventh trainee to work with him in the past year, following medical residents from East Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee's teaching hospital in Knoxville. Campbell and other abortion providers are racing to train the next wave of specialists in the field as the days tick toward a Supreme Court decision that could imperil the legal foundation of their practice and lead to upheaval across the country for education and training in reproductive health. Barring a surprise ruling, a geographic split looms: Some states will provide full access to abortion training for medical residents and students. Some will have limited access. And some will have virtually no access without long-distance travel. That, in turn, could influence where many doctors, especially those focused on obstetrics and gynecology, choose to live and work. The leak of a draft court opinion in May showed that justices are poised to overturn the 1973 precedent Roe v. Wade, which would be a monumental victory for the antiabortion movement. If the court overturns or narrows Roe, an array of medical institutions will face state scrutiny over how abortion is taught. While abortion rights advocates worry and wait, Campbell performs elective abortions for as many patients as he can at the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health and trains as many medical students and residents as he can. "We can pass as many laws as we want, for or against access," Campbell said, "but at the end of the day, if you don't have trained providers, you don't have choice." The trainer and trainee shared a sense of mission as they worked in this city where an arsonist on New Year's Eve destroyed another clinic that provided abortions. Campbell, 31, whose father was an abortion provider, has an image of a wire clothes hanger tattooed onto his right forearm - a reminder, he said, of "what happens when abortion is illegal." Gorman, 25, has a wire-hanger tattoo on her left wrist. "As long as I am legally able to provide this care," she said, "I know I will." Abortion training is common in obstetrics and gynecology and can play a role in other medical fields. To maintain accreditation, OB/GYN residency programs are required to "provide training or access to training in the provision of abortions," according to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Residents are allowed to opt out for religious or moral reasons. "All programs must have an established curriculum for family planning, including for complications of abortions and provisions for the opportunity for direct procedural training in terminations of pregnancy for those residents who desire it," the council said. In many places, compliance with that requirement soon could prove difficult. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws and policies, finds 22 states have "trigger laws" or other statutes to ban abortion, with limited exceptions, if the Supreme Court allows. Four other four states are likely to seek abortion bans as soon as possible, according to the institute. In April, researchers with the University of California at San Francisco and UCLA reported in a study that 44% of about 6,000 OB/GYN residents nationwide would be certain or likely to lack access to in-state abortion training if Roe falls. Those figures probably understate the issue. Abortion intersects with the curriculum in various ways, experts say, during medical school and afterward in medical residencies and fellowships. Family medicine residents often seek abortion training. So do doctors who pursue advanced training for complex pregnancy situations. So do medical students, like Gorman, who might be exploring aspects of reproductive health before they apply for a residency. Kavita Vinekar, one of the study's authors, is an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA. She predicted significant ripple effects if abortion training is curtailed. "Those skills are applicable to so many other aspects of reproductive care," Vinekar said. Hands-on experience in terminating pregnancy helps doctors counsel patients in many situations and treat complications of miscarriage, she said. "This is not just about abortion." Doctors who oppose abortion rights disagree. "Abortion isn't health care, and I don't believe it has a place in health-care training," said Christina Francis, who is on the board of directors of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and will become its chief executive next year. Francis, herself an OB/GYN specialist in Fort Wayne, Ind., said she never observed or participated in abortion during her residency. But she said the training she received in managing miscarriages - particularly the uterine-emptying procedure known as dilation and curettage - would have enabled her "very easily" to perform an elective abortion if she had chosen to do so. Dilation and curettage, or "D and C," which typically uses an instrument to suction tissue from the uterus, is a standard option for aborting early pregnancies. Dilation and evacuation, or "D and E," is a similar procedure for second-trimester abortion that uses additional tools, such as forceps. New limits on abortion would not impede the training of OB/GYN residents, Francis said. All that would be diminished, she said, is "the capability of ending the lives of preborn children." Francis said she doesn't want patients to be scared of such changes. "This narrative that really is being pushed by the abortion industry and its allies, that physician training is going to suffer significantly if a state happens to restrict abortion in some way, is a complete lie," she said. However the Supreme Court rules, it seems almost certain that abortion training will be affected. Roe legalized abortion nationwide until the point of fetal viability, now generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks. If Roe is narrowed to protect abortion only up to 15 weeks - the threshold under the Mississippi law before the court - there are likely to be fewer opportunities for medical residents to learn methods of second-trimester abortion. If Roe is overturned, residents and residency programs in states that ban abortion may have to scramble to find abortion training slots in states where it is still legal. And there is no guarantee that enough slots would be available to meet demand. There is another wild card: the rise of medication abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, taken as pills, accounts for slightly more than half of abortions in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Many states allow only doctors to provide mifepristone. Those doctors must learn how and when to dispense the pills and monitor outcomes, a process likely to draw growing scrutiny. But procedural training is shaping up to be a major challenge. Here in Tennessee, there are OB/GYN residency programs at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and hospitals associated with the University of Tennessee and East Tennessee State, among other institutions. A state abortion ban, which would be triggered if Roe is overturned, could force medical residents who want abortion training to travel to Illinois, North Carolina or Virginia. Nikki Zite, an OB/GYN professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and former director of the residency program here, has been a vocal opponent of abortion bans. She spoke with The Washington Post on the condition that an article would note Zite does not speak for the university. Worried about the fallout of a Supreme Court ruling, Zite drafted a statement about what may happen to OB/GYN programs. She said she was consulting with academic leaders in the state to see if they would sign onto it. "We fear that both resident education and patient care for miscarriage will be compromised by the abortion ban," the statement said. "We also acknowledge that we will be unable to offer the mandated training in our state and this will likely compromise the ability to recruit future doctors to train and practice in Tennessee." The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, which oversees teaching hospitals in Knoxville and elsewhere, declined to comment on possible disruptions to abortion training. So did the Vanderbilt medical center. East Tennessee State said it will follow state laws and accreditation requirements. Representatives of Tennessee's governor, Republican Bill Lee, did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment. He has backed multiple abortion bans, including a 2019 law that would make it a felony to perform an abortion if Roe is overturned. There would be exceptions for cases in which a pregnant person is at risk of death or serious injury. North Carolina, which is not expected to ban abortion, could become a hub for abortion training in the South. Matthew Zerden, an OB/GYN specialist, coordinates training efforts in the state for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. "There will be a huge surge of patients coming our way," Zerden said, referring to possible bans in nearby states. With that surge would come a demand for specialists to perform abortions. "We are committed to training the next generation of providers," Zerden said. In the future, Zerden said, he worries aspiring OB/GYN specialists will shun residency programs in states with limited or no abortion training. Such a trend, if it occurs, could have far-reaching consequences. Doctors tend to settle near where they completed their residency, Zerden said. "Eventually you're going to set up almost a two-tiered system," he said. "States able to provide the full complement of obstetric and gynecological care, including abortion care . . . and places that just don't." To some extent, views among medical students and residents over abortion echo divisions in society. A group called Conscience in Residency supports trainees in biomedical sciences "who object to performing certain procedures or providing certain services," including abortion. "You're not crazy, and you're not alone," the group says on its website. A video on the site advises applicants to OB/GYN programs who oppose abortion and contraception on moral or religious grounds. "In your application I would not recommend . . . mentioning your stance on those things directly because I think it's a better conversation to be had in person," one doctor says. Some residents who support abortion rights are fearful of speaking out. One doctor who trained under Zerden said she plans to provide abortions for patients from the Southeast. She spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared professional repercussions. You never know, she said, how a particular clinic manager, department head or academic dean might react to the publicity if she applies for a position. "How will having my name out there as an abortion provider affect the kind of work I can do?" she asked. But this doctor also seemed confident in her path: "Abortion care I find extremely meaningful. I'm really proud to be able to provide that care in a safe and acceptable way." Shelbie Fishman, 24, from Rockville, Md., is the co-leader of a group called Medical Students for Choice at Washington University in St. Louis. Missouri has a "trigger ban" that puts abortion rights in jeopardy. But Fishman said she and her classmates feel comfortable talking about abortion as health care, "depoliticizing it, trying to strip it down to what it really is." She is also glad a state that protects abortion rights and abortion training is just across the Mississippi River. "We definitely view Illinois as a safe haven," she said. The Washington University School of Medicine said in a statement that it offers abortion training to OB/GYN residents in accordance with accreditation standards and state law. "It is too early to know how our training programs would be affected by the upcoming Supreme Court decision," the school said. Gorman came to Knoxville for abortion training with financial help from Medical Students for Choice. She grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh and is entering her second year of medical school. Gorman was a technician in labor and delivery at a hospital while she was an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh. She also worked for a time as an assistant for Planned Parenthood. Those experiences showed her "complex social situations," she said, as well as the high stakes of difficult pregnancies. She saw one woman die of a rare condition during childbirth and comforted her husband afterward. Another time, she met a 13-year-old who got an abortion after convincing a judge she needed one. "She was the strongest person I think I've ever met," Gorman said. She views her weeks as a trainee in Knoxville as a potentially fleeting opportunity. "This might be the bulk of my family planning training that I ever have," Gorman said. The Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health, an outpatient clinic, occupies a two-story building near the University of Tennessee campus and just across the street from a Civil War memorial honoring peace and reconciliation. The clinic provides various services, including medication abortion and abortion procedures for pregnancies up to 18 weeks. After nearly 47 years of operation, the clinic is preparing to shut down if the Supreme Court ruling allows the state abortion ban to take effect. Aaron Campbell's father, Morris Campbell, was the center's medical director for several years until he died in 2012. Campbell took over a year ago, after finishing medical school at East Tennessee State and his residency in Pittsburgh. Working with Campbell is an 80-year-old doctor named Richard Manning, who counsels patients and dispenses abortion medication. Manning said he has provided tens of thousands of abortions in various states since performing his first one in 1975, two years after Roe. He can't believe abortion rights may soon vanish here. "Disaster," he said. "Just a disaster." Before seeing their first patient on June 10, Campbell and Gorman showed visitors one of the treatment rooms. A music player with headphones was perched on a window ledge. Tacked onto the ceiling, where patients would be looking up during the procedure, a small sign said: "It is OK to cry. It is OK to feel relief. Never apologize for having an abortion." After he finishes training Gorman, this month or next, Campbell is mulling where to go if the clinic shuts down. He is considering Charlotte and Las Cruces, N.M., which draw numerous abortion patients from out of state. He's also thinking about future trainees. But they would have to wait. "My first step has to be to establish someplace to be able to help people before I can train people," he said. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) A driver was fatally shot Monday by law enforcement after he pointed a gun at a female passenger while his car was blocked by police vehicles in Fairbanks, Alaska State Troopers said Monday. The incident occurred after the man attempted to flee from officers for the second time in as many days, troopers said in a statement. The female passenger was injured by gunfire and taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. An injured trooper was treated and released. The driver was identified as Amos Lane, 57, of Anchorage, according to troopers. Troopers early Sunday attempted to stop a 2011 Ford sedan for erratic driving in Fairbanks. Troopers pursued the car until conditions became unsafe for a pursuit, the statement said. About 9 a.m. Monday, troopers attempted to pull over the same vehicle again. The sedan again fled, and troopers and Fairbanks police officers gave chase. About 15 minutes later, they were able to block the vehicle. Troopers say thats when the man pointed a gun at his passenger, the only other occupant in the car. The driver failed to follow commands from law enforcement officers, and due to his actions, multiple law enforcement officers from the Alaska State Troopers and Fairbanks Police Department fired their duty weapons at the driver, fatally wounding him, the statement said. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation will investigate the incident. Their findings will be reviewed by the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions. The names of officers who fired their weapons will be released in three days. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRUSSELS (AP) Belgian authorities on Monday returned a gold-capped tooth belonging to the slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look toward reconciliation. The restitution of the relic took place after Belgiums King Philippe earlier this month expressed his deepest regrets for his nations abuses in its African former colony, Congo, which is 75 times the size of Belgium. Following a private ceremony in the presence of relatives of Lumumba during which the federal prosecutor handed over a case containing the tooth, Belgium's prime minister Alexander De Croo told Congolese officials and Lumumba's family that the restitution came way too late. It is not normal that Belgium held onto the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades," said De Croo, who also offered apologies for the role played by his country in the assassination. Congolese Prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said the return of the relic will be essential for the country's national memory. After his assassination in 1961, Lumumba's body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site. The tooth was seized by Belgian officials in 2016 from the daughter of the Belgian police commissioner who said he took it after overseeing the destruction of Lumumba's body. Two years ago, the federal prosecutors office said there is no absolute certainty that the tooth being returned is Lumumbas since no DNA test could be conducted. Lumumbas daughter, Juliana, agreed with De Croo the handover was long overdue. Father, our hearts bled for 61 years." she said during the official ceremony, speaking next to a coffin with a picture of her late father on top of it. We, your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren but also Congo, Africa and the world we mourned your death without an eulogy." Later the coffin was brought outside and draped in a Congolese flag. Lumumba remains for many in Congo a symbol of what the country could have become after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches. After pushing for an end to colonial rule, Lumumba became the newly independent Congos first prime minister in 1960. But historians say when he reached out to the Soviet Union for help in putting down a secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region, he quickly fell out of favor during Cold War times with both Belgium and the United States. So when dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a military coup later that year, Western powers did little to intervene as Lumumba was arrested and jailed. Lumumbas assassination by separatists in January 1961 ultimately cleared the way for Mobutu to rule the country, which he later renamed Zaire, for decades until his death in 1997. Even though Lumumbas killers were Congolese, questions have persisted over how complicit Belgium and the United States may have been in his death because of his perceived Communist ties. A Belgian parliamentary probe later determined that the government was morally responsible for Lumumbas death. A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the CIA had hatched a separate, failed plan to kill the Congolese leader. Several ministers of the Belgian government of the time bear a moral responsibility for the circumstances that led to this murder," De Croo said. A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals. For the democrat that I am, it is indefensible. For the liberal that I am, it is unacceptable. And for the human being that I am, it is odious." Two years ago, the 60th anniversary of Congos independence reignited calls to put Lumumbas soul to rest. Protesters gathered outside the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa, seeking restitution of his remains along with cultural artifacts taken during colonial rule. In Belgium, the international protests against racism that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States gave a new momentum to activists fighting to have monuments to King Leopold II removed. Leopold had plundered Congo during his 1865-1909 reign and forced many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his own profit. In 1908, he handed it over to the Belgian state, which continued to rule over the colony until it became independent in 1960. Amid the Black Lives Matter actions, protesters took down busts of the former monarch held responsible for the death of millions of Africans, and King Philippe later expressed regret for the violence carried out by the country when it ruled over Congo. None of his predecessors had gone so far as to convey remorse. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) President Joe Biden said Monday that he will decide by the end of the week whether he would support a federal gasoline tax holiday, possibly saving U.S. consumers as much as 18.4 cents a gallon. Yes, Im considering it, Biden told reporters after taking a walk along the beach near his vacation home in Delaware. I hope to have a decision based on the data Im looking for by the end of the week. The administration is increasingly looking for ways to spare the public from higher prices at the pump, which began to climb last year and surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Gas prices nationwide are averaging just under $5 a gallon, according to AAA. Biden said members of his team were to meet this week with CEOs of the major oil companies to discuss rising prices. Biden lashed out at oil companies, saying they are making excessive profits when people are feeling the crunch of skyrocketing costs at the pump and inflation. But Biden said he would not be meeting the oil executives himself. I want an explanation for why they arent refining more oil, Biden said. The Biden administration has already released oil from the U.S. strategic reserve and increased ethanol blending for the summer, in additional to sending a letter last week to oil refiners urging them to increase their refining capacity. Yet those efforts have yet to reduce price pressures meaningfully, such that the administration is now considering a gas tax holiday. Taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel help to pay for highways. The Penn Wharton Budget Model released estimates Wednesday showing that consumers saved at the pump because of gas tax holidays in Connecticut, Georgia and Maryland. The majority of the savings went to consumers, instead of service stations and others in the energy sector. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a Sunday interview on CNN's State of the Union cautioned that part of the challenge with the gas tax, of course, is that it funds the roads. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday noted consumers are really hurting from higher gas prices" and remained open to a gas tax holiday. "Its been a substantial burden on American households and I think, while not perfect, it is something that should be under some consideration as a policy to address it, Yellen said in Toronto at a joint press conference Monday with Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. A gas tax holiday would likely face an uphill climb for Congressional approval. Democrats hold a slim majority, and both Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have expressed skepticism in the past about such a move. A White House official, insisting on anonymity to discuss the options on gas prices, said conversations are ongoing and Biden wants to explore all possibilities to lower prices. Oil refiners say their ability to produce additional gas and diesel fuel is limited, meaning that prices could remain high unless demand starts to wane. The American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers sent a joint letter to Biden on Wednesday that said refineries are operating near their maximum capacity already and nearly half of the capacity taken off line was due to the facilities converting to renewable fuel production. Todays situation did not materialize overnight and will not be quickly solved, the letter said. To protect and foster U.S. energy security and refining capacity, we urge to you to take steps to encourage more domestic energy production," including new infrastructure and reducing regulatory burdens. Strolling on the beach with his daughter Ashley, granddaughter Naomi, and his granddaughters fiance, Biden stopped frequently to chat with beachgoers who were spending the Juneteenth federal holiday at the beach. He took a moment to offer assurances about inflation the consumer-price index increased to a nearly 40-year high of 8.6% in May from the same month a year ago and growing warnings from economists that a recession may be around the corner. Were going to get though this, guys, Biden told one group of beachgoers. Last week, the Federal Reserve stepped up its drive to tame inflation by raising its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point its largest increase in nearly three decades and signaled more large rate increases to come. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday that in his estimation, the dominant probability would be that by the end of next year we would be seeing a recession in the American economy. Biden said he spoke with Summers, who served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, on Monday morning. Theres nothing inevitable about a recession, Biden said. ___ Boak reported from Baltimore. AP writer Rob Gillies contributed from Toronto. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BANGKOK (AP) The worlds largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States. The stingray, captured on June 13, measured almost 4 meters (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly under 300 kilograms (660 pounds), according to a statement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project. The previous record for a freshwater fish was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, the group said. The stingray was snagged by a local fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. The fisherman alerted a nearby team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project, which has publicized its conservation work in communities along the river. The scientists arrived within hours of getting a post-midnight call with the news, and were amazed at what they saw. Yeah, when you see a fish this size, especially in freshwater, it is hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned, Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan said in an online interview from the University of Nevada in Reno. The university is partnering with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and USAID, the U.S. governments international development agency. Freshwater fish are defined as those that spend their entire lives in freshwater, as opposed to giant marine species such as bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between fresh and saltwater like the huge beluga sturgeon. The stingray's catch was not just about setting a new record, he said. The fact that the fish can still get this big is a hopeful sign for the Mekong River, Hogan said, noting that the waterway faces many environmental challenges. The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is home to several species of giant freshwater fish but environmental pressures are rising. In particular, scientists fear a major program of dam building in recent years may be seriously disrupting spawning grounds. Big fish globally are endangered. Theyre high-value species. They take a long time to mature. So if theyre fished before they mature, they dont have a chance to reproduce, Hogan said. A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. Theyre impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species. The team that rushed to the site inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish before releasing it. The device will send tracking information for the next year, providing unprecedented data on giant stingray behavior in Cambodia. The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years, Hogan said. Its found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. We dont know about its life history. We dont know about its ecology, about its migration patters. Researchers say its the fourth giant stingray reported in the same area in the past two months, all of them females. They think this may be a spawning hotspot for the species. Local residents nicknamed the stingray "Boramy, or full moon, because of its round shape and because the moon was on the horizon when it was freed on June 14. In addition to the honor of having caught the record-breaker, the lucky fisherman was compensated at market rate, meaning he received a payment of around $600. QUEBEC CITY (AP) The Canadian government is banning companies from importing or making plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers by the end of this year, their sale by the end of next year and their export by the end of 2025. Canada previously announced a ban but environment advocates were dismayed about delays and that Canadas initial plan was to ban the items at home but continue to ship them abroad. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the dates Monday. In addition to bags and takeout boxes, the ban will affect plastic straws, bags, cutlery, stir sticks and six-pack rings that hold cans and bottles. The federal government listed plastics as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act last year which paved the way for regulations to ban some. However a consortium of plastics producers is suing the government over the toxic designation in a case expected to be heard later this year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised in June 2019 that his government would phase out the production and use of hard-to-recycle plastic items as it aims for zero plastic waste by the end of the decade. Initially he said the ban would happen in 2021, but the scientific assessment of plastics that was needed to put the ban in motion was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Plastic waste has been a growing problem around the world, with an estimated 10% or less of most manufactured plastic recycled. A research study published by Environment and Climate Change Canada in 2019 found 3.3 million tons of plastic was thrown out, almost half of it plastic packaging. Less than one-tenth of that was recycled. Most of the plastic ended up in landfills, where it will take hundreds of years to decompose. An estimated 29,000 tons ended up as plastic pollution, littering parks, forests, waterways and shorelines with cigarette butts, food wrappers and disposable coffee cups. When the protagonist of "Love at Deep Dusk" suggests that her gay friends need to respect that "well-meaning traditionalists have a point in valuing what they value," the response is sharp. "I don't concede for a minute that so-called nice traditionalists have a point in having an opinion on our lives," her Black lesbian friend replies. "Because they don't get the privilege of making a point if they haven't lived through the bigotry." The fictional exchange is surprising, mostly because of who wrote it. It appears in a novel released in February by J. Harvie Wilkinson III, one of the most conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Wilkinson, 77, said in an interview that in writing the book, published by Milford House Press, he wanted an escape from "the acrimony and the intolerance and the venom" of political life. His protagonist, Leah, wrestles with deeply personal problems: whether to leave her small Pennsylvania town for better professional options, how to process a tragic death, whether to forgive an intimate betrayal. While "romantic," it's not exactly a romance novel, the judge said. "Sometimes things are more titillating when they're hinted at than when they are just stripped bare," Wilkinson said. "I don't think [these characters] would have wanted their private sexual acts just spread across pages for everybody to visit." He said he wanted to write from a female perspective in part to build his own empathy. "I wanted to reach out into worlds beyond my own little insular conclave," he said. In his day job, his positions remain staunchly conservative. In a recent case over whether a North Carolina charter school could require girls to wear skirts, Wilkinson wrote a controversial dissenting opinion siding with the school. He argued that applying the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment to a charter school - the core issue of the case - could "extinguish the place of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the educational system" and opined that "to a great many people, dress codes represent an ideal of chivalry that is not patronizing to women, but appreciative and respectful of them." In written opinions, other judges took aim at Wilkinson's comments. James A. Wynn Jr., a Black judge appointed by President Barack Obama, called out what he asserted were Wilkinson's "borderline insulting insinuations" that HBCUs are "benefitting from unconstitutional racial discrimination." (HBCUs are open to all races; they receive the HBCU designation if they were founded before 1964 and primarily focused on educating Black Americans.) Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, also appointed by Obama, questioned the invocation of "a time when men could assault their spouses and commit other violent crimes against them with impunity." The two other judges who signed on to Wilkinson's dissent are White men. Wilkinson would not talk about the case, but regarding his views, he said: "I do recognize that my perspective is limited, that I've got to grow, that I've got to identify with other situations and with other people. There's room for change, and room for reaching out. But also, I am who I am." Wilkinson made his protagonist, Leah, a defense lawyer who stakes her credibility on a client who has committed a violent assault. But he says his thinking on crime and punishment, where his rulings tend to favor prosecutors, hasn't changed much. Leah spends more of the book stressing over pay and hours than systemic injustice. Some of his views have changed over time, though, as reflected in the book. In a 2006 Washington Post column opposing state constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, Wilkinson argued that gay people had no right to marry under the U.S. Constitution, and noted he was not asserting "that same-sex marriage is a good or desirable phenomenon." "In the theoretical sense I think I was right, as a matter of constitutional structure," he said in an interview. "But in a more personal sense and in a deeply humanitarian sense, I was wrong. . . . I'm happy the Supreme Court did what it did." The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the Constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. But some legal experts say they fear that opinion might be reversed. The concern is based on reasoning in a leaked draft opinion suggesting that the court will end the constitutional right to abortion. The same logic, analysts said, might be applied to the decision on same-sex marriage. A new wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric has spread across the country. Wilkinson said it would be "beyond cruel" to undo existing same-sex marriages. The judge sends many clerks to the conservatives on the Supreme Court - including Louis Capozzi, who helped Wilkinson with the novel and is a current clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Capozzi did not respond to a request for comment.) Gorsuch was the surprise author of a recent opinion expanding gay and transgender protections. "I have a great deal of faith in the Supreme Court that they would never take that step," Wilkinson said. "That would be so harmful to so many individual lives, and it would visit such pain. And the legal consequences of it would be so difficult to unravel." He said he also wanted to use the book to highlight the intolerance he still sees in this country seven years after that decision. "I can point out the problem; I don't know the answer," he said. "What I was concerned about is we are too much a nation of enclaves, where minorities or gay individuals feel perfectly safe and valued in many locations, and then 100 miles different or even far less they have to be on their guard." Now he's working on his next novel, about a friendship between an isolated man and his neighbor. "I don't think a federal judge has written a love story before," he said. "Maybe it's undignified, but I don't think so." PARKLAND, Wash. (AP) The Pierce County Sheriffs Office was searching for a suspect who fatally shot an active duty soldier Saturday evening during a social gathering at a Parkland home. The 25-year-old victim died at the scene after paramedics were unable to revive him, the sheriffs office said in a written statement, KOMO-TV reported. The man was stationed at Joint Base Lewis McCord. FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) Kentucky took a step toward closing its digital divide Monday, when Gov. Andy Beshear announced $203 million in broadband investments with the promise of more to come to connect areas with no internet access or chronically slow service. The plan looks to combine a major infusion of federal funds backed by Democratic leaders in Congress with matching money to attain a long-running, bipartisan goal that has long eluded Kentucky's leaders. Previous efforts have fallen short of bringing the internet to remote parts of the state, where leaders have long viewed it as a key to future economic viability. The persistent lack of access in some parts of the state was laid bare during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, where remote work and schooling were both hampered by significant gaps in connectivity. The round of investments announced Monday will be split into 46 grant awards to 12 internet service providers and local governments spanning 35 counties. The grants will deliver reliable internet to more than 34,000 Kentucky families and businesses, the governor said. Everybody needs it," Beshear said. "Everybody deserves to have access to it. The investments include $89.1 million from the state's share of federal pandemic aid that state lawmakers earmarked for broadband expansion, Beshear said. Grant recipients pledged to match those contributions, raising total investments for this round to more than $203 million. The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the crucial role high-speed internet plays in the states education and economic systems. High-speed, reliable internet is not just the infrastructure of the future, its the necessary infrastructure right now," the governor said at a news conference. "Its just as important as roads, bridges. And today is a key part of our plan to build a better Kentucky. And it will be critical to the success of our states economy and to future job creation. The grants announced Monday are meant to lower construction costs to extend internet to harder-to-reach areas, with the focus on unserved areas of Kentucky. State Budget Director John Hicks called it the first chapter of many chapters as the state distributes funding to expand broadband service. In 2021, Kentucky lawmakers agreed to use $300 million of federal pandemic relief money to extend broadband service. It reflected a bipartisan agreement between the Republican-dominated legislature and Beshear, a Democrat. The Bluegrass State still has about $210 million remaining in federal pandemic aid to allocate for broadband expansion. Combined with matching requirements, a minimum of $600 million will support the extension of high-speed internet, Beshears office said in a news release. The state also expects another infusion of broadband money from the federal infrastructure law. Were going to have the best shot in the history of the commonwealth to provide internet access to every single Kentuckian, Beshear said. Asked how long it will take to achieve universal, reliable internet access statewide, the governor predicted dramatic improvement in the next four to five years. Beshear also stressed that affordability is part of the broadband equation. Were still going to have to continue to keep our eye on affordability, he said. Just getting it somewhere, if people cant afford it, isnt enough. The awards announced Monday stemmed from a competitive process managed by the state Finance and Administration Cabinet. An evaluation team spent six months evaluating nearly 100 proposals. Fareed Saghir, general manager of Crystal Broadband Networks, among the recipients, said the awards will be a "giant leap toward bridging the digital divide between urban and rural communities. Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative President and CEO Alan Gates said the funding will alleviate some of the significant financial burden associated with building a rural fiber-optic broadband network. The Pennyrile cooperative also was among the grant recipients. Beshear's administration also is setting up a state Office of Broadband Development to formulate a master plan to provide universal internet service across Kentucky. Bridging the gaps in broadband service has been a long and tortuous process in Kentucky. A statewide broadband project known as Kentucky Wired was launched years ago with bipartisan support, stretching back to when Beshear's father, Steve Beshear, was governor. The program ultimately fell well behind schedule and went considerably over budget. In its ongoing investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, the Jan. 6 congressional committee has interviewed more than 1,000 people and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documents so far. For their public hearings this month, they're having about a dozen people come tell their stories again, in person. Many close Trump allies or top Republican members of Congress have refused to be interviewed. So the committee has called in staffers to some of these top players and aired video testimony of former top officials. Lawmakers have also played excerpts from recorded interviews from about a half dozen Trump aides, including former attorney general William Barr and Donald Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump. Here are the witnesses scheduled to testify, and those who have already testified, this month. --- Witnesses expected to testify this week Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford Brad Raffensperger, secretary of state of Georgia: The committee has subpoenaed Raffensperger to testify Tuesday for a hearing focused on how Trump tried to overthrow election results in the swing states he lost. Raffensperger was at the focus of Trump's pressure campaign in Georgia. Days before the Jan. 6 attack, the president spent an hour on the phone with Raffensperger, urging the secretary of state to "find" just enough votes to overturn Biden's win. Raffensperger resisted Trump's pressure campaign, certifying the results and speaking out against attempts to do otherwise. Trump endorsed a primary challenger against Raffensperger, who easily won the Republican nomination again in May. Gabriel Sterling, top Georgia secretary of state aide: He will testify Tuesday as well. At a news conference in December 2020, Sterling publicly spoke out about threats he and his staff faced from Trump supporters for certifying the results. "Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions," he said in an emotional news conference. "This has to stop. We need you to step up, and if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some." "Someone's going to get hurt," Sterling warned. "Someone's going to get shot. Someone's going to get killed." He's been subpoenaed alongside Raffensperger to testify Tuesday. Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss, election worker in Georgia: In 2020, Moss helped process voter applications and count votes as an election worker in Georgia's Fulton County. After Trump lost the state, he and his allies targeted Moss - far from a household name - and baselessly accused her and her mother of falsifying votes for Biden. "Moss received so many death threats and racist taunts that she was forced to change her appearance and go into hiding," says the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which honored her with its "Profile in Courage" award this year. She'll testify Tuesday. Russell "Rusty" Bowers, speaker of the Arizona House: The state's top House Republican resisted the president's efforts to try to convince lawmakers to meet and somehow overturn Arizona's popular vote for Biden. He's talked publicly about this pressure campaign and will testify more about it Tuesday. --- Witnesses who might testify later this month Jeffrey Rosen, then-acting attorney general: Rosen was the nation's top law enforcement official during Trump's final days in office. He was pressured by Trump allies to send a letter from the Justice Department to state officials about false election fraud claims - thus lending them legitimacy - and he was a key figure in pushing back. Rosen and other officials threatened mass resignations if Trump put one of his allies, Jeffrey Clark, in charge of the Justice Department just days before Jan. 6. As the attack unfolded, Rosen was in contact with White House officials and could lend insight into how they tried to get Trump to respond to the violence and tell protesters to go home. (For nearly three hours, Trump did not say that, despite pleas from more than 20 Republicans to do so.) He was scheduled to testify last Wednesday, but the committee abruptly postponed. Richard Donoghue, then-No. 2 at the Justice Department: Donoghue, alongside Rosen, previously testified to the committee that they told Trump, in no uncertain terms, that he lost the 2020 election: "I told the president myself that several times, in several conversations, that these allegations about ballots being smuggled in a suitcase and run through the machines several times, it was not true, that we had looked at it, we looked at the video, we interviewed the witnesses, and it was not true." He and Rosen also pushed back on Trump's efforts to install an ally at the top of the Justice Department who was willing to lend legitimacy to election fraud claims. He was also scheduled to testify at last week's hearing, now postponed. Steve Engel, a top Justice Department official: Engel was the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which advises top law enforcement officials on laws. He has testified to the committee that he thought proposals from Trump allies to get Vice President Mike Pence to overturn election results were "absurd." He was also scheduled to testify last Wednesday. Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows: This under-the-radar White House aide has become one of the committee's most useful witnesses. She's spoken to investigators on the committee several times, for more than 20 hours total. In the absence of testimony from Meadows himself - he refused, and the committee held him in contempt - Hutchinson appears to be key to understanding the scope of his actions. She was by Meadows's side leading up to and during the attack and has told the committee of strategy sessions held between the White House and Trump's allies in Congress about whether they should encourage "Stop the Steal" participants to march to the Capitol, and how to set up alternative slates of electors. The Washington Post reports that she confirmed to the committee that at one point Meadows said Trump had indicated support for protesters shouting "Hang Mike Pence!" She is expected to be called to testify this month. --- Who has testified already Caroline Edwards, Capitol police officer: In the first of these hearings, Edwards, a Capitol police officer who was badly injured in the attack, offered testimony of what she called "a war scene" as attackers breached the barricades. Nick Quested, filmmaker: A documentarian who filmed the Proud Boys that day, Quested described evidence that the far-right, extremist group planned to attack the Capitol. (Current and former leaders of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, were charged with seditious conspiracy for allegedly planning the attack on the Capitol, as have members and leaders of the Oath Keepers.) Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien: Stepien, still a Trump ally, was due to testify June 13 about leading Trump's campaign during and after the tumultuous 2020 election but canceled his in-person appearance as his wife went into labor. The committee instead played clips from his deposition, recorded earlier. Former Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt: On election night 2020, Fox News stood out in front of the national news networks about Trump's impending loss. Not all results were in, but the politics team led by Stirewalt, analyzing the data, correctly predicted that Biden - not Trump - would win Arizona, a state that would help tip the election to Biden. Trump and his allies seethed over the perceived injustice. Stirewalt testified about how he and his colleagues came to the certain, unanimous conclusion that Biden had won the state. He now works at NewsNation, a news network that leans right. He has been outspoken that Fox News contributed to large swaths of the population believing the election was stolen. Ben Ginsberg, conservative election law expert: Ginsberg testified June 13 about his skepticism that there was substantial evidence of election fraud. During and after the 2020 election, Ginsberg was a prominent voice on the right against Trump's push to stay in power. "This is as un-American as it gets," he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published days before the 2020 election, of the Trump campaign's efforts to challenge and invalidate ballots in several states. Byung J. "BJay" Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Georgia: Amid Trump's push to overturn election results in Georgia, Pak - a federal prosecutor based in Atlanta - suddenly quit in January 2021, with people telling CNN it was because he heard Trump was about to fire him. Pak testified about being pressured by the Trump team to back up their voter fraud claims. Al Schmidt, a former city commissioner of Philadelphia: He was the only Republican city commissioner of Philadelphia as Trump and his allies were pushing election fraud claims in Pennsylvania, a state Biden won. Trump publicly called out Schmidt for not supporting them. Schmidt testified that he found no evidence to substantiate the Trump campaign's claims and that he and his family received threats after Trump's tweet. Greg Jacob, Pence's attorney: For weeks leading up to Jan. 6, Trump and his allies pressured the vice president to reject states' electoral college votes. That didn't let up on the morning of, or even during, the attack on the Capitol: Jacob was on the receiving end of a fiery email from one of Trump's lawyers, John Eastman, accusing Pence of causing the attack by not rejecting electoral results. In his testimony Thursday, Jacob described how the Trump campaign pressed ahead with its strategy despite being told it was illegal; he also described what it was like to be with Pence that day as the vice president, his family and advisers took shelter underground, coming within 40 feet of the mob. Michael Luttig, lawyer and former judge: Luttig was active in getting Pence to accept that the Constitution did not give the vice president the power to unilaterally overturn states' electoral results on Jan. 6. Luttig has also been critical of Trump's election fraud claims. If Trump's plan had worked, Luttig said in his testimony Thursday, it "would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the Republic." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Minnesota prosecutors and a defense attorney for one of two former Minneapolis police officers who still face a state trial in George Floyds killing have made dueling requests for a new trial date, with the state hoping to have a trial as soon as this summer, while a defense lawyer wants to push it to next spring. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 2020 killing of Floyd. Their trial was supposed to start earlier this month, but Judge Peter Cahill postponed it until Jan. 5, saying that would improve prospects for a fair trial. But on Friday, state prosecutors requested a speedy trial on behalf of Floyds family. Under Minnesota law, that means the trial could start in mid-August. Kuengs defense attorney, Tom Plunkett, followed with a document filed Sunday that seeks a longer delay until April because he has a scheduling conflict. Cahill will hold a hearing on the issue Tuesday. Thao and Kueng were already convicted of federal counts of violating Floyds rights. Their former colleague, Thomas Lane, was also convicted on a federal count and pleaded guilty in May to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. All three are free pending their federal sentencing hearings, which have not been set. Other than citing a statute that calls for a speedy trial, state prosecutors gave no additional reason for their request. But Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison previously said that it was unfortunate for the victims, the witnesses, and community that the opportunity to seek justice has been delayed. Plunkett said in his filing, which was made public Monday, that he discussed his request for an additional delay in a teleconference, but the state said it couldn't agree to it. Plunkett wrote that Thao's attorney, Bob Paule, did not object to another postponement. Plunkett also wrote that there were two in-chambers conferences on March 9 and on May 27 in which plea negotiations, trial scheduling, and other matters were discussed. He said he told the court then that he would be unavailable for trial from January through March. Cahill also presided over last year's trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 22 1/2 years for kneeling on Floyd's neck as the Black man said he couldn't breathe. Chauvin, who is white, has been in prison since that conviction. He also pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge. __ Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd UVALDE, Texas (AP) Multiple police officers armed with rifles and at least one ballistic shield stood and waited in a school hallway for nearly an hour while a gunman carried out a massacre of 19 elementary students and two teachers, according to a Monday news report that marks the latest embarrassing revelation about the failure of law enforcement to thwart the attack. The officers with heavier firepower and tactical equipment were there within 19 minutes of the gunman arriving on campus earlier than previously known, according to documents reviewed by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. The outlets report, which did not indicate the source of the documents, nevertheless intensifies the anguish and questions over why police didnt act sooner to stop the May 24 slaughter in the Robb Elementary School classroom. The information is to be presented to a public Texas Senate hearing in Austin on Tuesday. Investigators say the latest information indicates officers had more than enough firepower and protection to take down the gunman long before they finally did, the outlets reported. The timeline the American-Statesman and KVUE reported from the documents included footage from inside the school that showed the 18-year-old gunman casually entering a rear door at 11:33 a.m., walking to a classroom and immediately spraying gunfire before barricading himself. Video showed 11 officers entering the school three minutes later, the outlets reported. School district police Chief Pete Arredondo called the Uvalde Police Department landline and reported that their suspect had shot a lot with an AR-15-style rifle and outgunned the officers at the school, who he said were armed only with pistols, the outlets reported. Four minutes later, at 11:44 a.m., body camera video recorded the sound of more gunshots. At 11:52 a.m., the first ballistic shield arrived as officers grew impatient to act. Arredondo struggled to find a key to the classroom door even though no one is believed to have tried opening the door, the outlets reported. Another officer with a ballistic shield arrived at 12:03 p.m., and another came with a shield two minutes later. About 30 minutes before officers finally breached the classroom door at 12:50 p.m., Arredondo is heard wondering aloud if the gunman could be shot through a window. Only at 12:46 p.m. did Arredondo tell the tactical team members to breach the door when ready, the outlets reported. In the past week, the San Antonio Express-News reported that video surveillance footage from the school did not show officers attempting to open the door leading to the classrooms where the massacre was happening. And The New York Times reported two Uvalde city police officers told a sheriffs deputy that they passed up a fleeting chance to shoot the gunman while he was still outside the school because they feared they would hit children. Delays in the law enforcement response have been the focus of the federal, state and local investigation of the massacre and its aftermath. Questions about the law enforcement response began days after the massacre. Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said on May 27 that Arredondo made the wrong decision when he chose not to storm the classroom for more than 70 minutes, even as trapped fourth graders inside two classrooms were desperately calling 911 for help. Arredondo later said he didnt consider himself the person in charge and assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. Arredondo has declined repeated requests for comment to The Associated Press. State police initially said the gunman entered through an exterior door that had been propped open by a teacher. A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said on May 31, though, that the teacher closed the door after realizing a shooter was on campus, but it did not lock as it should have. On June 2, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said it was a system failure that Arredondo received no word of the pleas for help from people inside the school because he had no two-way radio link with city police. I want to know specifically who was receiving the 911 calls, Gutierrez said during a news conference. The Uvalde school board heard from members of the public Monday, including relatives of those killed in the attack. They took turns criticizing the police response and what they described as lax security measures at the school in general. Lyliana Garcia, 16, is the daughter of teacher Irma Garcia, who was killed in the shooting, and Jose Garcia, who died of a heart attack two days later. They had four children a Marine, a college student, a seventh grader and Lyliana. The knowledge of being orphaned at such a young age is inconceivable, she told the school board. These are the consequences my family has to suffer due to the lack of due diligence. I would like to share a quote of one of my sisters agonizing cries. She said, My mom died protecting her students, but who was protecting my mom? A legislative committee looking at law enforcement response completed another day of closed-door hearings in Uvalde on Monday. State Rep. Dustin Burrows, who is chairing the committee investigating the school shooting, had said at the start of the day's session that the panel would hear more witness testimony from the Uvalde Police Department, as well as from another officer from the school district police and a member of the Texas Department of Public Safety. After Burrows' opening statements during the committee hearing in Uvalde, the committee went into executive session, blocking the public from hearing witness testimony. Burrows did not immediately emerge from the executive session Monday afternoon to make a statement on the day's testimony. Burrows said that testimony would continue on Tuesday in Austin. He said he hoped to provide information on when at least a preliminary report would be released to the public. ___ Find more AP coverage of the Uvalde school shooting: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting China's express delivery volume up 3.3 pct in Jan-May Xinhua) 09:31, June 20, 2022 BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- China's courier service providers reported a steady increase in express delivery volume in the first five months of the year, data from the State Post Bureau showed. From January to May, the country's courier companies handled a total of 40.95 billion parcels, up 3.3 percent year on year, the bureau said. Their business revenue came in at 400.55 billion yuan (about 60 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, rising 2 percent from a year ago. Shanghai ranked first among Chinese cities in terms of express delivery revenue in the first five months, followed by Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jinhua and Hangzhou. Data from the bureau also showed that the revenue of China's postal sector increased 5.9 percent year on year to 531.78 billion yuan in the January-May period. In May alone, the sector's revenue went up by 4.4 percent. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) Lithuania on Monday defended its decision to bar rail transit from Russia to a Russian Baltic Sea exclave of goods hit by European Union sanctions, in a move that drew Moscow's strong anger amid high tensions in the region. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his country was simply implementing sanctions imposed by the EU, of which it is a member. He said the measures implemented Saturday were taken after consultation with the European Commission and under its guidelines. Sanctioned goods (will) no longer be allowed to transit Lithuanian territory, Landsbergis added. Goods on the list include steel, but are set to be broadly expanded to cover items from coal to alcoholic drinks. The Kaliningrad exclave, home to some 430,000 people, is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, another EU country, to the south and isolated from the rest of Russia. Trains with goods for Kaliningrad travel via Belarus and Lithuania. There's no transit through Poland. Russia can still supply the exclave by sea, without falling foul of EU sanctions. Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lifts the ban, with the Foreign Ministry in Moscow saying that if transport links are not restored in full Russia reserves the right to take action in defense of its national interests. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly denounced the unlawful ban. This decision, indeed unprecedented, is a violation of everything and then some. We understand that it is connected to the relevant decision of the European Union to extend the sanctions to transit (of goods). This we also consider unlawful, Peskov told reporters on Monday. The foreign ministry summoned Lithuanias chief diplomatic representative in Moscow for a formal protest and alleged the Baltic nation was acting in breach of international agreements. Lithuania has not had an ambassador in Moscow since April, when it downgraded diplomatic ties in protest at the killing of civilians in Ukraine by Russian troops after the Feb. 24 invasion. Lithuania later summoned the Russian envoy in Vilnius to tell him the ban was in line with EU sanctions, and that there was no blockade of Kaliningrad. The EUs top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Lithuanias move should not be compared to the situation in Ukraine. The rest of the world will not be affected by what is happening in Kaliningrad, but the rest of the world is very much affected by what is happening in Ukraine, he said. Borrell added that Lithuania did not take any unilateral national restrictions and denied that land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia had been stopped, or banned. There is no blockade, Borrell said. He added that the transit of passengers and goods that are not sanctioned is continuing. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: Russia has no right to threaten Lithuania. Moscow has only itself to blame for the consequences of its unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, Lithuanian customs said the sanctions, which took effect in mid-June, were part of the fourth EU sanctions package imposed on March 15. Lina Laurinaityte Grigiene, a customs spokeswoman, said affected items include Russian steel that cannot be transported over the territory of European countries. "The land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia is not stopped or blocked. All goods that are not under sanctions travel freely, she said. She added that starting July 10, similar sanctions will be implemented on concrete and alcohol goods, from Aug. 10 on coal and from December no Russian oil will be allowed into EU territory. Anton Alikhanov, the governor of the Russian exclave, has estimated that the ban would affect some 50% of all goods flowing towards Kaliningrad by rail. He also said he would call on Russian authorities to take measures against Lithuania and would seek to have more goods sent by ship. Kaliningrad, which is home to the Russian Baltic Fleet, is Russias only ice-free Baltic port. Moscow has also deployed there nuclear-capable Iskander missiles. As part of its economic sanctions, the EU has imposed a number of import and export restrictions on Russia. The bloc said it has been careful not to harm the Russian population with its packages of measures and therefore excluded products related to health, pharma, food and agriculture. The list of sanctioned products include up to 90% of oil imports, coal, steel, iron, wood, as well as caviar and vodka. Bans are implemented by the EUs customs authorities. ___ Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed to this report. ___ Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) A man has been convicted of murder in the 2019 slaying of an Alabama couple found shot to death inside their home. A jury in Jefferson County recommended a sentence of life without parole for 41-year-old Terrance Jermain Holder after finding him guilty Friday. The judge has not set a sentencing date, al.com reported. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) The man convicted last year of coordinating the killing of Honduran environmental activist Berta Caceres was sentenced Monday to more than 22 years in prison, upsetting the victim's family because the penalty was significantly below the maximum. A judge sentenced Roberto David Castillo Mejia to 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of Caceres, a member of the Lenca Indigenous group who led opposition to a dam project in which Castillo Mejia was involved. He will be able to appeal. Olivia Zuniga Caceres, daughter of the activist who protested with others outside the court, said she would make every effort to seek a more severe sentence. It is extremely outrageous that the maximum penalty was not applied, Zuniga Caceres said, noting that the convicted gunmen received longer sentences. In December 2019, seven men were sentenced to prison for Caceres murder. Four men were sentenced to 34 years for the murder and 16 years for attempted murder. Three others received sentences of 30 years for their roles. This is the result of a justice system that has nothing to do with justice, that promotes impunity, Zuniga Caceres said, also saying she still awaited the capture of others involved in ordering her mother's killing. At the time, prosecutors said the killers acted on behalf of a company, Desa, that was building a dam being opposed by the activist. Castillo Mejia, who heads the project, was arrested in 2018. Castillo Mejia allegedly paid the hitmen, gave logistical support and provided resources to those already convicted, according to prosecutors. Caceres was a co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras. She helped organize opposition to the Agua Zarca dam, which was to be built on the Galcarque River. The river holds spiritual importance for the Lenca people as well as being a critical source of water. The dam project remains frozen. Caceres won the prestigious Goldman Prize for her environmental activism in 2015. She was slain at her home in La Esperanza on March 3, 2016. A Mexican activist who was there with her also was shot, but survived. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW YORK (AP) The Nobel Peace Prize auctioned off by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel. A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, could not confirm the identity of the buyer but said the winning bid was made by proxy. The $103.5 million sale translates to $100 million Swiss francs, hinting that the buyer is from overseas. I was hoping that there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount, Muratov said in an interview after bidding in the nearly 3-week auction ended on World Refugee Day. Previously, the most ever paid for a Nobel Prize medal was $4.76 million in 2014, when James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962, sold his. In 2013, the family of his co-recipient, Francis Crick, received $2.27 million in bidding also run by Heritage Auctions. Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlins clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine. It was Muratovs idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. Muratov has said the proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Just minutes after bidding ended, UNICEF told the auction house it had already received the funds. Online bids had begun June 1 to coincide with the International Childrens Day observance. Many bids came by telephone or online. The winning bid, tendered by telephone, catapulted the bidding from the low millions to astronomical levels. Muratov had left Russia on Thursday to begin his trip to New York City, where live bidding began Monday evening. Early Monday, the high bid was only $550,000. The purchase price had been expected to spiral upward but not over $100 million. I cant believe it. Im awestruck. Personally, Im flabbergasted. Im stunned. I dont really know what happened in there, said Joshua Benesh, the chief strategy officer for Heritage Auctions. We knew that there was a tremendous groundswell of interest in the last couple of days by people who were moved by Dimitrys story, by Dimitrys act of generosity, that the global audience was listening tonight, he said. Muratov and Heritage officials said even those out of the bidding can still help by donating directly to UNICEF. Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines. The two journalists, who each received their own medals, were honored for their battles to preserve free speech in their respective countries, despite coming under attack by harassment, their governments and even death threats. Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratovs medal would be worth about $10,000. Muratov has been highly critical of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war launched in February that has caused nearly 5 million Ukrainians to flee to other countries for safety, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II. Independent journalists in Russia have come under scrutiny by the Kremlin, if not outright targets of the government. Since Putin came into power more than two decades ago, nearly two dozen journalists have been killed, including at least four who had worked for Muratov's newspaper. In April, Muratov said he was attacked with red paint while aboard a Russian train. Since its inception in 1901, there have been nearly 1,000 recipients of the Nobel Prizes honoring achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and the advancement of peace. ___ In a story published June 20, 2022, about the auction of a Nobel Peace Prize, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the medal won by Francis Crick was sold in 2017. It was sold in 2013. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Katell contributed to this report. NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) The captain of a sailing vessel participating in the 52nd Newport Bermuda Race fell overboard and died, race organizers said. Colin Golder, of New Providence, New Jersey, was steering the 42-foot (12.8-meter) yacht Morgan of Marietta on Sunday in strong winds, roughly 325 miles from Bermuda when he fell overboard, the Bermuda Race Organizing Committee said in a statement. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Brooke Alexander turned off her breast pump at 6:04 p.m. and brought two fresh bottles of milk over to the bed, where her 3-month-old twins lay flat on their backs, red-faced and crying. Running on four hours of sleep, the 18-year-old tried to feed both babies at once, holding Kendall in her arms while she tried to get Olivia to feed herself, her bottle propped up by a pillow. But the bottle kept slipping and the baby kept wailing. And Brooke's boyfriend, Billy High, wouldn't be home for another five hours. "Please, fussy girl," Brooke whispered. She peeked outside the room, just big enough for a full-size mattress, and realized she had barely seen the sun all day. The windows were covered by blankets, pinned up with thumbtacks to keep the room cool. Brooke rarely ventured into the rest of the house. Billy's dad had taken them in when her mom kicked them out, and she didn't want to get in his way. The hours without Billy were always the hardest. She knew he had to go - they relied entirely on the $9.75 an hour he made working the line at Freebirds World Burrito - but she tortured herself imagining all the girls he might be meeting. And she wished she had somewhere to go, too. Brooke found out she was pregnant late on the night of Aug. 29, two days before the Texas Heartbeat Act banned abortions once an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity, around six weeks of pregnancy. It was the most restrictive abortion law to take effect in the United States in nearly 50 years. For many Texans who have needed abortions since September, the law has been a major inconvenience, forcing them to drive hundreds of miles - and pay hundreds of dollars - for a legal procedure they once could have had at home. But not everyone has been able to leave the state. Some people couldn't take time away from work or afford gas, while others, faced with a long journey, decided to stay pregnant. Nearly 10 months into the Texas law, they have started having the babies they never planned to carry to term. Texas offers a glimpse of what much of the country faces with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Roughly half the states in the country are expected to dramatically restrict abortion or ban it altogether, creating vast abortion deserts that will push many into parenthood. Sometimes Brooke imagined her life if she hadn't gotten pregnant, if Texas hadn't banned abortion just days after she decided that she wanted one. She would have been in school, rushing from class to her shift at Texas Roadhouse, eyes on a real estate license that would finally get her out of Corpus Christi. She'd pictured an apartment in Austin and enough money for a trip to Hawaii, where she'd swim with dolphins in water so clear she could see her toes. When both babies finally started eating, Brooke took out her phone and restarted the timer that had been running almost continuously since the day they were born. She had 2 1/2 hours until they'd have to eat again. - - - Brooke and Billy first met at the downtown skatepark with a big group of friends, one clear-skied night in May of last year. They didn't talk that first day - but Brooke noticed how effortlessly Billy dropped into the quarter-pipe, the way his blond hair flipped out from underneath his red beanie. She followed him on Instagram, and her stomach did a little dance when she saw that he followed her back. Soon, they were spending almost every day together: throwing themselves into the Gulf of Mexico waves on Padre Island and watching the sun set over the pier. At the skatepark, he'd help her do the tricks she'd been scared to try alone. "Pinkie promise me you'll do it," he'd say, all blue eyes and dimples, as she peeked over the edge of the ramp. Once he hooked her little finger, there was no backing down. Billy was different from the other guys Brooke knew. He held her hand in public and introduced her to his dad. When she took him to the mall, he grinned each time she stepped out of the dressing room, telling her how good she looked in each new crop top she tried on. He made her feel pretty. "I wasn't used to feeling like that," Brooke said. Brooke took the pregnancy test at 11 o'clock on a hot night at the tail end of the summer. When the two pink lines appeared, she looked over at Billy, then slid onto the bathroom floor, finally connecting the signs she'd ignored for weeks. The nausea she'd chalked up to food poisoning. The two missed periods. That moment a few weeks back, when Billy put a hand on her stomach and asked if she was sure she wasn't pregnant. Leaving Billy in her bedroom with the pregnancy test, Brooke grabbed her keys and drove to her best friend's house, where they sat on his bed and examined her options. She could always get an abortion, she told him. Then he reminded her of something she vaguely remembered seeing on Twitter: A new law was scheduled to take effect Sept. 1. Brooke had 48 hours. The abortion clinic in South Texas - two and a half hours from Corpus Christi - had no open slots in the next two days, with patients across the state racing to get into clinics before the law came down. When Brooke called, the woman on the end of the line offered the names and addresses of clinics in New Mexico, a 13-hour drive from Corpus Christi. In the meantime, the woman said, Brooke could get an ultrasound somewhere nearby: If she was under six weeks, they could still see her. "We're gonna see how far along it is," Brooke texted her dad, Jeremy Alexander, later that night. "See if abortion is an option." "What's the cut off date," he asked. "They just passed a law today!!" she responded in the early hours of Sept. 1, referring to the ban that had just taken effect. "What are the f---ing odds I believe it's 6 weeks." "Fingers crossed????" her dad said. Brooke found a place that would perform an ultrasound on short notice - and scheduled an appointment for 9 a.m. - - - Whenever a new client walks into the Pregnancy Center of the Coastal Bend, they are asked to fill out a form. After all the usual questions - name, date of birth, marital status - comes the one that most interests the staff: "If you are pregnant, what are your intentions?" From there, the team sorts each client into one of three groups: If they're planning to have the baby: "LTC," likely to carry. If they're on the fence: "AV," abortion vulnerable. If they're planning to get an abortion: "AM," abortion minded. The Pregnancy Center of the Coastal Bend - which advertises itself as the region's "#1 Source of Abortion Information" - is one of thousands of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States, antiabortion organizations that are often religiously affiliated. When Brooke showed up with her mom for her appointment, she had no idea she'd walked into a facility designed to dissuade people from getting abortions. She also didn't know how much significance her form held for the staff: By signaling that she wanted an abortion, she became their first "AM" of the Texas Heartbeat Act. Brooke heard about the pregnancy center from her mom's friend, who knew she needed an ultrasound. This place offered them free. Brooke felt a sense of calm, sitting in the waiting room, lulled by its decorative throw pillows and soft watercolors of ocean scenes. The advocate assigned to her case, Angie Arnholt, had been counseling abortion-minded clients at the pregnancy center for a year. While many of the center's volunteers signed up only to talk to "LTCs" - happy conversations about babies their clients couldn't wait to have - Arnholt, a 61-year-old who wears a gold cross around her neck, felt called to do what she could to help women "make a good decision," she later told The Washington Post. Back in a consultation room, Brooke told Arnholt all the reasons she wanted to get an abortion. She'd just enrolled in real estate classes at community college, which would be her first time back in a classroom since she dropped out of high school three years earlier at 15. She and Billy had been dating only three months. Sitting across from Brooke and her mom, Arnholt opened "A Woman's Right to Know," an antiabortion booklet distributed by the state of Texas, flipping to a page titled "Abortion risks." The first risk listed was "death." As Brooke listened to Arnholt's warnings - of depression, nausea, cramping, breast cancer, infertility - she tried to stay calm, reminding herself that women get abortions all the time. Still, Brooke couldn't help fixating on some of the words Arnholt used: Vacuum suction. Heavy bleeding. Punctured uterus. (Serious complications from abortion are rare. Abortion does not increase the risk of mental illness, breast cancer or infertility, according to leading medical organizations.) Starting to panic, Brooke looked over at her mom. When she found out Brooke was pregnant, Terri Thomas told her daughter to get an abortion. While she was a devout Christian - going to church a few times a week, twice on Sundays - she had her own views on this particular issue. Thomas had her first kid at 20, she said, just as she was transferring out of community college with hopes of starting law school. If the timing had been different, she said, she might have been a prosecutor. Instead, she hopped from one retail job to another: Bath & Body Works to Walgreens to Home Depot. Growing up, Brooke said, she bounced back and forth between her mom's house and her dad's, depending on who was the more stable parent at the time. Her happiest years as a kid were spent with her dad, she said, on a tree-lined street with a ping-pong table in the garage and a trampoline in the backyard. But then Brooke's dad started using cocaine. While Alexander has been sober for a few years now, he said, back then he couldn't kick the habit. Around the time he stopped paying all the rent, and sewage started backing up in their toilets, Brooke moved back in with her mom. With her mom, Brooke always felt like she was tiptoeing. If Brooke forgot to turn off the lights or do the dishes, Thomas would start yelling. Thomas felt she had every right to respond that way, she said: She was the "hen" in her henhouse. Arnholt ushered Brooke into the ultrasound room, where Brooke undressed from the waist down and lay back onto an examination table, looking up at a large flat-screen TV. As the ultrasound technician pressed the probe into her stomach, slathered with gel, Brooke willed the screen to show a fetus without a heartbeat. The technician gasped. It was twins. And they were 12 weeks along. "Are you sure?" Brooke said. "Oh, my God, oh, my God," Thomas recalled saying as she jumped up and down. "This is a miracle from the Lord. We are having these babies." Brooke felt like she was floating above herself, watching the scene below. Her mom was calling the twins "my babies," promising Brooke she would take care of everything, as the ultrasound technician told her how much she loved being a twin. If she really tried, Brooke thought she could make it to New Mexico. Her older brother would probably lend her the money to get there. But she couldn't stop staring at the pulsing yellow line on the ultrasound screen. She wondered: If her babies had heartbeats, as these women said they did, was aborting them murder? Eventually, Arnholt turned to Brooke and asked whether she'd be keeping them. Brooke heard herself saying "yes." - - - Brooke walked out of the pregnancy center that day with an ultrasound photo and a handful of lollipops that Arnholt promised would help with her morning sickness. Arnholt and the ultrasound technician each followed up with Brooke a few times over text. Brooke scheduled what the pregnancy center called a "pre-natal appointment," where she sat through another ultrasound, then dropped by for a parenting class, earning "points" she redeemed for a package of diapers. After that, Brooke didn't go back to the pregnancy center. She said the class felt like a waste of time. Instead, she turned to Billy. Within a few weeks, Brooke and Billy had a plan. He would join the Air Force as soon as he graduated from high school; Brooke would wait for him to finish basic training, then follow him wherever he got assigned. Soon they were debating baby names. Surrounded by their friends and families one afternoon in October, Brooke and Billy fired gender-reveal cannons into Thomas's backyard, unleashing two giant puffs of pink smoke. "I'm so happy I met you billy," Brooke wrote in an Instagram post announcing her pregnancy. "Starting a family with you is gonna be one of the hardest things I'm ever gonna experience, but I'm glad I get to do it with you." Brooke started her real estate classes in early November - and she loved everything about going to school. When she showed up the first day in her favorite crop top and jeans, the cinder-block building "felt like an opportunity," she said. Most days, she'd buy a Frappuccino from the vending machine and sit down in the chair she'd claimed as her own, opening her textbook to a page she'd already covered in yellow highlighter. Brooke got an 83 on the final exam, the highest grade in the class. She texted everyone she could think of who might want to hear the news: Billy, her brother, her mom, her dad, her grandpa. After three years out of school, she couldn't believe she'd done so well. "I felt like, man, I must be really smart," she said. Throughout the fall, Billy was her biggest worry. He'd stayed pretty quiet back when she was deciding what to do about the babies. Just once, he told her he'd prefer to get an abortion, but would support her completely in whatever she chose. He'd thought about adoption, but Brooke wouldn't even consider it. "I don't think I'm ready for this," he'd told her. Billy was scared to lose what he described as "the freedom of being a teenager." After he graduated, he'd planned to keep working at Freebirds - just enough hours to get by - so he could maximize his skate time and "just chill." People respected Billy at the skate park: Whenever he geared up to film some tricks, everyone else cleared out of the bowl. By November, Billy was paying all of Brooke's bills. She'd stopped working at Texas Roadhouse; the smell of the meat and grease had been making her sick to her stomach. To swing Brooke's $330 car payment, they applied for a WIC card and ate ramen or pancakes for dinner. When they overdrafted Brooke's credit card, Billy worked double shifts until he could pay it off. Brooke wanted to work, but she couldn't hack a waitressing job. At seven months pregnant, she struggled to stay on her feet for too long and felt utterly exhausted by even the simplest tasks. She started falling asleep while doing her homework. Then she missed a class. Then another. When she decided to drop out of real estate school, she couldn't bring herself to tell her teacher. She convinced herself it wasn't that big of a deal - they'd be moving away soon anyway, and the Air Force would pay Billy enough to support them both. Brooke wedged her real estate textbook in a line of books on her dresser, between "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and the fourth Harry Potter. Maybe she'd come back to it one day. Anytime Brooke went out with the babies in public, she knew that people were staring. She was 18 and she looked 18, with rosy cheeks and curly blond ringlets tied together with a ribbon. As she struggled to maneuver her double stroller through the doors at Freebirds, she imagined everyone was judging her, writing her off as a clueless kid and a bad mom. She was determined to prove them wrong. Somehow, mothering came naturally to Brooke. Whenever one of the babies started crying, Brooke would tick through her mental checklist: Was her daughter hungry? Tired? Did she need to be changed? If it was none of those things, Brooke would pick up her daughter and hold her close, swaying from side to side, kissing the silky brown strands on the top of her head. Almost always, her baby would stop crying. "I think they can smell me," she said. "And that makes me feel so special." Brooke knew the little things about her daughters that no one else would notice. Olivia had a higher-pitched cry. Kendall was harder to soothe. You could always tell when they were about to wake up, because they'd start to smile. Looking at her daughters, Brooke struggled to articulate her feelings on abortion. On one hand, she said, she absolutely believed that women should have the right to choose what's best for their own lives. On the other, she knew that, without the Texas law, her babies might not be here. "Who's to say what I would have done if the law wasn't in effect?" she said. "I don't want to think about it." Brooke considered all that she'd lost: Long nights at the skate park, trips to the mall, dropping $30 on a crab dinner just because she felt like it. "I can't just really be free," she said. "I guess that really sums it up. That's a big thing that I really miss." She sat silently for a while, Olivia's hand wrapped around her finger. "It's really scary thinking that I wouldn't have them," she said. There was only one way she could make sense of it, she said: Losing them now - as fully formed human beings - would be different from losing them back then. All through the pregnancy, Brooke had planned to bring the babies home to her mom's house, where they'd all live together until Billy made enough money to pay for a home. Brooke's mom had promised to be there for them, back in the ultrasound room, and Brooke had believed her. But after a couple of weeks, Brooke started to feel like her mom could turn on her at any moment. Thomas would remind Brooke that she was staying in her house rent-free, running the TV and AC all night without paying for electric. After Brooke left dirty dishes in the sink one night in mid-May, she woke up to her mom yelling at her from the kitchen. "You don't get a prize for getting yourself knocked up and pregnant," Thomas remembered saying. "I don't know what you think I owe you, but you don't get a prize for that." "You treat me like some random chick off the street," Brooke said. "I'm your daughter." Thomas said she told her to find another place to live. Brooke packed up a few things and drove the babies to Billy's dad's house. Billy's room wasn't exactly where she'd imagined raising her daughters, with its stash of skateboard magazines and a giant Freebirds billboard behind the bed, advertising fountain drinks for 95 cents. But it was a place she was welcome. The next morning, Brooke woke up to a text from her mother. "I am by no means a perfect human or a perfect mom, but I love you no matter what," she wrote. "You don't have to stay over there." Brooke would rather rely on Billy than her mom, she decided - though in her most anxious moments, she worried he might kick her out, too. She often relived an argument they'd had one Saturday night in April, when they got a little too drunk and Billy finally talked about all the things he'd been avoiding: He didn't really like the way his life was turning out, he told her. He didn't want to join the Air Force; he just wanted to skate. "That's not my fault," she'd told him. "I didn't get myself pregnant." At one point, he recalled, he suggested they try living apart. They were over that now, Brooke reminded herself as she hung up her clothes in Billy's closet. She placed a bouquet of flowers on his desk and lit a candle, filling the room with a scent called "Forever Love." Bit by bit, she would make Billy's room a home. - - - Twenty minutes across town, a woman Brooke had never met would soon be sharing her story, holding up the twins as an antiabortion triumph, just two weeks after the leaked draft decision revealed a Supreme Court on the brink of overturning Roe. The Coastal Bend Republican Coalition gathered on May 19 for its weekly meeting at a local barbecue joint. Over brisket and coleslaw, members listened to the speaker they'd invited for the evening: Jana Pinson, the executive director of the Pregnancy Center of the Coastal Bend. To explain the center's work, Pinson told a story about a girl who showed up with her mom on the morning the Heartbeat Act took effect, asking for an abortion. The mother and daughter "were so furious with us," Pinson said, "so angry." But as soon as they saw the ultrasound, she said, everything changed. "The moment we put that wand on her sweet belly and two babies popped up . . . it absolutely melted them." Last year, Pinson said, 583 abortion-minded and abortion-vulnerable women chose to continue their pregnancies after visiting their facility. At their banquet in March - with over 2,800 attendees from across the region - Pinson and her staff lit 583 candles. One of those was for Brooke. - - - Three weeks later, the babies stayed home while Brooke and Billy drove to the courthouse. Billy was about to leave for a five-month stint in basic training and technical school. For Brooke to qualify for military benefits, they had to get married. At 11 o'clock on a Monday morning, they walked into a courtroom with an American flag behind the bench, Brooke in a flowery sundress, Billy in jeans. She'd looked around for white dresses on Amazon but couldn't justify the $30: She was terrified she'd run out of money while Billy was away. The loneliness scared her, too. She kept imagining the long nights alone in Billy's house, trying to calm two crying babies without him. He wouldn't have his phone at basic training; she would hear from him mostly through letters. She knew she'd have to manage that little voice in the back of her head: What if he changed his mind about their life together? Standing with Billy in front of the justice of the peace, Brooke told herself that, one day, they would have their "love story moment." She would walk down the aisle in a wedding gown. Their friends and family would cry and cheer as she and Billy publicly declared how much they meant to each other. "I, Brooke Alexander, take thee, Billy High, to be my wedded husband," she repeated. If it wasn't for the Texas law, Brooke knew she might not be standing here. She'd probably be studying for her next exam, while Billy mastered some new trick on the quarter-pipe. She liked to think they'd still be together - spending their money on movie tickets and Whataburger, instead of diapers and baby wipes. She told herself that alternate life didn't matter anymore. She had two babies she loved more than anything else in the world. "I do," she said, tears in her eyes. Brooke pulled out her phone once they finished the ceremony: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Time to grab some lunch and head home; the babies would be hungry. The convening of the electoral college on Dec. 14, 2020, was supposed to mark the end of the wild, extended presidential election that year. But when the day arrived, a strange thing happened. In seven swing states won by Joe Biden, when the Democrat's electors assembled to formally elect him president, Trump supporters showed up, too, ready to declare that their man had actually won. "The electors are already here - they've been checked in," a state police officer told the group in Michigan, according to a video of the encounter, as he barred the Republicans from the Capitol in a state Biden won by more than 154,000 votes. In Nevada, a state Biden had won by about 33,600 votes, a photo distributed by the state Republican Party showed Trump supporters squeezing around an undersize picnic table dressed up with a bit of bunting, preparing to sign formal certificates declaring that they were "the duly elected and qualified" electors of their state. At the time, the gatherings seemed a slapdash, desperate attempt to mimic President Donald Trump's refusal to concede. But internal campaign emails and memos reveal that the convening of the fake electors appeared to be a much more concerted strategy, intended to give Vice President Mike Pence a reason to declare the outcome of the election was somehow in doubt on Jan. 6, 2021, when he was to preside over the congressional counting of the electoral college votes. The documents show Trump's team pushed ahead and urged the electors to meet - then pressured Pence to cite the alternate Trump slates - even as various Trump lawyers acknowledged privately they did not have legal validity and the gatherings had not been in compliance with state laws. In a public hearing Thursday, the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 explored the end of the story - the pressure campaign placed on Pence to accept the Trump electors as somehow legitimate. Committee members have said that Tuesday's hearing will focus on what came before that, how the elector scheme was organized and the ways Trump pressured officials in swing states to go along with his false claims that Biden had lost. "We'll show evidence of the president's involvement in this scheme," committee member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "We'll also, again, show evidence about what his own lawyers came to think about this scheme. And we'll show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn't go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden." The testimony and evidence presented by the committee will build on an argument it made in a federal court in California, where it successfully obtained a judge's order forcing Trump lawyer John Eastman to turn over records to the committee. In ordering Eastman to produce the documents, Federal District Court Judge David Carter wrote that Eastman and Trump's endeavor amounted to "a coup in search of a legal theory." The Justice Department and an Atlanta-area prosecutor are also investigating the elector scheme, issuing subpoenas and conducting interviews in recent weeks to determine whether it amounted to a crime, The Washington Post has reported. The shifting internal explanations over whether the elector strategy could be considered legitimate was typified in two emails sent in late December by Eastman, a constitutional law professor who was a leading proponent of the idea. In an email sent on Dec. 19 to a California activist with whom Eastman exchanged periodic notes about the election, Eastman wrote that the electors would be "dead on arrival in Congress." His reasoning - no state legislature had acted to certify them as valid. Just four days later, however, Eastman wrote to other Trump advisers that he believed Pence could indeed recognize the Trump electors on Jan. 6, apparently despite their lack of state legislative certification. "The fact that we have multiple slates of electors demonstrate the uncertainty of either. That should be enough," he wrote. Neither a lawyer for Eastman nor a spokesman for Trump's campaign responded to requests for comment. The emails show some Trump advisers began strategizing just days after the election about how to construct a legal argument for advancing their own electors, even though laws in every state hold that electors are determined by the certified vote of the people. In particular, they started mulling whether state legislatures, which in a number of key states were controlled by the GOP, could appoint Trump electors even if the certified results showed Biden won. "John - what would you think of producing a legal memo outlining the constitutional role of state legislators in designating electors?" conservative activist Cleta Mitchell, another lawyer advising Trump's team, wrote to Eastman two days after the November vote. "A movement is stirring. But needs constitutional support." The notion that state legislatures could choose electors in defiance of voters would be a radical one in modern American history. But the documents show Trump strategists quickly began to pursue the theory, especially as lawyers for the campaign and allied groups racked up losses in court cases that they had urged judges to hear expeditiously, before the electors could meet. Their idea was that state legislatures could step in if the election had been marred by massive fraud or illegality. The Trump campaign pushed the fraud narrative even though the president and other top officials were told over and over, even by allies, that there was no evidence to support it, committee evidence and testimony has shown. "That's the most important point to keep in mind here: The whole predicate was nonsense," said Edward Foley, an Ohio State University law professor who has studied disputed elections. By Nov. 28, Eastman had penned a seven-page memo entitled "The Constitutional Authority of State Legislatures to Choose Electors." Internal emails show a copy was sent to White House staffers, with a cover note that read, "For POTUS." Another copy was circulated to members of the Arizona House of Representatives by a member who added that it would take only "courage to act." Already, Trump advisers were considering how they might attempt to use the alternate elector slates to derail Biden's win at the joint session of Congress in January. Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump legal adviser, argued in an internal memo that Jan. 6 - not Dec. 14 - was the "hard deadline" for winning the election, particularly if Trump's electors met and declared him the victor in December. "It may seem odd that the electors pledged to Trump and Pence might meet and cast their votes on December 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count, and no certificate of election has been issued in favor of Trump and Pence. However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action," he wrote. Still, as the day approached, Chesebro seemed concerned about whether Trump electors could meet a set of state laws that govern how the electoral college process works. In a Dec. 9 memo, he flagged that some states had laws that might prove difficult to comply with. Michigan, for instance, required that electors meet in the Senate chamber of the state Capitol, an "awkward" requirement, he wrote, given that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) would be presiding over the meeting of Biden's electors in the same spot. He termed Nevada law "extremely problematic" for the effort because it required the involvement of the secretary of state, who had already certified Biden's win. He concluded the plan was "unproblematic" in Arizona and Wisconsin, "slightly problematic" in Michigan and "somewhat dicey" in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Chesebro did not respond to a request for comment. Despite the pessimistic prognosis, the campaign pushed forward organizing the effort, appearing to simply ignore the provisions of state law flagged by the Massachusetts lawyer. Rebuffed by a state Capitol security guard, the fake Michigan electors failed to meet in the state's Senate chamber, decamping instead to the state party headquarters to sign their documents. The secretary of state played no role with the Republican electors in Nevada. In Georgia, a group of so-called electors took seats around a U-shaped conference room table in a hearing room at the state Capitol, a printer nearby hastily installed by a Trump campaign aide in case new certificates needed to be run off on the spot. The Trump campaign had instructed them in advance to tell no one of the plan - not even Capitol security guards. "Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result - a win in Georgia for President Trump - but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion," a campaign official wrote to the group the day before they met. On the ground, Trump electors have said they believed they were gathering just in case their actions were later ratified by a court or a legislature. "From taking a lot of political science courses, I knew that if you miss a deadline for doing this, you can't come back later and rework it," said Robert Spindell Jr., who signed an elector certificate for Trump in Wisconsin. "It was generally the view of the attorneys that should Trump win some of these cases, this had to be done." At 3:11 p.m. the day before the fake electors met, Eastman sent an email to a Pennsylvania lawmaker stressing he too understood that additional steps would be needed to give them legal standing. "The electors absolutely need to meet," he wrote. "Then, if the Legislature gets some spine . . . those electoral votes will be available to be certified by the legislature." In the weeks before and after the real electors met, Trump and his advisers engaged in a frenzied effort to arm-twist state legislators into validating their electors. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, for instance, testified publicly to state lawmakers in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, urging them to act. Tuesday's hearing will also focus on those efforts, committee members have said, featuring live testimony from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his colleague Gabriel Sterling and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R). But as that strategy to get legislative sign-off broke down, the campaign appeared to settle on the idea that the existence of the rival slates was enough to give Pence room to act. By Jan. 3., Eastman was circulating a memo that argued Pence should cite the bogus electors as legitimate. Citing what he claimed were problems with how the vote was conducted, he wrote: "There are thus dual slates of electors from 7 states." "The lesson that we're seeing is that the people who drank all the Kool-Aid, they become increasingly unhinged and untethered to reality as the process unfolded," Foley said. "They just doubled down and then tripled down, and spun more and more off into their own delusional world." Ultimately, Pence refused to recognize the Trump elector slates, earning him the president's anger and making him a target of the mob that ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Four days later, after Congress confirmed Biden's win and Trump prepared to leave office, Eastman received an email demanding to know what had happened. "Tell us in layman's language, what the heck happened with the dual electors? Please?" read the email, which was from a person whose name is redacted in a version released publicly. In his response, Eastman admitted the facts: The electors never had legal standing. "No legislature certified them [because governors refused to call them into session], so they had no authority," he wrote. "Alas," he concluded. - - - The Washington Post's Amy Gardner and Emma Brown contributed to this report. MRT file photo A 31-year-old Georgia man was killed in Ector County on Saturday during a hit-and-run, according to Department of Public Safety troopers. DPS reported Monday that the crash happened at 2:20 a.m. and preliminary information revealed that an unknown vehicle was traveling southbound on Loop 338 at mile post 284. A pedestrian identified as David Koehavong, 31, of Rossville, Georgia, was intoxicated and in the roadway. Country singer Dallas Smith returned to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thursday night, for a night of high energy entertainment. The Canadian performer had a banner year in 2021 winning the Country Music Awards entertainer of the year, as well as the single of the year. The band is cu With around 3.7 million users, PiggyVest is a platform that makes it easier for the average Nigerian to save and invest. According to COO and co-founder Odun Eweniyi, PiggyVest allows people to automate their savings so they can achieve big ambitions like buying a car, funding a goal to continue studying or starting a business. Here, she talks about why she and her co-founders wanted to create a platform that democratises saving and investing to better equip Nigerias younger generations for the future. CIO Africa: What are some of the growth trends around investment and savings culture in Nigeria, and understanding of it, particularly among young people? Odun Eweniyi: Quite a bit of progress has been made in this space since we started PiggyVest six years ago. Nigeria and much of Africa has a savings rate of around 15%. This is really low. But given the proliferation of fintech companies that are opening up access to this space, we can see that the savings rate has actually increased, specifically among young people. Before now, Nigerians would need to have about US$2,000 to take advantage of the most basic investment opportunities. But technology has largely democratised this by allowing people to invest with as little as 20 cents. This means that more people can have access and participate. Who is your target market? I dont think digital innovations should only be developed as solutions to the problems faced by the unbanked. There are groups of people who are considered to be included but who arent really included because their level of digital literacy and their levels of access arent where they should be. This is why I think its important to solve this for people who might appear to be included but who dont know as much or have as much as others. Right now were targeting young people with smartphones. For us, this mobile population was the low hanging fruit because they already have bank accounts and they have some financial literacy. We could easily adapt and tailor our products to complement what theyre already using. And as smartphones get cheaper, the market expands, which means that more young people will have access to a device they can use to save for their future. Tell us about PiggyVest. How does it differ from other fintechs out there? When we started, there were 22 banks in Nigeria. So there was quite a lot of option and yet, young people were storing their savings in wooden boxes under their beds. This showed us that people might have access to financial services but they werent developed to serve their needs. There were different habits, behaviours and income bands that many of the existing banking products didnt cater to, so we created a product to fill this gap. PiggyVest is an automated micro-savings and micro-investment platform that allows users to automate savings towards a specified target. We also have an investment marketplace that makes investing simple so anyone can do it. With PiggyVest, users can save as much as they want as frequently or infrequently as they want, be it every day, every week or every month. We just encourage them to start where they are and start with what they can. We offer quarterly free withdrawal days when users can take money out if they need to without any cost. Should a user want to withdraw their money early or outside of these days, they will be charged a fee to discourage them from doing so. Can you give us a bit of a breakdown around how the tech works? All of the tech was built in-house. We use payment processers like Flutterwave and Paystack to enable bank account connections and payouts but the rest of the systems were created by us. The backend includes a treasury management system. Layered on top of this is a recurring payments engine that allows us to issue an instruction to charge a users card a specified amount on a specified date. This is actually relatively new technology from Paystack that allows us to conduct recurring payments on a card. We issue users with virtual account numbers that allow them to interact with their PiggyVest wallets much like they would interact with a normal bank account. In terms of other technologies, we use Metabase business intelligence and data visualisation tools and Mixpanels analytics to better understand user behaviour. And from a cloud solution perspective, we use AWS and Google Cloud. Odun Eweniyi, COO and co-founder, PiggyVest Lets talk about the inclusion aspect of this tech. Why was it important to democratise financial services for younger generations? I feel like I can relate to our users because they are my generation. We are trying to solve a problem faced by my peers and me. For me, this isnt a hypothetical problem. Its a problem Ive experienced first-hand. Economies are better off when everyone can participate and do so sustainably. This is an overarching goal of oursto get people to a place where they have the freedom to make the right financial decisions so they can get what they want. As a female running a tech start-up, what motivated you to start this business? I think Ive had an easier journey than most because Ive known my two male co-founders for a long time and weve always moved as a unit. Very early on, we found an investor who has backed us for many years. That said, theres so much evidence which shows that the journey you have to take to raise funds is really tough for female founders. Every day, were faced with depressing stats on how little money is being given to businesses started by women. And we also get asked more negative leading questions when were in a room with investors. Ive learned to take this in my stride, move on and just keep working towards my goal. What stands out as some key learnings youve had over the course of your career? The journey to starting PiggyVest wasnt smooth. We had a bunch of projects and businesses that failed before we started this one. But we continued working and moving forward. Weve put a lot of hard work into what were doing. Were not a non-profit or an impact company, but were running a sustainable business that seeks to change lives. Its about finding a balance between working to grow the company and having a positive impact on your users lives. Our goal is to become a one-stop shop for digital financial well-being and wealth management. This is where were headed. Do you have advice for aspirant entrepreneurs? Just start. Often, people spend a lot of time preparing, wondering if theyre ready and questioning if they can do better. But I dont think youre growing or your product will ever be good if you dont dive in. If youre not ashamed of the first version that you create, youre not taking big enough chances. Paul Wright is dealing with management dynamics that, although outside the usual realm of technology leadership, are nonetheless confronting CIOs more often. More specifically, hes balancing how to get work done as some workers contend with extreme circumstances that impact their ability to do their jobs. For Wright, the CIO of Accuride, which manufactures wheels and wheel-end components for global commercial vehicle markets, that means navigating the tricky situation that has emerged following Russias invasion of Ukraine. Wrights IT department has four staffers in Russia, and he works with a consulting firm that supplies him with about 25 workers half from Russia and half from Ukraine. The first thing I can offer is patience. These are things that no one predicted, and there are a lot of people suffering as a result of some other peoples egos as much as anything else, and thats extremely sad, Wright says. Paul Wright Accuride Wright says he and his executive colleagues are reviewing regional regulations and US-issued sanctions to ensure compliance. (Accuride itself has locations around the world, including two facilities in Russia employing about 600 people.) But at the same time Wright says he doesnt want to abandon workers who have their livelihood in jeopardy through no fault of their own. Those consultants are asking if were going to run away from them because theyre in Russia and they cant talk to half the team [because theyre based in Ukraine], Wright says. Wright says hes navigating these issues slowly. You need to figure out what the future looks like and then we can react to that, he explains. And at this time, fortunately, we dont have anything super business critical sitting with them so we were able to take that time. Leading dispersed workforces through crisis This is not the first time Wright has had to balance corporate work schedules against the personal needs of his workers facing long-term crises. As CIO with a globally distributed IT team supporting operations around the world, he has had workers over the years displaced for long stretches due to various disruptive events such as catastrophic floods. Wright says he has learned to apply patience in those circumstances, too. You cant say I need boots on the ground every day, so the biggest thing that CIOs should be doing is looking for a flexible approach to their workforce, he adds. Other CIOs have been learning that lesson. A significant number of US companies have workers in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian government figures, with about 20% of Fortune 500 companies employing Ukrainian IT services. Many more US companies have workers in other countries as part of their global footprints, and still more have employees distributed across the United States. That has more executives overseeing more team members in locales other than their own or a single corporate headquarters. Meanwhile, there have been in recent years numerous events the Ukraine war, frozen power grids in Texas, wildfires in multiple locales that have disrupted large numbers of workers. That has many technology executives facing the same complex scenario that Wright describes, trying to determine how to best help their workers while still running the business. For many, that means doing as much as they can to get their people safely through the crisis. Juan Orlandini Insight The first thing we focus on is making sure our workers are OK. Thats the thing you have to worry about first when something like this happens, whether its a storm, fire, or pandemic. And my experience has been that well-run companies have a culture of doing this because its the right thing to do, says Juan Orlandini, chief architect and distinguished engineer at Insight Enterprises, a tech services provider. But I have seen companies that do not regard their workers as well and they take a different approach. Like others, Orlandini does not consider the topic as entirely new; it fits with business continuity planning. But he says the growing remote workforce and its global nature have brought the topic to the forefront as well as put such plans to the test. Now its common for us to see a workforce scattered domestically and around the world, he says. Orlandini says his companys own plans were put into action with the pandemic, as were many others. Insight executives were called on to demonstrate the companys values as workers in one overseas locale faced strict lockdowns even though they had little to no internet access at their homes. In that case the first thing we focused on was making sure our workers were OK, Orlandini says. Local managers spent two days trying to connect with each employee via phone, text, or email. It did take us longer than 48 hours to make sure we had everybody, but we got in touch with the overwhelming majority within those first two days. Once the company confirmed people were safe, Orlandini says Insight went to work on getting them hotspots and setting up virtual desktop infrastructure so they could work. He says the company also made sure the workers were paid, giving bonuses and securing hotel rooms to ease traveling troubles for those few who had to go into the local office. Many other executives are devising strategies for responding in such scenarios, says David Groombridge, a distinguished vice president analyst within the sourcing, procurement and vendor management team at Gartner Research. He notes that such discussions should be happening among all C-suite executives, but CIOs, CTOs, and other tech leaders have traditionally been more likely to have regionally distributed teams if not globally, then domestically. At the same time they also handle mission-critical work. Both points, he adds, make such deliberations particularly pertinent to them. Putting people first Gartner has advised executives on the actions they should take. In a February 2022 publication responding to questions about protecting IT services from disruptions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it advised first Protect people: Place human needs above all other actions. Do all you can to protect lives, and regularly check with your employees in these regions. Ask how you or your organization can extend any support to individuals and their families caught in this conflict. Second came Protect your organization. Still, Groombridge says the question of what companies owe employees whose ability to work is disrupted is a very difficult ethical question. I think it has to be answered by the ethical context of the organization and the culture and values they subscribe to. But generally as a human response, where we see other people impacted by events out of their control, we want to help, he says. And there will be not just a drive to assist people we know and work with, but theres also the converse of that, if were not seen to help, theres reputation damage not just for our organization at the global level but us personally as IT leaders and there can be loss of trust with our teams. Monish Darda Icertis Monish Darda, CTO and co-founder of software company Icertis, says his executive team thought about such topics in response to the pandemic. Together they came up with what they call our four rings of responsibility, which lists priorities as such: take care of self, take care of family, take care of community, and take care of business. And in that order. I think thats the most important message that came out, Darda says. He says the company has put that philosophy into action as it dealt with disruptive events. He points to the companys response when heavy flooding displaced some of its India-based workforce. The first question was: How do we help our employees? he says. Working with a local coordinator, Darda says the company connected with and provided funds to an NGO that could deliver needed support to its workers and their community. Vishal Gupta, global CTO, CIO and senior vice president of connected technology at Lexmark, says his company, too, has had to address the question of how best to help when dealing with recent events. For example, Lexmark worked with an agency to get India-based workers and their extended families the COVID vaccines to ensure they had easy access to them, he says, adding that the company had a similar program for workers in Mexico. And last December Lexmark found itself aiding workers in its Cebu, Philippines, locale after a catastrophic storm flooded the region around the companys facilities and knocked out power for weeks. People there were left with limited access to water, gasoline, and cash (due to a run on banks). Gupta says the company immediately stood up a crisis committee, which met every day, in response to that crisis. Our focus wasnt on work; it was on the well-being of the people, he says. Vishal Gupta, senior vice president and CITO, Lexmark Lexmark The company partnered with a local bank to extend loans, with Lexmark serving as guarantor. It opened up offices, which had generators, to provide refuge. It procured water to deliver to its employees. And it shifted workloads, including remediation on the Log4j vulnerability, to employees in other regions. All told, Gupta said the 1,500 Cebu-based employees were out of the office for about a month, but not out of work: They were paid during that time. Gupta says that approach aligned with the companys values. He also acknowledges that it made business sense. Weve always felt that people were our greatest asset, but the past few years we have considered people more. We live in a very competitive economy, and people resiliency and the ability to take care of them is going to be one of the biggest differentiators anyone can have, he says. The limits of flexibility Not all companies are following that strategy. For example, a May 2022 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report notes that some companies want assurances that Ukrainian tech talent can meet assigned deadlines while others have stopped working with IT talent there altogether. The executives and advisors speaking for this article say they understand companies have to make tough decisions in such circumstances, and they acknowledge that there are limits to how much support a company can offer workers who cannot work. Groombridge says companies can and should be crafting business continuity plans that address disruptive situations by enabling flexibility whether that means shifting workloads from workers in impacted areas to those in other regions and/or allowing flexible schedules for impacted employees. Executives should also avoid concentrating skills or functions in a single locale to enable geographic diversification, something that lets them more easily move around work in an emergency. At the same time, business continuity plans and responses in an actual event should keep peoples safety and well-being central. But Groombridge and others also say executives need to recognize the limits of what they can do. A company will inevitably at some point have to limit support, Groombridge says. Theyll have to look to alternative solutions and in the longer term, as weeks stretch into months, theyll have to move services to other regions of the world. Its not something that wed wish from a human point of view, but from a business point of view, theres a responsibility to the stakeholders and the remaining staff to keep the business running. Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Firefighters in Spain and Germany struggled to contain wildfires on Sunday amid an unusual heat wave in Western Europe for this time of year. The worst damage in Spain has been in the northwest province of Zamora where over 25,000 hectares (61,000 acres) have been consumed, regional authorities said, while German officials said that residents of three villages near Berlin were ordered to leave their homes because of an approaching wildfire Sunday. Spanish authorities said that after three days of high temperatures, high winds and low humidity, some respite came with dropping temperatures Sunday morning. That allowed for about 650 firefighters supported by water-dumping aircraft to establish a perimeter around the fire that started in Zamoras Sierra de la Culebra. Authorities warned there was still danger that an unfavorable shift in weather could revive the blaze that caused the evacuation of 18 villages. Spain has been on alert for an outbreak of intense wildfires as the country swelters under record temperatures at many points in the country for June. Experts link the abnormally hot period for Europe to climate change. Thermometers have risen above 40 C (104 F) in many Spanish cities throughout the week temperatures usually expected in August. A lack of rainfall this year combined with gusting winds have produced the conditions for the fires. Authorities said that gusting winds of up 70 kph (43 mph) that changed course erratically, combined with temperatures near 40 C, made it very tough for crews. The fire was able to cross a reservoir some 500 meters wide and reach the other side, to give you an idea of the difficulties we faced, Juan Suarez-Quinones, an official for Castilla y Leon region, told Spanish state television TVE. The fire in Zamora was started by a strike from an electrical storm on Wednesday, authorities said. The spreading fire caused the high-speed train service from Madrid to Spains northwest to be cut on Saturday. It was reestablished on Sunday morning. Military firefighting units have been deployed in Zamora, Navarra and Lleida. There have been no reports of lives lost, but the flames reached the outskirts of some villages both in Zamora and in Navarra. Videos shot by passengers in cars showed flames licking the sides of roads. In other villages, residents looked on in despair as black plumes rose from nearby hills. In central-north Navarra, authorities have evacuated some 15 small villages as a precaution, as the high temperatures in the area are not expected to drop until Wednesday. They also asked farmers to stop using heavy machinery that could unintentionally spark a fire. The situation remains delicate. We have various active fires due to the extremely high temperatures and high winds, Navarra regional vice-president Javier Remirez told TVE. Remirez said that some villages had seen some buildings damaged on their outskirts. Some wild animals had to be evacuated from an animal park in Navarra and taken to a bull ring for safe keeping, authorities said. Wildfires were also active in three parts of northeast Catalonia: in Lleida, in Tarragona and in a nature park in Garaf, just south of Barcelona. Firefighters said that 2,700 hectares (6,600 acres) were scorched in Lleida. They added that they have responded to over 200 different wildfires just in Catalonia over the past week. In Germany, strong winds have been fanning the blaze about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Berlin, prompting officials to declare an emergency Saturday. Villagers in Frohnsdorf, Tiefenbrunnen and Klausdorf were told to immediately seek shelter at a community center in the nearby town of Treuenbrietzen. This is not a drill, town officials tweeted. Germany has seen numerous wildfires in recent days following a period of intense heat and little rain. The countrys national weather agency said the mercury topped 38 C (100.4 F) at some measuring station in the east Sunday. Thunderstorms were forecast to bring cooler weather in from the west from the evening onward. Frank Jordans contributed to this report from Berlin. About the photo: A firefighter works in front of flames during a wildfire in the Sierra de la Culebra in the Zamora Provence on Saturday June 18, 2022. Thousands of hectares of wooded hill land in northwestern Spain have been burnt by a wildfire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from nearby villages. Officials said the blaze in the Sierra de Culebra mountain range started Wednesday during a dry electric storm. (Emilio Fraile/Europa Press via AP) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The summer solstice, which begins Tuesday, has historically been a cause of celebration for cultures throughout the Northern Hemisphere. But various catastrophe projections released in recent weeks are making the insurance industrys midsummer nights dream look like a nightmare. Analysts are projecting an above-average number of storms during the Atlantic hurricane season, for the sixth year in a row. The 2022 fire season is projected to be just as destructive as the previous two record-setting years as much of the western United States remains in severe drought. Rising sea levels are swamping coastal areas that remain targets for urban development. A war between Russia and Ukraine has disrupted food and energy supplies around the world and civil unrest in previously tranquil liberal democracies is a growing property risk. Verisk kicked off the hurricane season with a webinar on June 13 with experts sharing their projections for hurricane and wildfire losses. Jeffrey Strong, with Verisk Extreme Solutions, said all of the organizations that project storm activity in the Atlantic predicted another above average season, again. He said the number of storms has exceeded the 30-year mean in each of the past six years. Strong said two conditions are spurring the predictions for another abnormal year. Cool water associated with La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean reduces the amount of wind shear over the Atlantic that can interfere with the development of tropical storms. Also, water temperatures in the Atlantic are quite warm. Having every warm water under a storm is significant because hurricanes are essentially heat engines, he said. Strong said the average of all estimates issued for the Atlantic hurricane season is 18 to 19 storms and high hurricanes. That compares to the 30-year mean of 14 storms and seven hurricanes. The Celts celebrated the summer solstice with hilltop bonfires and dancing. Thats not a good idea in most of the US West, where wildfires have already burned 2 million acres this year and appear well on their way toward setting another record amount of destruction. Zesty.ai, a company that provides fire risk estimates for individual properties, said in a June 14 report that large tracts of New Mexico, Oregon and Texas were experiencing exceptional drought, the most hazardous level possible. Conditions in California and Colorado improved from exceptional drought levels in 2021 to extreme and severe conditions this year, but the state is still on track to repeat the destruction experienced in the previous two years, Zesty.ai said. That was 4.3 million acres burned and 11,116 structures damaged or destroyed in 2020 and 2.5 million acres burned and 3,629 structures damaged or destroyed in 2021. Zesty.ai said eight of the 20 largest California wildfires on record occurred from 2020 to 2021. Verisk also touched on wildfires in its catastrophe webinar. Arindam Samanta, director of product management, said Verisk has identified 4.5 million US properties at high or extreme risk of wildfire. He said already in 2022, already more than 2 million acres and 1,000 structures have burned much of that from a complex of fires that burned in Arizona and New Mexico. This year could be another significant year for wildfire damages, he said. The longest day of Ra marked the new year in ancient Egypt. The beginning of summer was celebrated because it brought annual floods along the Nile River that nourished crops. Nowadays, flooding is hardly a cause for celebration. A research report by the University of Bristol predicted that flood losses will increase by 26%, from an average annual total of $32 billion currently to $40.6 billion in the next 30 years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a separate report that said the U.S. will experience as much sea level rise from now to 2050 as it has in the previous 100 years. Swiss Re said in 2021, 50 severe flood events caused $20 million in insured losses. The reinsurer said flood events are likely to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change, urbanization and inadequate flood-protection infrastructure. Pagans throughout Europe wore flowered garlands around their heads to mark the summer solstice. Maybe the zeitgeist has changed. The summer of 2021 erupted in violence throughout much of the United States, with damages from civil unrest reaching a projected $2 billion after the police murder of George Floyd, according to projections by Verisks Property Claim Services. Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty said in a report released earlier this month that businesses should prepare for more civil unrest incidents as the cost-of-living crisis follows the COVID pandemic. Citing Verisks Civil Unrest Index Projections, the insurer said 75 countries will likely see an increase in protests by late this year. The unifying and galvanizing effect of social media on such protests is not a particularly recent phenomenon, but during the COVID crisis it combined with other potentially inflammatory factors to create a perfect storm of discontent, stated Srdjan Todorovic, Head of Crisis Management, Regional Unit London, at AGCS. A report released by London-based insurer Beazley on June 13 said that world events have shaken business leaders perceptions about geopolitical risks. Russias war on Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions have disrupted fuel supplies. The invasion also cut off distribution of grain from a region known as Europes bread basket. A Beazley survey found that only 37% of business leaders in the United States and United Kingdom felt they were very prepared for political risk, down from 39% in the prior year. Only 34% of business leaders felt very prepared for war and terror, down from 38% the year before. It does seem like the world is not going to go back to what it was or had been since probably the end of the Cold World, a very understated Roddy Barnett, head of political risks and trade credit for Beazley, said during a brief video snippet attached to the report. There is a different sort of power structure at the top. That creates a lot more uncertainty about countries behaviors. TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) Four non-scientific buildings at the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson were lost in a wildfire, but early indications show other buildings on the property didnt appear to be damaged, authorities said Saturday. Buell T. Jannuzi, who leads the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, said the fire didnt appear to have damaged the telescope and science buildings at the observatory, though a closer examination of the site hadnt yet been made due to safety concerns. This is the most threatening fire I can remember at Kitt Peak in the last 25 years, Jannuzi said. The fire reached the observatory early Friday. Crews were planning to assess the damage at the observatory later Saturday if conditions allowed for safe entry into the area. Kitt Peak National Observatory is operated by NOIRLab, the National Science Foundations center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy. The University of Arizona, which has had a telescope at the site since 1962, is a tenant of the observatory. The lightning-caused fire, which led to an evacuation of the observatory earlier this week, had grown to 27 square miles (71 kilometers) by Saturday. There was zero containment of the fire, which started on June 11 on a remote ridge on the Tohono Oodham Indian Reservation. In northern New Mexico, authorities who are concerned about the threat of post-wildfire floods as the state enters monsoon season have warned residents of San Miguel and Mora counties to be ready to evacuate due to flooding risks, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The largest area facing flooding threats is where a fire that began two months ago has so far burned 533 square miles (1,381 square kilometers). The fire is 72% contained. And in southwest Alaska officials say the immediate threat has passed to communities near St. Marys from a fire that by Saturday had reached 248 square miles (643 square kilometers) in size. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California would be the first state to require gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover the negligent or accidental use of their firearms, if lawmakers approve a measure announced Thursday. Guns kill more people than cars. Yet gun owners are not required to carry liability insurance like car owners must, Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner said in a statement. She said the costs of gun violence shouldnt be borne by taxpayers, survivors, families, employers and communities: Its time for gun owners to shoulder their fair share. The state of New York is considering a similar requirement in the wake of numerous recent mass shootings and a rise in gun violence. In January, the Silicon Valley city of San Jose approved whats believed to be the first such insurance requirement in the United States. No insurance company will cover the misuse of a firearm, predicted Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California. He said such requirements are an illegal infringement on gun owners constitutional rights. We dont believe you can put precursors on the exercising of a constitutional right, Paredes said. By requiring somebody to get insurance in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, that ceases to make it a right. Skinner is amending an existing bill on another topic to allow gun owners to be held civilly liable if their firearms are used to cause property damage, injury or death. The bill would also require gun owners to have insurance that covers loses or damages from the negligent or accidental use of their firearm. And they would have to keep proof of insurance with their firearm and show it to police if they are stopped for some reason. Paredes had similar objections to a second bill that also would affect gun owners costs, this one by imposing an excise tax on firearms and ammunition. The bill would impose an excise tax equal to 10% of the sales price of a handgun and 11% of the sales price of a long gun, ammunition or parts to build firearms. Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine estimated his bill would bring in more than $118 million annually that would go toward gun violence prevention programs. Because it would impose a tax, Levines bill would require approval by two-thirds majorities in the Legislature. His similar measure last year fell four votes short of the 54 it needed in the 80-member Assembly. The bills are among numerous firearms measures being considered by California lawmakers this year, including one that would make it easier to sue gun-makers and another that would allow private citizens to sue those who traffic in illegal weapons. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form 87% Website esewa.com.np uses latest and advanced technologies like: Boostrap. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 46218 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 6718 bytes (6.56 kb uncompressed) and 2307 bytes (2.25 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2022-06-20, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. More recent official pronouncements speak about the gigantic project in equally enthusiastic terms although there is more concern now about getting all the concerned state governments to agree. To get a measure of the big issues involved, lets take a quick look at the 30 projects. Actually it is a range of 29-32 depending on whether components of two projects are counted separately or not. There are about 16 projects involving peninsular rivers and about 14 involving Himalayan ones. The feasibility report of most of these projects has been completed and in the case of a few projects the Detailed Project Report has also been completed. In the case of others the pre-feasibility report has been prepared. Coming to peninsular rivers, the first project involves linking of Mahanadi ( Manibhadra) and Godavari ( Dowlaiswaram) link. This involves 8 statesJharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Katnataka, Odisha and Maharashtra. The second component of this project which involves linking of Mahanadi ( Bermul) and Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) also involves these same 8 states. The second project envisages the linking of Godavari ( Inchampalli) and Krishna (Pulichintala) rivers. This involves seven states Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The third project involves the linking of Godvari ( Inchampalli) and Krishna ( Nagarjunsagar), involving the same 7 states. Then there is the link of Godavari ( Polavaram) and Krishna ( Vijaywada) involving the same states. The next link is the Ganga ( Farakka)-Damodar-Subarnarekha link, involving W.Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. There is also a planned link of Subarnarekha and Mahanadi involving W.Bengal and Odisha. The Kosi-Mechi link involves Nepal and 2 states of India Bihar and W.Bengal. Finally there is the Ganga-Farakka Sunderbans link or Ganga-Ichamati link in W.Bengal. Taken as a whole, displacement and ecological costs are likely to be very high for this gigantic project. Displacement has to be seen in the context of not just dams but also a vast distance of canals. Water transfer over vast areas can also involve negotiating heights calling for very heavy energy costs of lifting water. As in the case of several rivers not one but several links are being planned, the overall impact on river system has to be seen which cannot be captured in any single project report. As for the adverse impacts on the entire river system of the entire gigantic project in its totality, this is not being considered by the government at all despite its great importance. Given the many imponderables, there are possibilities of the entire river system getting badly messed up by years of this work like never before with even escape routes blocked. Therefore, before the limited resources for development of water resources are pledged to an enormous extent in this extremely costly project, it is time to a wider consultation with all states, all stakeholders and independent experts, keeping the mind entirely open to the possibility of dropping this entire project. The entire concept of forcing most of our rivers to find new paths and meeting points is a flawed one, and our limited funds would find a much better and safer investment in small projects which combine water conservation, minor irrigation, renewable energy and improved provision of drinking water. The involvement of Nepal with these two states is also there in the Gandak-Ganga link and the Ghaghra Yamuna link while the Yamuna-Sarda link involves Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Haryana. Next there is the Rajasthan-Sabarmati link. Then there is the Chunar-Sone Barrage Link ( or Ganga-Sone Link) involving UP and Bihar, followed by Sone Dam link (Southern tributaries of Ganga link, Sone and Badua), involving Bihar and Jharkhand.The next link is the Ganga ( Farakka)-Damodar-Subarnarekha link, involving W.Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. There is also a planned link of Subarnarekha and Mahanadi involving W.Bengal and Odisha. The Kosi-Mechi link involves Nepal and 2 states of India Bihar and W.Bengal. Finally there is the Ganga-Farakka Sunderbans link or Ganga-Ichamati link in W.Bengal.So far the two projects which have been the most widely discussed include the Par-Tapi-Narmada link and the Ken-Betwa link. The first was so widely opposed, particularly by tribal communities threatened with displacement and other adverse impacts, that its implementation had to be suspended in this election year in Gujarat. The Ken-Betwa link project has already become one of the most highly criticized projects of this kind, for reasons ranging from it basic non-viability due to lack of surplus water in Ken river and the the loss of over 2.3 million trees.Taken as a whole, displacement and ecological costs are likely to be very high for this gigantic project. Displacement has to be seen in the context of not just dams but also a vast distance of canals. Water transfer over vast areas can also involve negotiating heights calling for very heavy energy costs of lifting water.As in the case of several rivers not one but several links are being planned, the overall impact on river system has to be seen which cannot be captured in any single project report. As for the adverse impacts on the entire river system of the entire gigantic project in its totality, this is not being considered by the government at all despite its great importance.Given the many imponderables, there are possibilities of the entire river system getting badly messed up by years of this work like never before with even escape routes blocked. Therefore, before the limited resources for development of water resources are pledged to an enormous extent in this extremely costly project, it is time to a wider consultation with all states, all stakeholders and independent experts, keeping the mind entirely open to the possibility of dropping this entire project.The entire concept of forcing most of our rivers to find new paths and meeting points is a flawed one, and our limited funds would find a much better and safer investment in small projects which combine water conservation, minor irrigation, renewable energy and improved provision of drinking water. Even by the present estimates of linking rivers project costs (which are likely to increase), these can fund over 20 such small projects in ALL villages of India. --- *Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. Recent books include Planet in Peril', Man over Machine' and A Day in 2071 Next there is the link of Krishna ( Almatti) with Pennar, involving four states Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, as also link of Krishna (Srisailam) with Pennar and link of Krishna ( Nagarjunsaar) with Pennar, involving the same states.Next there is the link of the Pennar ( Somasila) with the Cauvery ( Grand Anicut) involving Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. There is also a link of three riversCauvery ( Kattalai), Vargai and Gunder rivers, involving 4 statesKanataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.The tenth project in the category of peninsular rivers is the widely discussed Ken-Betwa link, involving Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Then there is a link of 3 rivers Parbati, Kalisindhu and Chambal, affecting Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The second component of this project also involves 3 riversParbati, Kuno and Sindh, involving Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.The Par-Tapi-Narmada Project involves Gujarat and Maharashtra. The Damanganga-Pinjal project also involves these two states. The Bedti-Varada link involves Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The Netravati-Hemvati link involves Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Pamba-Achkankovil-Vaippar link involves Kerala and Tamil Nadu.Coming now to links of Himalayan rivers, the first project is M-S-T-G link or the link of 4 rivers Manas, Sankosh, Tista and Ganga, involving Bhutan and 3 states of India -- Assam, W.Bengal and Bihar. Secondly, there is the Kosi-Ghaghra link involving Nepal with two states of India Bihar and UP. FAIRFIELD The top 10 property tax delinquents in Fairfield owe more than $2.1 million, according to town records. When looking at those who owe the most in tax bills to the town, several are for properties that are part of deceased peoples estates, while other owners are real estate companies. 999 Merwins Lane is the property with the most owed in taxes at $269,585 owed for six years of taxes, liens and interest on a single-family property valued at approximately $1.1 million. David Kluczwski, Fairfields tax collector, said most of the properties on the delinquent list are residential, and do not have a mortgage. The top 10 property tax delinquents in Fairfield: 1. 999 Merwins Lane: $269,585.15 owed for six years;* property valued at $1,100,400 2. 561 Reef Road: $255,906.91 owed for 14 years;* property valued at $386,610 3. 46 Linley Drive: $248,701.92 owed for 15 years;* property valued at $350,000 4. 190 Fairchild Avenue: $230,648.31 owed for 11 years;* property valued at $467,040 5. 65 Benson Place: $225,001.07 owed for eight years;* property valued at $654,920 6. 150 Orchard Hill Lane: $194,467.98 owed for 11 years;* property valued at $380,450 7. 160 Henderson Road: $176,848.03 owed for 10 years;* property valued at $431,270 8. 1521 Congress Street: $176,613.90 owed for 10 years;* property valued at $206,150 9. 168 Kings Drive: $172,183.56 owed for 10 years;* property valued at $368,410 10. 1791 and 1773 Fairfield Beach Road: $169,325.37 owed for two years;* properties valued at a total $3,299,660 *The amount of taxes owed includes taxes, liens and interest. Source: Town of Fairfield Tax Collector's Office See More Collapse It could be a situation where a property was in an estate and one of the children inherited the property, he said. But, its more likely than not that theres no mortgage... because the banks are not going to allow it to go delinquent like this. Theyre going to take action on their end. The vast majority of the property tax delinquents on the top 10 list come from multiple years of missed taxes. For instance, the single-family property at 561 Reef Road owes $255,906 for 14 years of taxes, liens and interest on a property valued at $386,610. Seven out of 10 on the list are properties that have not paid taxes in more than 10 years. None of the tax delinquents on the list could be reached for comment. Kluczwski said the town has multiple approaches to addressing unpaid taxes, although it does not use most of them because Fairfield is not in dire financial straits. It doesnt mean they dont owe it, he said. It doesnt mean that theyre off the hook. They still owe the full balance. The interest still accrues. The liens still apply. Theres no favors. Theres no nothing in that regard. They have more time. We are not going after people. Were trying to work with them, because we have that luxury because were not like a city that is only collecting 95 or 96 percent of their grand list. Speaking to the options available to the town, Kluczwski said it could do a lien assignment, a tax sale auction or traditional foreclosure through the court system. He noted that the data provided to Hearst Connecticut Media is from the 2020 grand list, of which the taxes came due in July 2021. When the town assigns a lien, a third party company buys the debt, pays the town what is owed and then acts as the tax collector. He said the town is not currently using that option. Even though were not using that enforcement right now, it doesnt mean we wont in the future. Its just that the town has not expressed an interest in doing it at this moment, he said, adding the town is being more lenient because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, Kluczwski said, the town files a municipal lien every year on delinquent properties, which helps ensure that if it gets sold the town will get paid in full when the ownership transfers. He said those taxes are the responsibility of the previous owner, so those delinquent taxes often get paid from the proceeds of the sale. Kluczwski said a tax sale is when the town sells a property because of its delinquent taxes. He said the town has not used the tax sale or foreclosure option in the five years he has worked in the role, although it did do a tax sale in 2012. Even if a house was sold in a tax sale auction, Kluczwski said, there is a six month period where the property owner has the option to pay the taxes to prevent the sale from being finalized. I dont know how many properties were in it, but I do know that they all got redeemed before they got to the actual action, he said of the 2012 sale. Theres usually a six month window where (the property owner) receives a series of notices warning them of what is going to happen. Kluczwski noted that the town cannot cut deals with people in tax delinquency, adding that interest accrues at 18 percent a year. We can never waive or reduce that interest, he said. The law forces me to charge them in full. The interest can really add up over time, Kluczwski said, and so he advises people to pay as much as they can. He said he is always willing to work with people within the constructs of the law. joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Connecticut recently made Juneteenth a state holiday, but this years commemoration will not be a paid day off for state employees. The new law doesnt take effect until Oct. 1 and the governors office still has to collectively bargain the holiday with state employee unions. MILFORD A New Haven man is facing DUI and other charges after state police say he got on Interstate 95 going the wrong way Sunday evening, hitting another car head-on. The crash resulted in minor injuries, according to state police. Geovanny Guallo, 25, was charged with driving the wrong way on a divided highway and driving under the influence, state police said. He was also charged with driving without insurance and operating a motor vehicle without a license. Around 10:10 p.m., Guallo was driving a 2006 Scion TC south in the northbound lanes of I-95 near the Exit 35 on-ramp in Milford, when he collided with a 2017 Kia Sportage Lx, according to state police. The driver of the Kia and the three passengers were taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, with suspected minor injuries, state police said. Guallo complained of a sore ankle following the crash, but refused medial treatment. State police said an odor of alcohol was observed on Guallos breath and he failed a field sobriety test. He was subsequently arrested. Police said his bond was set at $5,000 and that he was due to appear in Milford court on Monday. This year has seen a sharp uptick fatal wrong-way crashes along highways. State police say wrong way incidents often involve impaired drivers and occur at night when drivers may not see signs at highway ramps advising them that theyre getting on the wrong way. Often, wrong-way drivers will get on the highway in the left lane believing theyre driving in the right lane of travel. Over the past two years, more than 75 percent of drivers involved in fatal wrong-way crashes had blood-alcohol content at least two times the legal limit, or had used marijuana; a review of state data published by Hearst Connecticut Media earlier this month found. Officials identified two teenagers Monday who were shot and killed after police said they broke into a home in East Hartford last week. The victims were identified as Isaiah Jose Lopez, 16, of Hartford and Isaiah Miguel Nevarez, 15, of Meriden, according to Deputy Chief Joshua Litwin. East Hartford police officers were called to a reported home invasion on Graham Road just after midnight Thursday. Police said Lopez and Nevarez physically attacked the resident who was home alone inside the duplex. The resident shot the two teenagers with a registered handgun, Litwin said. Paramedics rushed the two teens to local hospitals where they were pronounced dead. The resident suffered minor injuries in the attack, according to Litwin Police added that the resident who shot and killed the teenagers is cooperating with authorities. Litwin has said previously that the resident and the teens had not met each other before the confrontation. Detectives are investigating the incident, as well as the circumstances leading to the home invasion and the possibility of others involved. Police said there does not appear to be any danger to the public at this time. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Dan Ortiz at 860-291-7669. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 860-289-9134. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD When Stamford High School seniors Ivana Nique, 17, and Sara Molina, 18, first became good friends in middle school, one of the things they bonded over was their mutual desire to attend a top college after they graduated high school. Fast forward a few years, and the soon-to-be high school graduates are both headed to Yale University in the fall. The two attended Stark Elementary School together from kindergarten and knew of each other. But it was not until they were in seventh grade at Dolan Middle School that their friendship really took off, they said, when they began having the same classes together. The pair of friends were both born in the states Ivana in White Plains, N.Y., and Sara in Stamford but their parents hail from South America. Ivanas parents are from Peru and Saras parents are from Colombia. From the very beginning we bonded over college, Sara said, recalling that Ivana would wear a Harvard University sweater at the time. We talked about college and where we wanted to go to. Ivana added, We were always very ambitious and always very hard working. Harvard was a school Ivana had on her mind from a very early age. She told a story of when she was either 3 or 4 years old and visited her pediatrician for a check up. When the doctor asked Ivana what school she went to she was attending a local pre-school at the time she responded, Harvard medical school. That love for Harvard eventually changed once Ivana researched which colleges she preferred. After attending a virtual tour of Yale, she fell in love with that institution. Yale just seemed so caring about their students, she said. Now, that Harvard sweater is somewhere hidden in her closet, she said. The moment the pair discovered each got accepted to Yale was in December 2021; up until that point, each was worried only one of them would be accepted, they said. They had been told as much by one teacher, who told them Yale would likely not choose two students with similar qualifications from the same school, especially since both students applied early. Sara was the first to discover she had been accepted. She received the notification at 5 p.m. Dec. 15, but waited a few hours before opening the all-important document so she could have dinner. I didnt think I could eat after, she said. Once she got the good news, Sara thought of Ivana, who she knew was working at a downtown restaurant. But Sara decided to keep the good news to herself, fearing that her best friend would not join her at Yale. How do you break that to your best friend that you got into the same place that they were aspiring to? Sara asked. When Ivana got off of work about 11 p.m. that night, she discovered her own letter once she got home. She opened her letter with family watching over FaceTime. Jubilation ensued, and after celebrating with her family, Ivana reached out to Sara. It was about 1 a.m. We were just screaming on the phone for a while, Ivana said. The two friends, who both live in Glenbrook, not only have Stamford High and Yale in common. They each have the title of editor under their belts as well. Ivana is an editor at The Round Table, Stamford High Schools digital news site. This year, she was challenged by teacher Jon Ringel to create a Spanish version of the sites Weekly Knightly News, a video segment produced by students every week with news from the school. Ivana accepted the challenge, and led the launch of La Voz Del Sur, which means The Voice of the South in English. Every week, Ivana would lead a team of about four students to create a video that usually highlighted one or two stories from Latin America with a lighthearted segment including students from the school at the end. This year, she won a newscast award from the Connecticut Press Club. Sara is the co-editor-in-chief of the schools yearbook, and was tasked with everything from planning the theme and cover of the book to taking photos, writing and working on sales. Sara said she plans on studying economics and with possibly a double major in urban studies at Yale; Ivana is currently undecided on a major and plans on taking a wide variety of classes to see what she likes, she said. As far as what they envision for college, the two friends said they plan on avoiding each other for their first two weeks on campus, in an effort to meet new people. But eventually, they said, theyll resume their close friendship. I think it will always be a very comforting feeling that you have someone youve know for your whole life and to have them there, Ivana said. Sara agreed. Its like having a piece of home with me, she said. ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com Connecticut State Police /Contributed ESSEX Two people were hospitalized early Monday after a vehicle crashed and caught fire off Saybrook Road, according to state police. Around 1:51 a.m., state police out of Troop F, local firefighters and paramedics were called to the 100 block for serious injuries and vehicle fire, state police said. NEWINGTON Local and state officials are looking into an incident that injured six firefighter trainees and an instructor for the Middlesex County Fire School run by Middletown Fire Chief John Jay Woron II during a live burn training session Saturday. The students and the instructor, who were studying fire behavior evolution, had entered the live burn room in the towns firefighter training tower Saturday morning when they realized the heat from the training fire was getting to high levels, said Newington Fire Marshal DJ Zordan. They retreated and several were burned, Zordan said. Two of the seven received moderate burn injuries, while the other five had minor injuries, Zordan said. All were treated and released, he said. Zordon was gathering information and evidence Monday to determine why the fire became so intense, he said. The amount of heat usually depends on how much fuel is used, Zordan said. In this case there was a minimal amount of fuel so there was not an expectation that there would be this level of heat. Zordan will turn his findings and data over to the Connecticut Occupational Safety and Health division of the state Department of Labor, which is investigating what led up to the injuries, he said. Members of the OSHA team will come out to the training center Tuesday to do a review of what happened, Zordan said. The students were from a firefighter II class from the Middlesex County Fire School, one of nine schools in the state that provides firefighter training, officials said. The fire school has no physical location and often uses other facilities to provide training. The live burn and training tower located on Milk Lane is used by local firefighters but is also used by other agencies that dont have their own facilities, Zordan said. Woron did not respond Monday to a request for comment. Officials with the Commission on Fire Prevention and Control and the Connecticut Fire Academy said Woron was not at the training session Saturday. The academy does not oversee the other training schools which are independently run with financial support from the state, said Jeffrey Morrissette, state fire administrator. But the state Fire Academy could provide help in figuring out how to prevent similar incidents, Morrissette said. We can serve as subject matter experts and provide an outside review, Morrissette said. China develops new coating for spacecraft thermal control Xinhua) 09:32, June 20, 2022 BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have developed a metallic-based thermal-control coating for the Shenzhou-14 crewed spaceship that will protect the taikonauts from extreme heat and cold during their six-month stay in orbit. The new coating works in two ways: providing low solar absorption to help reduce the sun's effect on the spacecraft's interior temperature; and providing low infrared emittance to block heat release from internal sources. Tasked with completing the construction of China's Tiangong space station, the orbiting Shenzhou-14 taikonauts will witness several complex station configurations during their six-month journey. Cargo craft and lab modules that dock with the space station core module are likely to block the sunlight to the spaceship, resulting in long-term exposure to the extreme cold found in the shadows of deep space. The spaceship also has to cope with the intense heat found in the direct sunlight of outer space. Without thermal controls, the temperature of the spacecraft's sun-facing side can soar to above 100 degrees Celsius, while the dark side can plunge to minus 100 degrees Celsius. The extreme high- and low-temperature environments pose challenges to the health of the taikonauts and the functioning of the spacecraft. Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, the thermal-control coating was first used on the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft, which was launched on Oct. 16, 2021. It kept the cabin environment within acceptable temperature ranges (between 18 and 26 degrees Celsius) during its six-month space journey, allowing the taikonauts to stay cool and comfortable in their orbiting home. China launched the three-person Shenzhou-14 mission on June 5, providing the third crew for the country's space-station project. During their stay in orbit, the crew will witness two lab modules, the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft and Shenzhou-15 crewed spaceship docking with the space station core module. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Some years ago, my mother attended a funeral where her bank card was stolen from the handbag she had left unattended at the wake. Other mourners were also robbed. Yet we had to fight tooth and nail to persuade the local police to press charges against the despicable woman responsible, despite her using the stolen card for an online shopping spree linking her to the thefts. For Mum, being stolen from was bad enough, but to be denied the prospect of justice was even more distressing. And I can only imagine the suffering which lies behind new statistics showing that during the past three years, in neighbourhoods covering nearly half the country, the police failed to solve a single burglary. Many forces no longer routinely dispatch an officer to investigate such crimes. If there is no CCTV or forensic evidence available, cases are often closed almost immediately and victims are fobbed off with a crime number to give their insurance company. CCTV view of burglar breaking in to home through window with crowbar Dangerous Lack of money is usually cited as the reason. Yet somehow forces across the country find the time and resources to promote what has become a priority of modern policing the flaunting of their woke credentials. Back in 2019, Thames Valley Police threatened to prosecute those who had posted stickers bearing the dictionary definition of a woman as an adult human female and declaring that women dont have penises. They described these statements of biological fact as transphobic and there has been no let-up in such right-on lecturing from the police since. In February, the Lincolnshire force made much of lighting up their force headquarters in the colours of the Pride flag, a decision explained by Chief Constable Chris Haward as being a very visible show of support for LGBT+ History Month. In May, we saw Superintendent James Sutherland wearing a rainbow helmet while on patrol in Cambridge. When photographs were published on social media, one critic asked how about tackling crime instead of virtue signalling? A fair question but it can be dangerous to express such reservations. Earlier this month, Essex Polices tweets in support of Pride Month included photographs of the rainbow flag flying outside their headquarters. Were monitoring our posts, warned an accompanying caption. All hate crime will be reported & investigated. I found that particularly galling because it was in Essex that my mother and other mourners were robbed and where we were very nearly denied justice. That crime took place in Southend-on-Sea where, in the past three years, 94.1 per cent of burglaries went unsolved, as did 97.7 per cent of personal thefts such as pickpocketing. If you live there, and someone breaks into your house, the chances of the police doing anything are slim. Yet challenge their woke agenda and you can be pretty sure that they will be knocking at your door. Home Secretary Priti Patel alongside John Apter, National Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, (left), and Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Chris Haward (second right), during the National Police Memorial Day Service I want to be clear. As a firefighter and long-time trade unionist, I have long fought for equality and fairness and I have no issue with the police doing what they can to challenge prejudice and oppression, not least within their own ranks. But I hear the views of ordinary voters like myself every day. And I know that they are far more concerned about whether their car is safe on their drive than their local police force being on message with the latest political diktat of the day. That they are failing to deliver what the public wants is clear from both these latest figures and a recent BBC investigation which revealed that forces are taking three minutes longer on average to attend a serious crime than they did six years ago. Appalling One woman featured was forced to try to trace her own stolen car, despite giving Greater Manchester Police clear evidence about where it was last seen. When she confronted the criminal, she was threatened with a crowbar and forced to flee. The next day her vehicle was found abandoned with its windows smashed in. The BBC also reported how it took police a week to investigate when a 12-year-old boy was sexually assaulted in a pub lavatory, and when they did finally respond, officers managed to delete CCTV evidence of the incident. In another appalling case, a domestic violence victim was assaulted by an ex-partner in front of her two children, aged two and four, after being told that no one could respond to her 999 call until the following morning. All but one of Britains police forces now fail to answer 999 calls within the target time of ten seconds and another problem is that the police are now largely absent from our streets. Their increasingly politicised approach extends to the criminals they are supposed to apprehend. Last month, Andy Cooke, former Merseyside Police chief, argued that, amid rising poverty levels, police should use discretion when arresting shoplifters stealing food. Impossible Im far from a hang em and flog em type but we have to accept that sometimes people commit crimes for selfish reasons and you shouldnt shrink from punishing them for behaviour that is morally wrong. It would be a brave senior police officer who would argue such views. That would question the conventional wisdom enforced by those who were architects and foot-soldiers of the 1960s cultural revolution in Britain but are now running our public institutions and setting public policy. In my day job in the fire service, Ive seen how its virtually impossible to gain any kind of promotion unless you demonstrate that you are on board with their woke agenda and the same is true of the police. If they decided to stage a secret week-long strike, I doubt anyone would even notice. Unless, you were reporting the kind of crime prioritised by those who seem to have forgotten the principles established by Sir Robert Peel, when he established the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Their job, he declared, was to demonstrate absolute impartial service to law. The politicised social workers who pass for modern police officers should remember that they are coppers, not campaigners. Job interviews are nerve-wracking at the best of times, but if you're worried about committing some kind of blunder then this viral discussion is a masterclass in what not to do if you're hoping to get the job. People on British parenting forum Mumsnet have been discussing the most cringeworthy things candidates have done in job interviews - and it makes for toe-curling reading. The conversation kicked off with the 'horrifying' story of a candidate who referred to people with learning disabilities as 'mentals' and said he wanted to work with them because he was 'sure they're not stupid'. Meanwhile, one poster said a candidate they sat down with fell asleep halfway through the interview, while another described an applicant who lied about being able to speak fluent Mandarin being rumbled in the first 10 seconds. What could possibly go wrong in a job interview? Well, plenty, according to a thread on Mumsnet Rule one of applying for jobs - don't lie on your CV, as you could get caught out in an embarrassing way, just like this candidate did Kicking off the discussiong, a Mumsnet user described a disastrous job interview she'd been told about by a friend. 'One candidate was apparently awful,' she explained. 'Kept interrupting, threw a pile of certificates down on the desk when asked about his qualification, referred to people with disabilities (it was in a disability focused organisation) as mentals and he wanted to help them because he was sure they arent stupid. 'Then when he had the rejection he has sent numerous emails insisting he should have been employed. The story is so horrifying that I wonder whether he was deliberately that objectionable. From their end I do know it really happened, but could it be he was being like that deliberately? 'So, as an interviewer, have you ever conducted any awful, cringeworthy interviews?' Since the pandemic hit, virtual interviews over Zoom have become more common, but they can be blighted by technical issues. One poster recalled interviewing a woman whose camera was pointing directly at her chest, meaning they couldn't see her face. But in response, the candidate 'snapped and said she couldn't help that' - which didn't make a particularly good impression on her interviewer. Another unusual Zoom encounter was described by someone who was interviewing a university graduate for a role. They wrote: 'I interviewed online for a while and had a young uni graduate (with incredible experience and grades) add her mum to the call. 'I thought it was a mistake at first and declined before her mum connected and the candidate said, "Could you let my mum in? I told her she could join us".' The same person also interviewed a candidate whose camera was turned off and they claimed it was broken. But at the end of the call, they accidentally pressed the wrong button which switched the camera on and revealed they were sitting in their dressing gown. They wrote: 'At the end of the interview she moves the camera up so we see her full face for the first and last time as she says goodbye.' A cardinal rule when you're applying for a new job is to be honest on your CV - something one candidate decided not to do with embarrassing consequences. Relaying a story their boss had told them, one poster wrote: 'My boss had just returned to the UK after 10 years in China. 'One CV said they were fluent in Mandarin so [my] boss interviewing greeted them in Mandarin and asked how the journey had been. 'The interviewee looked totally blank. Boss tried again, slowly. Still blank. It was basically a total lie.' When preparing for a job interview there is one question that fills many candidates with dread - to tell the interviewer an interesting fact about themselves. Although it can be an awkward question to answer, most people have a fun fact up their sleeve in case the question arises - with the exception of one candidate someone posting on the thread interviewed. After asking the candidate to share an interesting fact, they responded: 'I'm not interesting at all. I'm actually really boring.' Good manners and good preparation are key to succeeding in any interview, but some people still seem to forget these key rules. One person had the ultimate faux pas during their interview and accidentally told the boss they loved them - but surprisingly it did the trick as she was offered the job shortly afterwards One poster said they once interviewed a candidate who thought she already had the role in the bag because she was friends with the person who was leaving. They added: 'At the end of the interview she said to my colleague, "My friend said you were nicer than you looked and she was right"!' Another example of plain rudeness was when a candidate was asked if they had any questions for the panel of interviewers. They reportedly asked: 'How do you get your jobs? I'm sure I could easily be a manager in a year or two based on you guys.' Perhaps to no one's surprise, they didn't get the job. Despite living in the 21st century there are sadly still some men with chauvinistic attitudes walking among us, as one woman encountered when she interviewed a male candidate. She posted: 'One man was unpleasant from the beginning, but particularly towards me as a woman panel member. 'I had to rephrase a fairly straightforward question three times, before eventually passing it over to one of the men who asked the original question in exactly the same words I had used, and miraculously the candidate understood. 'It was a woman-focused organisation. He didn't get the job.' Some interview mishaps can be cringeworthy, and others can be downright bizarre, as one poster proved. They wrote: 'My boss interviewed someone who burst into song in the interview. This was for an admin job at the council.' Although there was nothing theatrical about the role she was interviewing for, the candidate simply wanted to let the interviewer know how much she enjoyed singing. Everyone understands that applying for jobs is stressful and at times, stress can get to the best of us. However, if you possibly can, it's best not to let it out in the middle of the interview, as one candidate apparently did. A poster wrote: 'I had an interviewee cry during an interview. She'd been made redundant after trying really hard to keep her department running. 'Nothing but sympathy of course but no way did I consider her candidacy any further.' However, one poster on the thread, who had been the interviewee in the cringeworthy situation, proved sometimes an embarrassing encounter isn't the end of the world. While saying goodbye to her interviewer, the candidate shook his hand and said: 'Thanks so much, have a nice day, love you.' The interviewer must have been flattered by the compliment - as they offered her the job. Perhaps its not having offspring, or maybe its the eternal 14-year-old in me, but I love Gen Z those currently under 26. Millennials are less the me generation than the me, me, me generation, springing forth in a (brief) era of economic prosperity and focused on themselves. Like boomers, they are a pushy, idealistic and rather irritating cohort. Gen Z-ers are edgier, more knowing and less egotistical, schooled in chaos and the pandemic. Gen Z-ers also love their slap. As a posse of digital natives, they have spent the past three years on TikTok creating beauty hacks, at an age at which the rest of us were forced to learn about maths. Gen Z-ers are edgier, more knowing and less egotistical than millennials. Hannah Betts says that Gen Z-ers, as a posse of digital natives, also love make up My 14-year-old friend Cicely knows far more about the science of skincare than I ever will, despite having the complexion of a Thomas Hardy heroine. Do these hacks work for those of us who are crepier and more mottled? The answer is some do, some might, and others should be avoided at all costs. I would file the instant facelift concealer trend under Open your mind to this. Contouring obsessives had taken to doing that heavy-handed-inverted-triangle-under-the-eye thing. Instead, TikToker Megha Singh recommends applying it up and angled as a means of drawing everything north. Think a small triangle at the outer corner of the eye, rather than under it. Ive been roughly following this principle with the help of Narss Soft Matte Complete Concealer (24, narscosmetics.co.uk), brushed on with Macs 242S Shader (12.60, maccosmetics.co.uk) and it works. You use less product, and, for a fifty-something face, upwards is always the best direction. Hannah Betts (pictured) describes the best Gen Z beauty and make up hacks on TikTok including using less foundation and not washing your brows with soap The same theory applies to #soapbrows those modishly erect eyebrows achieved by brushing them north with the sudsy stuff. Id skip soap (it gives you brow dandruff) and use Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze Styling Wax (23, boots.com) with a clean mascara wand. Even if you are reluctant to go full bog-brush mode, some eyebrow uplift counteracts droop and opens the eyes a must for those of us seeking to defy gravity. We oldsters, rather than Gen Z, invented no make-up make-up. But the products used to achieve it have greatly improved. Rose Incs Skin Enhance Luminous Tinted Serum (36, spacenk.com), applied with its Number 3 Foundation Brush (28), proves a revelation on older faces. And the brand has just released ten ravishing bitten-lip Satin Lipcolours (22). When a Gen Z favourite goes viral, its always worth a look. NYXs snog-proof Shine Loud Lip Gloss (12, superdrug.com ), CeraVe's brilliant cleansers (from 9.99, super drug.com) and the return of the claw clip are ones to note. Some Gen Z obsessions fall into the category Depends on your colouring. The mushroom-brown hair look sounded grim until I started spotting it on people and realised the silvery taupe shade can look gorgeous. The 1980s eyeshadows in violent blues, purples and greens are great on my cool colouring, whereas brown 1990s glam-grunge does not. I can sport the craze for black blush (basically a kind of grey contour, where warm-toned types use tan). However, Ill leave ombre lips graduated colour, evolving from light in the centre to dark around the edges, giving the illusion of a fuller pout to those girls whose lips already have tonal hues. Some of these crazes will require a hard No from those of us who wont see 40 again. Avoid anything that involves applying layer-on-layer of slap. Coy faux freckles added with a nude lip liner look more like fake age spots, while complicated kohl on the eyes all lines and angles wont stay put on wrinkled, hooded lids. The glass skin cheat of mixing liquid highlighter with your foundation can also end up blotchy. Better to layer. On anyone over 35, applying blusher to the top of the nose so it looks as if youve caught the sun will make you appear drunk. As for skinny and/or bleached brows, I wont begin to insult you by going there. RACE YOU TO IT Rimmel London, Thrill Seeker mascara Rimmel London, still the UKs No1 make-up brand, is causing a sensation on social media, as in real life, with its new Thrill Seeker mascara (8.99, superdrug.com). Smudge-proof, with an hourglass-shaped brush, it promises outlandish length while strengthening and softening lashes with its creamy formula rich in vitamin B5. superdrug.com Shop MY ICON OF THE WEEK GRACE JONES Grace Jones, 74, (pictured) is striking with her sculptural hair, perfect skin and bold make-up The 74-year-old icon performed in London earlier this month, hula-hooping topless for 15 minutes. Joness style is striking, with her sculptural hair, perfect skin and bold make-up. Check out French Vogue (vogue.fr), where Charlotte Tilbury recreates Joness looks using her Icon Palette of eyeshadows (55, charlottetilbury.com). FESTIVAL FAVOURITES Sam McKnight Rescue Me Edit Emulate Kate Moss with these travel-sized Lazy Girl (dry shampoo), Cool Girl (texture mist) and Lazy Girl Biodegradable Hair Cleanse Cloths. sammcknight.com Shop Nyx Professional Makeup Ultimate Eyeshadow Palette Brights Sixteen eyeshadows in rainbow shades, from mattes and satins to shimmers and metallics. boots.com Shop Garnier Ambre Solaire Super UV Anti-age Face Protection Cream SPF50 A great SPF and face cream with 49per cent less plastic packaging. boots.com Shop COSMETIC CRAVING Acts of generosity may feel like a pleasant surprise but their timing might be rather predictable. Women may be more likely to treat friends and partners to gifts and drinks during the second half of their monthly cycles, a study suggests. Researchers studied womens hormones and found an increase in progesterone and lower estradiol corresponded with more generous behaviour. Research suggests that during the second half of a woman's monthly cycle, they are more likely to treat friends and partners to gifts and drinks. It comes as an increase in progesterone and lower estradiol corresponds with more generous behaviour This combination of hormones occurs during the luteal phase the two weeks after ovulation when a womans body prepares for potential pregnancy. The experts from Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, suggested women evolved to be more prosocial to tend and befriend during this phase to bolster the social network that might look out for them while theyre pregnant. The rise in progesterone would boost proactive, unsolicited prosocial behaviour, with the reciprocated help, support and protection increasing her chances of survival. But the generosity did not extend to strangers. Researchers studied womens hormones and found an increase in progesterone and lower estradiol corresponded with more generous behaviour. The psychologists studied 129 women aged 18-36 with regular menstrual cycles The psychologists studied 129 women aged 18-36 who were not using hormonal contraceptives and who had regular menstrual cycles. They were given a task in which they had to choose whether to take high selfish rewards to benefit themselves or lower rewards for themselves with rewards for other people. Meanwhile saliva samples were taken from each of the women and tested for the amounts of different hormones they contained. The paper, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, said: At increased levels of progesterone and decreased levels of estradiol, participants tended to be more generous towards socially-close others. Advertisement Prince William has revealed he hopes to show his three children the 'fantastic' homelessness organisations he works with - 'just as my mother did for me' - when posing for a special edition of The Big Issue to mark his 40th birthday. The Duke of Cambridge wrote for the magazine to explain why he wanted to shine a light on the issue for his milestone, which he celebrates tomorrow, after going undercover as a Big Issue seller on the streets of London earlier this month. William, father to Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, said that 'in the years ahead' he hopes to bring his children to 'see the fantastic organisations doing inspiring work to support those most in need just as my mother did for me'. He also recalled how his interest in the issue of homelessness started aged 11, when he first visited a homeless shelter with his mother, the Princess of Wales. He added that Diana, 'in her own inimitable style, was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem'. The magazine, sold by people in order to lift themselves out of poverty, also includes an interview between William and Dave Martin, 60, the Big Issue vendor he joined to sell the magazine. Together that afternoon they sold 32 copies. Prince William (pictured with Big Issue vendor Dave Martin) has revealed he hopes to show his three children the 'fantastic' homelessness organisations he works with - 'just as my mother did for me' - when posing for a special edition of The Big Issue to mark his 40th birthday William, father to Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis (pictured together), four, said that 'in the years ahead' he hopes to bring his children to 'see the fantastic organisations doing inspiring work to support those most in need just as my mother did for me' The Duke of Cambridge wrote exclusively for the magazine to explain why he wanted to talk about the problem of homelessness around his milestone, which he celebrates tomorrow, after going undercover as a Big Issue seller on the streets of London earlier this month (pictured right) The Duke of Cambridge (right) speaking to Big Issue vendor Dave Martin. Only a few days after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Prince William sold the Big Issue magazine on Rochester Row, close to Victoria in London with Dave Prince William, pictured on the cover of the magazine, posed for the special edition of The Big Issue to mark his 40th birthday William wrote: 'I was 11 when I first visited a homeless shelter with my mother, who in her own inimitable style was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem. 'In the 30-odd years since, I've seen countless projects in this space grow from strength to strength, including charities of which I have had the honour of being Patron. 'New initiatives have been launched up and down the country some have worked, some have not. But The Big Issue, perhaps now the most immediately recognisable of these organisations, has undeniably had an impact. He continued: 'I wanted to experience the other side and see what it was like to be a Big Issue vendor. My time was truly eye opening. I was lucky to join Dave on a warm, sunny day in June. People recognised a familiar face and were happy to give me the time of day. But that isnt the case for the vast majority of Big Issue vendors... 'And while I may seem like one of the most unlikely advocates for this cause, I have always believed in using my platform to help tell those stories and to bring attention and action to those who are struggling. I plan to do that now I'm turning 40, even more than I have in the past. 'So, for my part, I commit to continue doing what I can to shine a spotlight on this solvable issue not just today, but in the months and years to come. 'And in the years ahead, I hope to bring George, Charlotte and Louis to see the fantastic organisations doing inspiring work to support those most in need just as my mother did for me.' Prince William on his first visit to the homeless shelter The Passage with his mother Diana and brother Harry in 1993 The Duke of Cambridge (pictured right) selling the Big Issue in London with Big Issue vendor Dave Martin (pictured centre) Prince William (pictured selling the Big Issue) wrote: 'I was 11 when I first visited a homeless shelter with my mother, who in her own inimitable style was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem' The magazine, sold by people in order to lift themselves out of poverty, also includes an interview between William and Dave Martin, 60, the Big Issue vendor he joined to sell the magazine (pictured) Only a few days after the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the Duke of Cambridge sold the magazine on Rochester Row, close to Victoria in London with Dave Martin, Big Issue vendor. Together that afternoon they sold 32 copies. They then visited The Passage, a homelessness charity nearby that supports people who are street homeless or at risk of homelessness, of which the Duke became a Patron in 2019. It was to The Passage that Princess Diana brought her young sons to give them an insight into the challenges faced by people on the margins. The Duke and Dave then interviewed each other about their Big Issue selling experience, homelessness, how the Jubilee brought the country together and much more. The conversation is available to read in The Big Issue magazine and website. When William asked Dave what The Big Issue had done for him, he said: 'It got me off the street. Gave me respect. I was begging at the time. Another vendor said I could be doing something a lot better and took me along to the Big Issue office.' The Duke added: 'People who are homeless can't rebuild their life without a number of things. And one of those things is respect and self-respect. And that's what The Big Issue gives you, along with a means to earn an income.' Vitalijus Zuikauskas poses for a picture with Prince William, who was spotted selling The Big Issue newspaper in London, on June 8, 2022 December 2009: Then aged 27, William spent a night sleeping rough to understand the plight of the homeless at Christmas Lord John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, said: 'I met with Prince William and told him how I myself had been homeless and got out of grief by being imprisoned and then went on to start The Big Issue. 'We need to do everything we can to get the millions of people in the UK out of poverty for good. We need more emphasis on prevention and cure, not just all the support and effort going into emergency relief. 'The scale of interest in William selling The Big Issue has been enormous. And it puts our vendors and their sterling work in the public eye again. Anyone can sell The Big Issue, even a Prince!' Mick Clarke, CEO of The Passage, said: 'We were delighted to host our Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, for this special interview with Dave and The Big Issue. 'The Duke has visited The Passage on many occasions over the years to meet our clients and raise awareness and support for people affected by homelessness. We were especially pleased to welcome Dave as a former Passage client and very proud to see how he has moved on in life. 'As The Duke mentions in the interview, the "Everyone In" programme showed that when society works together, we can truly make progress towards ending street homelessness which simply should not exist in 21st century Britain. The Passage stands alongside The Duke, The Big Issue and many others who are working hard in the fight to end homelessness.' This special edition of The Big Issue magazine is available to buy from vendors like Dave across the UK. Vendors buy magazines for 1.50 and sell them for 3, keeping the proceeds. There are around 1,300 men and women working their way out of poverty by selling The Big Issue. Visit www.bigissue.com to find your local Big Issue seller. If you can't get to a local vendor, subscriptions are available at www.bigissue.com/subscribe to help continue the work of the organisation. A model for fashion designer Mary Quant who became a popular figure in 1960s society, Jan De Souza has died 'from loneliness' aged 81. Married to Johnny Gold, the founder of Tramp nightclub, one of London's most glamorous hotspots for royalty, Hollywood A-listers and the super-rich to hang out, Jan became friends with everyone, including Dame Joan Collins, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Rod Stewart. But her 'soulmate' passed away last year, dying of unknown causes on October 7, aged 89. Life without her husband of 50 years 'was too much' for Jan, according to her son Nick Gold, via the Daily Mail's Richard Eden, and she 'died of loneliness' on June 11, 2022, following a battle with cancer, reported The Times. A model for fashion designer Mary Quant who became a popular figure in 1960s society, Jan De Souza has died 'from loneliness' aged 81. Pictured in 2021 with her husband Johnny Gold Jans modelling assignments included posing with David Bowie in a West End alley in 1965, with the former holding a flute, while he carried a violin. Jan in the sixties jumping out of a swimming pool covered with balloons She was also often pictured with her pal and mentor Mary Quant, who helped popularise the mini-skirt and hot pants. Pictured together Despite her popularity in the modelling industry, Jan (pictured in her younger years) retired in 1971 when she tied the knot with her husband Johnny Her son said: 'My darling mother has taken her last breath and joined my dad in heaven. 'I am sad and happy at the same time as this is what she wanted. Life without her soulmate and partner was too much. Now they can be together for eternity.' Jans modelling assignments included posing with David Bowie in a West End alley in 1965, with the former holding a flute, while he carried a violin. The musician was still using his birth name of David Jones and the duo were modelling outfits for the teen magazine Fabulous 208. She was also often pictured with her pal and mentor Mary Quant, who helped popularise the mini-skirt and hot pants. Johnny Gold, Jan Gold, Shakira Caine and Sir Michael Caine at the Tramp 50th Anniversary party in London on 23 May 2019 A popular Jan would help greet her husbands celebrity clients - including Mick Jagger, Marlon Brando and Princess Margaret - on Friday and Saturday nights. Pictured, Jan with her husband Despite her popularity in the modelling industry, Jan retired in 1971 when she tied the knot with her husband Johnny. Two years earlier, he had launched Tramp in Jermyn Street and it soon became one of the British capitals most lavish nightclubs, boasting a host of wealthy, A-lister guests. A popular Jan would help greet her husbands celebrity clients - including Mick Jagger, Marlon Brando and Princess Margaret - on Friday and Saturday nights. The couple ran the nightclub as a family business until 1998, when it was sold by Johnny. Along with welcoming celebrities at the club, Jan (pictured modelling), who is also survived by a daughter, Claire, hosted the likes of Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve at her family home in St Johns Wood, northwest London Jan (pictured modelling) was born in Agra, India, in August 1940, the daughter of George, who was a railway executive, and Inez de Souza She was very social and made everyone feel comfortable, her son Nick told The Times. She was the proof of the saying that behind every great man is a greater woman. Along with welcoming celebrities at the club, Jan, who is also survived by a daughter, Claire, hosted the likes of Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve at her family home in St Johns Wood, northwest London. Jan was born in Agra, India, in August 1940, the daughter of George, who was a railway executive, and Inez de Souza. Her family fled in the refugee crisis that followed partition and arrived penniless in Britain in 1948, before moving in with relatives in Acton, west London. In 1969, her husband (pictured together in 2012) launched Tramp in Jermyn Street and it soon became one of the British capitals most lavish nightclubs, boasting a host of wealthy, A-lister guests Jan, then eight years old, spoke just Hindi but soon learnt English before winning a scholarship to art college. When at art school, Jan, who remained a keen amateur painter throughout her life, started modelling and was noticed by Quant. Jan and her husband retired to the Bahamas in 2003. The couple had an on-and-off again relationship in the early 1960s until Jan briefly moved to Australia after becoming irritated by Johnnys lack of commitment. She got engaged to another man while there, however, Johnny soon pleaded with her to return to London and the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary shortly before the nightclub founders death last year. The doting father of the UK's most premature twins gushed 'every day is Father's Day' as he opened up about his children's development on Lorraine. Speaking on the daytime show, Steve Crane, 52, and his wife Jade Crane, 39, from Derby, revealed how their sons Harley and Harry, now eight-months-old, survived against all odds after being born 18 weeks early on October 26. The two brothers, who were born at only 22 weeks, astonished the doctors and nurses looking after them as they spent five months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Queens Medical Hospital in Nottingham. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on today's show, Steve called his sons 'miracles' as he recounted how they were developing well and 'batting away' any possible health complications that could occur due to their premature birth. Speaking on Lorraine, Steve Crane, 52, and his wife Jade Crane, 39, from Derby, revealed how their son Harley and Harry, now eight months old, survived against all odds after being born 18 weeks early on October 26 The two brothers, who were born at only 22 weeks, astonished the doctors and nurses looking after them as they spent five months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Queens Medical Hospital in Nottingham The father-of-two admitted it had been 'surreal' and 'nervy' to take his sons home after their October birth. 'They came on oxygen,' he revealed, which they got off about a month ago now. He added the twins have 'adapted so well,' to home life, and that having them home 'compared to what we been through, I'm sure new parents face challenges, to us, it's just bliss.' Speaking of how the two boys are getting on at home and whether they are growing healthily, Jade told Lorraine: 'As far as we know, it's all fine. Time will tell in regards to their development. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on today's show, Steve called his sons 'miracles' as he recounted how they were developing well and 'batting away' any possible health complications that could occur due to their premature birth The father-of-two admitted it had been 'surreal' and 'nervy' to take his sons home after their October birth 'But the list of things that were wrong with them used to take five minutes to read through with the doctors, but they just keep batting everything away, their eyes, their ears,' Steve said. 'Doctors can't believe it. They double-check "Are you sure? Aer you sure they are okay?",' Jade joked. Reflecting on his first Father's Day as a father, Steve told Lorraine: 'My dad died a few years ago, so I use to hide away on Father's Day. The twins were tiny when they were born at 22 weeks, and spent five months in hospitals, with Jade and Steve moving into a room for the duration of their time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Lorraine, who said the twins' story was 'astonishing' showed the audience what their nappies looked like Viewers said the twins are 'gorgeous' and said they were glad their birth story had a happy ending 'But just for the gratitude, just a sense of feeling blessed,' the father-of-two went on. 'Every day is Father's Day with them, it's brilliant,' he added, beaming. The doting parents also opened up about the strong bond uniting their twin boys. 'It's instinctual and you see it, it's there. From day one, it was there, when we first put them together, they're aware of each other,' Steve said. Jade added that because they've spent so much time in incubators in hospitals, the twins are immune to noise and good sleepers. Jade said that time will tell how the boys get on with their development, but added they keep surprising their doctors A gushing Steve said every day is Father's Day with his boys and that having them home has been 'bliss' Speaking on the show, Lorraine said it was astonishing' to see how strong the twins were, and also showed what one of their tiny nappies looked like when they were in hospital. Little Harley and Harry were conceived via IVF and were born at 22 weeks and five days - more than a week before the abortion limit at 24 weeks. Babies born at 22 weeks are not classed as legally viable and medical intervention is sometimes not offered. But the tough siblings weren't going anywhere and have amazed doctors - who initially gave them a zero per cent chance of survival. Proud mum Jade spent the last five months staying by her babies' sides in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at Queens Medical Hospital in Nottingham. Jade added that because they've spent so much time in incubators in hospitals, the twins are immune to noise and good sleepers The beaming parents said the bond between their two sons has been very strong from the beginning The parents have shared a insight into life with the twins in hospital with their followers on Instagram One of the twins, who were as small as their father's hands when they were in hospital after being born at 22 weeks Jade in the NICU with the twins during their five-months-long hospital stay. The brothers were conceived by IVF Jade with her two sons as they grew stronger in the UK following their premature birth in October The miracle pair headed home in late March with their proud mum and dad just two and a half weeks after their original due date. The former mental health nurse and addiction counsellor said at the time: 'I'm so proud of my babies - they're little fighters. 'They're doing absolutely amazing. They're doing all the things that we were told they wouldn't do - they're crying, they're surviving. 'The doctors were saying the babies wouldn't survive at this gestation. I was still two weeks away from what the UK classes as viable and the babies were given a zero per cent chance of survival. 'It was only because I was at a teaching hospital and that the babies were born with signs of life that they chose to intervene medically. 'We've waited 140 days for this. It's really emotional. Sad to leave the team but happy to be going home.' Steve added: 'It's been such a long time and although it's been a really, really treacherous journey, 140 days ago we didn't think we'd be here.' Solo holidays have doubled following the coronavirus pandemic as more women opt to journey alone, according to luxury travel agents. Black Tomato said the number of ladies deciding to enjoy trips by themselves has increased from 30 to 50 per cent of all single bookings, which have doubled since the start of this year. Meanwhile, Scott Dunn, experts in luxury holidays, said it had noticed an eight-fold rise in inquiries for solo escapes compared with the same period in 2019. Speaking to The Times, Laura Kirkbride, 36, an NHS project manager, explained how she booked herself a holiday alone to Ibizia after going through a difficult split last year. Solo holidays have doubled following the coronavirus pandemic as more women opt to journey alone, according to luxury travel agents. (stock image) I learnt through social media that [my partner] had met someone else by the time he ended it with me, she said. I live in a small town, everyone knows everyone elses business, and I just wanted to cut myself out of that. Elsewhere, Jess Thorpe, 28, a social media content creator, also opted for a solo trip to Ibizia after being single during the pandemic and suffering through the death of two friends, as well as a relative who had a heart attack. Being forced to stay home on my own in lockdown made me realise that I can survive on my own and create my own happiness, she said. During her trip, she would wake up early and explore - and while she was initially worried about the evening meals alone, she soon found that no one focused on her because they were too busy with their own dinners. Mansi Shah, 42, an author, enjoyed a single holiday to the Maldives last month after realising life is too short during the pandemic. Holidays to help cope with break-ups have been part of popular culture for many years; the 1989 film Shirley Valentine (pictured) shows a lonely housewife who is given a trip to Greece with a friend before going on a journey of self-discovery Black Tomatos head of product Carolyn Addison said the main business is still families and couples travelling but added it has been gratifying to see so many women starting to make their own travel plans without waiting on someone to go with. Simon Lynch, global sales director at Scott Dunn, said 60 per cent of its solo travellers are women. More than 20 per cent of the solo trips have been to Africa, including Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Travel Queens Melanie Stephens also told the publication that many of her female clients are on her all-women tours because theyve suffered a break-up or divorce. Holidays to help cope with break-ups have been part of popular culture for many years; the 1989 film Shirley Valentine shows a lonely housewife who is given a trip to Greece with a friend before going on a journey of self-discovery. Presenter Yinka Bokinni has opened up about tracking down hitmen on the Dark Web ahead of her new Channel 4 docu-series How To Hire a Hitman. Speaking on This Morning, the self-confessed true crime fan, who is leading Channel 4's deep dive into online murder for hire, which airs tonight, said anyone could easily order a hit on someone who has wronged them if they want to. She told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that all types of people reach out to hitmen online, from lovers to co-workers to disgruntled partners. The true crime addict also found out during her research that one of the people who had been killed by a hitman lived down the road from her in London. Presenter Yinka Bokinni has opened up about tracking down hitmen on the Dark Web ahead of her new Channel 4 docu-series How To Hire a Hitman She told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that she say all types of people reach out to hitmen online, requesting them to take out a hit on 'lovers,' 'coworkers' or 'partners who've had enough Yinka, who got her love for true crime from her mother as a child, said she's always been fascinated with the genre. She revealed how she got to work on the Channel 4 programme. 'My director, Josh, received email that had reams and reams of names of potential victims from these hitmen for hire sites,' she said, adding the list was obtained during a hack in 2016. She added there were 200 different names on that list. Yinka said she conducted most of her research for the documentary on the Dark Web 'And it's in California, Bermuda, Mumbai, and then it's Tottenham Court Road, and then it's New Cross, and then it's almost down the road from me,' she said. 'I thought, "yes". It's something that's outrageous, and an incredible story, but also, it could be you, it could be someone that you know who are on these lists.' She said she conducted most of her research for the documentary on the Dark Web. 'You would think it's someone in a basement with 17 screens or someone that is adept at the internet,' she said of people using hitmen-for-hire websites. 'But it could be your neighbour or someone in your house,' Yinka added. The presenter said she was struck by the fact some of the hits happened down the road from her Yinka revealed she contacted one of the hitmen on the Dark Web for the show and put a hit on 'no one' from 'no where' She went on to describe some of the hit requests she saw online while preparing the documentary. 'One of the most outrageous reasons I saw was this 17-year-old in American who wanted a hit put out on his pregnant lover, there were scorned lovers, there were disgruntled coworkers, angry neighbours, and there were partners had had enough. She also revealed that she found out the name of one of the people who had created a hitman website on the Dark Web and contacted him for the show. 'I went to a public place with a little dongle and a laptop and I put a hit out on no one from nowhere, and I double checked that no one called no one lives in nowhere called nowhere, so it's fine,' she said. 'And I was like "I know who you are, I'm a journalist, I'm gonna get you" and they replied and I was like "sorry",' she said, putting her hands up. 'They told me to get off of their page and stop messaging them immediately,' she revealed. 'It's one of those things where you think, "Who is responsible here?". Is it the person who is disgruntled and going on these websites, or is it the potential hitman who is encouraging and saying, "Yeah they deserve it"?' the presenter reflected. 'What has somebody done to warrant something like this being put out on them? So many questions like this, and that's what I'm trying to find out in this double bill,' she added. She added is it impossible to know how many of these Dark Web hits are successful. 'We know hitmen are real, but it's impossible to know how many of these websites exist on the dark web, because they don't keep any tabs. 'It's impossible to know how many hits are successful because you're not going to hear about them and also, the people who are using these sites, unless they make mistakes, they are anonymous.' How To Hire a Hitman airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 4. 27-year-old twin sisters coincidentally gave birth within minutes of each other on the same day - despite being due nearly a month apart. Identical twins Amanda Caston and Julia Baldree, from Farragut, Tennessee, were 'inseparable' their whole lives. When the sisters became pregnant around the same time last year, they were excited that their kids would be close in age - but they never expected to welcome their babies on the same day. Amanda gave birth to her son, Miles, while Julia welcomed twin boys, named Josiah and Carter, on March 28 - despite Amanda being due on April 2 and Julia being due 20 days later, on April 22. According to People magazine, Amanda was induced on the 27th but didn't end up delivering her son until the next day - at almost exactly the same time that Julia gave birth via cesarean section. What are the odds? 27-year-old twin sisters coincidentally gave birth within minutes of each other on the same day - despite being due nearly a month apart Strong bond: Identical twins Amanda Caston and Julia Baldree (pictured as kids), from Farragut, Tennessee, were 'inseparable' their whole lives When the sisters became pregnant around the same time last year, they were excited that their kids would be close in age - but they never expected to welcome their babies on the same day Amanda gave birth to her son, Miles, while Julia welcomed twin boys, named Josiah and Carter, on March 28 - despite Amanda being due on April 2 and Julia being due on April 22 'When he got here at 10:24 A.M. on Monday morning, I was waiting to hear from my sister,' Amanda recalled to the outlet. 'And then I found out they were all born within an hour. I was not expecting that at all.' The twins said they went through every stage of their pregnancies side by side, sharing in all the milestones as they both geared up to welcome their new bundles of joy. 'We were texting and Facetiming up until the hour before and the hour after they were born,' Amanda also told WBIR recently. WBIR reported that the odds of twins having kids on the same day, while one of them welcoming another set of twins, was about four in 100,000. The identical twins said growing up together 'was a lot of fun' since they 'always had somebody to play with or argue with,' adding that they were excited that their kids will have that too. The twins said they went through every stage of their pregnancies side by side, sharing in all the milestones as they both geared up to give birth. Amanda is pictured with her new son The identical twins said growing up together 'was a lot of fun' since they 'always had somebody to play with or argue with,' adding that they were excited that their kids will have that too BFF: The sisters were delighted to become new moms together, and are hoping that their boys will be best friends - just like they are. The sisters are pictured when they were younger 'We used to always trick our dad and he would never be able to tell the difference,' joked Amanda. 'We always had somebody to play with or argue with, it was a lot of fun.' 'It's not often that you hear of twins having twins and another on the same day within the same hour and all being boys,' Amanda, seen with her son and nephews said The sisters were delighted to become new moms together, and are hoping that their boys will be best friends - just like they are. 'We've all just had girls, everyone's just had girls and then, surprise! Three boys,' Amanda gushed to WBIR. 'It's not often that you hear of twins having twins and another on the same day within the same hour and all being boys. 'They'll always have best friends to hang out with through childhood, like we did. I hope they realize how much their family loves them because we love all of them very much and it's exciting to have all three of them within the family.' She added to People, 'It's been really fun and definitely an adventure. And we're excited that they get to share birthdays just like we did. It worked out really good, and we're all really excited.' Advertisement Calvin Klein was spotted out on a rare lunch date with his longtime boyfriend Kevin Baker on Saturday. The iconic designer, 79, and the model, 34, stepped out to grab food together at Mauro's Cafe in West Hollywood ahead of Father's Day, with Calvin keeping it casual in a pair of blue jeans, a long-sleeve grey top, and sneakers and his beau looking handsome as ever in a form-fitting dark green shirt and khaki pants. The Calvin Klein Inc. founder has been dating Kevin - who is less than half his age - for nearly six years now, but the couple has done their best to keep their high profile romance under wraps. Calvin and his younger boyfriend were spotted for the first time back in 2016, and they have since been photographed taking lavish trips together around the world and attending various elite red carpet events side by side. But despite Kevin often coming as the fashion mogul's plus one to coveted runway shows, award shows, and star-studded parties, the two have never spoken out about their relationship to the public, so much of their love story is quite the mystery to fans. So who exactly is Calvin's boyfriend, how long have they been together, and how did they meet? FEMAIL has taken a dive inside their very private relationship - as well as Calvin's past romances - and broke down everything we know about the notoriously secret couple. Who exactly is Calvin's boyfriend, how long have they been together, and how did they meet? FEMAIL has taken a dive inside his very private relationship with Kevin Baker. The couple is seen together in 2016 From his current boyfriend to his previous flings, here's everything you need to know about the 79-year-old designer's love life. Calvin is pictured in 2018 Before dating Kevin, Calvin was linked to a former porn star named Nick Gruber - who like Kevin, was almost 50 years younger than him - and often made headlines for his wild partying and drug use. It's been reported that things ultimately ended for the pair after Nick was arrested for cocaine possession and sent to rehab. After their split, Nick threatened to share Calvin's intimate secrets in a tell-all book about their two-year relationship, but ultimately decided to pull the plug on the tell-all memoir. Before that, Calvin was married twice - first to his high school sweetheart Jayne Centre, with whom he welcomed a daughter, and second to his former design assistant Kelly Rector. From his current boyfriend to his previous flings, here's everything you need to know about the 79-year-old designer's love life. Calvin Klein's current boyfriend, 34-year-old model Kevin Baker Kevin is a model and actor, who - according to NewnOwnNext.com - hails from Spokane, Washington. His IMDB lists one acting credit - a role in the 2012 short called The Long Distance Operator. He and Calvin are seen in 2016 It's unfortunately unclear how or when they first met, but Calvin and Kevin were publicly spotted together for the first time on March 30, 2016, at the Mint Luxury Conference in Mumbai, India (pictured) They were then seen leaving the Broadway Opening Night Performance of American Psycho in New York City on April 21, 2016 (pictured). After that, they sat together at the 2016 Future of Fashion Runway Show on May 5, 2016 Kevin is a model and actor, who - according to NewnOwnNext.com - hails from Spokane, Washington. His IMDB lists one acting credit - a role in the 2012 short called The Long Distance Operator. It's unfortunately unclear how or when they first met, but Calvin and Kevin were publicly spotted together for the first time on March 30, 2016, at the Mint Luxury Conference in Mumbai, India. They were then seen leaving the Broadway Opening Night Performance of American Psycho in New York City on April 21, 2016. After that, they sat together at the 2016 Future of Fashion Runway Show on May 5, 2016. Kevin was also by the designer's side at the 2016 U.S. Open on September 7, 2016. They made their official red carpet debut at the American Ballet Theatre 2016 Fall Gala on October 20, 2016. Kevin was also by the designer's side at the 2016 U.S. Open on September 7, 2016 (pictured). They made their official red carpet debut at the American Ballet Theatre 2016 Fall Gala on October 20, 2016 The two do their best to keep their romance out of the spotlight - they have never spoke publicly about their relationship and Kevin doesn't use any social media. The couple is seen in March 2021 Throughout 2017, they were spotted on a number of lavish vacations together - including a trip to the Caribbean island St. Barts, where photographers caught them soaking up the sun on the beach, and a getaway to the Hamptons in New York, where they were pictured getting off a helicopter ride together. NewnOwnNext reported that Kevin - who has has a twin brother named Joel, who is also a model - once appeared in an 'x-rated video' but didn't share any other details. The two do their best to keep their romance out of the spotlight - they have never spoke publicly about their relationship and Kevin doesn't use any social media. Throughout much of 2021, they were seen grabbing lunch and dinner together throughout Los Angeles and Hollywood, with their most recent outing proving that they're still going strong. Calvin's past relationship with former porn star Nick Gruber Before Kevin, Calvin dated a former porn star named Nick Gruber for two years. Nick, who grew up in the foster system in Florida while his mother served time in prison, reportedly met Calvin through mutual friends. They are seen together in 2010 According to the New York Post, Calvin became enamored with Nick after coming across a photo of him which he said 'looked like a younger version of himself.' The couple is pictured together in 2011 Before Kevin, Calvin dated a former porn star named Nick from 2010 to 2012. Nick, who grew up in the foster system in Florida while his mother served time in prison, reportedly met Calvin through mutual friends. According to the New York Post, Calvin became enamored with Nick after coming across a photo of him which he said 'looked like a younger version of himself.' The two (seen in 2010) began living in New York City together, with Nick moving into Calvin's $20 million penthouse on Greenwich Street in Manhattan. According to the outlet, Calvin helped Nick get a job at a restaurant, introduced him to a modeling agent, and even proposed marriage during their relationship The outlet reported that the two - who had a 46-year age gap - first started their relationship by 'sexting,' before they eventually met in person after Calvin sent Nick a private jet to fly him from Kansas - where he was living at the time - to the Hamptons. 'For my part, I really had no idea who [Calvin] was. Although I guess I didnt realize it at the time, I grew up pretty poor,' Nick recalled in his memoir, which was never released but the Post obtained a copy of the book's proposal. 'I wasnt wearing designer labels unless they could be found on the racks of Walmart and even then I was hardly paying attention to the name inside my underwear.' In the Hamptons, Nick said Calvin introduced him to his friends, which was a 'big deal.' He continued, 'I later found out that this was a big deal for Calvin. He had never introduced a guy to any of his friends before. 'Right from the very start Calvin was treating me as if I were his boyfriend. He was happy to show me off in public and I felt like a boyfriend too. It was a new feeling for me! I knew my life was about to change forever.' The two began living in New York City together, with Nick moving into Calvin's $20 million penthouse on Greenwich Street in Manhattan. 'In a scene straight out of Pygmalion, Calvin goes to work transforming his love interest,' his book proposal read, according to the Post. 'Nick gets new clothes, a new hairstyle and teeth. There were meetings with a steroid doctor to help him keep his lean and pumped look. His skin was resurfaced and he even gets speech therapy to upgrade his speaking style.' According to the outlet, Calvin helped Nick get a job at a restaurant, introduced him to a modeling agent, and even proposed marriage during their relationship. When Nick turned 21 in January 2011, Calvin threw him a star-studded birthday bash attended by numerous A-list celebrities including Anna Wintour, Vera Wang, and Alec Baldwin. However, the Post claimed that things started to turn sour between them after Calvin started to disapprove of Nick's partying lifestyle and cut off his $10,000-a-month allowance. However, the Post claimed that things started to turn sour between them after Calvin started to disapprove of Nick's partying lifestyle and cut off his $10,000-a-month allowance. They are seen in December 2010 The romance officially fizzled out in April 2012, when Nick got arrested for assault and cocaine possession. Afterwards, the model was checked into to an Arizona rehabilitation center. The pair is pictured in October 2011 - months before the split The romance officially fizzled out in April 2012, when Nick got arrested for assault and cocaine possession. Afterwards, the model was checked into to an Arizona rehabilitation center. Rumors circulated at the time that Calvin was paying for the rehab, and had flown him there via private jet. 'Calvin feels very protective over him. Despite all that has happened, and everything hes done, he still loves Nick,' a source told Page Six at the time. After their breakup, it was announced that Nick was working on a book titled Obsession: My Life With Calvin Klein, where he reportedly planned on sharing intimate details on their two-year romance. His new boyfriend at the time told the Post, 'Nick has more of Calvins secrets than the NSA. Calvin took back everything he ever gave him [including a $250,000 Bentley], and Nick was pissed.' Nick later decided not to release the tell-all memoir, however, he did speak candidly about his relationship with the fashion mogul in a series of interviews after it was over, and he claimed that Calvin once made him take a lie-detector test after he suspected Nick was cheating on him. Recalling the incident, he told Page Six: 'I passed it. And then, you know, things were much better. But I mean, what kind of partner would make you take a lie detector test? I was like, "Did you ever cheat on me, Calvin?" I never cheated on him.' He also opened up about being 'the first man' that Calvin fell in love with. 'I was the first man [Calvin] fell in love with. I don't know why, but there's, like, something about me that attracts everyone,' he said. 'I have a nickname called Romeo. I get every girl, and even guys. Something about me draws them all in.' Despite being in an 'exclusive' relationship with Calvin for more than two years, Nick told the outlet that he was 'straight.' He also told New York Magazine in a later interview, 'Im not gay, but I dont believe in labels, I believe in love.' Inside his marriage to his design assistant, Kelly Rector Kelly Rector served as Calvin's design assistant and close friend for several years, before things turned romantic between them. The pair (pictured in 1976) tied the knot in September 1986 in Rome, Italy After their wedding, Kelly (pictured with Calvin in 1984) couldn't stop gushing over Calvin during an interview with the New York Times. She said, 'I love everything he does. He's just the best guy in the world. I am his muse' A biography written by Steven Gaines and Sharon Churcher about Calvin was the first to report that their marriage had gone south, claiming that the designer was bisexual and that the couple (pictured in the 1990s) was living separate lives Kelly served as Calvin's design assistant and was his close friend for several years, before things turned romantic between them. They tied the knot in September 1986 in Rome, Italy, at the historic and stunning Campidoglio City Hall. The couple officially split up in August 1996 - after nine years of marriage - but remained friends. 'They remain extraordinarily respectful of each other,' a spokesperson said at the time. They intend to make every effort possible to work out any issue between them but in any event intend to remain the closest of friends as they are' According to the Washington Post, Kelly - who is the daughter of a former Vogue cover girl and an acclaimed TV commercial director - graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York before landing a job with Ralph Lauren. She then joined Calvin's design team. After their wedding, Kelly - who stopped working for him to pursue a career in photography - couldn't stop gushing over Calvin during an interview with the New York Times. 'I love him,' she said. 'I love everything he does. He's just the best guy in the world. I am his muse. I happen to be very American, look very American. That helps, to fit right into his sense of design and style.' A biography written by Steven Gaines and Sharon Churcher about Calvin was the first to report that their marriage had gone south, with the authors claiming in the book that the designer was bisexual and that the couple was living separate lives. 'Some intimates see the marriage as a happy compromise,' the book read. 'Others, an uneasy truce... Life cannot be easy for either of them.' The couple officially split up in August 1996 - after nine years of marriage - but remained friends. 'Calvin and Kelly Klein have made a joint decision to separate,' a spokesperson told UPI at the time. 'They remain extraordinarily respectful of each other. 'They intend to make every effort possible to work out any issue between them but in any event intend to remain the closest of friends as they are today.' Kelly made headlines in 2007 when it was revealed that she was having a baby at age 50 via surrogate - using her eggs and the sperm of a friend. The designer's first love, high school sweetheart Jayne Centre Calvin married a textile designer named Jayne Centre in 1964, and together, they welcomed a daughter named Marci Klein in 1967. Calvin is pictured with Marci in 2001 Vanity Fair reported that Calvin and Jayne went to the same high school in the Bronx and started dating when they were just teens. Calvin is seen with his and Jayne's daughter in 2009 After they wed, the couple moved to Forest Hills Queen, where they raised Marci (pictured in 2005). But while Calvin worked hard on launching his fashion business, Vanity Fair reported that it left little time for his wife. The couple split in 1974, after 10 years together Calvin married a textile designer named Jayne Centre in 1964, and together, they welcomed a daughter named Marci Klein in 1967. Marci went on to become a TV producer who is best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock and has won four Emmy Awards for her work. Since their relationship happened before Calvin was skyrocketed into the spotlight, there isn't much information on his and Jayne's marriage. Vanity Fair reported that they went to the same high school in the Bronx and started dating when they were just teens. 'The early years of their courtship involved the usual dating rituals, a movie and a bite,' the outlet wrote. 'Jayne was smart and artsy, and they both wanted some kind of artistic life.' They went on to both attend F.I.T. together before tying the knot at the Hampshire House hotel in New York City. After they wed, the couple moved to Forest Hills Queen, and while Calvin worked hard on launching his fashion business, Vanity Fair reported that it left little time for his wife. 'There was many a night without Calvin. The days were long - 18 hours was not unusual - and Calvin often slept at [his office],' it explained. Calvin and Jayne's daughter, Marci, told the outlet in 2008, '"Hippies" is not the right word for [my parents], but they were artsy. 'The apartment didnt look like other peoples. It had white wood floors and all white walls. They werent like anybody elses [parents].' The couple split in 1974, after 10 years together, with Calvin later stating, 'We were kids. We grew in different directions.' This is the emotional moment a man breaks down in tears when visiting his father's grave on Long Lost Family - after his mother refused to offer any details about him. James Ford, 73, who now lives in Carcassonne, France, with his wife Diana, but was raised near Leeds, was brought up by only his birth mother - and had never met his biological father, despite constantly asking about him as a child. Eventually, James' mother admitted that his father had asked for her hand in marriage, and offered to support the pair, but was refused. Just before James' wedding, she also finally revealed his father's name James Sydney Ford. James asked Long Lost Family for help after the team managed to reunite him with his half-sister earlier in tonight's episode. She had been abandoned by their 'very poor' birth mother at two-weeks-old due to being unable to cope with two children. Speaking to co-presenter Nicky Campbell, James explained that he'd also love to be reunited with his father - but was sadly told the news that his father had passed away in 1969, aged just 42, leaving behind three young children and a wife. Before being reunited with more of his siblings, James visited his father's grave and was captured tearfully placing some flowers near the headstone. Scroll down for video James Ford, 73, had an emotional moment when he finally visited his father's grave, after finding out his father died aged just 42 in 1969 It was an emotional moment for the 73-year-old, who would have liked to have met his father, before learning he had died some decades earlier Reunited: Pictured left to right, Anne, James, Elizabeth and Ian after their first meeting with one another Speaking to co-presenter Nicky Campbell, James (left) explained that he'd love to be reunited with his father - but was sadly told the news that his father (pictured right) had passed away in 1969, aged just 42, leaving behind three young children and a wife At the start of the programme, James explained: 'I was constantly asking about my father's whereabouts. I never knew anything about him. Never knew his name, nothing.' Eventually his mother told him that his father had offered his had in marriage to his mother, and offered to support her, married or not. 'My father must have been a good man... he wasn't a bad man, it just was he who wasn't wanted.' It wasn't until a few weeks before his marriage to wife Diana, that James finally discovered his father's name. During the wedding preparations, Diana took James' mother aside and asked her the name of James' father. 'She was so overwhelmed, it just came out as Ford and then she said James Ford, you realize that you'd had the name James, the same name as your father all these years, said Diana, before her husband added: 'Which is amazing.' The programme tonight showed James Ford as he was finally able to visit the grave of his late father, also called James James tearfully laid flowers at his father's grave, in an emotional scene from the moving programme James discovered he shared his father's first two names, James Sydney, and immediately decided to change his last name from Pullman to Ford. 'I thought it would be a link to him. I'd be a Ford,' admitted James. As a young man in the army, James started his search for his father, discovering he was an aircraft engineer. Eventually, James put his DNA on the database but didn't have any luck finding his father or any relatives. He said: 'Not knowing my father is really an empty feeling that you're carrying all the time, which I don't want to anymore. 'If he's passed on, I hope he had a very good life. Good men deserve good lives. I'd just like to know. It wasn't until a few weeks before his marriage to wife Diana, that James finally discovered his father's name. Pictured, the couple on their wedding day, with James' mother, right During the wedding preparations, Diana took James' mother aside and asked her the name of James' father. Pictured, the couple on their wedding day 'It's the first real time I've talking in depth about feelings of my father. And the more I think about it, the more I've missed him.' The Long Lost Family team soon discovered James' father passed away, aged 42 in 1969, and they locate his grave, which James visited on the show in emotional scenes. Following this, researchers locate James' father's three children, who are all still living in Yorkshire. They were unaware of James, but said their father would've loved to have met him. The siblings reunited in a touching moment, with James saying: 'My brother and sisters are lovely, charming people. He added on his father: 'He was a nice man. That was everything I hoped he would be.' Earlier in the programme, James reunited with his sister on his mother's side, Joselyn Taylor, 68, from Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, who was abandoned at just two-weeks-old. Earlier in the programme, James reunited with his sister on his mother's side, Joselyn Taylor, 68, from Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, who was abandoned at just two-weeks-old Joselyn Taylor (pictured left, as a baby with her adoptive mother), 68, from Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, was left at a childrens home before being adopted by a single mother who ran a sweet shop. Pictured right, Joselyn's birth mother She had always wrongly believed she was left at a childrens home because she is deaf, but on this evening's programme, she finally discovered the real reason After meeting her older brother James, she was told that their very, very poor mother had to give up her daughter because she couldnt afford to feed an extra child. She couldnt cope with both of us. She was unmarried, she had two or three jobs sometimes to keep food on the table, said James. He added that his mother wouldnt have realised Joselyn was deaf before giving her up at two-weeks-old. Not being that little. No way, insisted James. Joselyn had a happy childhood, which included being educated at a specialist school for deaf children. She discovered she had a sibling when her adoptive mother Kathleen revealed that Joselyns birth mother had once arrived at the sweet shop, asking for money with a five-year-old boy alongside her. After finally meeting her older brother James, 73, Joselyn (pictured) was told that their very, very poor mother had to give up her daughter because she couldnt afford to feed an extra child Joselyn (pictured with her adoptive mother) had a happy childhood, which included being educated at a specialist school for deaf children Joselyn said: She was obviously very, very poor. My adoptive mother told her to get out of the shop. Realising she had a brother, she started to look for him and went through her adoptive mother's bedroom drawer until she found some paperwork, reported The Mirror. On the documents was the name of her brother, James Sydney Pullman. But when Joselyn entered her DNA on a web database, it revealed a sibling called James Ford. Her attempts to contact James went unanswered so she turned to Long Lost Family for help, and the team eventually discovered James in Carcassonne, France. James and Joselyns mother, Lois Pullman, has passed away. But the two siblings were reunited, with Joselyn saying: I felt an instant connection he cried, he really cried. It was lovely.' She was once an active member of The Firm herself, but Sarah Ferguson has revealed she watched the Platinum Jubilee celebrations from home earlier this month. Sarah, 62, spoke highly of her daughters, Princess Beatrice, 33, and Princess Eugenie, 32, as she reflected on the festive weekend held in honour of the Queen's 70 years on the throne. Speaking on Graham Norton's Radio Show with Waitrose podcast, the author and grandmother-of-two revealed she 'screamed at her TV' and cheered her daughters on as they made their way to St Paul's Cathedral for the Thanksgiving Service for the Queen on June 3. 'Everyone else looked a bit... very serious and they were smiling and really thanking their grandmother for these 70 years,' she added. Sarah Ferguson, 62, spoke highly of her daughters, Princess Beatrice, 33, and Princess Eugenie, 32, as she reflected on the festive weekend held in honour of the Queen's 70 years on the throne. (pictured at the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral on June 3) Sarah, who is commonly known as Fergie, pictured at Filming Italy 2022 red carpet on June 12, said her daughters are 'extraordinary' Prince Andrew's ex-wife, who is commonly known as Fergie, gushed that she still can't get over how 'beautiful' the two Princesses were at the service. 'I was watching the telly like, "Well done girls, you're smiling",' she said. 'I cant get over how beautiful my girls' look. When they went off to the Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, wasn't that just beautiful,' she said. 'I couldn't get over it. There was Beatrice in blue and Eugenie in orange and they are smiling, right. So grateful,' she added. The Duchess of York, who watched the ceremony from home, said other members of the royal family looked 'very serious' during the Service at St Paul's 'I was screaming at the TV,' the mother-of-two admitted. Continue to extol her daughters' virtues, she added: 'I think the way Beatrice and Eugenie are behaving and have behaved, it's just extraordinary.' The Duchess of York made a comparison with how her upbringing influenced her adult life and how she raise her family. 'I brought them up to understand how they feel,' she said. 'I told them very, very early on, "Express yourself, express your feelings". Because when you do, you tend not to fall into the big traps that I fell into. 'I think a 12 year-old that is abandoned by her mother, don't worry, I'm not making excuses, it's a big sense of self-sabotage of yourself,' she explained to Graham. 'Because you must be worth it for your mother to leave you. I think I've acted that out, for how I don't know how long.' The author opened up some more about her daughters' upbringing and her and Prince Andrew's differing parenting styles. 'As parents, Andrew very, very much sticks to the Navy schedules and has real discipline and has always been like that,' she said. 'And the along comes the river, - that's how I call myself- to give that sense of humour and that sense of joy and sense of little more freedom and I've always been like that with the girls, so they have the best of both,' she admitted. Fergie, who last week publicly voiced her support for Prince Andrew, also opened up about like with her grandchildren. She sometimes looks after Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's son August, 17-months-old and Princess Beatrice and Edo Mapelli Mozzi's daughter Sienna, who is eight months. She said being a grandmother is 'fabulous,' adding of August: 'He really finds me fanny, for once I know he's really thinking I'm funny. 'And Sienna is unbelievable, she's only nine months but she usually grabs my chumpy cheeks and goes "I want to chump your cheeks granny", I'm very lucky,' Fergie told Graham. Speaking of her book A Heart For Compass, which was published in paperback last month, Fergie admitted she and her heroine Lady Margaret shared a lot of similar points. Sarah Ferguson, 62, (middle) has spoken about what it is like spending time with her two grandchildren. Her daughter Princess Eugenie (left) gave birth to August in February, whilst Princess Beatrice (right) had her daughter Sienna in September 2021 One point in common, Graham underlined, was that Lady Margaret 'threw out the rulebook.' 'You said I broke the rulebook, but i still believe every day, "but who's written the rules?",' Fergie joked. 'it's only your own integrity of kindness and goodness and always turning your cheek,' she said. 'If someone does hurt you or harm you or if something is written about you, just carry on,' she said. Last week, Fergie told told British entrepreneur Matt Haycox, on his podcast The Matt Haycox Show that she's a 'darn good mum' and that her daughters Princess Beatrice, 33, and Eugenie, 32, have taken their parenting cues from her. Sarah said Eugenie and Beatrice are 'the 'best ambassadors for good mothering.' Reflecting on her own childhood, the mother-of-two, who resides at Royal Lodge in Windsor, said she was told as a child that thinking about herself was selfish, which led her to make poor decisions. Whenever a woman steps into a pair of 4in heels, something magical happens. Her silhouette instantly changes: her head lifts, the small of her back curves, her shoulders broaden slightly and her calf muscles bunch. From that moment she, quite literally, walks taller. Any higher a heel, and you're pushing things. Lower, and those silhouette changes don't take place in quite the same way. As a shoe designer, I constantly strive to combine balance with beauty. A 4in heel truly is the sweet spot. Only a woman herself can explain how wearing heels makes her feel, but it's wonderful when a woman comes into my shop wearing lower heels, or a pair of trainers, then, as she puts on heels, she seems to step through a magic portal; suddenly she seems self-assured in a different way. It seems to be happening more often now the lockdowns have ended and glamour is making its way back into our lives. You can see that incredible transformative effect in the Duchess of Cambridge, who, I'm proud to say, often wears my 4in Malory pumps. Shoe designer Rupert Sanderson says 4in heels are the 'sweet spot'. Here Kate is pictured wearing heels leaving the Design Museum in Kensington in May this year Rupert Sanderson says heels help those who wear them 'walk taller'. Here the Duchess is pictured wearing blue heels while visiting Bletchley Park to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings Take the blue pair she wore on a visit to Glasgow in May; or the nude pair perfectly teamed with an aqua shalwar kameez-inspired dress for her tour of Pakistan. She is a mother of three one who knows the great comfort and practicality of a pair of trainers and she has an important public role, one that involves the entire world looking on. The Duchess uses a stiletto heel as part of her sartorial arsenal in transforming herself from a busy mother into one of the world's most photographed women. She's tall, but in heels she becomes commanding, often standing a head above the men in the room. Last Thursday offered the perfect example, when she wore a pair of pink stilettos with an Alexander McQueen trouser suit to meet with the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, at the Royal Institution. The height of her heels, combined with a natural grace, may be one of the reasons why the Duchess photographs so well photographers get those wonderful clear shots because they can see her so clearly. Rupert Sanderson says in heels the Duchess of Cambridge 'becomes commanding'. Here Kate is pictured wearing white heels while arriving into Kingston, Jamaica, as part of a royal tour of the Caribbean in March The Duchess of Cambridge wore a nude pair of heels teamed with an aqua shalwar kameez-inspired dress for her tour of Pakistan. Here she is pictured arriving at Pakistani Air Force Base Nur Khan in October 2019 I can understand many women might feel anxious about heel height. If you're already a tall woman, then another 4in can easily take you past the 6ft mark. Others might associate high heels with pain. I understand they can be difficult to wear if you're not used to them. I cannot speak for the Duchess, but she doesn't appear to be in discomfort in her heels she spends a lot of time on her feet, and all the while in the public eye. Many of my customers wear 4in heels all the time for work and for pleasure and they say they feel as comfortable in them as in a pair of slippers! All that's really happened is they've got used to how to wear them. Of course, the quality of the shoe's design, the materials and the workmanship will always make a difference as far as comfort is concerned. My shoes are crafted from the finest leather and are designed to be as supportive as possible. It will definitely help if you spend as much as you can afford. My hope is that a 4in heel will have a place in every woman's wardrobe. They can be empowering; they can change your state of mind. SCIENCE BEHIND THE DUCHESS'S STILETTOS Here, LIBBY GALVIN looks at the facts and figures Pictured are the shoes the Duchess of Cambridge wore at Windsor Castle for the traditional Easter Sunday Church Service on April 17, this year The Duchess of Cambridge's love affair with high heels isn't just about aesthetics there is science to support her affinity for 4in stilettos. While you may wonder if heels are to blame for your bunions or bad back, studies have shown that shoes like Kate's could actually be good for you, increasing your social influence and, if worn occasionally, even strengthening your legs. Four-inch heels can boost your ankle strength at least for a little while. A 2015 study of women who frequently wore 10cm (4in) high heels found that for the first one to three years of wearing them, their ankle strength increased. Dr Jee Yong-Seok, a professor of exercise physiology at Hanseo University who worked on the study, explained that while 'wearing high-heeled shoes may at first lead to adaptation and increased strength', it was best to wear them infrequently, because after four years of constant use, balance worsened, making heel-wearers more prone to injury. Kate, of course, is safe, as she frequently switches her high heels for supportive plimsolls and sporty trainers. BOOST YOUR STATUS A study published this year in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that a woman pictured wearing high heels was perceived as being of a higher social status than one who was wearing lower-heeled footwear. In addition, a French study found that if a woman drops a glove on the street while wearing heels, she's almost 50 per cent more likely to have a man fetch it for her than if she's in a pair of flats. She's also twice as likely to be able to persuade men to stop and answer survey questions on the street. The height of the heel was instrumental in each case with the woman stopping passers-by to answer her survey getting a 46.7 per cent answer rate wearing flat shoes; a 63 per cent answer rate in 2in heels and an 83 per cent success rate when wearing heels of almost four inches. THEY CAN BE BETTER FOR YOU THAN FLATS! Wearing totally flat shoes such as flip-flops or ballet pumps can be worse for your feet than wearing heels, as heels at least offer support through the arch of the foot, say podiatric experts. And while studies have shown that dancing in 4in heels puts excessive pressure on the toes, a 2010 study found that changing the height of the heel from 4in to 3in or just under 2in made only limited difference to the force exerted on the foot suggesting that if you wear heels to dance, you may as well go as high as Her Royal Highness. Australians are sharing their horror at the US restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse that claims to serve authentic Aussie dishes. The eatery has more than 1,000 locations across the US and the Asia Pacific region - including in Australia itself - but its menu seems to be confusing Australians with dishes most have never even heard of. Staff are instructed to speak in an Australian accent, Fosters is the feature beer and dishes on offer include kookaburra wings, Gold Coast coconut shrimp, Alice Spring quesadillas, Aussie cobb salad and ribs served with mac and cheese. Aussies are expressing their outrage at the America restaurant chain Outback steakhouse that claims to serve authentic Australian food One Aussie posted to Reddit describing his visit to the chain, which was established in 1986 by four Americans who had never visited Australia following the success of Crocodile Dundee What does Outback Steakhouse sell? Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North and South America, Asia, and Australia. The Bloomin' Onion is a signature Outback item. It is a one-pound onion cut to 'bloom' open, breaded, deep-fried and served with mayonnaise-horseradish sauce. The restaurant menus around the world are largely very similar, featuring a number of steaks cooked multiple ways, burgers, salads and pasta. Staff are instructed to speak in an Australian accent, Fosters is the feature beer and dishes on offer include kookaburra wings, Gold Coast coconut shrimp, Alice Spring quesadillas, Aussie cobb salad and ribs served with mac and cheese. Advertisement Outback Steakhouse's signature dish is the Bloomin Onion, an onion cut to resemble an opening flower, battered, deep friend and served with a spicy dipping sauce which they call a 'true outback original'. '99% of Australians would not know what a bloomin' onion is. Source: an Australian,' one Redditor said. 'I did a short exchange trip way back in middle school to a place in Anaheim CA. My lovely host family excitedly took me to an Outback Steakhouse sincerely thinking it was the food of my people. I had no clue what a bloomin' onion was but I remember it was delicious,' wrote another. Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin Onion, an onion cut to resemble an opening flower, battered, deep friend and served with a spicy dipping sauce, is called a 'true outback original' Australians were also perplexed by the 'Shrimp on the Barbie' meal with prawns and steak served with rice and steamed vegetables as well as the sticky ribs with mac and cheese and a stuffed jacket potato. There is also the Toowoomba salmon smeared with a creamy mushroom sauce with steamed broccoli and a potatoes stuffed with bacon, cheese and sour cream. One Aussie posted to Reddit describing his visit to the 'awful' chain, which was established in 1986 by four Americans who had never visited Australia, following the success of Crocodile Dundee while in the US. 'Years ago I was working in the US and my team took me there thinking it would make me homesick. They wouldn't believe that none of the food was remotely Australian, or that if food of this quality was serviced in Australia they would go broke in a month,' they recalled. There is also the Toowoomba salmon smeared with a creamy mushroom sauce with steamed broccoli and a potatoes stuffed with bacon, cheese and sour cream 'Just to add to it, some of the names of the meals and the decor were culturally insensitive (racist) to Aboriginal people. I'm sure they meant it to be funny and kitsch, but Americans think it's authentic and I'm sure I wasn't the first or last Aussie taken there as a 'treat'.' 'I went with my family while in Florida just for a bit of fun and to see what it was like. The staff spoke in terrible forced Australian accents, called me and my sisters 'sheila' and even asked where we were from because they didn't recognise out accents,' another visitor laughed. Another pointed out there are few Outback Steakhouses in Australia but the menu is completely different to that in the US. 'Turns out they do exist in NSW and QLD however the menu between here and the US is entirely different, as it would have to be. I saw bacon bourbon salmon on the American one and I'm just horrified,' they said. 'It got way worse when I looked into the racism... Bro you just f*****g can't... Walkabout Wednesday?! Seriously...' What would Australian's serve at an Aussie-themed restaurant? Meat pies Sausage rolls Wedges with sweet chilli sauce and sour cream Chicken Parmigiana Bunnings sausage sizzle Chicko rolls Lamingtons Fairy bread Vegemite on toast Swimming pool cake from the Women's Weekly cake book Milo Burger with beetroot Barramundi fish and chips Chips with chicken salt Potato cakes Cappuccino with a TimTam Pavlova Dim Sums Jam doughnuts Kangaroo steaks Egg Benedict Damper Woolworths chocolate mud cake Advertisement However, there were some Australian fans of the chain with one saying they're 'never disappointed' with its steak dinners and another calling the bloomin' onion 'delicious'. In another thread, Australians shared the foods they would serve to make Outback Steakhouse more authentically Aussie from chicken parmigiana to burgers with beetroot and even fairy bread and TimTams. 'Fish & Chips with Barramundi, Flake & Hoki. Fish & Chips is common in the States and in the UK, but those fish are pretty unique to Australia. Also chicken salt to go with the chips,' one person suggested. 'Meat pie, sausage roll, vegemite toast. Dessert: lamington, fairy bread,' another offered and a third said: 'Wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli. This is not a thing in USA, by wife whos American was mind blown'. A mum has warned against purchasing a hot water bottle this winter after she was left in 'excruciating pain' and with horror second degree burns after her almost brand new bottle burst while she was in bed. Erin Majurey, from Hamilton, New Zealand, could instantly feel blisters forming on her legs after a hot water which had disintegrated internally scorched her body in a freak accident. While she used to purchase the winter warmers every year Erin has sworn off them forever because of the danger. 'They aren't regulated and hospitals have banned them due to the danger of this happening,' she told FEMAIL. 'I have switched to wheat bags which aren't as easy to find and are more expensive, but a better alternative.' Erin Majurey, from Hamilton, New Zealand, (pictured) could instantly feel the blisters after the hot water scorched her body and legs and was rushed to hospital Erin said the water 'wasn't boiling' as it had been sitting out for a while, and she had purchased new hot water bottles with covers for her and her daughter just before winter last season The 40-year-old therapist said the incident took place just over a week ago when her 11-year-old daughter filled the hot water bottle to help her with period cramps. 'I had it on my stomach, then went to get up so pushed it down the bed between my legs, that's when it burst,' she said. Erin said the water 'wasn't boiling' as it had been sitting out for a while, and she had purchased new hot water bottles with covers for her and her daughter just before winter last season. 'I screamed and threw the blankets off and rolled onto the floor ripping my pants off. I could feel the blisters already,' Erin recalled. Her daughter turned the shower on then called the ambulance while Erin waited under running water for 20 minutes. Paramedics told Erin the quick thinking and time spent in the shower 'minimised the damage', but she still suffered second degree burns on her lower back, left leg and buttock as well as parts of her right thigh. Once she arrived at the hospital doctors cleaned the wounds and were fearful she'd need skin grafts. Paramedics told Erin the quick thinking and time spent in the shower 'minimised the damage', but she still suffered second degree burns on her lower back, left leg and buttock as well as parts of her right thigh 'It was the most horrific pain - for hours it felt like embers were on my skin just constantly burning,' she said. 'The pain for the following week was awful too; [I've been] on regular pain medication to try and control it. Now it's so itchy as it's healing that I just want to rip my skin off!' At the moment Erin said she's finding it difficult to sleep and sit up, and doctors confirmed skin grafts won't be needed. An Australian woman has shared her shock after her American boyfriend wore socks with no shoes on the beach. Posting to TikTok, the 20-year-old, from Perth, went viral after posting a video of her boyfriend standing on the sand in his socks. 'My American boyfriend committed an Australian crime today,' the woman wrote in the clip which has amassed more than 202,900 views. Scroll down for video A 20-year-old woman, from western Australia, has gone viral on TikTok after sharing her shock at her American boyfriend for wearing socks with no shoes while at the beach. 'My American boyfriend committed an Australian crime today,' the woman wrote in the clip which has amassed more than 202,900 views Hundreds took to the comments to express their shock at the uncommon beach practice with one calling it '100 per cent unforgiveable'. 'Immediate ban from the beach for 12 months,' one joked while another laughed: 'Gotta throw the whole boyfriend away now. Poll Is it weird to wear socks at the beach? Absolutely Not at all Is it weird to wear socks at the beach? Absolutely 166 votes Not at all 73 votes Now share your opinion 'I think you need a BF refund, sorry but who wear socks to a BEACH EVER? In the history of going to beaches, when did sock wearing become a thing?' a third asked. 'That sand better be scorching hot. Otherwise, there's no excuse for that behaviour,' said a fourth. Others however defended the American, saying socks can prevent beachgoers from burning their feet on the sand. 'So you don't burn your feet on the sand as that's the only reason I can think of as in Qld my feet were blistered from the sand being hot,' one user suggested. 'Either the sand is too hot or he hates sand between his toes,' said a second. 'I don't give damn what you Aussies think, I'll always wear my socks on the beach,' one American admitted. Dr Nick Watts, NHS England's chief sustainability manager, said the health service slashed its carbon emissions by 276 kilotonnes last year 'principally' because patients made fewer car journeys Remote hospital and GP appointments are 'broadly' a good thing because they reduce pollution, the NHS' eco chief has claimed. Dr Nick Watts said the health service slashed its carbon emissions by 276 kilotonnes last year 'principally' because patients made fewer car journeys. Thousands of operations were cancelled and millions of people delayed coming forward due to fears about Covid. Millions of GP appointments were moved online or done by telephone. In comments that risk fuelling a row over face-to-face appointments, Dr Watts said remote care was 'an intervention that should save carbon' going forward. Britain's top child doctor also said a wider move to online consultations could benefit poor families who can't afford to travel during the cost of living crisis. The comments were made at an annual NHS conference in Liverpool last week, during a talk chaired by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee. But Dr Watts, NHS England's chief sustainability manager, admitted hospitals had to do a 'better job' at ensuring everyone who wants an in-person consultation can get one. Official figures show just 63 per cent of consultations were carried out in-person in England in April. At the current rate, it would take until September 2023 to reach the more than 80 per cent of appointments being made in person seen before the pandemic Salford had the lowest proportion of patients seen in-person with less than half (46 per cent) of appointments made face-to-face. It was followed by Bury (51 per cent), Somerset (53 per cent) and Frimley (53 per cent). Some 79 per cent of appointments in Kirklees were done in person Patients give up on more than one in THREE calls to 111 More than a third of calls to NHS 111 are being abandoned in parts of England as patients get fed up waiting to get through. Nationally, over a quarter of a million people put their phone down before speaking to anyone about their medical issue in April, the latest figures from NHS England reveal. This is equivalent to more than one in seven calls (15 per cent) to the non-emergency service, rising to 35.8 per cent in Devon. Those who give up are likely to pile pressure on other parts of the service by phoning 999 or turning up at overcrowded A&Es. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows it took callers in Devon an average of 11 minutes to get through to 111, almost double the national average. NHS targets state that on average callers should not be held in a queue for more than 20 seconds. Furthermore, fewer than one in 12 of those in Devon promised a call back by NHS 111 received one within 20 minutes, the lowest proportion in the country. It comes after the Daily Mail last week revealed some people are waiting over nine minutes to get through to a 999 call handler when an ambulance should arrive on the scene of the most urgent calls within seven minutes. Advertisement It comes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Amanda Pritchard, NHS England's chief executive, said the current model in A&Es and GP surgeries isn't working. Record waits in A&E have been partly blamed on desperate patients turning up at casualty units because they can't get an appointment with their family doctor. Since coming into the job a year ago, Mr Javid has went to war with GPs over the issue, threatening to 'name and shame' those who do too many consults on Zoom. Campaigners have argued remote consultations increase the risk of doctors missing signs of serious illnesses. They also say this is particularly true for some vulnerable patients, like those with dementia, who may struggle to communicate remotely. The row about face-to-face appointments was brought up during a panel on the NHS's goal to be carbon neutral by 2045. Speaking at NHS ConfedExpo, Ms Toynbee said: 'The remote consultations have saved enormous amount of emissions. 'Yet the Health Secretary seems to be saying, "I want everybody to be back visiting their GP in person". 'Surely we should be promoting the idea of the fantastic gains there have been for people not having to travel pointlessly.' Dr Watts replied: 'So what do we know about remote care? We know that last year alone the NHS saved, from the provision of remote care, primary and secondary, 276kilotonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere. 'Principally, you're right, principally it was from avoided transport emissions, so yes broadly we think that is an intervention that should save carbon.' It is estimated that 13million fewer people went to hospital or their GP for conditions other than Covid during the pandemic. They are now flooding back to the NHS. Campaign groups, MPs and senior medics say many are turning to emergency and walk-in services because they can't see their GP, especially in-person. Some have partly-blamed poor access to GPs for the crisis in emergency departments, warning that desperate patients are showing up at A&E because they can't see a family doctor. In May, 19,053 people were forced to wait 12 hours or more to be treated in A&E, three times longer than the NHS target Ambulances took an average of 39 minutes and 58 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is 11 minutes and 24 seconds quicker than one month earlier but more than double the 18-minute target Children on NHS waiting list soars past 350,000 for first time ever, figures show The number of children languishing on NHS waiting list has passed 350,000 for the first time after rising by 100,000 in just a year, official figures show. Experts warn that long waits are particularly harmful for children as it can impair their mental and physical development at a critical time of life. But only 65.4 per cent of under-18s are being treated within the 18 week target and 12,000 have been waiting for more than a year. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said it was dismayed by the figures as it called for children to be prioritised for care. There were 350,969 waiting to start treatment with a consultant at the end of April, the latest figures from NHS England reveal. This is up 100,000 in a year to the highest level since records began. The overall NHS waiting list, including adults, is also at a record high of 6.5 million. The surge in demand, following a slow-down in routine care during the pandemic, means the average child is now waiting three months to start treatment. There is huge variation in childrens waits around the country, with 230.1 children per 100,000 in Oxfordshire but 5,491.5 per 100,000 in Sheffield - 23-times more. Advertisement Latest figures show six in 10 GP appointments are done face-to-face now, compared to nearly eight in 10 pre-pandemic. At the current rate, it would take until September 2023 to return to levels before Covid hit. Dr Watts added: 'We also know that we need to do a better job of ensuring that we're providing access to every patient that requires that [face-to-face appointments]. 'We know that some patients do want that, so it's probably about a question of choice. 'If you provide our patients with choice about how they can receive care very quickly I think you'll find that people start to take it up in ways that suit them. 'Then you're improving care, improving access, and tackling those 276 kilotonnes of carbon.' The head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health suggested online appointments could benefit many poor families who can't afford to travel. Dr Camilla Kingdon said a wider move to online could be crucial as the cost of living crisis bites. 'The same groups of society that are most at risk from climate change and I'm talking about children are same groups suffering currently from the cost of living crisis,' she told the conference. 'For instance, when we talk about remote consultation, we know it costs on average 31 for a family to bring their child to an outpatient facility. She added: 'So online consultations is one area we can think about but it is not every child's solution.' Dr Kingdon said there was no 'one-size fits all'. 'But I think we can maximize the opportunity we've got, the anxiety around fuel poverty and food poverty, to really weave in the sustainability agenda at the same time,' she added. An NHS England spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Allowing those who want it to get routine NHS care or advice without leaving home, or taking time off work, to travel to a hospital or a surgery is clearly a better option for them, and for our environment. 'But face to face appointments will always be there for those who prefer them, or whose symptoms or condition means they are the right approach clinically.' The NHS became the first health service in the world to pledge to be net zero last November. As well as promoting remote consultations, this will mean using greener vehicles and making hospitals more energy-efficient. Healthcare services are thought to contribute to about 5 per cent of the UK's carbon footprint. Operating theatres make up a quarter of all hospital emissions. It comes after MailOnline revealed patients are being prescribed smartphones so that more patients can be treated 'virtually'. NHS England has set the target of creating an additional 25,000 'beds' by 2024 by expanding the use of 'virtual wards' to treat more people at home. The wards are designed for patients who need care but do not necessarily need to be in hospital. They involve monitoring patients remotely using mobile apps and gadgets that can check oxygen and blood pressure. NHS chiefs said patients on some pilot schemes were already being loaned mobile phones and given lessons to help them become tech-savvy. For people who do not have access to Wi-Fi, trusts are providing them with devices that have access to 4G. Dr Sarah Sibley, who runs virtual wards in Merseyside, claimed one 'barrier' was that many vulnerable people particularly the elderly do not have access to the right technology. She added: 'And we work in areas with lots of social deprivation, people don't have access to technological devices or data to be able to upload information.' Tara Donnelly, director of digital care models at NHS England, said other trusts have struck deals with companies like Vodafone to lend patients phones and tablets. Two-thirds of Americans are putting off medical care they need because of the cost while half are struggling to meet existing debts, a survey revealed. A poll by Kaiser Health News, laid bare the crippling price of health care many Americans facing for fractured limbs, dementia and even cancer. Doctors caring for low-income patients warned the system was 'almost perfectly designed' to force many families into debt. Others said they had faced several cases where patients refused or gave up on the care they needed because of the time. It comes against a backdrop of hospitals recording their most profitable year yet in 2019, the latest date figures are available. Current estimates suggest many continued to rake in funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The above shows the proportion of adults in debt who have done the above in order to meet the costs. Most said they had cut back on basics to cover the debts The above map shows the areas of the U.S. where the most people are in debt due to healthcare costs. Overall, Wyoming had the biggest medical debt per person while Massachusetts had the lowest 'They took the joy of my twins birth': Mother vents anguish at hospitals over crippling healthcare costs A Chicago mother has revealed the eyewatering costs having twins with healthcare issues put on her family. Ally Ward, neonatal nurse practitioner, said her and husband Marcus, were considering filing for bankruptcy after being charged $80,000. The pair told how they sorted their finances before she got pregnant but said it made no difference. Ally had twin boys Milo and Theo who were born 30 weeks premature and had cerebral palsy and other health problems. Milo spent eight weeks in the ICU and Theo spent four months there. It saw costs rocket above their insurance threshold and they owed $80,000. Ally said the stress of it all took away some of the joy of having her boys. She told CBS: 'Instead of being able to be present in the experience of being a new mom and a new family, a lot of times, it was, 'Oh, my gosh. How are we going to make this work?' Marcus added: 'It was a lot of panic, and it was a lot of, ''Do we file for bankruptcy''?' They were slapped with further problems in 2019 when they started getting charged for their then seven-year-olds' therapy programs. They claimed their insurance firm started back-charging them for sessions totaling $40,000. But they sued the firm and won, which cut the cost to a few thousand dollars. Yet they are still paying back around $500 per month they owe from the twins birth near a decade later. Advertisement The survey saw more than 2,000 adults from across the country questioned about their healthcare either online or by phone. The sample was designed to be 'nationally representative', including families with both high and low incomes. Other findings from the survey included that a quarter of Americans are currently battling to pay off debts higher than $5,000 from medical or dental bills. One-in-five also believe they will never be able to cover the costs of care they needed. And as many as one-in-seven said they had been blocked from entering hospitals because of outstanding medical bills. Dr Rishi Manchanda, who works at non-profit RIP Medical Debt in California, said: 'We have a healthcare system almost perfectly designed to create debt. 'Debt is no longer just a bug in our system. It is one of the main products.' Dr Miriam Atkins, an oncologist at Georgia's Doctor Hospital of Augusta, said she'd faced several cases where patients gave up on care because of the cost. She blasted the current system as 'barbaric'. Out of Americans struggling with healthcare bills, the survey revealed two thirds said they were cutting back on food, clothing and other basics to meet medical bills. Half confessed to using up all or most of their savings that had been intended for retirement. And two in five said they had no choice but to take on extra work to cover the costs. Nationally, people between 30 and 49-years-old were most likely to be in debt due to medical costs at seven in ten the survey found. They were followed by people aged 50 to 64 years six in ten and those between 18 and 29 years half of the total. People over 65 years were least likely to have the debt. Breaking the U.S. into states showed people in Wyoming were most in debt due to hospitals at about $1,611 owed per person. It was followed by Alaska at $1,363 and Utah at $1,011. On the other end of the scale was Massachusetts ($405 debt per person), Minnesota ($425) and New York state ($464). The figures came as hospitals logged their most profitable year in 2019 at 7.6 percent, according to figures from the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee. It noted many hospitals had continued to thrive throughout the pandemic. People aged 30 to 49 years old were most likely to be battling against medical costs, the survey revealed, while those who were over-65 were least likely to have the debts The survey which was nationally representative also revealed even some households in the highest income bracket faced debt from hospitals Politicians attempted to stymie the growth of medical debt with the landmark Affordable Care Act in 2010. This lowered the cost of medical insurance for the poorest households ensuring more people could get covered. But many experts say the scheme hasn't worked with insurance companies instead shifting the cost of care onto patients. President Joe Biden plans to improve healthcare access for millions of Americans by improving the act. This would see them close a loop-hole where families who purchase health coverage through an employer are ineligible for a premium tax credit even though they need it to afford the coverage. This affects about 5 million people. The American Hospitals Association which represents healthcare providers did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. Drinking in the sweet scent of the flowers her daughter had given her for Mother's Day, Sonia Sein's eyes brimmed with tears. For nearly eight years, this simple pleasure had been only a dream. In fact, her health and quality of life was so poor that at just 56, Sonia, a former social worker and grandmother of two from New York, was preparing to go into a hospice, told by her doctors 'there was nothing more they could do'. A life-threatening asthma attack in 2014 had led to such severe damage to her trachea the windpipe that the only way Sonia could breathe was through a tube in her throat, depriving her not only of the ability to enjoy any scents as they passed through her nose, but also making it increasingly difficult to talk or even eat, let alone breathe. Then in January last year, Sonia became the first person in the world to receive a human trachea transplant, using a healthy trachea from a deceased donor. Sonia Sein, 56, is a former social worker and grandmother of two from New York A life-threatening asthma attack led to such severe damage to her trachea The operation was a significant milestone because the trachea has defied all previous attempts to use donor tissue. The main obstacle has been securing a blood supply to the transplanted trachea. So when surgeons found a way to circumvent this problem for Sonia, it made headlines around the world. In the first UK interview since the experimental surgery, Sonia reveals how it has transformed her life: she's now able to breathe freely again, eat normally and run around after her two grandchildren. 'When my daughter LaTisha [32] gave me the flowers, they smelled so good I cried I never thought I'd be able to do any of this again,' says Sonia, 58. 'When I go for walks I deliberately go past flower shops just to inhale the perfume.' The ultimate test of the success of the surgery came two months ago when the hole in her throat, which had helped her breathe for so many years, was finally closed. 'It was a big moment because I didn't know if I would be able to breathe without it,' says Sonia. 'When I realised I could, I was so excited. Since he was a toddler, my 11-year-old grandson, Sebastian, had only seen me with the hole in my throat. When it was closed he started crying, saying he'd got his old nana back. That made me cry.' But this lifesaving breakthrough nearly didn't happen the fact it did marks an important milestone not just for patients like Sonia, representing a victory against research fraud. In 2008, a charismatic Italian surgeon, Paolo Macchiarini, made headlines world wide after a study published in The Lancet revealed he'd transplanted a trachea from a dead donor removing the cells from it to use it as a cartilage 'skeleton'. WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Sonia became first person in the world to receive a human trachea transplant The operation was a significant milestone because the trachea has defied all previous attempts to use donor tissue This was then seeded with the recipient's stem cells (the body's raw materials) the implication was that the patient would 'regrow' their trachea, heralding a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. Macchiarini then switched from donor tracheas to plastic ones, leading to more headlines as he took on a prestigious post at the world-renowned Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Yet this breakthrough was anything but. For in 2014 it emerged that nearly all of the 17 patients worldwide who'd received these 'tissue engineered' airways had died (the few still alive have survived in spite of the surgery). Macchiarini had misrepresented data and exaggerated the effectiveness of his technique and was found guilty of research fraud. He was given a 16-month prison sentence in Italy (where he'd operated on some patients) and last week, was found guilty in a Swedish court of causing bodily harm for performing the experimental procedure on a patient, and given a two-year suspended sentence. Macchiarini's case and others like it have far-reaching implications; not only can such fraud lead to potentially harmful treatments being given to patients, but pioneering research by other scientists can be halted, setting back progress. Eric Genden, a head and neck surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, who carried out the pioneering surgery on Sonia, had spent years working on his approach, but following Macchiarini's announcements thought his work had 'become obsolete, so basically shut down the lab'. 'You can't justify doing experimental surgery and immunosuppression [using drugs to stop the immune system rejecting the new organ] when you see something else that looks perfect, so you realise, wow, we're out of business,' he said last year. Fortunately for Sonia, as Macchiarini's work unravelled, Mr Genden went back to his idea. Sonia had suffered from bad asthma all her life, regularly needing a nebuliser (a mask through which you inhale medication during severe asthma attacks), but says the asthma attack in October 2014 was 'the worst' she'd ever had. 'I went to work and then out with friends, but when I came home, I couldn't breathe,' she says. 'I couldn't get any air in, even though I was using my inhalers and nebuliser to relieve it, I was suffocating. I couldn't even call the emergency services my neighbours had to, as I was gasping for air. Yet this breakthrough was anything but. For in 2014 it emerged that nearly all of the 17 patients worldwide who'd received these 'tissue engineered' airways had died (the few still alive have survived in spite of the surgery) 'I was in hospital for two weeks, during which I was intubated, and then had a month in rehab.' But the intubation that saved her life had also caused irreparable damage to her trachea, a pipe about 11 cm long that runs from the larynx (the voice box) to the lungs. One side of the trachea curves like a halfpipe and is composed of cartilage rings and ligaments; the other side is flat and mobile to move air to the lungs. Its job is to allow air in and out of the lungs and clean the lungs by trapping bacteria in mucus in the cilia, tiny hair-like cells that line it. The cilia sweep the mucus upwards and it's coughed out. The intubation and a subsequent tracheotomy a hole in the throat through which a tube is passed to help with breathing severely damaged 8 cm of Sonia's trachea, causing scarring and a narrowing of the pipe. In the seven years after the asthma attack, Sonia was in and out of hospital and had six major operations and more than ten procedures to try to improve her condition by cutting out the diseased area and reconstructing the trachea. These all failed. 'I had a tube permanently inserted into my trachea through a hole in my throat to keep me alive,' she says. 'But every few days this would clog with mucus and I felt like I was suffocating.' Daily life was fraught with fear. 'I was constantly suctioning to clear the tube and used a humidifier to keep the air moist to help with breathing,' she says. 'I was careful when I went outside if it was too hot or cold, as this can also affect breathing. But most of the time I stayed at home and didn't have much of a life because I couldn't work or do too much. 'I couldn't really talk to people for more than five minutes because I couldn't breathe. Even eating was problematic because the damage to my vocal cords meant that food would sometimes go down the wrong way.' When the pandemic struck she 'was very careful' and while she didn't catch Covid, she still ended up being in hospital most of the time with breathing problems. Despite 'amazing support' from her sister, Sandra, and her family, 'it wasn't a life and it was clear the condition was likely to kill me sooner or later so I decided I'd have the tube removed and go into a hospice to be cared for until I died'. Then one last Google search in 2017 changed everything. It revealed Mr Genden, who had been researching trachea transplants for 25 years. After numerous consultations, he agreed to put Sonia forward as the first person in the world to have the operation. It took two years to get ethics approval for the procedure. Then, finally, a suitable deceased organ donor was found a 37-year-old man. Choosing someone of the opposite sex means doctors can distinguish between the donor and recipient cells, to see how well the transplant had worked. 'I was very keen to take it slowly as this is experimental surgery,' says Mr Genden. The risk for Sonia was that, in removing her own trachea, if the new one didn't work, there was no artificial implant that could do the job instead. Sonia admits she was 'scared and nervous' before the procedure but felt she had 'nothing to lose'. 'I just thought even if I have five minutes of normal breathing, that would be great,' she says. The 18-hour operation went ahead on January 13, 2021, with more than 20 surgeons and medical staff gathered in the operating theatre at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. The team first extracted the donor's trachea, and in the adjacent operating theatre removed Sonia's diseased trachea. Mr Genden stitched into place not just the donor trachea but and this was the innovation that made the surgery possible also part of the oesophagus, thyroid gland and thyroid arteries. In the seven years after the asthma attack, Sonia was in and out of hospital and had six major operations and more than ten procedures to try to improve her condition by cutting out the diseased area and reconstructing the trachea 'The key was including part of the donor oesophagus, as this meant the transplanted trachea already had its own blood supply which was then connected to Sonia's blood vessels,' says Mr Genden. Professor Guri Sandhu, a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, in London, who is the UK's leading damaged airway expert, described the surgery as 'genius'. Following the operation, Sonia was in hospital for a month but says she immediately felt better, despite being in pain. 'As soon as I woke up I felt I was able to breathe,' she says. A hole the width of a pencil was kept in her throat so doctors could easily examine her trachea in the months after surgery. According to Professor Sandhu, this was the real test to see if the procedure had worked. 'To know that the patient can finally breathe normally through the nose again is the glory moment,' he says. 'The patient has their life back.' Around 150 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with serious tracheal damage auto-immune conditions, radiotherapy for certain cancers and being placed on a ventilator can all cause it. 'In the vast majority of cases, the damaged section of trachea up to 6 cm long can be cut out and the ends then stitched back together,' says Professor Sandhu. Deadly toll when doctors go rogue Some of the more shocking examples of research fraud include the story of Don Poldermans, a former professor of cardiology in Holland. He claimed his research showed that beta-blockers (drugs used to treat high blood pressure and angina) should be used to reduce stress on the heart during non-cardiac surgery. One of his studies showed that the drugs were associated with a tenfold reduction in heart attack or heart-related death in high-risk patients with existing heart disease within 30 days of surgery. He was later exposed for fabricating data and subsequent studies showed this approach actually increased the risk of death by 27 per cent. Its estimated that 800,000 people across Europe, including 80,000 Britons, died unnecessarily as a result. More notoriously, Andrew Wakefields claim in 1998 that his research showed that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked to autism was also discredited as fraudulent but not before it had led to a huge drop in the number of children having the MMR jab. Wakefields study is being blamed for the re-emergence of measles in the UK and is also seen as the start of the anti-vax movement among parents rejecting the Covid vaccination for their children. Just last year a review of 26 major trials of the drug ivermectin, an anti-parasite medicine thats claimed can treat Covid, found that a third had serious errors or signs of potential fraud. Advertisement 'If the damage is more extensive, the only option is to keep a tracheotomy in permanently or insert a stent, a plastic or metal tube to keep the trachea open. 'However, any artificial tubing will cause inflammation and further damage to the trachea, and because these tubes don't contain cilia it leads to mucus plugging and the patient can feel like they are drowning.' Mr Genden is understandably delighted by Sonia's transformation, which was revealed in the American Journal of Transplantation in April 2021. 'In 18 months, the trachea has never shown any signs of rejection and within 18 to 30 days her cells had grown into and repopulated the transplanted organ,' he told Good Health. The surgery is not without risks transplant patients need to take immunosuppressant drugs potentially for the rest of their lives. But there is another side to this story that raises important issues for all patients. Following his conviction, some of Paolo Macchiarini's studies have been retracted by medical journals, and earlier this year UK cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst, a campaigner for research integrity, called for the 2008 Lancet study to be withdrawn, too. The case, and others like it, have major implications for patients and scientists, says Dr Wilmshurst. 'Research fraud causes harm to other researchers who spend time and often public money trying to take the next step, and then realise they can't confirm the initial findings because they are based on a false premise,' he told Good Health. 'This delays new research, which has an impact on the health and lives of patients. In some cases, it actually causes harm to patients.' (See box, previous page) According to a study published in the journal PLoS One in 2009, as many as 2 per cent of scientists have 'fabricated, falsified or modified data or results at least once', and up to a third admit other questionable research practices. 'The impact of research fraud is wide-ranging,' says Dr Wilmshurst, who has given evidence to a House of Commons select committee on the issue. 'It discredits science with the public and erodes the fundamental trust between doctors and patients which is essential for health research.' 'As many trials are publicly funded, it is also a huge waste of taxpayers' money.' To address the problem, in 2020 the Cochrane Library (regarded as the gold standard of medical evidence review) launched procedures to crack down on fraud, such as checking whether a trial has been registered with a governing body before it started (so that the results can't later be skewed to fit another thesis). But more could be done to stamp out research fraud. Mr Genden is backing the call for The Lancet to retract the 2008 discredited study, telling Good Health that, after the furore it later caused, he 'almost gave up on his research'. In the end, his passion for finding a solution, which stemmed back to when he was a medical student and was involved in the care of a patient with a tracheal tumour who died, won through. Sonia, understandably, is extremely thankful he persisted. 'Having the trachea transplant has given me a new lease of life,' she says. 'It's amazing.' Monkeypox is continuing its spread across the U.S., with Indiana and Missouri logging their first potential cases over the weekend - and official figures reach the 111 mark. One case was detected by Kansas City, Missouri, health officials on Saturday, with a resident who had recently traveled domestically testing positive for the orthopox family of viruses that includes monkeypox. State health officials in Indiana also revealed they had detected a potential case in an undisclosed part of the state. Samples from both persons will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to confirm if they are monkeypox infections with results expected in the coming days. The Midwest and Great Plains regions of the U.S. had largely been spared from the rare tropical virus so far, with only Ohio and Illinois having recorded cases before the weekend. Though it is possible that the virus has been circulating in the region before these two recent cases were logged and just were not picked up by surveillance. In total, the U.S. has confirmed 111 cases - with neither of the cases in Indiana and Missouri being included in official figures yet - with New York and California suffering the worst outbreaks with nearly two dozen infections each. Just over 2,500 cases have been detected worldwide, with the 574 cases in the UK being the most. No deaths have been tied to the recent monkeypox outbreak in countries where it is not endemic. Cases from Missouri and Indiana have not yet been added to official CDC case figures as federal officials work to confirm them. Over the weekend, the case tally rose from 100 to 111 'This week, one of our excellent nurses suspected one of our patients may have monkeypox virus,' Dr Marvia Jones, director of the Kansas City Health Department said. 'We are considering this a probable case of monkeypox virus until we receive final confirmation from the CDC labs.' The case would be the first in the state of Missouri. Neighboring Illinois and Oklahoma has also recorded cases of monkeypox during this outbreak. If the cases in Missouri and Indiana are confirmed then it would bring America's infection count to 113. WHO investigating if monkeypox can spread through semen The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will investigate whether monkeypox can be passed on through semen. Currently, scientists say it may spread through sex due to physical contact with infectious skin lesions on the genital area or other parts of the body. But this week Italian scientists said they had detected fragments of the virus in semen raising the possibility it could transmit through this route. German scientists say they have also detected the virus in semen. A WHO official revealed they were looking into the reports Wednesday. The agency's monkeypox incident manager Catherine Smallwood said: 'We really need to focus on the most frequent mode of transmission and we clearly see that to be associated with skin-to-skin contact.' More than 2,000 cases have been detected globally outside of West Africa, where it is endemic. These are mostly among gay and bisexual men. But scientists warn the rash-causing virus spreads through close personal contact, and it is likely the disease could spill over into other groups. Advertisement Officials in both states are also undergoing contact tracing measures to notify others who have may been exposed to the virus. While the exact symptoms being faced by each infected person has not been revealed, the CDC warns that common symptoms include rashes, blisters on the hands, feet, arms, genitals and other areas of the body, muscle aches and fatigue among others. The agency also warns that many may mistake the pox that come as part of the infection - the most obvious sign a person has contracted the virus - with STIs like syphilis. Monkeypox usually spreads by body-to-body contact with the infectious lesions on a person's body, though it can also be transmitted through sustained face-to-face contact. Patients are expected to first experience a fever within three weeks, followed by a rash that covers the face, and then the rest of the body. Last week, the CDC warned that many patients were not experiencing the typical symptoms. The agency reports that many were developing the rashes before fevers, with some never experiencing a fever at all. Rashes were being recorded in the mouth and genital area or anus, which has not previously been associated with the illness. The patterns of lesions appearing around the body were not consistent either. Almost all cases in the U.S. have been tied to international travel, either to an African nation where the virus is endemic or to a European country that has experienced significant spread. Some cases have no links to travel, though, indicating multiple examples of human-to-human transmission on U.S. soil. Gay and bisexual men in particular have suffered the largest burden of infections, with the virus believed to be spreading through the sexual network. Outbreaks have been tied to wo sex-raves in Belgium and Spain, and a recent Mr Leather fetish event in Chicago, Illinois, is believed to be at the center of another cluster of cases. This has left some worried that Pride parades this June will be sources of rampant monkeypox spread. Doctors and community leaders are encouraging people to still attend these events, but to take precautions. Speaking at the town hall on monkeypox, Henry said: 'Going out at Pride, going to the stores, the restaurants, the bars if you are avoiding prolonged skin-to-skin contact that should be safe. 'The only other method of transmitting monkeypox is through respiratory droplets, but that's rare. 'If you are not touching someone, you would need to be indoors without a mask for several hours if not more to catch it. 'So you can go outside at the Parade, don't be afraid to go for pubs and bars but watch for the rashes and look at what is on their body.' He added: 'Essentially you don't want prolonged skin-to-skin contact with someone who has that rash. 'For people who might recreationally enjoy dark rooms or commercial sex clubs where you can't see what's on the person's body now is not the time to be there.' Gorensek, an infectious disease specialist from the state's Holy Cross Medical Group, warned people to 'minimize' skin-to-skin contact. 'There would be less risk going to concerts and gatherings that is not high risk,' she said. 'But skin-to-skin contact puts you more in that category. A fifth of all GP surgeries have shut in the past decade, according to an analysis. NHS statistics show there were fewer than 6,500 practices open in England in June down from 8,100 in 2013. Some have shut completely, leaving patients with no option but to travel. Others have merged, creating 'mega-surgeries'. Closures have only pushed list sizes up further, making it even harder for patients to get appointments. A dire lack of GP access has been partly blamed for fuelling record A&E waits, with desperate patients left under the impression that attending casualty is their only chance of being seen. Face-to-face appointments have still yet to pick up to pre-pandemic levels, despite warnings from campaigners that. The practice closure figures came from trade publication GPOnline. NHS statistics show there were fewer than 6,500 practices open in England in June down from 8,100 in 2013 Official figures show just 63 per cent of consultations were carried out in-person in England in April. At the current rate, it would take until September 2023 to reach the more than 80 per cent of appointments being made in person seen before the pandemic Salford had the lowest proportion of patients seen in-person with less than half (46 per cent) of appointments made face-to-face. It was followed by Bury (51 per cent), Somerset (53 per cent) and Frimley (53 per cent). Some 79 per cent of appointments in Kirklees were done in person NHS' eco chief: Fewer face-to-face NHS appointments are a good thing Remote hospital and GP appointments are 'broadly' a good thing because they reduce pollution, the NHS' eco chief has claimed. Dr Nick Watts said the health service slashed its carbon emissions by 276 kilotonnes last year 'principally' because patients made fewer car journeys. Thousands of operations were cancelled in 2021 and millions of people delayed coming forward due to fears about Covid. Most GP appointments were moved online or done by telephone. In comments that risk fuelling a row over face-to-face appointments, Dr Watts said remote care was 'an intervention that should save carbon' going forward. Britain's top child doctor also said a wider move to online consultations could benefit poor families who can't afford to travel during the cost of living crisis. Advertisement Small GP practices are among the most popular with patients, surveys show. Health leaders have previously warned the rise of mega-practices threatens the treasured doctor-patient relationship as patients are less likely to see the same medic each time. Continuity of care has been shown to cut the risk of premature death and hospitalisation. Dennis Reed, director of elderly charity Silver Voices, told MailOnline: 'If local surgeries are closed, its going to move away from where people live, making them harder to access. 'It's part of the wider problem of moving away from the family doctor model. Ever since NHS England was set up, it's been making surgeries bigger. 'Patients never see the same doctor and it means they don't know their history as well and you have to start again every time you go. 'It might be good for saving costs but it makes the patient experience worse and could result in worse outcomes.' GPOnline's analysis showed the average patient list size now sits above 9,500, up 37 per cent from roughly 7,000 in 2013. Meanwhile. NHS Digital data shows there are now 61.7million patients on the books across England. By contrast, the figure was closer to 56million a decade ago. A survey earlier this year revealed that patient satisfaction with their GP surgery has plummeted to its lowest ever level, fuelled by the appointments crisis. It has seen patients rushed through consultations like 'goods on a factory conveyor belt', a damning report warned last month. A quarter of consultations are taking five minutes or less in some parts of the country. Doctors say squeezing in so many appointments raises the risk of missing diseases and prescribing the wrong drugs. In order to make it easier for millions of patients to be seen, GPs have been told to start offering weekday evening and weekend consultations from October. But family doctors, who pocket an average of 100,000/year, have threatened strike action over the NHS contract because they feel overwhelmed and fear the move will spread them even thinner. Overall, there are now nearly 1,700 fewer full-time equivalent GPs than in 2015 despite a Government pledge to hire thousands more. Many are retiring in their 50s, moving abroad or leaving to work in the private sector because of soaring demand and paperwork. The row over current levels of face-to-face appointments, in particular, has also been named as one factor for GPs quitting. Prior to the pandemic over 80 per cent of GP appointments were held face-to-face but the rate now stands close to 60 per cent, with the rest done virtually. Sajid Javid has repeatedly urged doctors to boost in-person appointments. Latin dance classes may not just be fun, but they can also help an elderly or middle-aged person maintain their brain health later in life, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Illinois and Indiana University found that regular dance classes in the salsa, samba and merengue helped improve a person's working memory - short term memory that is kept in the background of a person's mind while they are completing other courses. The fun, engaging, exercise not only works out the brain, but the body as a whole - which is linked to better cognitive health overall. Medical experts have long-known that increased physical activity can have great benefits for the brain in older age, and the research team is hopeful that a fun exercise like dancing will be more attractive to some than jogging or other standard workouts. Researchers found that middle-aged and elderly people who took part in dance classes had stronger memory skills than their peers who just took health classes (file photo) Researchers, who published their findings earlier this year in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, gathered data from over 300 Spanish speakers in the Chicago, Illinois-area over the course of four years. Participants were split into two groups, one was sent to twice-weekly dance classes for eight months. For the first half of this period, the participants were instructed by a professional. The other group attended four months worth of weekly health education classes. After the first four months, participants were given cognitive tests to gauge their cognitive health and memory skills. Both groups of participants had similar results at the halfway point, though that would chance by the eight month mark - where the dance group was starting to distance itself. The participants who took part in the dance classes also reported feeling better overall, managing chronic diseases better and they even said they could make friends easier. Researchers said that for this group of Latinos in particular, the Latin dances were great for their health because of how engaging they were. 'For older Latinos, the thought of promoting dance as exercise is very appealing, given that older Latinos are familiar with dance in some way,' Dr Susan Aguinaga, a kinesiology professor at Illinois and lead study author, told UPI. 'They've grown up with it, maybe they've danced in the past and it's something that they enjoy.' The researchers are hopeful that these results are replicable outside of the Latino community, though. Researchers say that Latinos in particular benefited from the dance because it is more engaging for them, but they believe the results can be replicated across ethnic backgrounds (file photo) 'It's an appealing type of physical activity that they want to continue engaging with,' Aguinaga said. 'In general, populations have a hard time maintaining their physical activity levels, but when it's an activity that they actually enjoy, then they will be more likely to maintain that activity for longer periods of time. 'The takeaway is definitely finding an activity that is enjoyable, that is appealing, and if dancing is that activity that provides enjoyment and physical activity and social support, then I think this is an activity that should be promoted more.' There have long been links between regular exercise and the slowing down of cognitive decline. The Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, writes that people who are physically active are less likely to experience a decline in mental functioning. As a result, they are also less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's, a devastating condition that affects over six million Americans. The exact mechanism that links physical activity to cognitive ability has not yet been pinpointed by medical experts. Around three in ten adults in the UK have varicose veins. These occur when the valves inside the veins of the legs stop working properly, causing blood to flow back down. 'Over time, this enlarges the veins,' explains Gary Maytham, a consultant vascular surgeon at St George's Hospital, London and Spire Gatwick Park Hospital in Surrey. Left untreated, varicose veins can bleed when knocked and lead to leg ulcers. Treatment involves surgery to close the veins 'burning' the inside of the vein so it collapses in on itself and closes. But NHS criteria, which vary regionally, are strict, and only a small percentage of people with varicose veins qualify for surgery. There are treatments you can use at home but are they any good? We asked Mr Maytham and Professor Stephen Black, lead clinician at the UK Vein Clinic in Harley Street, London, to review a selection. We then rated them. Around three in ten adults in the UK have varicose veins. These occur when the valves inside the veins of the legs stop working properly, causing blood to flow back down (File image) LIGHT THERAPY Blue light skin therapy pen, 14.95, ozerty.com CLAIM: Hold the tip of this battery-operated device against the area affected by spider or varicose veins for up to two minutes, two or three times a day. It emits painless blue light which the maker says can 'penetrate deep into your skin, stimulating collagen production and accelerating blood circulation', helping varicose veins 'fade away'. EXPERT VERDICT: 'Spider [or thread] veins are small blue or red clusters of veins on the legs and face,' says Mr Maytham, 'which can occur on their own or alongside larger varicose veins, but they are a cosmetic issue rather than a health problem. 'They're usually treated by micro-sclerotherapy injecting a chemical into the veins, causing them to collapse. 'Laser or pulsed light therapy can also be used. The very high-energy light damages the walls of the spider veins, causing them to disappear in time. 'The suggestion seems to be that this pen can achieve the same effect, but blue light is not used in medical clinics. It's likely to be a waste of money.' VERDICT: 0/10 'Blue light is not used in medical clinics. It's likely to be a waste of money.' Pictured: Blue light skin therapy pen, 14.95, ozerty.com LEG RAISER Putnams memory foam leg rest, 68.30, backcareonline.co.uk CLAIM: This wedge-style pillow, made from memory foam, keeps both legs raised when you lie in bed. Its maker says it is contoured 'to follow the shape of your legs, giving maximum support, reducing pressure' and providing 'relief from varicose veins'. The website says it is 'recommended by the NHS'. EXPERT VERDICT: 'A common symptom of varicose veins is swelling in the legs and ankles (oedema),' says Mr Maytham. 'A wedge like this can help as it raises the legs above the level of the heart, using gravity to encourage fluid to drain out of the legs via the lymphatic system, rather than building up in the soft tissues, causing swelling. 'This wedge would be more supportive than pillows. Although that won't tackle the underlying causes of varicose veins, I suggest this type of leg-raisers to patients to reduce swelling.' VERDICT: 8/10 'This wedge-style pillow, made from memory foam, keeps both legs raised when you lie in bed.' Pictured: Putnams memory foam leg rest, 68.30, backcareonline.co.uk SQUEEZY SOCKS VR Original Superfit, 27.99, vitalactive.com CLAIM: These knee-length nylon compression socks are 'designed to control the development of the condition and ease the discomfort caused by dysfunctional valves in the veins', says the manufacturer. These socks have a compression level of 16 to 18mmHg. EXPERT VERDICT: 'Compression socks are good for swelling, but only if they are tight enough to squeeze fluid in the tissues back into circulation around the body,' says Professor Black, who normally recommends a European class-two medical stocking or sock with a compression of 30 to 40mmHg for varicose veins. 'But this pair is only about half that, so they're just like a tight pair of socks, which won't do much good to help your varicose veins.' VERDICT: 5/10 'Compression socks are good for swelling, but only if they are tight enough to squeeze fluid in the tissues back into circulation around the body.' Pictured: VR Original Superfit, 27.99, vitalactive.com HERB PATCHES Vapatch herbal varicose veins soothing patch, pack of 40, 17.95, bellagadgets.co.uk CLAIM: The site selling these stick-on patches claims they're an 'effective and safe treatment for varicose veins'. They contain ingredients including lotus leaves and cassia that will 'soothe and relieve the inflammation and pain of swollen veins', restoring skin 'to a healthy condition in two months'. Apply a patch over varicose veins two or three times a day, then massage to increase circulation. EXPERT VERDICT: 'I'm not familiar enough with the ingredients to know if they have any anti-inflammatory effect, which would be the only possible benefit,' says Mr Maytham. 'Massage may reduce discomfort, but these patches will have no effect on the underlying issues which cause varicose veins.' VERDICT: 1/10 'Massage may reduce discomfort, but these patches will have no effect on the underlying issues which cause varicose veins.' Pictured: Vapatch herbal varicose veins soothing patch, pack of 40, 17.95, bellagadgets.co.uk COOLING GEL A. Vogel Venagel, 100g, 9.98, bodykind.com CLAIM: This gel contains extract of horse chestnut seeds, 'commonly associated with treatment of varicose veins', according to its maker, which claims it offers 'cooling relief to legs that feel weary, heavy and uncomfortable'. Massage into affected areas two or three times daily. EXPERT VERDICT: 'There's some weak data from existing studies that says horse chestnut seed extract will make a slight difference as the active ingredient, aescin, seems to improve swelling and venous tone [how well the blood is distributed] and function,' says Professor Black. 'But this evidence isn't very robust and [the gel] would need to be used every day for a sustained period as the effects stop when you stop using the product. 'This won't help severe varicose veins, although used for massage in the area it may improve symptoms such as swelling.' VERDICT: 3/10 'This won't help severe varicose veins, although used for massage in the area it may improve symptoms such as swelling.' Pictured: A. Vogel Venagel, 100g, 9.98, bodykind.com CITRUS TABLETS Venalex capsules, pack of 60, 13.35, amazon.co.uk CLAIM: These supplements contain diosmin and hesperidin (from citrus fruit). The maker claims they can help circulation problems, including varicose veins and haemorrhoids. Take two a day. EXPERT VERDICT: 'Diosmin and hesperidin are flavonoids [plant-based chemicals] which can reduce swelling and have an antioxidant effect which may help with vascular health,' says Professor Black. Numerous studies have shown they help improve vein tone and function, including one, published in the International Angiology journal in 2018, which showed that taking a medicine containing these two ingredients improved nine leg symptoms associated with chronic vein-related disease. 'Their effect is quite subtle and you'd need to take them every day once you stop, so does the effect,' says Professor Black. 'I recommend that my patients take capsules containing these ingredients, but warn they can sometimes cause tummy upset. They won't deal with the cause of varicose veins, but may ease symptoms.' VERDICT: 7/10 'I recommend that my patients take capsules containing these ingredients, but warn they can sometimes cause tummy upset.' Pictured: Venalex capsules, pack of 60, 13.35, amazon.co.uk SHOE INSERTS OrthoSole Max Cushion Insole, 45, orthosole.com CLAIM: These insoles can help with poor circulation caused by 'disrupted blood flow' due to varicose veins. Regular use is said to 'help to combat bad circulation in the feet'. EXPERT VERDICT: 'An insole such as this could help to ease symptoms including aching, heavy or painful legs, but they won't fix the broken valves in the veins,' says Professor Black. He adds that wearing supportive footwear can help vein health in the lower leg by extending the toes to their maximum, thereby helping to engage calf muscles and help pump the blood back towards the heart. 'A pair of these inserts won't do you any harm but they also may not make any difference to varicose veins.' VERDICT: 3/10 'A pair of these inserts won't do you any harm but they also may not make any difference to varicose veins.' Pictured: OrthoSole Max Cushion Insole, 45, orthosole.com SKIN CREAM Varesil varicose veins cream, 100ml, 25.99, stressnomore.co.uk CLAIM: Rub this cream, containing natural ingredients, into skin in affected areas to reduce the swelling, itching and discomfort caused by varicose veins. It contains grapeseed oil, an anti-inflammatory, and soothing aloe vera. The maker says the cream 'is absorbed deep into the skin', repairing and strengthening varicose vein walls. It's claimed this shrinks them because the ingredients 'regenerate damaged tissue'. EXPERT VERDICT: 'Varicose veins can often lead to eczema because they cause the skin to become inflamed,' says Mr Maytham. 'Anti-inflammatory creams can help ease this, but specialist eczema creams are likely to be more effective. 'Varesil cream may offer patients some short-term relief, but it will have no effect on the underlying causes of varicose veins.' VERDICT: 2/10 Government officials are clamping down on the 'buy now, pay later' market with fresh regulations. The move comes as the UK's BNPL industry, estimated to be worth 6billion, continues to grow. Clamping down: Lenders will be required to ensure loans are affordable for consumers, while advertisements must be fair, clear and not misleading It has so far been unregulated, sparking concerns about consumers being encouraged to pay with money they don't have, pushing them into debt. The Treasury is introducing its first formal batch of rules specific to the sector's interest-free credit arrangements. Lenders will be required to ensure loans are affordable for consumers, while advertisements must be fair, clear and not misleading. Following the announcement, the economic secretary to the Treasury John Glen said: 'Buy now, pay later can be a helpful way to manage your finances but we need to ensure that people can embrace new products and services with the appropriate protections in place.' Easyjet will likely rack up another year of losses as it cancels thousands more flights and leaves holidaymakers in the lurch. The budget airline was on track to return to profit this year as it bounced back from the pandemic. But amid chaotic scenes at airports across the UK and Europe, the carrier yesterday slashed the number of flights it planned for the summer. Apology: Easyjet Chief executive Johan Lundgren (pictured) admitted service has been below expectations It is feared as many as 10,000 flights could be cancelled between July and September leaving the holiday plans of 1.5m customers in jeopardy. Analysts had expected EasyJet to be back in the black this year having suffered 2.2billion of losses since coronavirus struck in 2020. But with revenues taking another hit and costs rising, they slashed their forecasts yesterday. Experts at private wealth manager Bernstein warned the lost flights could cost it as much as 200million. And brokers at Peel Hunt said EasyJet was on course to make a 59million loss this year having previously pencilled in a 44million profit. Analyst Alex Paterson said: Because the disruption has dragged on, costs have increased. Shares fell 4 per cent in early trading yesterday before ending up 1.5 per cent, or 6.7p, at 443.7p. Sophie Lund-Yates, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: These plans are going to prolong total recovery for EasyJet. The costs that come with ramping operations back up are huge. So while its a customer apology being doled out today, any deviation from the new plan will mean the same courtesy would be due to shareholders. In an unscheduled trading update, EasyJet said it was proactively consolidating or axing in plain English flights in a bid to avoid last-minute cancellations. It said the move would give customers advance notice and the chance to rebook on alternative flights. Holidaymakers have been hit by mass cancellations and long queues at airports ever since travel restrictions were eased in spring, with EasyJet and British Airways among the worst offenders amid staff shortages and IT failures. In a move that will fuel concerns about the summer, EasyJet said it expects capacity between April and June to be around 87 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, having previously forecast 90 per cent. And it cut the outlook for the crucial July to September holiday period from 97 per cent to 90 per cent raising the prospect that 10,000 flights could be axed. In a grovelling apology, chief executive Johan Lundgren said: We are sorry that for some customers we have not been able to deliver the service they have come to expect from us. Heathrow was also forced to apologise unreservedly after it cancelled flights at two terminals yesterday following a weekend that saw luggage pile up. Lundgren said he was forced to act after London Gatwick and Amsterdams Schiphol airport imposed a cap on flights. The airline has already cancelled thousands of flights, particularly during school holidays at Easter and the half-term period, which coincided with the Jubilee bank holiday weekend. No-frills rival Ryanair, however, capitalised on the cancellations, adding over 200 extra flights from its UK airports. A fund run by the activist billionaire shaking up Unilever has found itself in the crosshairs of its own top shareholders. Trian Investors 1 (TI1), listed on the London Stock Exchange and managed by Nelson Peltzs firm Trian Partners, is under siege from Invesco, Janus Henderson, Staude Capital and Pelham Capital. The four investment firms, who also have the support of Aegon Asset Management, have joined forces to call for an overhaul of TI1s board. In the firing line: Trian Investors 1, managed by Nelson Peltzs firm Trian Partners, is under siege from Invesco, Janus Henderson, Staude Capital and Pelham Capital They said their aim was to achieve an acceptable standard of governance and to restore the trust and confidence of the independent shareholders in TI1. The intervention is a blow to 79-year-old Peltz who is in the middle of an activist battle with consumer goods giant Unilever and recently won a seat on the board, sparking speculation he could seek to break it up. But he now faces a shareholder backlash of his own. The rebel group was angered by several changes which TI1 made to the way the business operated at its shareholder meeting last year. Trian was accused of having a conflict of interest since the changes would increase the amount of money it makes from managing TI1. Shareholders want to remove TI1s chairman Chris Sherwell and non-executive directors Simon Holden and Anita Rival. They suggest investment veteran Robert Leggett, and Miles Staude of Staude Capital as replacements. Payout halved: Employer I had built up pension with for 32 years went bust (Stock image) I would like your advice regarding justice for pensioners whose employers went into liquidation and whose pension schemes were assessed by the Pension Protection Fund. This situation must affect very many long-serving employees, with good pensions, who were near retirement when their employers went bust. My employer went into administration in February 2005 and was subsequently wound up. I had been with the company for nearly 32 years in a senior position and had built up a substantial pension fund. The pension scheme entered the Pension Protection Fund for assessment and was ultimately assessed as being able to provide 'PPF level' pensions OUTSIDE of PPF control. Therefore the pension scheme did NOT enter PPF jurisdiction but was, nevertheless, subject to PPF rules and constraints. My pension scheme allowed me to retire at 60 years of age, at which stage I expected to receive at very least 45,500 per annum in pension benefits. The PPF guaranteed all such pensions at 90 per cent of entitlement BUT subject to a 'cap'. I ended up taking my pension two years early at age 58, at which stage the PPF cap was 24,487, of which they paid 90 per cent thus giving me a pension of 22,039. Even although I commenced my pension two years early, this was still a vast reduction on what I should have received. My pension was subsequently increased a little due to an 'excess funds' distribution at the end of calculations but, after 16 years, is still only 27,036 as at the end of the last tax year. Now, all of this misfortune I put down to hard luck until I recently discovered that a group of airline employees, backed I think by their union, took the PPF to the High Court regarding the issue of the PPF cap on pension payments. In 2020, the High Court ruled that the cap was unlawful. As a result, the PPF HAS ABOLISHED THE CAP AND ARE NOW IN THE PROCESS OF PAYING AFFECTED PENSIONERS APPROPRIATE RETROSPECTIVE COMPENSATION. I asked the PPF what about those pensioners whose pensions were capped under - at the time - legally-imposed PPF constraints and rules, but were not adopted into the PPF itself. However, I was informed that as the schemes were not ultimately absorbed into the PPF, there was nothing they could do to help. This I believe to be a very major injustice and one which requires to be rectified alongside those pensioners whose pensions finished under PPF control and who are now being compensated. SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT HOW TO ASK STEVE YOUR PENSION QUESTION Steve Webb: Find out how to ask the former Pensions Minister a question about your retirement savings in the box below Steve Webb replies: To explain the background to this issue for all readers, for people who are members of traditional defined benefit pension schemes, there are three possible outcomes if the employer goes bust. The first is that enough money has been built up in the pension scheme to be handed over to an insurance company who will then guarantee to pay the pensions in full. The second is that there is so little money in the pension scheme that it gets taken over by the 'lifeboat' Pension Protection Fund which pays out benefits according to its own rules. Broadly speaking these are that those over scheme pension age will receive compensation based on 100 per cent of their pension and those under pension age get compensation based on 90 per cent of their pension. Until recently there was also a 'cap' on the maximum amount which could be paid out to those under pension age. But if your scheme is short of the amount which would cover all of its pension promises, yet has enough money to pay out more than the PPF would pay out, then you find yourself in the third scenario, known in the industry as 'PPF plus'. In this situation, the assets of your pension scheme form the basis of a deal with an insurance company to pay out guaranteed pensions which are generally lower than the full pension promise but higher than the PPF would pay. The important point about this process is that the way the assets are carved up is benchmarked against what you would have got from the PPF at the time, and this is why your payout was reduced to take account of the PPF cap. Turning now to your case, as you rightly say, since your employer went bust and the scheme was assessed by the PPF, there has been a successful legal challenge to the PPF cap (on age discrimination grounds). As a result, the PPF is in the process of restoring the pensions of members who had previously been affected by the cap. Unfortunately, you are in a different position. All of the assets of your pension scheme have now been used up to pay for legally-binding contracts with an insurance company to pay you and your fellow members in line with the pensions agreed at the time the deal was struck. My understanding is that the insurer is under no legal obligation to increase your pension, despite the court ruling, as they have simply paid out a pension at the level they promised. And the scheme has been emptied out and wound up, so there is no money left there to top up your pension. I'm afraid that unfortunately I cannot see any easy way round this problem, but I do appreciate that it is a harsh outcome, and could leave you in a worse position than if your scheme had been more poorly funded and found itself in the PPF. A bloody shootout in Mexico between cartel and police took a turn for the macabre when authorities found a pet monkey dressed in a tiny bulletproof vest, camouflaged jacket and miniature nappy by its slain owner. As part of a recurring theme among Mexico's narco classes for exotic pet animals, the spider monkey 'sicario' was found sprawled across the bullet-ridden body of a man in his 20s, along with ten others thought to be members of La Familia Michoacana cartel. The firefight took place between the cartel group and heavily-armed police from the Attorney General's Office and troops from the National Guard in the town of Texcaltitlan, central Mexico, just over 60 miles southwest of the capital, Mexico City on June 14. Stunned police came across the mascot primate with its arms outstretched as if its owner had been carrying it by the shoulders when they met their end. Inexplicably, the well-equipped dead gunman owner had a plastic bucket on his head. He was thought to be part of the regional leader of La Familia Michoacana's security team - known was 'El Gorilla' - who escaped the confrontation. The pet spider monkey was found dead atop its cartel member owner wearing a khaki hood, tiny bulletproof vest and nappy after a shootout with Mexican authorities The firefight saw eleven gangsters killed and ten more captured in the town of Texcaltitlan, central Mexico, just over 60 miles southwest of the capital, Mexico City on June 14. A number of people were captured alive The shootout was thought to be with the security team of the regional leader of La Familia Michoacana cartel - known was 'El Gorilla' - who escaped the confrontation Eleven died at the scene - 12 if the monkey is included - and ten more were detained, with five of those detained being men and three women and one minor. Two members of the security team were hospitalised with gunshot wounds and two more were treated for less serious injuries after the gun battle in Texcaltitlan. Police say they confiscated a huge arsenal of weapons including 20 assault rifles, handguns and ammunition. The fascination with exotic and dangerous animals among Mexican gangsters is inspired by their Colombian forebears in the 1980s and 1990s. Primarily by the infamous Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel, where they were a symbol of status and power among drug lords. It was first thought that the photos of the deceased monkey hitman were fakes, but authorities in Mexico confirmed their authenticity, and said it was unclear whether the monkey died in the hail of bullets that killed his owner. 'A primate was killed at the scene, which was presumably owned by a criminal who was also killed at the scene,' state prosecutors said in a statement. Eleven died at the scene - 12 if the monkey is included - and ten more were detained, with five of those detained being men and three women and one minor Two members of the security team were hospitalised with gunshot wounds and two more were treated for less serious injuries after the gun battle in Texcaltitlan 'An autopsy will be carried out on the animal by a veterinarian specialized in the species' and animal-trafficking charges would be considered against the suspects who survived the shootout,' it added. On Wednesday, the Attorney General for Environmental Protection said it had seized a tiger in Tecuala, in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, near the border with Sinaloa, which is home to the cartel of the same name. The office said it acted 'after receiving reports about a Bengal tiger that was wandering the streets of Tecuala,' and found that the animal was being illegally kept there. Those reports were based on a video posted on social media earlier this week, showing a young woman shrieking as she came across the tiger on the street in a residential neighborhood. 'Be quiet, it might come close,' a woman can be heard saying on the video. Authorities said the tiger's claws and fangs had been removed, and a man can be seen later in the video casually tossing a rope over the tiger's neck and leading him away. The 400-pound male Bengal stunned residents in the western city of Tecuala on Tuesday morning when it was spotted walking through the street. Authorities visited the property where the animal was being held and seized it Federal Attorney General's Office for Environmental Protection on Wednesday was able to locate a tiger that seen on a viral video wandering the streets of the Mexican state of Nayarit and seized the wild cat because the owner failed to show a legal permit that allowed the possession of the feline Perhaps the most tragic story came out of the western state of Michoacan, which has long been dominated by the Carteles Unidos gang and the Jalisco cartel. On Sunday, authorities confirmed that a man was seriously wounded by a tiger in Periban, Michoacan, a town in the state's avocado-growing region, where gangs have long extorted protection payments from the lucrative avocado trade. In a video posted on social media, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, the man is seen calling the tiger to the side of a fenced enclosure. 'Come on, come,' the man can be heard entreating. The man stands outside the enclosure, apparently feeding the tiger with one hand, while he stretches his other arm through the chain-link fence to stroke the animal's neck. The man then shrieks in pain after the tiger quickly wheels and bites the extended arm and refuses to let go. Eventually the tiger mauled both the man's arms. Horrific footage shows the zookeeper telling the big cat to come to him from behind a chain link fence with an outstretched hand. But as he starts to stroke the tiger's neck, the tiger suddenly sinks its teeth into his hand and pulls him towards the fence Michoacan state law enforcement authorities confirmed that the man was taken to a hospital, where he died a few days later from his injuries. Mexican law allows private citizens to keep exotic animals if they register them under strictly supervised conditions. But Security analyst David Saucedo said criminals sometimes go to the length of getting such permits. Saucedo said drug traffickers often keep exotic animals as a symbol of status and power, imitating the Colombian drug lords of the 1980s and 90s. 'Mexican drug traffickers copied from the narcos of the Medellin cartel the custom of acquiring exotic animals and setting up private zoos,' said Saucedo. 'According to the code of the drug trafficking aristocracy, having a private zoo was a prerequisite for being part of the circle of big-time drug traffickers.' In some cases, the animals had a more sinister use. 'Some drug cartel capos, like Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, acquired exotic animals to torture or disappear their victims,' Saucedo said. 'Several of his enemies were devoured by the tigers or the crocodiles that the Zetas kept in their pens or cages.' Lazcano himself was killed in a shootout with Mexican military personnel in 2012. A mystery bidder will fork out a mindblowing - and record - $19 million for the right to have lunch with legendary American investment guru Warren Buffett. That whopping bid, announced by eBay, came in the 21st - and last - such charity luncheon with the aging multibillionaire, who is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. It is a huge outlay for the anonymous winner but one can assume that he or she will intend to get a healthy return on the investment over the course of a steak-fuelled conversation with the legendary investor. Bidding on the eBay website opened last Sunday at a modest $25,000. But it shot up rapidly as rival bidders tried to outdo one another, finally ending Friday at a total of just over $19 million. The auction - held annually, though canceled by Covid-19 concerns for the past two years - raises funds for Glide, which fights poverty in San Francisco. It distributes food to the homeless and helps them find shelter, medical assistance and training. eBay quoted the 91-year-old Buffett - revered throughout the investment community as the 'Oracle of Omaha' - as saying he had 'met a lot of interesting people all over the world' through the auctions. 'The one universal characteristic,' he added, 'is that they feel the money is going to be put to very good uses.' A mystery bidder will pay $19 million to have lunch with iconic investor Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, seen speaking at a Washington event on October 13, 2015 Bidding on the eBay website opened last Sunday at a modest $25,000. But it shot up rapidly as rival bidders tried to outdo one another, finally ending Friday at a total of just over $19 million. The steak lunch will take place at New York's famous Smith & Wollensky steakhouse (pictured) eBay quoted the 91-year-old Buffett - revered throughout the investment community as the 'Oracle of Omaha' - as saying he had 'met a lot of interesting people all over the world' through the auctions. 'The one universal characteristic,' he added, 'is that they feel the money is going to be put to very good uses' San Francisco, a place of income extremes, has struggled for years with a large homeless population. This year's still-anonymous winner of the charity auction 'has not only made history, but will spend an unforgettable afternoon with American legend Warren Buffett at a private lunch with up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City,' said an announcement posted by eBay. The last pre-pandemic auction was won by Justin Sun, an American entrepreneur active in cryptocurrencies, who spent $4.6 million for the right to dine with Buffett, an outspoken critic of bitcoin. Buffett's net worth was estimated in March at $117 billion, according to Forbes.com. He joined Bill and Malinda Gates in forming a group of the ultra-wealthy who have vowed to give away half their fortunes. Buffett is estimated to have already donated some $48 billion. It is some good publicity for the popular steak restaurant after one of its former servers announced she was suing the business over sexual harassment claims that include being told by managers to perform sexualized acts to receive her tips. Famed New York City steakhouse Smith & Wollensky is being sued by a former server over sexual harassment claims. Brenna Gonzalez alleges she was groped approximately three times per shift by customers and staff and had her tips withheld until she'd perform sexualized acts Brenna Gonzalez joined the Third Avenue restaurant as a server in November 2018 but claims that she was frequently subjected to sexual harassment by customers and staff in a hostile workplace, according to New York Daily News. Then an 18-year-old college student, the lawsuit alleges that Gonzalez was groped approximately three times per shift in the restaurants to-go section. Gonzalez filed a lawsuit Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court after claiming she was ignored by management when she spoke to them about the allegations. According to the lawsuit, Gonzalez managers and supervisors would withhold her tips until she did a sexualized performance such as pouring water over her white uniform. A coworker told her that she was targeted for harassment because 'you look like a schoolgirl', the suit claims, placing the blame on her for 'riling everyone up'. Gonzalez also claims a regular customer kissed her with no warning but that management told her to allow them to do it. Australia's 'most beautiful' road is set to be cut in half to make way for a New York-style high line over Sydney's Circular Quay. The ambitious proposal has come under fire from a chorus of opponents who say the move is a giant 'waste' of taxpayer's money that is being justified by the buzzword 'green space'. The New South Wales government will shell out a massive $216 million in the upcoming state budget just to start the approval process for the tree-laden viewing platforms. To make way for the park in the sky, the picturesque Cahill Expressway will be snipped from four lanes to two creating a chokepoint for motorists travelling to and from the east and south of the city. Australia's 'most beautiful' road is set to be cut in half to make way for a New York-style high line over Sydney's Circular Quay. Pictured: A rendition of the high line project pictured The ambitious proposal (plans pictured) has come under fire from a chorus of opponents who say the move is a giant 'waste' of taxpayer money 'Australians dislike change for the sake of change,' Dr Sherry Sufi, a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, told Daily Mail Australia. 'The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are Australian icons 'If there is going to be a costly taxpayer-funded 'green space' set up that radically alters the appearance of Sydney's most internationally recognisable monuments, then there needs to be proper community consultation around this. 'At the moment, it seems like a total waste of $216million dollars for an arbitrary cosmetic makeover no one has even asked for and wouldn't like to pay for out of their own pockets.' Redevelopment plans have been in the works for Circular Quay for about seven years. One proposal suggested the Cahill Expressway could be demolished altogether when the Western Harbour Tunnel is completed in 2027, with the train station below sunk into the ground and leaving the surface an open and green meeting place complete with viewing platforms. But this version of the redevelopment has been ruled out by Premier Dominic Perrottet as the price tag is a whopping $70billion. Instead, the train station will remain with a series of upgrades to entrances and pathways signage. The NSW government will shell out a massive $216 million in the upcoming state budget just to start the approval process for the tree-laden viewing platforms set to dominate the tourist hub (pictured) Redevelopment plans have been in the works for Circular Quay for about seven years The ferry wharf will also get a major facelift to make the site more modern and 'green' with the multi-level viewing platforms capturing the stunning Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, flaring out from the waters edge all the way back to the narrowed Cahill Expressway. What the project will end up cost is yet to be determined with planning approvals, construction bidding and an Environmental Impact Statement yet to come. News Corp columnist Miranda Devine wrote in 2019 that Australia's first freeway built more than six decades ago is not only the nation's most scenic drive but also a monument to 'progress and egalitarianism'. 'Anyone can drive on it and experience the beautiful Harbor Bridge and Opera House views. You don't have to be a tourist or unemployed to enjoy the vista,' she wrote. 'You could just be a hardworking commuter for whom that little glimpse of heaven is the highlight of the day. 'The Cahill has to be one of the most beautiful urban roads in the world. It also is, for Sydney, a rare efficient way of getting motor vehicles from A to B.' The ferry wharf will also get a major facelift to make the site more modern and 'green' with the multi-level viewing platforms capturing the stunning Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, flaring out from the waters edge all the way back to the narrowed Cahill Expressway What the project (pictured) will end up cost is yet to be determined with planning approvals, construction bidding and an Environmental Impact Statement yet to come However, the Premier says the expressway is a scar on the city. 'The scar of the Cahill Expressway splits our amazing city from its best asset and while we cannot get rid of it right now, I'm delighted we can enhance it in the meantime and create one of the world's truly great walks,' Mr Perrottet said. 'This investment is a critical step in reinvigorating Circular Quay, which will ultimately see millions of tourism dollars flowing back into local businesses as we build our way forward to a brighter economic future for NSW.' Paul Scully, Shadow Minister for Planning and Public Spaces has little faith the development will ever get off the ground. 'This government has become very good at re-annoucing projects they never intend to deliver,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'This is the third time they've said they would look at upgrading Circular Quay. After 12 years and three announcements, why would you believe them now?' The Circular Quay train station will remain where it is with a series of upgrades to entrances, pathways signage (proposal pictured) Aussies were divided about the plan, and shared their views on Facebook. One commenter said the move is a 'waste of public money, just for beautification'. Another said: 'Should help the homeless with that money, would be a much better idea.' A third wrote: 'As long as they fill it with greenery.' Motorists who travel on the Cahill Expressway argued the redesign will make the 'already congested CBD more congested. Cities Minister Rob Stokes said the project is not expected to begin until at least 2027, will only go ahead with close consultation from the community. 'For too long Circular Quay has not lived up to its potential, but this plan will see Sydney have the front door it deserves and better reflect the spectacular city we live in,' Mr Stokes said. The NSW premier has said he will 'go to Bunnings myself' to make sure the new $25million Aboriginal flag is flying over Sydney's Harbour Bridge as soon as possible. Dominic Perrottet initially defended the cost of the flagpole, but following a backlash, by Monday morning he said he will review the price, saying it: 'Doesn't seem to pass the pub test'. Perrottet, who has been dubbed 'Dom 'the Builder' because of the billions he's spending on construction in NSW, was asked on Channel 10's The Project on Sunday why the process of adding a third flagpole to the Harbour Bridge will take so long and cost so much. 'I don't know. But it does, apparently. I'm even surprised it takes this long. I mean I made the announcement a while ago and the first brief that came back was that it takes two years to do,' he said. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is pictured with his wife Helen and one of their seven children. He is determined there will be a permanent Aboriginal flag flying over Sydney Harbour Bridge by the end of the year Mr Perrottet is so keen for the flag to be permanently flown on the bridge, he said he's prepared to 'go to Bunnings myself and climb up there and put the pole up. 'But apparently it does (take a long time), apparently that's the costing, and I think that it's an important decision that we've made.' By Monday morning, though, following widespread ridicule at the price - with one commenter even saying on Daily Mail Australia's story he should 'Get a second quote, bro', Mr Perrottet told 2GB radio's Ben Fordham the cost 'doesn't seem to pass the pub test'. 'The advice that I've received is that there are heritage concerns, all three poles will need to be replaced and all three of them are the equivalent size of a six-storey building.' The Premier added, though, that $25million is 'a small price to pay for that unification'. Police Minister Paul Toole told Fordham he'll be 'raising this directly with the Premier'. 'I'm sure that we can do it for a lot less,' he said. Fordham himself also questioned how it could possibly cost $25million to raise the flag. 'Rip up the quote and throw it open to the open market,' he said. Indigenous activist Cheree Toka (pictured) has been fighting for three years to have the Aboriginal flag flown permanently on Sydney's Harbour Bridge and was thrilled with the funding announcement The Aboriginal flag will be permanently flown atop the bridge by the end of the year following a five-year-long grassroots campaign. Kamilaroi woman Cheree Toka led the push to give the flag a prime position on Sydney Harbour for 365 days each year by organising successful petitions and fundraising $300,000 towards the cost. Last week, Mr Perrottet committed another $25million for construction work on the bridge to install the third flagpole. He said flying the flag alongside the Australian and NSW state flags is an important gesture towards Closing the Gap and addressing inequality. The Aboriginal flag will be permanently flown atop Sydney Harbor Bridge after previously being flown only on special occasions such as Australia Day and NAIDOC week (pictured) 'Our Indigenous history should be celebrated and acknowledged so young Australians understand the rich and enduring culture that we have here with our past,' Mr Perrottet said on Sunday. 'Installing the Aboriginal flag permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge will do just that and is a continuation of the healing process as part of the broader move towards reconciliation.' The flagpoles are about 20 metres high, the same as a six-storey building, while the flags require an attachment strong enough to withstand all weather conditions. Transport for NSW and Aboriginal Affairs will engage with key stakeholders about the project. Ms Toka (pictured) organised a successful petition and raised more than $300,000 towards the cost Mr Perrottet had previously committed to giving the Aboriginal flag a place on the Harbour Bridge in February. The funding, however, provides a guarantee it will be in place before next year after consultants initially said engineering and construction work could take up to two years. Ms Toka said she was thrilled at the success of the campaign. 'I think this is really important for us as Indigenous people, achieving reconciliation through recognition,' she said. The Aboriginal flag being flown on the bridge was previously debated in parliament in 2019 but was knocked back due to the construction of a third flag being 'too costly' (pictured: Ms Toka and supporters) 'While I know a flag is symbolic, it does spark conversation around the unjust things that are happening on Country to our people, and it shows that we are moving forward,' she told NITV News. The passionate advocate now has her sights set on other places the flag can be displayed after having a similar win in Sydney's Inner West Council this year. She also said the campaign is not yet finished with the next step being a change in protocol to ensure future premiers cannot remove the flag. A mysterious blue spiral travelling across New Zealand's skies baffled onlookers who thought it had alien origins - but experts say the cause was much closer to Earth. The spiralling plume of gas lit up the sky over Nelson, a city at the tip of New Zealand's south island, and travelled 750km south to Stewart Island by about 7.30pm on Sunday. South island residents discovered the bizarre astronomical phenomenon was caused by man-made space junk - a dying rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX company. The mysterious spiral travelled through the night sky over New Zealand's south island at about 7:30pm on Sunday (pictured) SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Globalstar DM15 satellites on Sunday morning - the third rocket flight in 36 hours. As the rocket released its payload it spun and vented fuel, which caused a vapour trail that reflected sunlight. The illuminated plume of the rocket created the visible blue swirl. The New Plymouth Astronomical Society said a fuel dump was the most likely cause of the eye-catching spiral. 'The spiral that was seen in the sky tonight around 7:30pm was most likely a fuel dump or exhaust plume from a SpaceX rocket launch,' the Facebook post read. 'Similar effects have been seen before, and SpaceX's Globalstar 2 FM15 was likely to have passed New Zealand around that time.' The stunning blue spiral was an extraordinary sight for thousands of New Zealanders despite its man-made origins. South Island star-gazers discovered the glowing swirl (pictured) was caused by a dying rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX company SpaceX hauled a Globalstar communications satellite into orbit early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, pulling off the third Falcon 9 rocket flight in 36 hours, the fastest sequence of three missions by any commercial launch company in history. : @mdcainjr https://t.co/0Y5ArwZPuf pic.twitter.com/mmPSRx0pue Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) June 19, 2022 Stewart Island star-gazer Alasdair Burns said the spiral was by far the strangest thing he had ever seen. 'It was absolutely bizarre. It was like a massive spiral. And it very, very slowly, serenely moving north across the night sky and then just sort of dissipating as it went,' Mr Burns told Stuff. Mapua local Augustine Matthews said she ran outside to watch the spiral with her husband. 'It looked like a planet or star. It was just a white dot with a tiny spiral. And within 10 minutes it had traversed half the sky and the spiral had grown three times in size,' she said. 'It wasn't blinking or twinkling, and it was moving fairly fast... so fascinating.' An Indigenous woman has accused a Kmart worker of brazenly racially profiling her at the check-out by demanding to see her receipt and going through it in front of other shoppers. Alicia Johnson, from Sydney, went to the Marrickville Metro Kmart in the city's inner west about 12.30pm on Friday to pick up a few items on her lunch break. 'The service attendant was watching me very closely and then proceeded to check that I'd scanned a 30c bag. Which I did,' Ms Johnson said in an Instagram video. 'She then grabbed my receipt and read it in front of everybody. She had not checked the receipts of anyone else.' A Sydney woman (pictured) has spoken out with claims she was 'racially profiled' after being singled out at a department store Ms Johnson said she has visited that particular store for a decade and had similar experiences but this one was so brazen it 'took the cake'. 'Nobody else's receipt was checked except mine... I asked the staff member in front of everyone 'why am I being checked'?' 'A Maori lady was hurt for me. She then insisted that the staff member check her receipt in solidarity.' She said she was so 'humiliated' that she called her mother after she left the store . 'The first thing she said was imagine if that happens to some young Indigenous girl, how traumatic that would be'. 'This is why I'm speaking out. This racial stereotyping has to stop and I'm requesting a formal apology. 'In 2022 Indigenous people should be treated with respect just like all other customers, paying ones at that.' In a follow up video on Sunday, Ms Johnson said Kmart has contacted her and they have discussed the issue. Ms Johnson (pictured) said she was left upset after a Kmart attendant singled her out to check her receipt in front of everyone at the store She is demanding a policy change and said Kmart has contacted her and they are 'in discussions' about the issue 'I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support on my previous video. This was not easy to speak up about. It's not generally a topic I speak about publicly but this time I simply had to,' she said. 'From the responses I got from people saying they have had similar experiences in other major franchises this is an indicator of a much bigger issue.' Ms Johnson said despite a few racist comments 'which she expected' the response online was positive. 'This is appalling and will only be improved if people speak up,' one person said. 'Thank you for sharing Sis. I have also had that experience in Kmart,' another said. 'I'm looking forward to seeing how this pans out; it's great you are in discussions,' a third added. Kmart said they had reached out to Ms Johnson. 'We are aware of an incident in our Marrickville store on Friday and have been in conversation with the customer to chat through this further,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 'We take reports like this extremely seriously and investigating internally and organising a time to meet with the customer.' Ms Johnson (pictured) said she had visited the store for 10 years but the incident with the attendant was so 'open' she felt she had to speak up The Queen and Prince Charles will be the only royals honoured with the Union Flag flying over government buildings on their birthdays. In a bid reportedly to save Prince Andrew from embarrassment, the honour was stripped from the Duke of York as well as William, Kate, Anne, Edward, Camilla and Sophie. The government decision is believed to have been agreed upon by the 96-year-old monarch, the Sun reported. A number of councils allegedly said they would not obey a rule to fly it for Andrew on his birthday earlier this year because of the disgraced Duke of York's association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his lawsuit with Virginia Roberts. The Queen and Prince Charles will be the only royals honoured with the Union Flag flying over government buildings on their birthdays. In a bid reportedly to save Prince Andrew from embarrassment the honour was stripped from the Duke of York as well as William, Kate, Anne, Edward, Camilla and Sophie The Government publishes a list each year of designated days for the flag to fly over governmental buildings. Pictured: Union Flag on a tower of Parliament The Queen's second son was stripped of his official duties this year as he paid a settlement, worth 12million to Virginia Roberts, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was 17 Prince Andrew pictured taking a stroll through New York's Central Park with convicted paedophile and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein The Queen's second son was stripped of his official duties this year after he paid a settlement worth 12million to Virginia Roberts, who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was 17. The Government publishes a list each year of designated days for the flag to fly over governmental buildings. Yet the guidance on flags changed in 2022 according to archives of its code on flying the Union Flag, with the alteration meaning the Duke of York's February 19 birthday is no longer a designated day. Only Her Majesty and her successor, the Prince of Wales, will have their birthdays marked. The government said: 'Since 2021, the default position is the flag flies all year unless another flag is being flown.' Just last year the Duke of York's birthday was included as a designated day to fly the flag Yet in a bid to spare the disgraced Duke's blushes the order was pared back this year It came as the shamed royal faced further woes yesterday after lawyers for an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein threatened to serve him with legal papers. Representatives for Caroline Kaufman say Andrew was visiting Epstein's home in New York on the night she claims she was raped by the paedophile financier in December 2010. They want the Duke of York to provide a statement as a potential witness to events in the Upper East Side townhouse during his visit when he was pictured inside the building. The civil lawsuit does not accuse the duke of any wrongdoing or allege that he was aware of any attack on Miss Kaufman, who was 17 at the time. But her lawyer's comments come just a week after Andrew, 62, was reported to have lobbied the Queen to return his royal duties and ceremonial roles. Spencer Kuvin, who represents Miss Kaufman, now 28, said he wanted Andrew to give a statement about his visit to the New York townhouse. Prince William, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles are pictured together at the funeral of Prince Philip. William is lobbying the Queen to have his uncle Andrew barred from public life '[William] has strong views on the Duke of York and believes his insistence in trying to cling on to a public role is highly dangerous for the institution,' said a friend (pictured: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (L) and Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York (R) in 2018) The latest accusations come amid rumours Prince William is lobbying the Queen to have his uncle Andrew barred from public life. 'He has strong views on the Duke of York and believes his insistence in trying to cling on to a public role is highly dangerous for the institution,' a friend of William told the Daily Mail. The friend added: 'He would have cut him loose a long time ago if it had been up to him. 'He understands that when it comes to mother and son the situation is complicated, but honestly I think he just wishes he would vanish from public view.' There are fears the friction between the duo of William and Charles and their disgraced relative Andrew could trigger a fallout among the Royal Family during their upcoming summer retreat at Balmoral. Like all good feuds, theirs began in a blizzard of mutual admiration passion, even that led some in Londons bohemian circles to wonder if there was a frisson of romance to their friendship. But it was art, not sex, that drew Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon to one another. Bacon, thrown out of the family home when his father found him wearing his mothers clothes, was childless and gay; while Freud, who acknowledged 14 children but may have fathered as many as 40, was an ardent pursuer of women. Both men had a prodigious appetite for the good life. For more than 30 years the two were inseparable, drinking and carousing in raffish Soho bars and clubs, gambling roulette for Bacon, the horse track for Freud and basking in each others company. And, of course, they painted one another, too indeed, Freud sat for Bacon no fewer than 18 times. Such was their closeness that Lady Caroline Blackwood, Freuds second wife, noted that she had dinner with Bacon nearly every night for more or less the whole of my marriage to Lucian we also had lunch. The marriage, perhaps inevitably, lasted only four years. Freud recalled seeing Bacon at some point virtually every day for a quarter of a century. The pair scrutinised each others work. As Bacon put it: Who can I tear to pieces if not my friends? Alas, over time, this competitive rivalry consumed their friendship and their mutual regard for one another descended into envy, resentment and hatred. The sale at the end of this month of Bacons 1964 work Study For Portrait Of Lucian Freud, which is expected to go under the hammer for 35 million at auction, has reignited the story of one of the art worlds greatest sagas. It is a story as electrifying and colourful as any of the masterpieces both men produced. It also followed a noble artistic tradition. Van Gogh and Gauguin were also friends-turned-enemies and when their relationship ended, the Dutchman sliced off his own ear. Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud', a portrait painting by the artist Francis Bacon of Lucian Freud If the poisonous feud between Freud and Bacon did not descend to quite such grisly levels, nor did it do anything to diminish their public status as Britains greatest post-war artists: the Turner and the Constable of their age. No two artists did more to revitalise figurative painting than Freud and Bacon, and both lived to see their work sell for many millions of pounds. Such status and riches must have seemed a distant prospect when they first met in the louche and dangerous streets of bombed-out Soho in the mid-1940s. Freud, who was 13 years Bacons junior, looked up to the older man, who represented a thrilling example of how to conduct the life of an artist while also embodying an aristocratic spirit. In background, they couldnt have been more different. Bacon, born in 1909 to well-to-do British parents in Ireland where his father trained racehorses, had little formal education because of severe asthma. His childhood was turbulent, not least because of his abusive father, who once ordered stable boys to give him a whipping. After spending time decadently in Paris and Berlin, he arrived in London in 1930 where he found work as a gentlemans gentleman, only to be fired when his master saw him dining at the next table at the Ritz. As one biographer noted, the flamboyant Bacon could be found in the gutter or the Ritz and was at home in both. Even in later years, when he was recognised as Englands finest painter for 150 years and his work was selling for many millions, Bacon still preferred to travel by bus and live in the same scruffy mews house he had for years. For a time, he earned a precarious living as a designer of furniture and rugs, and it wasnt until the closing years of World War II that he started painting seriously. Self-taught, his work demonstrated considerable technical ability and originality that took the art world by storm. Even so, he was his own most severe critic and he destroyed more canvases than have survived of that period. Freud, born in Germany in 1922 and raised in Berlin during the rising tide of Nazism, studied at art school. As a Jew and the grandson of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, whom the Nazis abhorred, he had to be accompanied by a bodyguard to and from his private school. The family fled to Britain and Lucian was sent to Bryanston public school in Dorset. He was expelled for dropping his trousers for a dare in Bournemouth. However, there were other domestic similarities with Bacon. He had a lifelong estrangement from his younger brother Clement, the broadcaster and former Liberal MP, and was only partly reconciled with his elder brother Stephen, an ironmonger. After a stint of war service in the Merchant Navy, he began to paint full-time from his early 20s. Like Bacon, Freud gravitated towards the drinking dens, illegal betting shops and seedy sex parlours of Soho. Both loved its gilded squalor. In Bacon, Freud found a teacher not just in art but in life. From him he learned about the best wine, food and tailoring. They spent much of their time at the Gargoyle Club and later the Colony Room, drinking and arguing with figures such as the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. But, usually, they preferred to be alone and, if they could, would exclude anyone else. Many found this self-obsession insufferable and rumours circulated that the pair were sleeping together. Biographers have suggested this friendship did have a quasi-erotic tone but that it was sensual rather than sexual. Freuds daughter Annie said her father described Bacon as having the most sensuous forearms . . . That is lover-like, isnt it? The two were rarely apart breakfast at a working mans cafe in Smithfield Market, lunch at Wheelers on Old Compton Street, then drinking in the Colony. For more than 30 years the two were inseparable, drinking and carousing in raffish Soho bars and clubs, gambling roulette for Bacon, the horse track for Freud and basking in each others company Pictured: friends Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud by Harry Diamond A lot of it, recalled friends, was the two of them showing off. Then there was the gambling: both men were reckless. On one occasion Freud lost everything he owned, including his car, which he went home to fetch and drove to a garage to sell, placing the proceeds on a horse which also lost. Bacon was similarly profligate, throwing money at people and buying extravagant rounds of drinks. He would say: Champagne for my real friends real pain for my sham friends. In 1949, they attended a white-tie ball where an ingenue Princess Margaret had taken the microphone and began to sing an out-of-key Cole Porter classic, Lets Do It. Bacon, who was standing with Freud, started to boo and hiss and a red-faced Margaret fled mid-song with her ladies in waiting. Freud declared his friend was the most fearless man he had ever met, the wildest and wisest. Although they painted in the same tradition, their methods were very different. Freud liked to show womens flesh, wrinkled by age and imperfections. Bacons distorted portraits captured the peculiar horror of modern life. When Lucian first sat for Bacon in 1951, he was fascinated by Bacons hurried and spontaneous approach. Bacon, when sitting for Freud the following year, was amazed at how long the younger man took to paint. This portrait was stolen from a gallery in Berlin in 1988. Their sexual proclivities, however, were wildly different. Henrietta Moraes, a muse to both men, was painted and pleasured by Freud for Bacon the beauty was sitter and drinking companion. Freud fretted over his friends taste in rough male trade and couldnt understand his relationship with George Dyer, a hanger-on of the Kray crime gang family. Bacon liked rogues and was sexually unafraid at a time when homosexuals caught in the act could still be imprisoned. Bacon disapproved of Freuds hobnobbing with aristocrats. But Freud relied on this posh trade for his portraits and for the ruthless candour the upper-classes offered. In the 1950s and 1960s, Freud was the less successful and viewed by the snobbish art world as Bacons pet. But everything changed with Freuds first major show in 1969. Suddenly, Freud found the sycophants around Bacon tiresome while Bacon grew tired of Freuds refusal to acknowledge any kind of duty. They also became impatient of each others sexual obsessions. Francis became bitter and bitchy towards his one-time protege. As a rift opened up, Bacon cruelly observed of his one-time friend: Shes [Freuds] left me after all this time and shes had all these children just to prove shes not homosexual. Freud, who was by now the much more substantial figure, confined his public remarks to criticism of Bacons art. Ghastly, he said of his work from the 1980s on. Matters came to a head when Freud accepted honours both men had previously turned down the CBE. But Freud accepted a CH Companion of Honour and later became an OM, a member of the Order of Merit. Bacon observed: I came into this world as Mr Bacon and I want to leave as Mr Bacon. They did occasionally meet in the 1980s but their encounters were punctuated by ever-longer silences. On one occasion, Freud telephoned Bacon at home. The conversation ended with a red-faced Francis slamming the receiver down so violently the wall shook. A few years later and shortly before his death in 1992 Bacon was having breakfast in a London restaurant when Freud walked in and past his table without stopping. Bacon observed sadly: Thats the way things are. Freud, who outlived his one-time friend by 19 years, had other feuds with lovers, friends and agents. There was no rapprochement with Bacon but he kept one of his paintings hanging on his bedroom wall until the day he died. A woman who was filmed pepper spraying four Asian women in a racially motivated attack in Manhattan last week was arraigned and charged with a hate crime Sunday, after video of the incident went viral. The suspect, 47-year-old Madeline Barker, was caught on camera hurling racial insults at the victims, such as 'Go back to where you came from' and you don't belong here,' during the June 10 altercation. Barker, of Florida, was ruled a possible flight risk at her first court appearance Saturday in Manhattan, and ordered held on $20,000 bail. Prosecutors lobbied for the judge to declare Barker a flight risk because she's from the Sunshine State, didn't turn herself in and was only caught after an eyewitness recognized her on the street, according to the New York Post. Barker's Legal Aid Counsel argued that the media coverage of the incident had 'amplified' the case. She faces charges of assault as a hate crime, with Judge Eric Schumacher setting bail at $20,000 cash, $20,000 partially secure bond. She appeared wearing a denim jacket and a white facemask. A woman who was filmed pepper spraying four Asian women in a racially motivated attack in Manhattan last week was arraigned and charged with a hate crime Sunday, after video of the incident went viral The suspect, 47-year-old Madeline Barker, was caught on camera hurling racial insults at the victims, such as 'Go back to where you came from' and you don't belong here,' during the June 10 altercation Barker was ruled a possible flight risk at her first court appearance Saturday in Manhattan, and ordered held on $20,000 bail Prosecutors lobbied for the judge to declare Barker a flight risk because she's from Florida, didn't turn herself in and was only caught after an eyewitness recognized her on the street The incident, which transpired in a public plaza in the Meatpacking District, subsequently sparked a search for the then-unidentified woman - dubbed 'Karen' by internet users. The incident, which left one victim 'unable to open her eyes,' comes amid a rash of anti-Asian violence in City That Never Sleeps. The suspect, 47-year-old Madeline Barker, was caught on camera hurling racial insults at the victims, such as 'Go back to where you came from' and you don't belong here,' during the June 10 altercation. The footage subsequently went viral and led to police arresting Barker Even though the victims attempted to walk away, Barker chased and pepper sprayed the victims in the face, the footage shows. One victim said she was 'unable to open [her] eyes' after the attack Police had been on the hunt for the suspect, investigating the case as a hate crime after the footage went viral last week Shocking video recorded by the victims shows the moment the woman, dubbed 'Karen' by social media users, starts arguing with the four Queens women, all in their 20s, in Manhattan's Meatpacking District on Saturday. The victims, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC 7 that they were checking out a flower installation when the woman suddenly picked a fight with them, and after accusing them of harassing her, the Karen pepper sprayed the four. 'It was so painful, one victim said. 'I couldn't open my eyes for about 30 minutes.' A bystander then filmed the victims walking away from the argument, but the Karen continues to yell at them and walks up behind one of the women and blasts her directly in the eyes with the pepper spray before leaving the area. It's the latest anti-Asian crime in the New York City, where hate crimes have shot up, those against Asians going up 343 percent last year Police said the incident was currently under investigation and was being treated as a hate crime. According to the victims, Barker went on a racist tirade as she pulled out the pepper spray on the Asian women. '[She was] saying, like, 'Go back to where you came from, you don't belong here,'' one victim recalled to ABC 7. 'She pointed to an Asian bystander who was a man, we didn't know who he was, pointed at him and said, 'Take your ***** back to your country.'' The victims claimed that after the assault, one of them got a message from someone else who had allegedly ran into the same women earlier in the day, saying the Karen had pepper sprayed three others, including a 13-year-old girl. 'Learning that she did this to other people, including a minor, that's not ok,' one of the victims said. 'She needs to be caught.' Another victim said that despite hearing racist remarks growing up, it was the first time any of them had been physical victims of a hate crime. Hate crimes have been on the rise in the Big Apple and nationwide, with the NYPD reporting that hate crimes had shot up 96 percent in 2021, with 133 Asian Americans experiencing terrifying and dangerous experiences of discrimination in the city. Amazon could run out of new people to hire by 2024, with the company burning through its entire warehouse workforce annually thanks to grueling shifts, a leaked internal document reveals. The document, first reported by Recode, includes the words: 'If we continue business as usual, Amazon will deplete the available labor supply in the US network by 2024.' The document was published internally in 2021. According to Recode, an Amazon spokesperson did not refute its authenticity. The areas where employees are expected to be most scarce include the Inland Empire, California, an hour and a half east of Los Angeles. The region is around two hour drive from 20 million potential Amazon customers. The document said that Amazon could run out of new workers in the Inland Empire by the end of 2021 or in 2022, although warehouses in Inland Empire continue to operate, and its unclear what, if any, staffing issues they currently face. Mesa in Arizona could also run dry of staff very soon, as statistics shows that Amazon - famed for the punishing, tightly-controlled working conditions imposed on warehouse staff - loses more workers than it hires every year. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (above) said that employee safety is the company's top priority In 2020, for every 100 Amazon workers, six were injured, according to the Washington Post. Wilmington, Delaware and Memphis, Tennessee are also at risk of running out of staff, the report showed. According to Amazon's own data, the company had an attritional rate of 123 per cent last year. That means that over the course of the year, the number of workers who left the firm was equivalent to the entire number working there at the start of the year - with an additional 23 per cent on top. Many workers at Amazon do stay longer, particularly those in more senior roles. But others come and go within the course of a year, inflating the attrition figure. Amazon employs around a million people in the US, including head office workers, making it the second biggest private employer, behind the 2.3 million-strong Walmart 'family.' Its attrition rate is far above the national average for the most common jobs at Amazon, in warehouse work and transportation. The national average for warehouse and transportation attrition was 46% in 2019 and 59% in 2020. While for retail work, the average in 2019 was 58% and in 2020 it was 70%. In 2020, for every 100 Amazon workers, six were injured, according to the Washington Post. In September, the company's CEO Andy Jassy said in an interview on CNBC: 'For us, employee safety is priority number one for us in our fulfillment centers.' Jassy assumed the role of CEO from founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021. In the years before Covid-19, Amazon lost workers at a rate of 3% per week coupled with a 150% turnover annually, reports the New York Times. Among the many reasons for the potential shortfall of workers is Amazon's controversial employment practices and worker health and safety Jose Pagan, pictured here, said that he was fired electronically after taking two days off to deal with an infected tooth One anecdote relayed in the Recode article mentions an Amazon supervisor from The Bronx in New York. Jose Pagan, 35, who supported his wife and children on his Amazon salary, said that he was fired electronically after missing work to treat an infected tooth. Pagan said that he did not have enough notice to use vacation days and didn't have enough unpaid time off left which is what led to his termination. He went on to say that even though he had a doctor's note, the company didn't care. Pagan worked for a full week following his health issues and found out that he was fired when he showed up for work one night and found that his keycard didn't work. He was then told that he no longer worked at the company. Pagan went to a HR representative who told him that the company would welcome him back in 90 days and in the mean time he should try and get some work as a driver with Uber or Grubhub. At the time of his firing Pagan was on the verge of being promoted. One former manager said: 'It was almost impossible to get fired as a worker' Jassy, said in an internal memo to employees in April 2022 that there is no 'silver bullet' to make Amazon facilities magically safer Despite multiple reports of casual firings, one former manager at Amazon's Phoenix plant, told Recode, that now the culture is more geared toward keeping workers due to the high attrition rates. Michael Garrigan said: 'They were so concerned about attrition and losing people that they rolled back all the policies that us as managers had to enforce.' Garrigan said that managers joked about not bothering to write up workers with citations because HR would 'exempt it.' He said: 'It was almost impossible to get fired as a worker.' Jassy, said in an internal memo to employees in April 2022 that there is no 'silver bullet' to make Amazon facilities magically safer, reports CBS News. Jassy said in part: 'We don't seek to be average. We want to be best in class. We still have a ways to go.' While in December 2021, six Amazon employees were killed in Edwardsville, Illinois, when a tornado struck the facility. Workers who survived the tornado later filed a lawsuit against the construction company who built the facility. In it, the plaintiffs said that there was no proper sheltering available inside, reported KMOV in May 2022. Following the tornado, Amazon denied claims from employees at the Edwardsville center that the company banned them from using their cell phones at work, reports Business Insider. According of the activist group, More Perfect Union, two workers died at the company's Bessemer, Alabama, facility within 24 hours of each other. The group said that one of the deceased men had his request to go home denied by HR. Hours later he suffered a fatal stroke on the job. The group alleges that a total of six people died at the Bessemer facility in 2021 and that Amazon has covered up the deaths. Amazon denies these allegations. In April 2022, Amazon was accused of illegally attempting to influence a defeated vote to unionize in the Bessemer facility, reports CNBC. Businesses who invest by buying products or services from other British firms could receive tax breaks under new plans. Some in government are pushing for the idea as a way to get UK businesses back on their feet after Covid and the fuel crisis. One source told the Daily Mail: Tax breaks are being looked at for companies that invest. Chancellor Rishi Sunak wants to offer firms who invest in British companies special tax breaks Although, some have claimed Mr Sunak's plan may breach World Trade Organisation rules But also, one thing being considered is tax breaks for firms that buy British. We want to boost business here at home. It is not for certain. But it is being talked about. Another source said that while the idea was being considered, there could be problems around World Trade Organisation rules. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has tried a number of incentives to boost investment in the wake of the Covid pandemic. One idea was the super deduction allowance, which offers 130 per cent relief on purchases of equipment. But analysis for the Financial Times found this has had negligible impact. Schools across Australia are installing silent vape detectors to alert teachers to students who are smoking in bathrooms. The new technology triggers a silent alarm system that emails alerts to teachers, who then lock students inside the bathroom so they can check them for vapes. The detectors add to the drastic measures already taken by some schools to curb the vaping with one high school installing CCTV cameras in corridors outside the bathrooms. St Bede's College in Mentone, Melbourne, is one of the schools that has implemented the latest vape-detecting technology. Schools in Victoria are installing silent vape detectors to alert teachers to students who are vaping in bathrooms (stock image) St Bede's College in Mentone, Melbourne, is one of the schools that has implemented the latest vape-detecting technology 'Of course staff don't want to be checking the toilets, but we try and do everything in our power to stop the kids from engaging in activities that are harmful to themselves,' deputy principal Mark James told the Herald Sun. 'It's a difficult one because they're (vapes) so easy to conceal.' One Year 12 student said his peers had become concerned about the use of the new technology and feared they would be accidentally locked inside the bathroom even if they weren't carrying contraband. 'I think the detectors are a good deterrent,' he said. It makes you really question whether you need to use the bathroom and risk getting caught.' St Columba's College, in Essendon, has also installed CCTV cameras in the corridors outside the toilet block while Marymede Catholic College, in South Morang, has bathroom sensors. It is illegal to vape or smoke on school grounds, or for businesses to sell vapes, which carry high levels of nicotine, to people under 18 years old. Vapes have become an increasing concern in schools with experts worried students are not fully aware of the dangers of smoking and putting their lives at risk. Vaping at Australian schools has increased since lockdowns as students picked up the habit while at home unsupervised (stock image) A 'perfectly healthy' teenage boy suffered a seizure from a huge dose of nicotine while vaping in his school's toilets. The student was rushed to hospital after he was found at Blue Mountains Grammar, west of Sydney, and has recovered, but could have long-lasting brain damage. Deputy headmaster and head of senior school Owen Laffin told parents about the student's seizure in a letter at the start of June. 'Last week, an otherwise perfectly healthy senior student collapsed in the toilets, experienced an extended seizure and was taken to hospital by ambulance after using a vape,' he wrote. 'Medical evidence suggests that the seizure was caused by a massive dose of nicotine. 'While I am profoundly grateful to say that the student has now recovered, the risk of head injury or hypoxia-induced brain damage are terrible to contemplate.' The federal government banned the importation of nicotine-based vapes in October last year, but it has done little to curve the products entering Australia Covid crusader Dr Kerry Chant launches a war on vapes with huge fines for those who break her tough rules: 'Zero tolerance approach' Top doctor Kerry Chant has declared a war on illegal vapes with more than $1million worth of e-cigarettes and liquids seized this year. The NSW chief health officer said she was taking a 'zero tolerance approach' to vapes containing nicotine being illegally sold in stores. '[NSW Health is] cracking down on the illegal sale of nicotine e-cigarettes and liquids and taking a zero-tolerance approach to those who sell them,' she said. Top doctor Kerry Chant has declared a war on illegal vapes with more than $1million worth of e-cigarettes and liquids seized this year (pictured, a woman smoking an electric cigarette) The NSW chief health officer (pictured in April) said she was taking a 'zero tolerance approach' to vapes containing nicotine being illegally sold in stores Retailers have been put on notice and warned they will be punished with heavy fines or jail time if they breach regulation. 'You will be caught, illegal items will be seized, and you could face prosecution, resulting in being fined or even jailed,' Dr Chant said. More than $3million worth of illegal vapes and vaping products have been seized in a series of raids since July 1, 2020. Individuals facing an $11,000 penalty for the first offence and a $55,000 fine for the second while corporations will be forced to pay $55,000 the first time and $110,000 the second. Dr Chant said too many young people were not aware of the true nature of vapes and simply believed they were 'flavoured water'. She said they actually contained chemicals that were so poisonous they could inflict life-threatening injuries on the smoker. More than $3million worth of illegal vapes and vaping products have been seized in a series of raids since July 1, 2020 (pictured, a display of flavoured electric cigarettes) Teenagers have been warned about the dangers of vapes after research showed young people thought vaping was a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes (pictured, a vape pen) Teenagers have been warned about the dangers of vapes after research showed young people thought vaping was a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard launched the anti-vaping campaign after research found 'more and more young people (are) using vapes'. The government and NSW Health are 'very concerned about the impact of those vapes on young people's lives, particularly on their lungs', he said on Tuesday. Global research indicates young people commonly think vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking. Mr Hazzard said vaping damaged adult lungs and caused more concern for developing lungs in teenagers and children. The minister told a parliamentary hearing last week the thought of kids picking up the habit was 'atrocious'. The Get The Facts - Vaping Toolkit targets and students aged 14 to 17 and provides resources for teachers, parents and carers to start conversations about the dangers of vaping. 'We know that amongst many young people, e-cigarettes or vapes have been considered safe and certainly safer than cigarettes,' NSW Acting Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale said. The combination of having a sweet or fruity flavour, being in attractive packaging and their 'vapour' often perceived as water, people often consider vapes harmless. Advertisement Mr Laffin acknowledged the school had ongoing problems with e-cigarettes, and urged parents to discuss it with their children. 'I write to our whole community today in order to highlight the extraordinary dangers of vaping and to urge parents to discuss them with your children,' he wrote. Australian National University epidemiologist Emily Banks said some disposable vapes had the nicotine of 10 packs of cigarettes. 'Those disposable devices are very strong and have high doses of nicotine in them,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'People feel sick, they can vomit, lightheaded. The seizures are the thing people are most worried about. There has been the odd case of people having heart rhythm problems it is one of the documented hazards.' There have even been cases of vape uses going into cardiac arrest. Every railway ticket office in England could close under plans to save 500million a year, it was reported yesterday. Passengers would have to book online under proposals by the industry to 'repurpose' the country's 980 remaining offices. This would badly affect millions of elderly, disabled and disadvantaged passengers, warned the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association. The union said it was seeking an urgent meeting with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps over the report and previous rumours about closures. General secretary Manuel Cortes said losing ticket offices 'will simply make more members vote for strike action'. Last week Mr Shapps said that one in eight train tickets are sold over the counter. Every railway ticket office in England could close under plans to save 500million a year, it was reported yesterday Passengers would have to book online under proposals by the industry to 'repurpose' the country's 980 remaining offices In response to The Sunday Times report, the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said no decision had been taken on ticket offices. A spokesman added 'many jobs will need to change to become more passenger-centric' as travel and buying patterns change. Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, added: 'Many more [older people] lack an up-to-date smartphone or tablet, or live in a place with unreliable broadband. 'These people have relied on buying tickets face-to-face or over the phone and then collecting them from a station machine. What are they expected to do if everything goes online?' Mr Cortes said: 'We've been asking for clarity on rumours about ticket office closures for months but no proposals have been shared with us or the staff who work day in day out serving passengers. 'This Government has no respect for rail staff or passengers if they think this is the way to run our public transport services.' He said closing ticket offices 'will simply make more members vote for strike action'. Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, argued the planned online shift would make train travel a tough prospect for millions of old people An RDG spokesman said: 'The pandemic has been an unprecedented financial shock to the railway. 'While no decisions have been taken over ticket offices, with the acceleration of changing travel patterns and more passengers migrating to digital technology, many jobs will need to change to become more passenger-centric. 'Train companies want to work with unions on how to address those changes while making sure the industry takes no more than its fair share from the taxpayer.' 'We are in a class struggle now. Are you going to be with us or sit on the sidelines while these Tories butcher the working classes? Stand up and fight!' There is something tragically pathetic about the inflammatory, prehistoric rhetoric spewed out by Mick Lynch, the militant RMT union boss behind the rail strikes set to paralyse Britain. While this tinpot revolutionary indulges his risible Che Guevara fantasies, the grim irony is that the blue-collar workers he professes to champion will suffer most. Employees able to work from home on Zoom won't mind the chaos. But for millions invariably the lowest paid that's simply not an option. If they can't travel to their workplaces, their jobs and businesses will be jeopardised and they'll struggle to pay their bills and feed their families. While tinpot revolutionary Lynch (pictured on Saturday) indulges his risible Che Guevara fantasies, the grim irony is that the blue-collar workers he professes to champion will suffer And what if police officers, nurses, firefighters and others vital to saving lives are prevented from doing their jobs? The consequences could be devastating. By walking out on three alternate days, the hard-Left unions will inflict a whole week of misery on the travelling public. The ingratitude to taxpayers, who shovelled 16billion into the railways during lockdown to keep them operating when trains were virtually empty, is staggering. Of course, widespread industrial action will ultimately pile on the pain for the union members themselves as it did during the Winter of Discontent in the late 1970s. The more inconvenient it is for people to use trains, the greater the likelihood of them turning to other forms of transport. That would further erode the network's finances (already in a parlous state after the collapse of passenger numbers during Covid), so putting more jobs at risk. To that end, the grasping unions' huge pay demand is completely unrealistic. And their attempts to impede new working practices and technology are equally unreasonable. Labour's failure to unequivocally denounce the planned strikes is reprehensible. Sir Keir Starmer accuses the Tories of exploiting the walkouts to fuel division, but that's nonsense. The only ones seeking a political punch-up are the bullying barons. So deeply in hock is Labour to its union paymasters that Sir Keir defiantly refuses to speak up for ordinary passengers. So much for being the party of working people! Troublingly, teachers, NHS staff and barristers are now threatening to join the rail unions in holding the country to ransom in a 1970s-style Summer of Discontent. To prove he's on the public's side, Boris Johnson should stand firm and not cave in. That ransom must not be paid. A triumph of science Finally, a welcome outbreak of common sense. Transgender swimmers will be banned from women's elite races if they have been through male puberty. All sport should aim to be inclusive. But human biology is real. It's not fair for women to be deprived of opportunity by having to compete against someone with the size, strength and speed advantages of a male just because they identify as female. Hopefully, this triumph of science over ideology is contagious, not just throughout sport but every sector of public life. To take just two examples in today's paper. Isn't it preposterous that 'wokery' put diversity before patients in a recent review intended to tackle NHS bureaucracy? And it's madness that education watchdog Ofsted penalises primary schools for not teaching sinister gender identity dogma. That's indoctrination, not education. MPs have complained to House of Commons authorities about the size of their portions of taxpayer-subsidised meals. Elected representatives and their office staff have written to authorities in charge of the Commons to complain about the catering available for people working in the historic building. According to The Sun, MPs on a basic salary of 82,000 can enjoy fresh fish for as little as 3.73 and a crumble dessert for 98p. MPs and staff have complained about the quality and size of portions available in the House of Commons over the past six months Some people complained about spicy food and the lack of 'traditional options' Some of the complaints have referred to the lack of options, while others have raised the weakness of the coffee. The list of complaints between October 2021 and March 2022 involve a request to remove onions from one dish while issues of a shortage of poached eggs and English mustard. Other complainants have raised issues over 'the number of spicy dishes' and the lack of 'traditional menu items'. A House of Commons spokesman told The Sun: 'Where cleaning issues are identified, we act quickly to address them. 'Our food and drink offering is regularly benchmarked against similar outlets and we continuously seek to reduce costs.' Glasheen has admitted that he might need 'some help' as he nears 80-years-old The 78-year-old hermit recently suffered some health scares and broke his hip Millionaire stockbroker moved to secluded island in 1997 after losing his wealth David Glasheen says he will live out his days at Restoration Island in Queensland Millionaire stockbroker turned island castaway David Glasheen has been forced to admit the sad reality that he may need 'some help' as he nears 80. Mr Glasheen, 78, has been living alone on Restoration Island off the coast of Far North Queensland since 1997 after he lost his wealth in the 'Black Tuesday' crash. He divorced his wife in 1991 and moved to the island on the Cape York Peninsula, where he has been living with only the company of his beloved dingos ever since. Australia's real-life Robinson Crusoe has admitted that his body doesn't work like it used to and revealed he has recently suffered a string of health scares. Mr Glasheen (pictured with a friend and his two mannequins, Miranda and Phyllis) has lived on Restoration Island in Far North Queensland since 1997 The castaway divorced his wife in 1991 and moved to the island on the Cape York Peninsula, where he has been living with only the company of his beloved dingos ever since 'I'm not 18 anymore, it's heavier and harder. I fainted one day and then fell and broke my hip. The phones don't work when you need them half the time, so the best security I could get is more people,' he told news.com.au. 'The wheels start falling off when you're 80. That's what happens.' Mr Glasheen said he was looking for people to join him on the island because while they're good company, dingos can't call for help if he gets into trouble. He said he would pay a middle-aged couple with the appropriate skills to help out on the island with stipends, as he can't afford to pay a full salary. The castaway has tried to employ some help using Gumtree, but is yet to find anyone willing to pack up and move to the remote island. Mr Glasheen said he was looking for people to join him on Restoration Island (pictured) because while they're good company, dingos can't call for help if he gets into trouble Mr Glasheen (pictured) admitted some 'back-up' was needed after he suffered a blood clot which could have killed him if left untreated one more day He admitted some 'back-up' was needed after he suffered a blood clot that could have killed him if left untreated one more day. 'If things go wrong, your life is at risk and you're really aware of it,' he said. 'The wild is pretty severe; it's a tough world. Things are forever going wrong, and you've just got to deal with it.' However, for Mr Glasheen, leaving his island home of 25 years is not an option. He has made a home for himself amid the rugged wilderness and says he wishes he had hadn't been born in the city but raised on the island instead. The castaway is tuned in to current events in Australia and beyond but admitted the Covid-19 pandemic hadn't affected him at his remote home. Speaking on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said 'men are the problem' and called on women to take over and stop men from killing each other for their resources. The castaway has made efforts to employ some help using Gumtree, but is yet to find anyone willing to pack up and move to the remote island off the Queensland coast Mr Glasheen is due to turn 89 in August and will spend his birthday with his beloved dingo Zeddie, who replaced Polly after she was bitten by an adder snake Mr Glasheen said he wished Vladimir Putin would 'realise that he's failed'. The castaway also shared some philosophical musings on society's expectations of young men and women. 'I wish Id never been in the city, I wish I was born here in the bushes. We all do the same thing. We leave school. Were expected to go into our mother or fathers businesses, or take over things from the family, or be doctors, lawyers or accountants or whatever. 'And we did all that. Half of the marriages failed. And youve got all the broken families and kids everywhere. And we wonder why every one is a bit dysfunctional,' he told news.com.au. Mr Glasheen is due to turn 89 in August and will spend his birthday with his beloved dingo Zeddie, who replaced Polly after she was bitten by an adder snake. He told MailOnline Travel in April, 2020 that he had first moved to the island with a suitcase containing 'three shirts, two pairs of shorts and swimmers, a decent torch, a couple of books, a jar of chilli powder, some toothpaste and my toothbrush'. The 78-year-old has an essential list of things that enable him to enjoy life in isolation, including a solar-powered internet connection, a stockpile of good books and two mannequins (Miranda and Phyllis) for company. The 78-year-old has an essential list of things that enable him to enjoy life in isolation, including a solar-powered internet connection and a stockpile of good books For drinking, he collects rainwater and water also comes from a catchment in the hilly areas of the island and says the ocean contains 'all the protein' he needs (pictured, his bedroom) For drinking, he collects rainwater and water also comes from a catchment in the hilly areas of the island and says the ocean contains 'all the protein' he needs. For that reason, fishing tackle, a cast net for catching bait, a flintstone for lighting a fire and a bush knife are among Glasheen's essential items. 'It's like living in Jurassic Park,' he says of his hunter-gatherer exploits. Other foods on Restoration Island, or Resto as Mr Glasheen fondly calls it, include coconuts, acidic beach almonds, bush cherries, native capers and wongai plums. The islander also has a stockpile of tinned and dried goods, which he picks up on an annual grocery shopping trip to Cairns using a small boat. Before moving to Restoration Island he was leading a high flying city life in Sydney, living in a property overlooking the Harbour with his wife and two children. But after the infamous Black Tuesday event in 1987, the businessman lost his wealth and the bank foreclosed on his property with his wife leaving him shortly after. Before moving to Restoration Island Glasheen was leading a high flying city life in Sydney, living in a property overlooking the Harbour with his wife and two children In 2019, Mr Glasheen penned a book about his story titled The Millionaire Castaway (pictured) He moved to the island with his then partner Denise, but after she gave birth to their child she decided to relocate, saying the island life was not safe for a newborn baby. In the meantime his has his two 'mannequin girlfriends' and numerous animals for company, including his trusty dingo, Zeddie. In 2019, Mr Glasheen penned a book about his story titled The Millionaire Castaway. 'Resto had affirmed my commitment to find a different way of life: one beyond the vicious cycle of pressure to earn enough money for a lifestyle by which other people measure your value and success,' he writes. 'I couldnt bear the thought of this place being a rich mans playground. This short time on the island had convinced me that Resto was somewhere I could live in utter contentment. Spending the day fishing and the night yarning was my idea of bliss.' Annastacia Palaszczuk furiously shot down claims she spends too much time on red carpets with celebrities and her boyfriend - but photos show the Queensland premier spends a lot of time out and about. Ms Palaszczuk's dedication to her job came into question last week after insiders claimed MPs and high-level public servants were disgruntled by her tendency to frequently attend glamourous social events. The premier appeared unfazed by the accusations when she ironically responded to the claims on the Logie awards red carpet on the Gold Coast on Sunday night. Annastascia Palaszczuk slammed down claims that she is a 'part-time-premier' as she walked the red carpet at the TV Week Logie Awards on Sunday The Queensland premier (right) attended the annual awards night with her boyfriend Dr Reza Adib (left) Since the beginning of the year, Ms Palaszczuk has attended numerous high-profile events - including three in just two weeks. Ms Palaszczuk was seen at the Magic Millions Race Day on January 15, the premier of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis film on June 4. She then hit the Strabroke Handicap race day on June 11, and the TV Week Logie Awards on June 19 - to name a few. The media grilled Ms Palaszczuk while she walked the red carpet with her boyfriend Dr Reza Adib. Ms Palaszczuk insisted she was on top of her workload - and visiting high-profile events was 'part of her job'. 'I work seven days a week,' she told 7News. Ms Palaszczuk (right) and her boyfriend Dr Reza Adib (left) attended the premier of Baz Luhrmann's new film Elvis on June 4 The premier insisted she was on top of her work load - and visiting high-profile events was 'part of her job' (Ms Palaszczuk and Dr Reza Adib pictured at Strabroke Handicap race day) 'I've got a budget coming down, I'm across that, and I'll be back at my desk first thing tomorrow morning. 'And most of these events are on weekends so, we could be at home watching television but we're out here doing the job Queenslanders expect me to be doing.' Ms Palaszczuk also responded to advice from Labor stalwart Peter Beattie, who urged her to start a new agenda and prove she still wants to be premier. The premier claimed her government would 'always have fresh strategies' and was 'absolutely committed to Queensland and creating jobs'. 'When we hand the budget down on Tuesday, watch this space it's all about health and families and Queensland,' she said. The interview then abruptly ended when Ms Palaszczuk walked off in response to questions over whether lobbyists had too much influence on her government. Labor insiders claim Ms Palaszczuk has 'checked out' of her role and showed more interest in attending social events than running Queensland (pictured, Dr Reza Adib, Baz Luhrmann and Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Elvis premiere) (Left to right) Catherine Martin, Baz Luhrmann, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Austin Butler, Reza Adib (partner of Premier Palaszczuk), Chaydon Jay, Olivia DeJonge and Tom Hanks at the Elvis premier on the Gold Coast Earlier on Sunday, Mr Beattie, who was state premier between 1998 and 2007, warned voters would turn on Ms Palaszczuk if they believed her government had become 'stale'. 'You've got to keep renewing your vision, because if you don't, you get stale and people see you're stale and they will want someone else to have a go,' he told the Courier Mail. 'If you've been there a while it gets tougher because people want to see well what are you gonna do.' Labor insiders claimed Ms Palaszczuk has 'checked out' of her role and showed more interest in attending social events than running Queensland. Ms Palaszczuk and her boyfriend attended the premiere of Baz Luhrmann's new film Elvis on June 4. The Queensland premier was also spotted letting her hair down at the Strabroke Handicap race day at Eagle Farm on June 11. 'Every time they turn on the news there's another story about some atrocity in the health system,' an insider told The Australian. 'And there she is: out and about again with the doctor. It's not a good look.' The premier (pictured, third from right) was spotted letting her hair down at the Strabroke Handicap race day at Eagle Farm on June 11 with her boyfriend Dr Reza Adib (pictured, second from right) Mr Beattie suggested the premier capitalised on the upcoming 2032 Olympics to introduce an innovation strategy. He said the jobs in the energy, mining, biotechnology, defence, space, and agriculture industries. 'You've got to have a vision and you've got to demonstrate it. And the answer to this is you've got to go out and share it with people and take them with you,' he said. Ms Palaszczuk could become the longest-serving Labor premier in Queensland since World War II if she leads her party to victory at the next election in 2024. She would beat the previous nine-year record set by Mr Beattie. Labor insiders claim Ms Palaszczuk has given too much power to union boss Gary Bullock and won't make any decisions without first consulting him. Archie Battersbee's mother says her son will wake up and is 'responding to music and smell' as she appeals a High Court ruling today after a judge said the 12-year-old was 'brain dead' and his life support should be switched off Hollie Dance, 46, and Archie's father Paul Battersbee, 56, want Court of Appeal judges to consider their case as they believe, if his treatment is given more time, his condition could improve. Ms Dance said the youngster had 'responded to music and smell' after lavender oil was placed under his nose, which has given his family a 'glimmer of hope'. She said: 'His blood pressure went up, so we put on a deep-breathing meditation recording and put lavender oil under his nose and within 10 minutes his blood pressure dropped to normal levels.' Speaking to The Mirror, she added: 'It's a glimmer of hope. He's in there and he's going to wake up, he just needs time. All I want is for them to give him time to heal.' The brain-damaged schoolboy has been at the centre of a High Court dispute after doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London, said they believed he was brain dead and his ventilator should be disconnected. Archie has been in a coma since he was found unresponsive with a ligature around his neck at his home in Southend, Essex, on April 7. Ms Dance believes her son, a talented gymnast, choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the 'blackout challenge' that first began circulating online 14 years ago. The youngster has not regained consciousness since. On the eve of the decision, she issued a last-gasp appeal to the High Court judge to 'find it in your heart to give my son the time to heal'. Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital's governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what moves are in Archie's best interests. But in her ruling last Monday, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said: 'I find that Archie died at noon on May 31 2022, which was shortly after the MRI scans taken that day,' said the judge in a written ruling. The parents of Archie Battersbee at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute are preparing to launch an appeal bid today after a High Court judge ruled the 12-year-old was 'likely' to be 'brain stem dead'. Pictured: Archie's mother, Hollie Dance The brain-damaged schoolboy has been at the centre of a High Court dispute after doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London, said they believed he was brain dead and his ventilator should be disconnected Ms Dance said the youngster had 'responded to music and smell' after lavender oil was placed under his nose, which has given relatives a 'glimmer of hope' Ms Dance believes her son, a talented gymnast, choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the 'blackout challenge' that first began circulating online 14 years ago. The youngster has not regained consciousness since The eight-week battle for life-support for Archie April 7 - Archie is found unresponsive at his home in Southend, with a ligature around his neck. May 5 - The Royal London Hospital, which is treating Archie, asked a judge to decide what was is in his best interests because medics believed he was braindead. May 13 - The judge calls for Archie to have a brain stem test after a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Friday. June 1 - Judge Arbuthnot visits Archie in hospital to see for herself his condition and treatment. June 7 - High Court hearing to work out what should happen is told parts of Archie's brain are dead. June 8 - A medical specialist tells judge Mrs Justice Arbuthnot tests showed no 'discernible' brain activity'. June 13 - The judge rules Archie is 'likely' brain dead and life support should stop. His family say they will appeal the ruling in a 'legally complex' process that could take months to conclude. Advertisement 'I find that irreversible cessation of brain stem function has been conclusively established. 'I give permission to the medical professionals at the Royal London Hospital to cease to ventilate mechanically Archie Battersbee.' Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee, who are separated, asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot at a High Court hearing on Monday to give them permission to mount an appeal. They must establish that have an arguable or compelling case before a full appeal hearing can be staged. A barrister leading their legal team argued that evidence had not shown 'beyond reasonable doubt' that Archie is dead. Edward Devereux QC said the decision had been made on a balance of probabilities. He argued that a decision of such 'gravity' should have been made on a 'beyond reasonable doubt' basis. A spokesman for campaign organisation the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Archie's family, said relatives will use a follow-up High Court hearing to ask Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to give them the go-ahead to mount an appeal. Relatives must establish they have an arguable case before a full appeal hearing can be staged. Arguments would be heard by the Court of Appeal, which has the power to dismiss the appeal, but if given the green light, the case could be heard at the Supreme Court - the final appeal court for civil cases in the UK. Ms Dance said last week she would 'not give up' her ongoing fight for her son and said the High Court ruling 'was on only the start'. She said: 'I am devastated and extremely disappointed by the judge's ruling after weeks of fighting a legal battle, when I wanted to be by my little boy's bedside. 'Basing a judgement on an MRI test and is 'likely' to be dead is not good enough. I feel sickened at the hospital and the judge have failed to put the wishes of the family into consideration. 'I do not believe Archie has been given enough time. His heart is still beating he has gripped his hand and as his mother and my gut instincts I know my son is still there. 'Until it's God's way I wont accept he should go. I know of miracles when people have come back from being braindead. 'We do intend on appealing, this is only the start, I will not give up my fight for my son.' At the time of the ruling, Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'This ruling is a devastating moment for Archie and his family. 'The idea that death can be declared on the balance of probability is frankly ludicrous. Archie Battersbee's mother, Hollie Dance, (centre-right) speaking outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, after the High Court judgement last week on the future of the 12-year-old boy Archie Battersbee's brother Tom Summers kisses him on the head in hospital as he visited him on Wednesday Hollie Dance, 46, (right) has begged a High Court judge to allow Archie Battersbee's life support treatment to continue after he choked while reportedly performing an online 'blackout' craze 'Life is the most precious gift that we have. This ruling sets a troubling and dark precedent. 'This case has raised significant moral, legal and medical questions as to when a person is dead. 'Archie's parents do not accept that he is dead and are fighting courageously for his life. They will not give up now and intend to appeal. We will continue to stand with the family and continue to pray for a miracle.' Alistair Chesser, the chief medical officer at Barts Health NHS Trust, expressed sympathies for Archie's family today, adding that the hospital will give them time to appeal. Speaking outside the Royal London Hospital, Mr Chesser said: 'This is a sad and difficult time for Archie's family and our thoughts and sympathies are with them as they come to terms with what has happened. 'In line with the guidance issued by the court, our expert clinicians will provide the best possible care while life support is withdrawn. 'We are also ensuring that there is time for the family to decide whether they wish to appeal before any changes to care are made.' Archie, pictured wearing a medal and holding a trophy, was a talented gymnast. His mother believes he was taking part in a viral social media challenge when he was found injured The family were represented in court by lawyer Bruno Quintavalle and consultant Pavel Stroilov, who worked on the Alfie Evans case. The family of Alfie, a 23-month old boy, lost a High Court life support dispute after Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust argued that it was not in his 'best interests' to continue treatment. His family wanted his treatment to continue in Italy, but a High Court judge ruled against them, before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court dismissed their appeals. He died in April 2018. Ms Dance has said fighting for her son's treatment to continue has been 'agonising', adding that there are 'a lot of kids being sentenced to death' by decisions made at the Royal London Hospital where he is on life support. Also speaking with journalists outside the hospital in Whitechapel, east London, she said: 'I'm not the only one going through this. 'There's people up there (in the hospital) at the moment who have been told on day three that their child is brain dead. 'There's a lot of kids being sentenced to death through this hospital. This is not just for Archie now, it's for the other children as well.' A mother visited the ISIS kidnapper responsible for her murdered son's abduction in prison - and said he came close to apologizing to her. Diane Foley visited Alexanda Kotey, 38, at his Virginia jail after the so-called ISIS Beatle was jailed for life in April for helping kidnap, torture and execute hostages in Syria, including Diane's journalist son James, The Times of London reported. Speaking at a conference at King's College in London, Foley said Kotey had 'come very close' to apologizing to her for his role in her son's beheading at the hands of infamous ISIS killer Jihadi John, and that 'he's expressed a lot of remorse.' Kotey - who is currently incarcerated in Alexandria, Virginia - agreed to visit with family members of his victims as a part of a plea deal that could see him transferred to a British prison after serving fifteen years in the US. Diane Foley's son, James Foley, was kidnapped and beheaded by an ISIS group known as the 'ISIS Beatles' Alexanda Kotey, a British native, was a part of a group of terrorists nicknamed the 'ISIS Beatles' by their captors because of their British accents Foley was beheaded by Jihadi John in August 2014, with a clip of the execution sparking global revulsion After visiting with him in prison, Foley said that Kotey seemed to be working his way towards feeling sorry for his actions. 'He's written me a couple of letters filled with remorse and his attempt at justifying his actions,' Foley, 'And, to me, forgiving oneself, forgiving others, is always a long process. It's nothing quick, but yes, he's come very close.' 'Who knows if he's telling the truth to me, but at least it's given him something to think about, to recognize what he did to people who were really innocent victims themselves.' Foley said that the terrorist explained to her how he became radicalized, and brought up the the mistreatment of Muslims. 'I tried to be a good listener, tried to hear his side of things and how he became radicalized and how he came to see our innocent citizens as evil and the cause for all the pain and suffering that they may have felt,' she said, 'It's very poignant to see how everyone lost. When hatred reigns, everyone loses. 'It's been a very, very sad experience all around to be honest, but I'm hoping that, maybe, in time, we can get some reconciliation.' James Foley was kidnapped by the terror group known as the ISIS Beatles. He was beheaded in a video that the terror group circulated on the internet Alexanda Kotey plead guilty in April to his role in the kidnapping, torture, and execution of at least six journalists and aid workers Kotey is one of four ISIS killers who were nicknamed 'The Beatles' by their captors because of their English accents. They shocked the world in 2014 when with the release of a video showing the beheading of 40-year-old journalist James Foley, demanding that President Obama call of airstrikes of the Islamic State in Iraq. Kotey did not carry out the beheading of Foley himself, but plead guilty to being involved in the death of him and at least five other journalists and aid workers. El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, was convicted alongside Kotey and will be sentenced in August. The leader of the group, Mohammed Emwazi - who became known as 'Jihadist John' and was the killer of Foley - was killed during an airstrike in 2015. A man believed to be a fourth member of the group, Aine Davis, was arrested in Turkey in 2017 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. David Haines (at left) and Steven Sotloff (right) were both captured and beheaded in 2014 after being held by a four-man terrorist group of Britons dubbed 'The Beatles' because of their British accents. Members of the cell buried the body of Foley, but burned that of Sotloff because the ground was too dry Aid worker Kayla Mueller, 26 (left) was forced to be a sex-slave before her execution, and US aid worker Peter Kassig (right) was beaten and tortured before being executed Not all family members of Kotey's victims have been so open to listening to the terrorist. After his guilty plea in April, Bethany Haines, the daughter of journalist David Haines - who was also beheaded by the terror group - walked up to Kotey and told him 'Why don't you go rot in hell.' Haines said she could not forgive Kotey and his accomplices because she felt they had not 'expressed one ounce of remorse for their actions.' She said: 'These two men are selfish and only care about themselves and until they accept their actions, admit to what they've done, and apologize, then there is no chance they will be forgiven by me. I have no pity for them'. Haines said she had 'struggled wondering why monsters, like these two men, are on this earth but my father isn't'. Haines' brother Michael said his slain relative was a 'force for good' who had an 'unrelenting desire' to help people. Michael Haines added that he forgave the terrorists so that they would not have 'power over me' any more. A family friend who hosted them for a four-hour break on the long journey blames fatigue for the crash The crash happened as family drove one end of NZ to the other to attend a funeral and drove through night Filipino community rallying to aid survivors, a man and a teenage boy, who are badly hurt in hospital NZ crash claimed members of three generations of a family including a baby who died with her mother Advertisement Relatives, schoolmates and friends are remembering the victims of a horrific road crash in New Zealand that killed seven people representing three generations of one family, including a baby. Seven of nine people in a van died instantly when it strayed onto the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a semi-trailer after being driven overnight to get from nearly one end of the country to the other. School teacher Paul Brown, 61, his Filipino wife Diseree Brown, 48, and their son Mark, 14, all died along with Diseree's sister Divine Dolar, 56, and Divine's daughter Flordeliza Dolar, 19. Crash victims Diseree Brown (fourth from left) and Paul Brown flank Paul Brown's mother (centre in brown coat). Flordeliza Dolar (left), Divine Dolar were also killed in the crash along with baby, Mika Clariman being held. Mark Lagud (front, blue jacket) also lost his life. Pedro Clariman and Luie Lagud survived the crash but Luie is in a coma and will undergo surgery Two of Diseree's sons Pedro Clariman, 26, and Luie Lagud, 16, survived but Luie was in a coma and is undergoing surgery. Pedro is in a stable condition but his wife died alongside their daughter Mika, only nine to 10 months old. Diseree has three other children who did not travel and are devastated by the huge loss of their family members. Mark was a Year 10 student of Pukekohe High School outside Auckland, where Luie also attends in Year 11. The school's principal Richard Barnett sent an email on Monday to parents informing them of his death. The mangled remains of the van that hit a refrigerated semi-trailer head-on in New Zealand which claimed the lives of a school teacher and his relatives who were associated with the Filipino community in the region of Auckland Police said early indications suggest the van crossed the centre line into oncoming traffic 'His older brother, in Year 11, remains in hospital. Our thoughts and condolences are with their family and close friends,' he wrote. Barnett told Stuff the school was 'deeply affected' by the crash and the two boys were part of a 'beautiful family'. Paul Brown taught autistic children at Parkside Specialist School in Pukekohe. The school's principal Carol Willard said staff and students were 'deeply saddened' and called him a 'much-respected and loved member of our school community'. Paul Brown's sister said he was a 'wonderful brother' who taught autistic children. 'We're coping as well as can be expected at this time, seven members from one family to go at once is just tragic.' she said. Victims of the horrific road crash that killed seven people in New Zealand on Sunday have been named and they include a school teacher, his wife, their sons, his sister-in-law and a baby Auckland Filipino community leader Romy Udanga vowed his community would support the surviving family members and had already begun fund-raising. He said members of the Wellington Filipino community were on stand-by to help the two survivors. The Philippines Embassy is believed to be assisting New Zealand police with the investigation and some of the bodies have been sent to Christchurch. A man who hosted the family just outside Christchurch as they took a break in the mammoth drive to get home rang a New Radio talkback station on Monday, the NZ Herald reported. The truck driver escaped the smash without serious injury but of the seven people killed in the van one was an infant and one was a teenage boy The man who gave his name as Bill said he knew Paul Brown since 2015 when they met in church and was happy to open his home to give the family some respite. Bill said family members took turns at driving from Gore, about 500km away, with an overnight stay in Dunedin, and arrived at 10pm on Saturday. The family stayed for about four hours, although he offered for them to stay longer and get more rest. However, Mr Brown said that they would make their way steadily to Picton and grab a few hours sleep waiting for the ferry back to the North Island. Bill said he and his friend chatted while one of the drivers slept, but the rest of the family snoozed or just rested comfortably. The collision occurred on State Highway 1 (pictured) between Blenheim and Picton at 7.30am on Sunday 'This was a vibrant family - my friend was a high school teacher... his wife started an online business and he was really proud of her,' Bill said. 'They had four boys and girls... One of the boys married a Taiwanese young lady and it was their baby [who] died. 'I was really taken with this young woman, she was so nice and it really hits home at my heart that she's gone and the baby's gone. 'Her husband survived he's going to wake up and find that he's now alone.' Bill thought fatigue may have been a factor in the crash. 'You spend every spare moment thinking of the what-ifs and the whys,' he said. 'My friend was a high school teacher, his students are finding out now that he's not coming back.' Five hours after leaving Bill's house, the van smashed into the truck just outside Picton on State Highway 1 south. The driver of the refrigerated goods truck suffered only minor injuries and has been released from hospital. Picton is located on the north coast of the South Island, in the Marlborough region and is a port for ferries that travel to the North Island, which is where the family were heading Acting Tasman district commander Inspector Paul Borrell described Sunday's scene as 'absolute carnage'. 'In a blink of an eye, seven lives are gone,' he said on Sunday. The crash is New Zealand deadliest since eight people were killed in a crash near Taupo in April 2019 and is the worst in the South Island in more than two decades. Marlborough Area Commander Inspector Simon Feltham said on Sunday support would be offered to first responders to help them cope with the trauma. 'One of our staff members, it was their third day working out of police college,' he said. 'It's a horrific thing to have to deal with.' Rick Rawlings said there had been two other serious crashes at that site in recent years as the corner features a deceptive curve in the road. 'It's a very narrow part of State Highway 1; It starts off in Picton, and by the time it gets here the vehicles have [sped] up from Picton quite well, and then they have to negotiate a corner which doesn't really show up all that well - I know - I live right on it,' he told RNZ. A 70 year-old arms dealer charged with the murder of three elderly Alabama churchgoers at a 'Boomers Potluck' party was prevented from killing even more people by an elderly have-a-go-hero who beat him with a folding chair. The Rev. Doug Carpenter, a former pastor at St. Stephen's for three decades before he retired in 2005, said he understood the man hit the gunman with a folding chair before wrestling him to the ground and taking the gun. 'The person that subdued the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero,' Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware told reporters a news conference Friday, saying that act was 'extremely critical in saving lives.' Susan Sallin, 73, who was seated at the same table at the party with the three people who died in the Thursday night shooting at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, said one of the men in the group was able to subdue the gunman. He then managed to take the gun out of the shooter - 70-year-old Robert Findlay Smith - and pistol whip him. 'I did see him get the gun out of the man's hand and hit him on the head with the gun,' Sallin added. Smith now faces capital murder charges over Thursday's triple-shooting at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. Walter Bartlett Rainey, 84, Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham, and Jane Pounds, 84, were killed in the shooting. Robert Findlay Smith shown in his mugshot following his arrest. He accused of capital murder in the shooting deaths of three people at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church One of the victims, Sarah Yeager, pictured on her Facebook page. She's also known as Sharon Another of the victims, Jane Pounds. Police said gunman had reportedly concealed the gun, a pistol, before opening fire at the potluck dinner Walter 'Bart' Rainey, 84, pictured here with his wife Linda, was identified Friday morning as one of three seniors fatally shot St. Stephens Episcopal Church Thursday during a church meeting The Rev. Doug Carpenter, St. Stephen's pastor for three decades before he retired in 2005, said he understood a man hit the gunman with a folding chair before wrestling him to the ground and taking the gun Smith sat by himself drinking liquor, rejecting offers to join the others gathered at the potluck dinner, before gunfire shattered the peace of the evening, a survivor recalled. 'It felt like he was disengaged,' Sallin said. The suspected gunman had previously attended church services and a few church gatherings for people of the Baby Boomer generation and older, but didn't seem to interact much with others, she said. That night, he sat at a table by himself. While wine was available at the potluck, he was drinking from what appeared to be a small bottle of Scotch, and shunned invitations to join the others. 'I personally invited him to come and sit at our table twice because I wanted him to feel a sense of inclusion, but he did not come,' Sallin said. She said a woman, whose husband would be killed moments later in the shooting, 'realized he had not fixed himself a plate and went up and offered to make him a plate.' He declined that as well. Church members console each other after a shooting at the Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Vestavia, Alabama A prayer circle formed in a parking lot near the church on Thursday night Police said the gunman was in attendance at the church, Alabama Episcopalian, at the time of the shooting, at a meeting billed as a 'Boomers' Potluck' The gathering was joyful, as the friends - who had not been able to gather as much during the pandemic - chatted about the food before them that night, their favorite cars and other light-hearted topics. Sallin said she doesn't remember hearing any arguing or heated conversation before the gunfire suddenly erupted. 'I heard this loud metallic sound, and I thought a metal chair had fallen over on the floor. And then there was another sound, and another sound, and I realized it was a gun,' she recalled. 'People were diving for the floor. I was diving for the floor. When I got down to the floor, I realized that two of my girlfriends who were sitting at the table with me had been hit.' Sallin said she crawled across the floor to reach her friends. The 'Boomers Potluck' event was advertised on the church website Captain Shane Ware of Vestavia Hills revealed Wednesday the currently incarcerated suspect allegedly behind the shooting at an Alabama church Thursday was a regular and attended a small church meeting before killings two fellow attendees and injuring one 'I was trying to calm them and pat them and tell them, 'You are not alone. You are not alone.' That's the message that I wanted them to get.' Nearby, Linda Foster Rainey cradled her husband. According to a family statement, 'he died in her arms while she murmured words of comfort and love into his ears.' The church had been closed off for several days as a crime scene, but the congregation returned Sunday for worship services with a message of choosing love over hate. The Rev. John Burruss, the rector of St. Stephen's, invoked the Christian story of the last supper, where Jesus invited the friend who would ultimately betray him. 'There is not a doubt in my mind that Bart and Sharon and Jane would invite their Judas again and again to sit down and share a meal, because they knew God's unconditional love,' he said, using the first names that the three victims went by. 'It was their guiding ethic and they fully embodied it. ... They taught us that all are welcome at the table,' Burruss said. The shooting, which saw one other congregator injured, transpired Thursday just after 6pm, at the church in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham A woman who encountered accused wife killer Chris Dawson and his brother Paul at a party in 2007 has described the twins as having a 'creepy' closeness. Fay Sinclair, a witness at Dawson's trial where he accused of murdering his wife Lyn, told the court he would always check with his older twin Paul before speaking. The trial also heard on Monday about an alleged sighting of Lyn Dawson during the 1983 royal tour of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, plus a threat by schoolgirl babysitter JC 'to get rid of' Lynette. Christopher Michael Dawson, 73, is accused of murdering his wife and disposing of her body in January 1982 so he could have an unfettered relationship with the babysitter. He has pleaded not guilty. Ms Sinclair said she was attending a 'living wake' of Phil Day, who was dying of cancer, and attended by his former schoolmates and Sydney Boys High School prefects, which included her husband John and the Dawson twins. The witness said she was discussing her failed first marriage with Chris Dawson, and asked if he'd had one. He replied that 'his wife had left him to join a commune or something like that in the Blue Mountains'. A woman who met Chris Dawson at a party in 2007 said she found the closeness between Chris Dawson and his older twin, Paul Dawson (the twins pictured above) 'creepy' and she felt Chris relied on Paul to approve what he was saying about Lyn going to a Blue Mountains commune A Newtown Jets fan and close friend of Chris Dawson said she believed she sighted Lyn Dawson moments before meeting Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Sydney on March 28, 1983 (above) when the royals drove up Macquarie Street She said at that point, Chris's twin brother Paul 'had come over and and sat next to him very close' and then she asked if they had children. When he replied they had, she asked 'what sort of mother would leave her children?' She said Chris didn't respond except 'he looked at his brother' and it was Paul who responded and 'said something along the lines of "she was a little bit crazy"'. Ms Sinclair explained she was a recruiter who'd interviewed thousands of job candidates and she assessed the body language between the twins as 'creepy... probably how close they were sitting to one another'. 'My interpretation was that Chris was looking to Paul to confirm what he was going to say was okay,' she said under cross-examination by Chris Dawson's lawyer, Greg Walsh, on Monday. 'I think Chris was checking with his older twin that what he was saying was the right thing.' The murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court was shown a video of a 2018 appearance by Elva McBay via video link at a Local Court hearing, and footage of a 1983 royal tour of Sydney by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Fay Sinclair said Chris and Paul Dawson were unusually close and that she found that 'creepy' after meeting them together at a 'living wake' for one of the twins fellow former Sydney Boys High School classmates Elva McBay, a Newtown Jets fan since she was a toddler in 1922, said she became friends with both twins, Chris and Paul Dawson and after Lyn vanished thought she saw her running in front of Princess Di and Prince Charles' car a year later Ms McBay, aged about 99 in the 2018 court appearance, was a fan of the Newtown Jets rugby league team, formerly the 'Blue Bags', since she was three in about 1922. She met Paul Dawson when he was a schoolteacher at Kogarah High School and become a close family friend of both Paul and Chris Dawson and their wives after the twins started playing for her beloved Newtown Jets. Ms McBay described a sighting of Lynette Dawson more than a year after Lyn vanished, just as the royals drove up Macquarie Street and her husband met Prince Charles. She was right at the front of the barrier outside Sydney Hospital on March 28, 1983, when 'a lady came from behind, I think she came from the hospital... about the time Charles and Diana approached us. 'She was hurrying and she pushed in about six or eight people further along from me and ducked under barricade and the motorbike police were almost up to us when it happened,' she said. 'She turned quickly end to look where the procession was and I saw her face for a few seconds, ran straight in front of motorcycles. 'I said to my husband, "I think that's Lyn Dawson". I must have seen the lady's face and cannot remember. At some stage, I told Paul and Chris about seeing the lady I thought was Lyn.' Lynette Dawson was 'trembling and crying' at the fourth birthday party of her elder daughter after a row with the babysitter JC who Lyn told her had threatend 'to get rid of' Lyn At the fourth birthday party of the Dawsons' elder daughter in 1981, Mrs McBay said she found Lyn crying after an argument with the babysitter JC (above, with Chris Dawson) who Lyn said had threatened 'to get rid of her' Ms McBay said six months before Lyn Dawson disappeared, in July 1981, she had attended the fourth birthday party of Lyn and Chris's elder daughter. It was about midday and when Ms McBay went into the kitchen, she found Lyn in tears after having an argument with the teenage girl babysitter who had moved into the family's Bayview home. 'She was distraught, she was crying, she was trembling. I had never seen her in such a state, ever. 'I said "what's wrong Lyn". She said "I had the most dreadful row with (JC) this morning, she wants to get rid of me". 'I said "oh Lyn you can't be hurt by this, you should get her out of the house before there's any more trouble" and she said "my mother has said the same thing". 'She was getting the party ready so I stayed for a little while in the kitchen and then went back to the kiddies.' Mrs McBay said she had 'heard theyd taken a little girl from the school' and she did not approve and 'thought it was very strange'. The Newtown Jet s fan Elva McBay who befriended the Dawson twins and their wives described the accused as 'placid, good fun, an absolutely wonderful father and husband (who) adored his children and Lyn' (above Lyn and Chris together) Mrs McBay said she became close friends with the Dawson twins (above, in the back row) when they were recruited to play for her beloved Newtown Jets of which she was a lifelong fan 'I said if she upsets you as much as this Lyn, you should get her out of the house, her mother had said the same thing,' she told the court. Under questioning from Mr Dawson's barrister at the 2018 hearing, Phillip Boulten, SC, Ms McBay said she had 'no recollection' that Lynette had told her JC 'threatened to kill her'. But Ms McBay agreed that a handwritten statement - in which, Mr Boulten said, she did say that - had a signature on the bottom which she could just make out with the aid of a magnifying glass as her own. She described Chris Dawson as 'very quiet, very placid, good fun, an absolutely wonderful father and husband (who) adored his children and Lyn'. Legendary former detective Ian 'Speed' Kennedy testified on Wednesday about an allegation that he told Chris Dawson in the 1980s that Lyn was well and living in New Zealand. Mr Kennedy - whose 35 year career in the NSW Police notably included arresting the men who murdered beauty queen and nurse Anita Cobby in 1986 - was in the same class at Sydney Boy High as the Dawson twins, who graduated in 1965. Mr Kennedy was told about a claim Chris Dawson made to detectives investigating Lyn Dawson's disappearance. Legendary detective Ian 'Speed' Kennedy (above at the scene of the crime with one of the Anita Cobby killers, Michael Murdoch, in 1986) denied ever telling Chris Dawson he had knowledge of Lyn Dawson living in New Zealand Chris Dawson told police Mr Kennedy told him at a 1985 Sydney Boys High School reunion that he (Kennedy) had established that Lyn was living in New Zealand and was well. In a 1991 video recorded police interview, played during the trial, detectives challenged Dawson about this, saying Mr Kennedy denied ever telling Dawson this. In that interview, Dawson counters this by suggesting the detective may have been too drunk to remember their conversation. Asked about this on Monday, Mr Kennedy said he never had any information about the Lynette Dawson case, and if he had there would be a record of it. He denied having the conversation with Chris Dawson at the reunion. As to the suggestion of being too drunk at the event to remember, he said: 'I dispute being affected by alcohol... I had nothing to do with any inquiry into Lyn Dawson'. The murder trial began in early May and is into its sixth week, with the Crown case due to finish either on Friday or early next week. The Crown's witnesses have attempted to paint Dawson as a violent, controlling, and abusive husband, with testimony emerging that Ms Dawson was seen variously with a black eye, and bruises around her throat and on her arms and thigh. Witnesses said they saw him shove his wife's face into the dirt, swing her into a doorframe, and demean her with insults such as 'fatso'. Dawson's defence case is that Lyn left their marriage of her own accord and abandoned her two young daughters, then aged four and two. His legal team argued the witnesses' testimony was contaminated because they talked about the case with each other and listened to The Teacher's Pet podcast about the case, arguing it was broadcast with an assumption that her husband was guilty. They also argued police failed to probably investigate the possibility Lyn Dawson is still alive, and had tunnel vision about Chris Dawson's alleged guilt. Dawson claims JC's allegations are lies spurred by a bitter custody battle after their 1990 break-up. Two teenage boys are fighting for life and another two were rushed to hospital after their allegedly stolen car flipped on a country road. The four boys who were in the car as it travelled near Oakey, west of Brisbane, are all aged between 13 and 14. About 8.35am on Monday emergency crews were called to Henningsen Road near the Warrago Highway after reports of a single vehicle crash. A 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old boy have both been airlifted to a Brisbane hospital in critical conditions. The four teenagers in the car were rushed to hospital after the crash near Oakey in Queensland on Monday (pictured: emergency crews at the scene) Two 14-year-old boys were transported to Toowoomba Base Hospital. Police said their investigations indicate the vehicle involved had been reported as stolen. Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the crash remain ongoing. Police have asked anyone with information, dashcam footage, or who may have witnessed the incident to contact them. TSA data revealed the number of people flying on Friday and Saturday nearly equaled the same number of those who flew on the same days in 2019 Airlines allege the disruptions come after travel demands have soared to pre-pandemic levels, yet staffing still remains strained A woman allegedly suffered a heart attack at an airport in North Carolina after rushing to a changed gate during a chaotic weekend of travel. A concerned mother took to Twitter Sunday after her 17-year-old son was among the thousands of passengers impacted by delays and cancellations at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Friday. The mom said her son was flying to make his connection to Raleigh-Durham International Airport but was met with two cancelled flights and multiple last minute gate changes. She claims another traveler, an unidentified woman, 'had a heart attack in front of him after running to a new gate.' After the traumatic experience at the Charlotte airport, the woman claims her teenaged son then spent hours sitting on a plane only to have the flight cancelled. 'I drove over 350 miles to get him home,' she stated. 'And we still dont have his checked bag. Going to have to drive back to RDU to pick it up since they wont pick up a phone or call me back.' It is unclear what happened to the woman who suffered the cardiac episode. More than 900 flights were cancelled on Sunday, leaving travelers stranded across the United States, according to Flight Aware. Over 200 routes scheduled for Monday have already been axed. After the traumatic experience at the Charlotte airport, the mom claims her teenaged son then spent hours sitting on a plane only to have the flight cancelled Irritated passengers have taken to Twitter calling out airlines for hours-long delays and cancellations that have left children sleeping on filthy airport floors. Those lucky enough to board their flights have cited long waits on the tarmac, including one traveler flying into New York City who claimed he was stuck on a plane for more than 90 minutes after landing. Airline customers and workers alike have reported chaos at the airports since the start of the summertime travel surge. Air carriers allege the demand for travel has soared to pre-pandemic levels, yet staffing remains strained after mass COVID-19 fueled layoffs. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data revealed the number of people flying on Friday and Saturday nearly equaled the same number of those who flew on the same days in 2019. Meantime, the ongoing trends of frustrated travelers and high number of cancellations has pushed Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to tell airline executives to clean up their act and avoid another flying catastrophe before July 4. A concerned mother called out Delta airlines late Sunday night after her daughter was forced to sleep on an airport floor (pictured) after a series of cancellations and delays. Delta fared the worst of the American airlines on Sunday with six percent of its total flights canceled Irritated passengers have taken to Twitter calling out airlines for hours-long delays and cancellations. One traveler alleged he sat on the tarmac at New York City's JFK airport for 90 minutes after his flight landed on Sunday (pictured) More than 200 flights have already been cancelled for Monday, with Delta Airlines yet again being the hardest hit. Delta fared the worst of the American airlines on Sunday with six percent of its total flights canceled. As of 1.30am, one percent of its Monday routes had already been axed. Another one percent have been delayed. United Airlines has also already cancelled one percent of its Monday flights, according to FlightAware. The air carrier saw three percent of its flights canceled and four percent delayed on Sunday. American Airlines had five percent of its flights delayed on Sunday. The air carrier has not yet reported any disruptions to Monday's routes. Among the worst hit airports over the weekend were Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, Georgia; John F Kennedy (JFK) Airport in New York City; Charlotte-Douglas International in North Carolina and the Chicago O'Hare airport. Monday's trouble is expected to take place at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and JFK, both of which service the greater NYC area. The continued travel anguish comes after a total of 8,900 delays and 1,470 cancelation thwarted US travels on Friday and more than 1,700 were canceled on Thursday amid storms in the southeast and northeast. Since then, there have been more than 4,000 flights canceled across the U.S. In an effort to aid in the ongoing travel disruptions, ride share provider Uber is now allowing travelers to pre-book their airport transfer up to 30 days in advance at several destinations. The pre-booking move comes as airports have seen a huge influx of passengers. According to Travel Off Path, Uber users have been experiencing excessively long delays and wait times at airports. A concerned mother (pictured) took to Twitter Sunday after her 17-year-old son was among the thousands of passengers impacted by delays and cancellations at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Friday The feature, known as Uber Reserve, will be available to flyers at more than 55 global hub airports. Thirty-nine of those airports are in the U.S. However, despite the efforts of airlines and other travel industry providers, such as Uber, disruptions have become the norm for most American vacationers. Charlotte-Douglas airport did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment on the alleged heart attack incident. The North Carolina teen's story echoes that of several other passengers left stranded over the weekend. Concerned mother Nikki Webber called out Delta Airlines for selling tickets for flights they allegedly don't have the workforce to staff. A North Carolina mom alleged her son witnessed a woman suffer a heart attack at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport after rushing to her gate after a last minute change over the weekend. The Charlotte airport, which saw hundreds of disruptions over the weekend, is pictured on Sunday A group of kids are pictured sitting on the floor at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport early Sunday morning 'If you dont have enough pilots, stop selling all of the flights,' Webber tweeted, sharing a photo of her young daughter sleeping on an airport floor late Sunday. 'I would rather pay more and arrive on time so my kids arent sleeping on the disgusting airport floor in the middle of the night waiting for your pilots to arrive.' Another social media user called out Delta after alleging that although his flight to New York's JFK airport took off, he was stuck waiting on the tarmac for 90 minutes after arriving in the Big Apple. 'I landed 90 minutes ago and havent moved,' he penned. '@Delta I wouldnt wish you on my worst enemy.' Frustrated passengers took to Twitter Sunday to slam Delta over its handling of the chaos unfolding at airports across the nation Similarly, an associate professor at Hunter College in NYC said he was met with an eight-hour wait when trying to speak with a 'ticketing support specialist' about his travel disruptions. 'This is unbelievable, Delta. 8 HOURS?!' Josh Plotnik slammed. Delta has has vowed to cut its service by about 100 flights per day from July 1 to August 7 in an effort to combat ongoing staffing shortages. Earlier this month, CEO Ed Bastian said the air carrier has been actively hiring new workers over the past year after more than 17,000 employees left the company in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic. As of early June, Delta Airlines reported it had hired more than 15,000 workers in the last year but stated it was still not enough to meet the soaring travel demand. Over the weekend, two television meteorologists used their Twitter platforms to discuss the hardships the disruptions are causing travelers. Nathan Scott, who works at KTHV in Little Rock, Arkansas, shared how he was one of the many Delta passengers to get stranded over the weekend. Nathan Scott, who works at KTHV in Little Rock, Arkansas, shared how he was one of the many Delta passengers to get stranded over the weekend. He is pictured with his new bride Scott and his new bride were met with a bad ending to their 'great honeymoon' after being trapped at Delta's hub in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday night Scott and his new bride were met with a bad ending to their 'great honeymoon' after being trapped at Delta's hub in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday night. He said they were waiting to go home to Little Rock but the airline ultimately cancelled their flight, leaving the newlyweds 'not happy.' Similarly, in a series of tweets over the weekend, Shel Winkley, a meteorologist for KBTX News, shared how he struggled to arrive at - and later get home from - an American Meteorological Society Broadcast Conference in Milwaukee. The Texas meteorologist was stuck in Milwaukee and Chicago for two full days after his American Airlines flights back home were canceled a total of six times. Winkley's saga began Monday when he first faced a four-hour delay from Dallas-Fort Worth to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. After he finally arrived in the area, he said, a large storm was slamming Milwaukee, and the captain had to circle around the tarmac several times - until eventually he announced: 'We don't have enough gas, we're heading for Madison.' They then sat on the tarmac in Madison, Wisconsin for a while as they waited for the storms to pass, and he finally arrived at Milwaukee at 7pm, but once again had to wait because his luggage was put on a later flight. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Shel Winkley (pictured napping at the airport) a meteorologist for KBTX News, shared how he struggled to arrive at - and later get home from - an American Meteorological Society Broadcast Conference in Milwaukee. Massive flight delays and cancelations continued for a fourth day on Sunday Winkley was originally expected to arrive in the area at 12.40pm, he wrote. That would have been enough for the traveling meteorologist, but as he tried to head home on Friday, his flight scheduled to leave at 5.30pm starts getting pushed back to 7pm. Soon, the plane arrived on the tarmac, he said, and people started to deplane, but they are not allowed to get on. The captain later explained: 'There's a malfunction, I don't feel comfortable flying the plane.' His flight was then delayed until 8.30am, and Winkley got a hotel room, but at 12am he received a push notification that the flight is once again delayed until 11.45am. So on Saturday morning, he tweeted that he saw the plane parked at the gate at the Milwaukee airport, but officials announced it would be another four to five hours to install a new part on the plane - a control valve, which he wrote 'controls how fast the plane goes.' At that point, he said, American Airline officials offered the passengers a bus to the Chicago O'Hare airport - about an hour and a half away. Two hours after arriving, Winkley wrote, the plane arrived - but was delayed further because of mechanical issues. 'Meanwhile, those that were left waiting at [Milwaukee] on the original flight are about to take off,' he wrote. '@AmericanAir: This isn't cute anymore.' Winkley was finally able to get on the plane, he said, but maintenance crews soon returned to 'fix something in the cockpit.' After about an hour, the maintenance crews were unable to fix the problem, and they were asked to deplane. At the same time, though, Winkley wrote, those who waited it out at Milwaukee had reached Dallas-Fort Worth. /21 Maintenance couldn't get the issues fixed (they worked hard for an hour...they truly did). Still working on the problem to try to get us out tonight. We have been asked to deplane. The time is now 10:08pm pic.twitter.com/xnoUcVqvqx Shel Winkley (@KBTXShel) June 19, 2022 In a series of tweets, Shel Winkley, a meteorologist for KBTX News, shared how he struggled to arrive at - and later get home from - an American Meteorological Society Broadcast Conference in Milwaukee By 11.09pm, another flight he was booked on was canceled by American Airlines 'once again leaving us stranded for the night,' and at that point he and his crew decided to just take a sunrise flight to Austin. They finally arrived on Texas soil mid-Sunday morning, as passengers around the country continued to face massive delays and cancelations for Father's Day weekend. So far in June, FOX 5 reports, more than 2.2 million travelers a day have gone through security checkpoints at US airports - up 22 percent from the same time one year ago, but still down 13 percent from the same time before the pandemic. The delays are partially driven by on-going storms throughout the U.S. after a heat dome settled over the Midwest and South last week, creating the perfect conditions for surprise tornadoes and showers. As of Sunday morning, more than 700 flights were canceled coming into or departing from the United States, according to Flight Aware , and over 1,000 flights coming into or out of the United States were delayed A Transportation Security Administration checkpoint sign showed that it would take about an hour and a half to get through on Sunday For disabled U.S. Army veteran Joe Reis told 11 Alive that the delays and cancellations have kept him from returning home from his honeymoon and accessing the charger for his hearing aids, which is in his hold bag. 'Instead of it being a happy honeymoon, it became a very miserable plane ride waiting for this hell hole to let us finally leave,' Reis said, adding that he had to sleep on the floor on Saturday. 'I have to rely on hearing aids, and so my charging port is actually in my bag in Omaha.' New mother Brooke Osborne echoed the complaints, saying that she was running out of diapers and formula for her 11-month-old daughter, Carson. 'We've just been giving her more food throughout the day and less bottles since all of her formula is in our checked bag, which is in Omaha,' she told the local outlet. Rachel England, another passenger who was stuck waiting for her flight to Omaha, said she had been stranded in Atlanta since Friday. 'We've been there since like 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., the night before,' England told 11 Alive on Saturday. 'I told [Delta], 'This is on you. You guys get me the reimbursement for the hotel,'' she added. 'I made sure to get flight insurance just in case something like this happens.' In a statement about the delays and cancellations, Delta said: 'We apologize for any inconvenience and delay customers have experienced as a result of issues primarily driven by weather, ATC, and crew resources. 'Delta people continue working hard to deliver the operations customers have come to expect from us, and we are working quickly to resolve travel issues and get customers to their destination.' U.S. Army veteran Joe Reis (left) and new mother Brook Osborne (right) said they were stuck at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport for 24 hours on Saturday, with their bags containing essential equipment waiting for them in Omaha, Nebraska Osborne said she was running out of diapers and formula for her 11-month-old daughter The ongoing trends of frustrated travelers and high number of cancellations pushed Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to tell airline executives to clean up their act and avoid another flying catastrophe before July 4. Buttigieg, alongside millions of other travelers, are tired of what feels like constant cancellations without so much as an apology from the airlines. The father-of-two has given airline executives a short two-week period to clean up the mess and guarantee travelers can enjoy a patriotic weekend and summer without the airport stress. He's asked them to 'stress-test' operations ahead of the next big holiday - meaning travel firms could ultimately end up cutting more flights if they realize they'll have insufficient resources to operate them. 'At the end of the day, they've got to deliver,' Buttigieg told the Today Show. The Democrat met with top airlines executives on Thursday to warn them to avoid the Memorial Day disaster, where 2,700 flights were canceled. On Friday, Buttigieg tweeted: 'Air travelers should be able to expect reliable service as demand returns to levels not seen since before the pandemic.' Transportation Pete Buttigieg called on airlines to brace themselves and prepare for the hectic July 4 weekend and said travelers should expect more reliable service by then The number of travelers is surging back to pre-pandemic levels. This chart shows the same week over the last three years A recent survey by the US Travel Association found than one in ten can't afford to go on a road trip this year because of the increased cost and gas isn't the only thing that's more expensive Travelers should expect to embrace a seemingly difficult travel season as not only are there less pilots in the cockpit, but less TSA agents screaming to take laptops out of backpacks. Pre-pandemic, there were roughly 50,000 TSA agents employees, but in the last two years, that number has dipped to 46,000. Many TSA checkpoints were closed during the height of the pandemic in 2020 - creating bottlenecks at already-crowded ports. On top of that, TSA lost an abundance of workers due to the vaccine mandate last year. Official numbers have not been released for how many agents were lost to other jobs during the pandemic, but the agency is recruiting across the country. Pictures show the bizarre camp occupied by climate activists where seven people were arrested following a raid in which cops 'feared for their lives'. Police stormed the property in Colo, in the NSW Blue Mountains, about 8.30am on Sunday as part of investigations into 'planned unauthorised protest activity' linked to the Blockade Australia group. When they arrived at the camp, police said they were approached by a group of people who surrounded them. Members of the group allegedly punctured the tyres of an unmarked police vehicle, rendering it undriveable. Police Minister Paul Toole says officers grew concerned and called for back-up. The camp west of Sydney included shanty buildings and was strewn with bric-a-brac and what appeared to be plastic seating for a large group of people (pictured) Police attended a Blue Mountains property (pictured) on Sunday to investigate 'planned unauthorised protest activity' Officers from PolAir, the Dog Unit, the Public Order and Riot Squad, Police Rescue, the Raptor Squad and Operations Support Group later arrived. 'These extreme protesters surrounded them, they pushed them and they even slashed or let down the tyres of a police vehicle,' he told Sydney radio 2GB on Monday. The group of about 30 were using the rural property as a training camp for more climate protests in Sydney, Mr Toole said. 'I'm absolutely furious about the way these protesters think they can shut down Sydney for a whole week,' he said. The camp also contained numerous mysterious bright orange barrels (pictured) Road signs, milk crates, buckets and swags were all collected in one corrugated iron building (pictured) NSW Police established Strike Force Guard in March to prevent, investigate and disrupt unauthorised protests after activists from Blockade Australia demonstrated on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Spit Bridge and the Port of Newcastle. Five men and two women aged between 20 and 35 were charged with various offences including affray, damaging property, and assaulting, intimidating and obstructing police on Sunday. All seven people were refused bail to appear in Penrith Local Court on Monday. Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Dunstan said the group of around 30 people 'pushed, shoved and jostled' police as they made their way back to their vehicle which they could not drive because it had been damaged. 'Those police that were attacked by that group this morning feared for their lives,' he said. 'I can assure you that what I saw this morning was violence from this group.' Blockade Australia has made headlines in recent months over a series of high-profile climate protests which have included blocking coal ports, bridges, and fossil fuel terminals. In April, the NSW parliament ushered in a raft of new laws and penalties aimed at discouraging protesters who disrupt traffic on bridges and tunnels in response to the group's stunts. The next protest is scheduled 'for Monday, June 27, when members plan to 'converge' on Sydney to 'blockade the streets of Australia's most important political and economic centre and cause disruption that cannot be ignored'. Despite the disruptive nature of the demonstrations, climate activist Zelda Grimshaw said the police response was an 'insane overreach'. 'No actual crimes have been committed by the climate activists at the camp,' she said. Police say one of their unmarked vehicles was damaged by protesters who emptied the tyres to prevent officers from leaving Police say further arrests have been made and more are expected to follow 'This level of police repression of the climate movement is unprecedented.' The group claimed 100 officers and helicopters, a dog squad, and 'fully militarised officers' surrounded the bush property and commenced search and seizure procedures. 'This footage [see above] looks pretty chill. It's not,' the group posted on Facebook. 'We were surrounded at dawn by men in cammo gear, hiding in the bush, with heaps of guns. Then helicopters started buzzing overhead. Police cars and buses came speeding through the neighbourhood, lights and sirens wailing. 'Police dogs and black clad men in body armour and full face helmets came barging into our space. This massive, costly police operation is aimed at preventing climate activists from taking action. 'It is unclear what the legal basis is for the raid no harm to other people has ever occurred during these climate protests.' Greens leader Adam Bandt has refused to stand alongside the Australian national flag at a press conference - and says he normally removes the flag before he speaks. A member of his staff was seen removing the flag from the behind the podium before the presser at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney on Monday. The move meant that only the Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Island flag could be seen behind him as he spoke to the cameras. Mr Bandt told Daily Mail Australia the nation's flag reminds some people of Australia's colonisation. Greens leader Adam Bandt (pictured today in front of the Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Island flag) has caused a stir by refusing to stand alongside the Australian national flag in a press conference One journalist said she saw a Greens staffer remove the Australian flag from behind the podium before Mr Bandt spoke - leaving the Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal flags in place The flag, first flown after federation in 1901, has the Union Jack in the upper left corner to acknowledge the history of British settlement. 'For many Australians, this flag represents dispossession and the lingering pains of colonisation,' Mr Bandt said. 'Through Treaty with First Nations' Peoples and by moving to a Republic, we can have a flag that represents all of us.' A review of Mr Bandt's previous TV interviews shows he always has the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in the background, but never the nation's flag. Mr Bandt added later that the Union Jack symbol is hurtful to Indigenous Australians. Mr Bandt does not have an Australian flag in his office in parliament (pictured during a live cross with Sky News) Mr Bandt used the press conference on Monday to urge Labor to 'have a discussion' with his party about its 43 per cent emissions reduction target. The Greens - who have blocking power in the Senate with a record 12 seats - want more ambitious targets but Anthony Albanese has said the figure is not negotiable. Mr Bandt did not commit to supporting enshrining the targets in legislation, meaning he could block them, just like former leader Bob Brown blocked Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009. 'Labor is bringing a weak target to Parliament that means the end of the Great Barrier Reef,' he said. 'Labor is now an obstacle to greater climate action and they are refusing to listen to the will of the people who have just delivered a big mandate for climate mandates at the election.' Greens Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt and wife Claudia Perkins are pictured together in 2018 The new government has already told the UN about its updated target and says it does not matter if the target is not supported by the Parliament. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has ruled out coalition support for legislating the 2030 target after taking a 26-28 per cent reductions target to the last election. Mr Bandt says the Greens would not follow the coalition's lead and be obstructive. 'We're prepared to be constructive,' he said. 'But really the first question, the fork in the road, is is the government prepared to talk and to consider sensible amendments.' Labor ruled out any deals with the minor party after the coalition ran attacks against the ALP during the campaign, saying it would be pulled to the left by the Greens. Mr Bandt also said the Energy Security Board was wrong to recommend gas and coal-fired generators as an ongoing part of the energy mix, while renewable energy and storage gradually takes over the national electricity grid. The board's chair said underwriting coal and gas companies by including them in a proposed capacity mechanism will not impact the country's transition to renewable energy. Mr Bandt instead wants to move to renewables as quickly as possible. Dominic Perrottet is so keen to put the Aboriginal flag on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that he vowed to 'run to Bunnings' for the $25 million flagpole. But just four years earlier he mocked the idea as 'Labor's latest social justice warrior cause' when the NSW opposition proposed it. The premier, when he was treasurer, rubbished the plan on his Facebook page on February 3, 2018, after then-opposition leader Luke Foley championed it. 'I have a great idea for Luke Foley: instead of putting the Aboriginal flag on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, how about just plonking a giant blank screen that can be quickly and easily updated to broadcast Labor's latest social justice warrior cause?' he wrote. Dominic Perrottet is so keen to put the Aboriginal flag on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that he vowed to 'run to Bunnings' for the $25 million flagpole The premier, when he was treasurer, rubbished the plan on his Facebook page on February 3, 2018, after then-opposition leader Luke Foley championed it On the same day, Mr Perrottet wrote an op-ed further condemning Mr Foley's call to put the flag on the bridge as 'the NSW Labor Party Virtue Signal'. 'Maybe it could even be programmed to automatically shift with the wind. Because that's all Foley's proposal is: a lavish exercise in trendy virtue signalling,' he wrote. 'Like changing the date of Australia Day, it's designed to stroke the egos of the inner-city elites that control Labor's agenda.' Mr Perrottet accused Labor of 'empty symbolism and gesture politics, designed to divide rather than unite' and insisted the country 'needed to be united as a nation - one Australia under one flag'. 'We aren't interested in the social-justice-warrior games that foment division and make things worse,' he wrote. Mr Perrottet more constructively argued that flying the flag on the bridge was a symbolic act that would do little to help indigenous people in practice. 'We prefer practical solutions that actually make people's lives better, now and into the future,' he wrote. The Aboriginal flag will be permanently flown atop the bridge by the end of the year following a five-year-long grassroots campaign Mr Foley and indigenous activist Cheree Toka after the then-opposition leader called for the flag to fly on the bridge. Ms Toka was drafted in to help sell Mr Perrottet's plan four years later Fast-forward four years and the now-premier is so keen to do exactly what he railed against in 2018 that he said the $25 million cost was 'a small price to pay' for unity. 'I'm even surprised it takes this long. I mean I made the announcement a while ago and the first brief that came back was that it takes two years to do,' he said. 'I'll go to Bunnings myself and climb up there and put the pole up. 'But apparently it does, apparently that's the costing, and I think that it's an important decision that we've made. 'I think it brings unity to our country and I think it's a small price to pay for that unification.' Mr Perrottet, who has been dubbed 'Dom 'the Builder' because of the billions he's spending on construction in NSW, was asked on Channel 10's The Project on Sunday why the process of adding a third flagpole to the Harbour Bridge will take so long and cost so much. By Monday morning, though, following widespread ridicule at the price - with one voter even saying he should 'get a second quote, bro' - Mr Perrottet told 2GB radio's Ben Fordham the cost 'doesn't seem to pass the pub test'. 'The advice that I've received is that there are heritage concerns, all three poles will need to be replaced and all three of them are the equivalent size of a six-storey building,' he said. Ms Toka (pictured) has been fighting for three years to have the Aboriginal flag flown permanently on Sydney's Harbour Bridge and was thrilled with the funding announcement The Aboriginal flag will be permanently flown atop the bridge by the end of the year following a five-year-long grassroots campaign. Kamilaroi woman Cheree Toka led the push to give the flag a prime position on Sydney Harbour for 365 days each year by organising successful petitions and fundraising $300,000 towards the cost. Last week, Mr Perrottet committed another $25 million for construction work on the bridge to install the third flagpole. He said flying the flag alongside the Australian and NSW state flags is an important gesture towards Closing the Gap and addressing inequality. 'Our Indigenous history should be celebrated and acknowledged so young Australians understand the rich and enduring culture that we have here with our past,' Mr Perrottet said on Sunday. 'Installing the Aboriginal flag permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge will do just that and is a continuation of the healing process as part of the broader move towards reconciliation.' The Aboriginal flag will be permanently flown atop Sydney Harbor Bridge after previously being flown only on special occasions such as Australia Day and NAIDOC week (pictured) Ms Toka (pictured) organised a successful petition and raised more than $300,000 towards the cost The flagpoles are about 20m high, the same as a six-storey building, while the flags require an attachment strong enough to withstand all weather conditions. Transport for NSW and Aboriginal Affairs will engage with key stakeholders about the project. Mr Perrottet had previously committed to giving the Aboriginal flag a place on the Harbour Bridge in February. The funding, however, provides a guarantee it will be in place before next year after consultants initially said engineering and construction work could take up to two years. Ms Toka said she was thrilled at the success of the campaign. 'I think this is really important for us as Indigenous people, achieving reconciliation through recognition,' she said. The Aboriginal flag being flown on the bridge was previously debated in parliament in 2019 but was knocked back due to the construction of a third flag being 'too costly' (pictured: Ms Toka and supporters) 'While I know a flag is symbolic, it does spark conversation around the unjust things that are happening on Country to our people, and it shows that we are moving forward,' she told NITV News. The passionate advocate now has her sights set on other places the flag can be displayed after having a similar win in Sydney's Inner West Council this year. She also said the campaign is not yet finished with the next step being a change in protocol to ensure future premiers cannot remove the flag. A man who was 'hearing voices' smashed his Volkswagen Jetta through the front windows of a souvenir store named 'New England for Trump' in Easton, Massachusetts. According to a statement from the Easton Police Department, the terrifying moment occurred just after 5:00 pm on Thursday. Responding officers found a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta crashed in the store with pro-Donald Trump merchandise scattered all around it. In raw video of the incident, the 1991 Nirvana song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' can be heard blasting out of the car. The driver of the car was named by police as Sean Flaherty, 46, of Raynham, Massachusetts. His friends insist the stunt was the result of a mental health crisis, and not a hatred of the former president - but Flaherty does have an anti-Trump sticker on the rear fender of his car. The aftermath of the smash is pictured, with Flaherty's friends insisting the stunt was not political... ...even though the rear fender of his car has an Anti-Trump sticker blasting the former president Suspect Sean Flaherty, pictured here, 'wasn't in the right sense of mind mentally. He's been going through a lot over the past year,' a friend said A friend of the suspect's told WCVB: 'It had nothing to do with Trump or any political anything. It was just an unfortunate coincidence.' The friend continued: 'He wasn't in the right sense of mind mentally. He's been going through a lot over the past year.' A photographer with the Brockton Enterprise newspaper posted photos on Twitter showing the rear of Flaherty's car with at least one showing an anti-Donald Trump sentiment. The image showed a quote from Voltaire that reads: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' It's accompanied with a picture of Trump's face with rectangular barcode akin to Adolf Hitler's moustache above his lip. The store is located alongside a hair salon, a pizza restaurant and a Mexican restaurant, along Washington Street in Easton. An employee of New England for Trump told Fox Business that there was no issues with the suspect and that he was not provoked into the crash. Karla Kelley said that the only thing the suspect said after the crash was that 'the voices in his head told him to do it.' An employee of New England for Trump told Fox Business that there was no issues with the suspect and that he was not provoked into the crash Employee Karla Kelley said that the only thing the suspect said after the crash was that 'the voices in his head told him to do it.' The store's owner Keith Lambert said: 'It's very disturbing to think somebody would do something like this' The store owner owns six New England for Trump stores in the area The store's owner, Keith Lambert, was not present when the crash occurred, reports the Brockton Enterprise. Lambert told the newspaper: 'It's very disturbing to think somebody would do something like this.' The store owner owns six New England for Trump stores in the area. He opened the stores in 2019 after finding difficulty in buying a Make America Great Again hat in the typically Democrat voting New England. According to the store's official website, the official name is 'NE for Trump and Lets Go Brandon Store.' According to the store's official website, the official name is 'NE for Trump and Lets Go Brandon Store' A photographer with the Brockton Enterprise newspaper posted photos on Twitter showing the rear of Flaherty's car with at least one showing an anti-Donald Trump sentiment. Owner Keith Lambert opened the stores in 2019 after finding difficulty in buying a Make America Great Again hat in the typically Democrat voting New England The store is located alongside a hair salon, a pizza restaurant and a Mexican restaurant, along Washington Street in Easton Lambert told WCVB that his employee was about to go to the bathroom when the crash occurred and would have been hit. He also said that a few minutes before the crash a little boy was in the store shopping with his mother. He went on to say that the driver was at a speed of around 35 miles per hour when he crashed through the window. Lambert said that his staff will do their best to open for the weekend as they were anticipating a busy Father's Day. Kelley told Fox Business in her interview that the store was open the day after the crash. A customer told CBS News after the crash: 'Just because you have different opinions, different ideologies, there's no reason for this type of thing.' Karla Kelley told Fox Business in her interview that the store was open the day after the crash A customer told CBS News after the crash: 'Just because you have different opinions, different ideologies, there's no reason for this type of thing' While another told the network: 'It's a hate crime, and someone could have been killed; it's not fair.' When asked if she was worried if the store would be targeted again, Kelley said: 'I'm not concerned. I'm not worried. Take it as it comes.' In a separate interview with WHDH, Lambert said: 'Its disturbing, actually, if something like this were to happen because somebody didnt like the store. They couldve killed someone.' According to the report, Lambert called for civility with the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Flaherty was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. There was only one employee in the store at the time of the crash. The employee was not hurt. He can be seen just feet away from where the crash occurred. Flaherty is charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle and malicious destruction of property, additional charges could follow. He is likely to be arraigned at Taunton District Court. The department also made a request to have Flaherty driver's license revoked immediately. A drug user jailed over the murder of a cross-dressing truck driver in South Australia has asked again to be released from jail after being returned to custody for breaching parole. Nicole Therese McGuinness came before the Supreme Court on Monday asking for a new release date to be set despite previously breaching conditions of her freedom by using drugs. McGuinness was jailed for at least 18 years in 2003 after pleading guilty to the murder of Joanne Lillecrapp, also known as John. She stabbed her victim in the chest and, along with her lover Donna Lee Casagrande, dismembered the body, burning the head and burying other parts under a strawberry patch. Joanne Lillecrapp (pictured) was killed and dismembered in 2001. Her murderer Nicole Therese McGuinness on Monday asked the Supreme Court for a new release date McGuinness was jailed in 2003 for at least 18 years and was granted bail in 2021 but breached the conditions by failing multiple drug tests Casagrande was jailed for at least 10 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter. McGuinness was first released on parole in early 2021 but the court was told on Monday that she had breached the conditions of her release a number of times by failing drug tests. She asked to be sentenced to time served in relation to those breaches, allowing her to apply for immediate release once more. Justice Laura Stein has reserved her decision. Anthony Albanese has mourned the loss of a close friend and former staffer who died just weeks after he was elected Prime Minister of Australia. 'Very sad news that my dear friend Kris Cruden has passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer,' Mr Albanese wrote on Sunday. He described Ms Cruden as a 'compassionate, smart, funny and amazing woman' who had worked as his chief of staff. Ms Cruden served as the Mayor of Leichhardt in Sydney for three years between 1996 and 1999 and was a prominent Labor Party figure and 'committed trade unionist'. Mr Albanese paid tribute to Ms Cruden (pictured) after she died following his election victory She had served as Mr Albanese's (pictured) Chief of Staff and was his local campaign director for two federal elections Mr Albanese had formed a bond with the former president of the Grayndler federal electorate council after working with her for many years. 'My local campaign director in two Federal elections, Kris made an enormous difference to many through her activism,' Ms Albanese said. 'Life was that much better for all who had the privilege of knowing Kris - much loved by her family, comrades and friends.' Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne echoed Mr Albanese's words, describing her as 'one of a kind'. 'Kris was a leader of great standing in the trade union movement and the Labor Party, and an excellent human being,' Mr Byrne said. 'As all of her thousands of comrades know, Kris was unfailingly loyal and principled - to the end. There was no stronger person to have in your corner.' Ms Cruden with Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne (pictured) who said she would be missed by those in the Labor movement Mr Byrne said Ms Cruden had watched Mr Albanese election victory from hospital. 'She watched the election night coverage from hospital and, as always, she thought the collective progress of the Labor Party and labour movement more important than her personal difficulties,' he said. General secretary of the Public Service Association of NSW, Stewart Little, said Mr Cruden was a 'tireless fighter'. 'Kris was instrumental in achieving the landmark pay equity case in school education. She will be loved and missed by all at the PSA,' he said. Advertisement The troubled son of legendary rockstar Nick Cave died in a seedy $130-per-night north Melbourne hotel surrounded by barbed wire, covered with graffiti and frequented by drug dealers. Jethro Lazenby died in May, aged 30, just two days after being released from prison for a brutal attack on his mother that saw the addict knee her in the face during a row over cigarettes - leaving her 'bruised and bleeding'. Daily Mail Australia visited the motor inn in Coburg where Lazenby was found dead, after revealing last month he had spent a large portion of his life in and out of custody. Locals said the area was infested with drug dealers, with Daily Mail Australia witnessing a man lurking outside the motel on his phone before dropping a small package in the bushes and walking away. The hotel's pool was empty but for a small patch of foul green liquid at the bottom, with rubbish floating in the ooze. The only movement inside was the motel's cleaner, who scurried away after seeing Daily Mail Australia's photographer. Coburg Motor Inn - a seedy $130 per night hotel that is used by the Victorian government and justice system to house ex-convicts and drug addicts leaving rehabilitation centres Graffiti covers large parts of the hotel where Jethro Lazenby spent his final hours - after the son of legendary rockstar Nick Cave died in May Sitting on the busy Sydney Road, the motel is used emergency accommodation and occupied by struggling guests A Jim Beam stubby holder and series of hats can be seen sitting on the windowsill of one of the motel's rooms The hotel's pool had a small patch of green liquid at its base, with rubbish floating in the ooze The Coburg Motor Inn is being subsidised by the government and organisations including VincentCare to have a majority of its 30 rooms used as emergency housing for people leaving drug rehabilitation centres or prison. Lazenby spent his final hours inside the motel, which has been described by former guests as 'the worst I've seen in my life' and so undesirable a homeless man said he'd rather sleep on the streets. The decrepit motel sits off Melbourne's busy Sydney Road, sandwiched between the major thoroughfare and the Coburg Lake Reserve, which features a bridge over the Merri Creek, a large play area for kids and a BBQ section. But in stark contrast to the family-friendly park, a section below the Motor Inn is being used as a filthy hangout - littered with empty beer bottles, medication, and discarded luggage. The staircase overlooking the park is covered in graffiti, as is the area below the motel and sections of its exterior blue walls. A decrepit hangout was created underneath the hotel, filled with rubbish, chairs, luggage and medication There appears to be sleeping apparatus in the hangout, with an esky and empty beer bottles littered throughout An empty Neurofen packet, empty McDonalds bags and clothing are also visible under the Coburg Motor Inn A filthy sleeping bag has been left behind by people using the area underneath the hotel's concrete structure Lazenby had been out of jail for just two days and was staying at the Coburg Motor Inn prior to his death The area has been graffitied and had a distinct foul odour emanating from it An esky has been left behind by people using the small hangout area The emergency housing overlooks Coburg Lake Reserve - a lush grassland that features a bridge over the Merri Creek, a large play area for kids and a BBQ section Barbed wire and dusty temporary fencing encompasses the hotel and separates junkies from children playing in the park A woman enjoying the reserve's playground with her young daughter said it worried her the motel was being used as a halfway house so close to children. 'I didn't know that's what it was being used for, but it definitely makes me nervous there could be needles and drug paraphernalia around,' the mother told Daily Mail Australia. 'It wouldn't stop me coming here because it's a beautiful park but definitely makes me more anxious and have to keep a better eye on my daughter.' A mother told Daily Mail Australia she was concerned having the halfway house so close to the park The hotel's balcony overlooks the lush Coburg Lake Reserve below it - which was teeming with families and residents working out Despite a number of cars being parked in the motel, there was a lack of movement Jethro Lazenby died in May aged 30 just two days after being released from prison for a brutal attack on his mother that saw the addict knee her in the face during a row over cigarettes Former guests said the smell emanating from some of the rooms was so overwhelming they couldn't stay long, while a rough sleeping man who spent a night in the Coburg Motor Inn told The Age he'd rather be homeless. 'I left after one night it was a bloody disgrace,' Robert Old said. 'The rooms were filthy and the staircase was used as a toilet by the residents, who were all affected by drugs and alcohol. It was not safe at all. 'I just want a little place to myself. It's asking a lot I know. If all else fails I'll just stick to the streets.' Rooms cost about $130 a night, with reviews on websites including TripAdvisor offering disturbing experiences of travellers spending a night at the Coburg Motor Inn. The majority of reviews on the popular website list the hotel as 'terrible', with one person saying it was 'so bad it was comical'. 'The worst motel I've ever seen in my life,' a person commented, claiming strangers had attempted to break into her room through the night. Another wrote: 'We just survived three nights in this hell hole. When we closed the door it had patched holes and two bolts ripped off the door - the kitchenette had ants, the curtains had holes, and the bathroom was foul.' Locals say there are often drug dealers hanging out in front of the hotel on Melbourne's busy Sydney Road Graffiti is plastered on the interior and exterior walls of the motel The majority of the hotel's 30 rooms are being used for emergency housing The majority of the motel's rooms are being used to house ex-cons and people leaving drug rehabilitation centres Legendary performer Nick Cave didn't meet Lazenby until the boy was aged about 7 Lazenby had been a successful model as a teenager, strutting along catwalks across Europe before his epic fall from grace around 2012. At the time of his death he had been awaiting sentence over a series of petty thefts and a savage attack on his mum, Lee-Anne Lazenby. While released on bail, the ex-model was not expected to remain on the streets very long. He had a shocking criminal history, which had seen him prosecuted over a swag of petty thefts, drug crimes and domestic violence. Getting advice from me is like being measured by the undertaker. Nick Cave, 2015 Lazenby had wound-up at the Coburg Motor Inn after the court forbid him from residing with his mother, and was facing further allegations of assault, domestic violence and petty thefts. By now a dishevelled wreck, it remains unclear why Lazenby was unable to return to the Carlton apartment of his famous father, where he had lived at least up until 2018. It was the address he had been bailed to live at after being charged with the brutal assault of his then girlfriend. At the time a court heard Lazenby had struck his terrified partner in the face after a squabble over money. Lazenby had threatened to murder the woman after kicking her onto a couch and twisting her arm behind her back. Many of the doors are damaged while part of the roof had recently been damaged, protected crudely by a tarp The hotel is subsidised by the state government and legal system who use it for emergency housing The Coburg Motor Inn has been listed as 'terrible' by dozens of people on review websites Lee-Anne Lazenby makes a call outside Collingwood's Stomping Ground Beer Hall in the days following her son's death The pair had been brought to police attention earlier that day after a fight over drugs. Police had opposed Lazenby's bail due his disgraceful criminal history, which had seen him blatantly disregard court orders - on one occasion returning to assault his girlfriend immediately after being released on bail. In a deal with prosecutors, Lazenby pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful assault and breaching court orders. He was due to front court again to face sentence on June 29, but had a series of other matters listed on the court system at the time of his death. Lazenby had the world at his feet in the early 2000s when he managed to score some top modelling jobs on the back of his famous father's name. He opened the Mercedes Australian Fashion Week in Sydney in April 2006 when he was just 15-years of age. Danica Conwell, who'd been both a close friend and girlfriend to Lazenby for six years, denied rumours he'd taken his own life, saying he'd made plans to see her later than night. She said his death was related to him using heroin. Danica Conwell, who shared a close friendship with Lazenby for six years and was in a turbulent relationship with him, has put to bed rumours he may have taken his own life, noting had made plans to see her that evening and was using heroin Pope Francis has fuelled speculation that he could resign after postponing a trip to Africa and announcing an unusual meeting of cardinals. Hobbled by pain in his knee and forced to use a wheelchair in recent weeks, the 85-year-old pontiff postponed a July trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan last week. He also announced an unusual decision to hold a consistory to name new cardinals during a Vatican vacation month and arranged meetings to ensure his reforms stay intact. Pope Francis (pictured yesterday) has fuelled speculation that he could resign after postponing a trip to Africa and announcing an unusual meeting of cardinals The extraordinary consistory will be held on August 27, a slow summer month at the Catholic headquarters, to create 21 new cardinals - 16 of whom will be under the age of 80, thereby eligible to elect his successor in a future conclave. Since becoming pope in 2013, the Argentine pontiff has created 83 cardinals in a move to shape the future of the Catholic Church, in part to counter Europe's historically dominant influence, and to reflect his values. On August 28, Francis will then pay a visit to L'Aquila and the tomb of Celestine V - the first pope to have resigned from the papacy, in the 13th century. He then joins the world's cardinals - many of them meeting their peers for the first time - in two days of discussions over the reform of the Roman Curia, which Francis announced in March with the unveiling of a new constitution. Francis' shake-up of the Roman Curia attempts to shift the Church back towards its pastoral roots, allows lay Catholics to head Vatican departments and creates a dicastery specifically for charity works among other reforms. The moves have triggered intense speculation about his plans for the future, including the most radical - that he was planning to step down. The resignation of a pope was once almost unthinkable until Benedict XVI renounced his reign in 2013, citing his declining physical and mental health. In 2014, a year after being elected to replace Benedict, Francis himself told reporters that were his health to impede his functions as pope, he would consider stepping down too. Francis previously told reporters that were his health to impede his functions as pope, he would consider stepping down (pictured yesterday) 'He (Benedict) opened a door, the door to retired popes,' the pontiff said then. More recently in May, as reported by various Italian media, Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops: 'Rather than operate, I'll resign.' But Vatican insiders do not yet think Francis is on the verge of handing over the papal keys. One source told AFP: 'In the pope's entourage, the majority of people don't really believe in the possibility of a resignation.' Rumours within the insular Roman Curia - the Catholic Church's powerful governing body - are nothing new, and often fuelled by those with an interest, said Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi. 'These rumours are encouraged by the pope's opponents who are only eager to see Francis leave,' he told AFP. A trip to Canada at the end of July is still on the pontiff's schedule, and the pope continues to receive injections in his knee and physical therapy, according to the Vatican. As a child, Francis had one of his lungs partially removed. Today, besides his knee issue, he suffers recurring sciatic nerve pain. Rumours of a resignation also flared last year after Francis underwent colon surgery, prompting him to tell a Spanish radio station that the idea 'hadn't even crossed my mind'. Politi said of the latest resignation rumours: 'At this stage, it is a question of being realistic and not alarmist.' He said it was 'hard to imagine' Francis would resign while the Synod of Bishops - an initiative meaningful to Francis that is intended to study how the Church moves forward in a more inclusive way - is ongoing, due to complete in 2023. Alberto Melloni, a professor of Christianity and secretary of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna, told AFP 'preposterous' conjectures had been made about the pope's health and his intentions. 'These are things in which there is a desire to understand, to speculate, but there is little to say,' he said. A cafe owner whose shop was robbed by a thief has extraordinarily shown empathy for the culprit in a powerful message shared online. Gloria's Cafe in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne was robbed on Saturday morning after a man broke through the front door of the establishment. Owner Gloria Sooba later wrote a message on the cafe's Facebook page about the robbery and expressed a level of understanding of what the thief was 'going through' to commit the crime. Gloria's Cafe (pictured) in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne was robbed on Saturday morning Cafe owner Gloria Sooba posted a message on social media about the robbery and expressed empathy for the culprit 'To the man who robbed my cafe. Not the way I wanted to start the weekend,' she began. 'I know everyone is doing it tough and as a small business I understand that, I also understand that from a personal level more than ever, I've been in some very dark places and I have always picked myself up and pushed myself to move ahead.' Miss Sooba addressed the thief directly, writing, 'if you read this I get it, I've been in the pits of hell and I know how hard it is, I also know no one can judge you as hard as you do to yourself, this is how I changed my mind set'. 'A mistake isn't a mistake if you learn from it, it's a lesson.' 'I hope you find the strength to get through what ever you are going through, just remember one step at a time,' she added. The post from the cafe owner garnered a strong positive reaction from Victorians who applauded the owner's empathetic message. Some claimed they'd make an effort to get to the cafe and also spread the word about the shop to support Miss Sooba. The post from Miss Sooba received a strong positive reaction from Victorians in the comment section Many said they'd make an effort to go to Gloria's Cafe to support Miss Sooba's small business 'Wow. You are an exceptional human being,' wrote one. 'Everyone should rally behind this cafe. What a remarkable post that deserves a lot of attention,' said another. A third commented: 'Outstanding post. AMAZING.' One respondent stated they actually worked in Ferntree Gully and would stop in for a coffee. One woman tagged their friend on Facebook and suggested getting a coffee at the cafe. Another user added: 'Wow, you express such kindness and empathy towards an individual who has acted selfishly and in such desperation committed a crime.' 'What a wonderful personality you have.' Russia has become China's largest oil supplier after slashing its prices due to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. It displaced Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider after a 55% increase over the past year allowed the Chinese state to capitalise on low prices brought about by western countries refusing to buy oil from Russia. Russian oil exports to China totalled nearly 8.42million tonnes in the month of May, nudging out Saudi Arabia which exported 7.82million tonnes to China. Chinese state giants Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months, refining the oil and selling it on. Discounts of up to 30% have undermined western sanctions and sparked fears that Russia will continue to find funding for its war in Ukraine. Last week, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank said Russia earned almost $100bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine. The European Union made up 61% of these imports, worth approximately $59bn. Oil prices have risen by more than 60% over the past 12 months, topping $112 a barrel for international benchmark crude as of Monday. Russia is now China's biggest oil supplier after winning large discounts thanks Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Just weeks before Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing agreed to a 'no limits' partnership when the two leaders met China had teetered between overt support for Russia's aggression and condemning the war, despite the two countries strengthening ties in February prior to the invasion. But the Chinese Communist Party has become increasingly emboldened as the war drags on, losing its fear of western sanctions introduced in retaliation for Vladimir Putin's actions. On June 15, China vowed to support Vladimir Putin over Russia's 'sovereignty and security', with the two countries set to step up their economic ties - prompting Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up 'on the wrong side of history'. President Xi Jinping spoke to his Russian counterpart in a phone call, during which he refused to condemn Moscow's massive on-going military assault on Ukraine. Beijing has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Moscow by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv, as it escalates tensions in its own region with increasing threats to Taiwan. It was the second reported call between the two leaders since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The pair last met earlier in February when Putin visited Beijing for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Just weeks before Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing agreed to a 'no limits' partnership when the two leaders met. It was reported in March that senior Chinese officials asked Putin to hold off on invading Ukraine until after the 2022 Winter Olympics. Russia has displaced Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider after a 55% increase over the past year. Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman is pictured A well head and drilling rig in Russia is pictured. Discounts of up to 30% have undermined western sanctions and sparked fears that Russia will continue to find funding for its war The West has adopted unprecedented sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow considers that Europe and the United States have thus caused a global economic slowdown. Moscow is also looking for new markets and suppliers to replace the major foreign firms that left Russia following the invasion. The European Union and the United States have warned that any backing from Beijing for Russia's war, or help for Moscow to dodge Western sanctions, would damage ties. China and India are two major economies that have not taken part in retaliatory measures against Moscow, with Putin banking on his country's relations with the pair to bail him out of the economic fallout. Beijing is Moscow's largest trading partner, with trade volumes last year hitting $147billion, according to Chinese customs data. A Grandmother has died following a week in intensive care after heroically trying to save her granddaughter who drowned in a lake. Stephanie Walker was found unresponsive and not breathing on June 11 after she had jumped in to West Point Lake in Georgia after Makayla Prather. Authorities said Stephanie entered the lake after her 13-year-old granddaughter became panicked while swimming. The 49-year-old never recovered after the initial drowning incident despite a week in hospital and died on June 18, according to local media reports. Grandmother Stephanie Walker, 49, died a week after trying to save her granddaughter Makayla Pranther, 13, who drowned in a Georgia lake Makayla Prather tragically drowned at West Point Lake on June 11, her body was recovered by a dive team later that day Stephanie was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after being pulled from the water (pictured), but sadly died a week later CBS46 News reported 'We believe one of the victims entered the water from the shoreline, became distressed,' said Troup County Sheriff's Deputy Stewart Smith in a statement last week to the LaGrange News about the initial incident. Smith said they believed Stephanie had become distressed after she jumped into the lake. 'And the second victim entered the water in an attempt to help them and became distressed themselves.' Authorities acknowledged that information on what occurred was limited because no one was there when it happened. 'There was no eye witness to the incident,' Smith said. According to Smith, the Sheriff's office received the call about the incident from someone who had been with the victims just before the accident happened. 'Our caller who had been with the two prior to the event taking place, had just returned to the location when he found the adult victim in the water,' he said. The Troup County Sheriff's Office was notified about the incident around 2.00pm in the afternoon that day, the LaGrange Daily News reported. According to WSB-TV, when law enforcement got to the lake they found the grandmother unresponsive. The police said there were no eye witnesses to the incident, but one person had seen the pair just beforehand It is believed that Makayla became distressed while in the water and then Stephanie entered the lake to try and save her Stephanie was taken to Well Star West Georgia Medical Center, where she died on Saturday, more than a week after the accident. It took a few hours longer for the rescue teams to locate Makayla, who was not found until later in the evening on Saturday, June 11. Rodrikeus Prather, Stephanie's son, has now organised a fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses, he said: 'On Saturday, there was a tragic drowning at West Point lake. 'My mom Stephanie Walker, a hero, jumped in the lake trying to save my niece. Unfortunately my mom has passed away this morning while fighting on life support and she is at peace, we ask that you keep us in prayer as we go through this tragic moment. 'We are reaching out to our families, friends, and loved ones to help with funereal expenses for Stephanie walker the grandmother of my niece Makayla prather. 'We appreciate and thank you for all your donations and prayers.' A Japanese court has ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage is not unconstitutional in a blow to gay rights campaigners. Three same-sex couples - two male, one female - had filed the case in the Osaka district court in Japan, which is the only Group of Seven nation that does not allow people of the same gender to marry. In addition to rejecting their claim that being unable to marry was unconstitutional, the court also threw out their demands for 1 million yen ($7,414) in damages for each couple. It was not immediately clear whether the plaintiffs planned to appeal the case, only the second to be heard on the issue in Japan. 'This is awful, just awful,' an unidentified female plaintiff said outside the courthouse in footage shown on public broadcaster NHK after the ruling, her voice cracking. The ruling dashes activists' hopes of raising pressure on Japan's government to address the issue after a Sapporo court in March 2021 decided in favour of a claim that not allowing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Three same-sex couples - two male, one female - had filed the case in the Osaka district court, in Japan (pictured, gay rights campaigners outside the Sapporo District Court in March 2021) The ruling triggered a surge of comment in social media in the country, where public support for same-sex marriage has been increasing in opinion polls. 'Unbelievable,' tweeted one lawyer working on third case on the issue being heard in Tokyo, with a verdict due later this year. Japan's constitution defines marriage as being based on 'the mutual consent of both sexes'. But the introduction of partnership rights for same-sex couples in the capital of Tokyo last week, along with rising support in polls, had increased activists' and lawyers' hopes for the Osaka case. Japanese law is considered relatively liberal in some areas by Asian standards, but across the continent only Taiwan has legalised same-sex marriage so far. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, surrounded by rainbow flags, held up a sign declaring the ruling 'a huge step towards equality in marriage' in March 2021 Under the current rules in Japan, same-sex couples are not allowed to legally marry, can't inherit their partner's assets - such as the house they may have shared - and also have no parental rights over their partner's children. Though partnership certificates issued by some individual municipalities help same-sex couples to rent a place together and have hospital visitation rights, they don't give them the full legal rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Last week the Tokyo prefectural government passed a bill to recognise same-sex partnership agreements - meaning more than half Japan's population is now covered by such agreements. While Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the issue needs to be 'carefully considered', his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has not disclosed any plans to review the matter or propose legislation, though some senior LDP figures do favour reform. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (pictured) has said the issue needs to be 'carefully considered', his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has not disclosed any plans to review the matter or propose legislation, though some senior LDP figures do favour reform The upcoming case in Tokyo means public debate on the issue will continue, particularly in the capital where an opinion poll by the Tokyo government late last year found roughly 70 per cent were in favour of same-sex marriage. Legalising same-sex marriage would have far-reaching implications both socially and economically, activists say, by making it easier for companies to attract and retain talented workers, and even help lure foreign firms to the world's third-biggest economy. 'If Japan wants to once again take a leading position in Asia, it has a really good opportunity right now,' said Masa Yanagisawa, head of Prime Services at Goldman Sachs and a board member of activist group 'Marriage for all Japan,' speaking prior to the Osaka verdict. 'International firms are reviewing their Asian strategy and LGBTQ inclusivity is becoming a topic... International businesses don't want to invest in a location that isn't LGBTQ-friendly.' A charity caretaker is believed to be the first person in Britain to successfully claim that long Covid is a disability. In a landmark employment tribunal ruling, Terence Burke has been given permission to bring a case of disability discrimination against his former employer. In its judgement - the first public case of its kind - the panel concluded that coronavirus had rendered him with substantial and long-term side effects. The tribunal heard Mr Burke was signed off sick as he struggled to complete simple household chores and even missed a family funeral because of his extreme tiredness. He was then sacked after he was left so exhausted he was unable to turn up for work for about nine months, the panel was told. Following the conclusion of a preliminary case to determine if he was legally disabled, Mr Burkes lawsuit against charity Turning Point Scotland can now proceed to a full hearing. It comes after people suffering from long Covid reacted with alarm in May when the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) made comments that the condition should not be treated as a disability. The governments equalities watchdog tweeted: 'Discussions continue on whether "long Covid" symptoms constitute a disability. 'Without case law or scientific consensus, EHRC does not recommend that "long Covid" be treated as a disability.' Following the conclusion of a preliminary case to determine if he was legally disabled, Mr Burkes lawsuit against charity Turning Point Scotland (above) can now proceed to a full hearing The tribunal heard Mr Burke had worked as a caretaker for the charity - which provides services to people in need across Scotland including people with learning disabilities or mental health conditions and those experiencing homelessness - since April 2001. But after he and his wife contracted Covid-19 in November 2020 he became absent from work and did not return until he was sacked. The tribunal heard his symptoms were very mild at first and flu like over the isolation period. However, after the isolation period, he developed severe headaches and fatigue. He said he would need to lie down after getting dressed in the morning to rest from fatigue and exhaustion and he struggled standing for long periods. Mr Burke said he would usually help with the cooking, ironing and shopping but those activities ceased due to a lack of energy. Before Covid, he said he would walk to the shop at the end of his road to buy a newspaper but that became too tiring. The tribunal - held remotely in Scotland - heard he was also experiencing joint pain in his arms, legs and shoulders together with a loss of appetite and lack of concentration. His sleep pattern was also wrecked because he would often drift off in the middle of the day or while watching TV. The tribunal heard he did not feel well enough to socialise or attend important events such as his uncles funeral in December 2020 because of fatigue and headaches which was very much out of character for him. Despite three households being allowed to meet indoors for Christmas, he did not attend any festive celebrations. His daughter Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, told the tribunal her father was fatigued for months, had no appetite and lost weight. His daughter Tressa Burke (pictured), CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, told the tribunal her father was fatigued for months, had no appetite and lost weight She said he was unable to cook or shop anymore and she made arrangements for the shopping to be delivered and recalled a conversation where he had said he was hoping to return to work in April 2021 but was then zonked and exhausted for days after. Following several phone consultations with his GP, Mr Burke was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue syndrome. In August 2021, Mr Burke was sacked on ill health grounds after he had not been to work for nine months with sick notes being extended by his doctor throughout that period. His dismissal letter read: 'It is my view that you remain too ill to return to work and there appears to be nothing further we can do to adjust your duties or work environment that would make your return more likely.' The tribunal heard that Mr Burke did not begin to feel better until January this year, although he still suffered from continuing fatigue and flare up of joint pain. The panel ruled that Mr Burkes long Covid amounted to a disability under the Equality Act. Employment Judge James Young agreed Mr Burkes condition gave him a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day to day activities. The judge ruled: 'Fatigue affected him badly until around January 2022 and that could "floor him", sleep remained disturbed and there could be flare up of joint pain. 'He gave a similar account in August 2021 of symptoms and described requiring to sit and rest "and/or go to sleep" and his legs and body aching on a short walk. 'That affected his ability to continue with household chores, shop, and his concentration to an extent more than minor or trivial. 'I consider that the relevant tests are met to meet the definition of disability.' Mr Burke will now bring his claims of unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, age discrimination and failure to pay redundancy payments to a final tribunal hearing. A statement on EHRC's website about whether long Covid should be treated as a disability currently reads: 'There continues to be discussion of the various symptoms related to Covid-19 that are often referred to as "long Covid" and whether they would constitute a disability under the Equality Act. 'Given that "long Covid" is not among the conditions listed in the Equality Act as ones which are automatically a disability, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, we cannot say that all cases of "long Covid" will fall under the definition of disability in the Equality Act. 'This does not affect whether "long Covid" might amount to a disability for any particular individual it will do so if it has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This will be determined by the employment tribunal or court considering any claim of disability discrimination. 'To support workers affected by "long Covid" and avoid the risk of inadvertent discrimination, we would recommend that employers continue to follow existing guidance when considering reasonable adjustments for disabled people and access to flexible working, based on the circumstances of individual cases.' Lawyers for paedophile ring trafficker and socialite Ghislaine Maxwell have claimed she was on IRA hit list. Maxwell, 60, daughter of deceased press baron Robert Maxwell, was convicted late last year of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by her paedophile ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. Her lawyers claim she went into hiding from July 2019, when Epstein was arrested, until she was caught in 2020, because she'd received death threats. In legal documents prepared for her sentencing next week her team claim, that this was not her first death threat. They told New York Judge Alison Nathan that Ghislaine Maxwell was on an IRA hit list when her father was an MP in the late 1960s. Lawyers for paedophile ring trafficker and socialite Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured in photo released in court filing) have claimed she was on IRA hit list Maxwell, 60, daughter of deceased press baron Robert Maxwell, was convicted late last year of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by her paedophile ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein (pictured together the socialite and pedophile) Lawyers told New York Judge Alison Nathan that Ghislaine Maxwell was on an IRA hit list when her father was an MP (pictured: Robert Maxwell at a party in 1990 on his yacht with daughter Ghislaine and wife Elisabeth) in the late 1960s Lawyers told the court: 'Decades earlier, when Ms Maxwell was just a child and her father was a Member of Parliament, UK authorities found a hit list of potential targets in a safehouse used by the Irish Republican Army. Her team, according to the Belfast Telegraph, added: 'Ms Maxwell's name was first on the list.' Robert Maxwell, who was born as Jan Hoch in what is now Czech Republic, escaped Nazi occupation and joined the British Army where he won the Military Cross. After the war, he became a British citizen, started Pergamon Press and was the Labour MP for Buckingham from 1964 to 1970. The Troubles the name given to the conflict in Northern Ireland which lasted from the late 1960s to 1998 and reached its height in 1972 would see four MPs killed by republican paramilitary groups. The Provisional IRA was responsible for the murders of Ulster Unionist Robert Bradford in 1981, Conservative Sir Anthony Berry in the 1984 Brighton bombing and Tory Ian Gow in 1990. Another group, the Irish National Liberation Army, killed Tory Northern Ireland secretary Airey Neave in 1979 after a car bomb exploded at the House of Commons. Ghislaine was also known as 'the favourite' of her disgraced father, who named his yacht the Lady Ghislaine and raided 460million from his own companies' pension funds. A filing to the court also said that Maxwells life has been ruined and an inmate in her prison said the extra 20 years in jail would be worth it for the money they would get for killing her. Maxwell is pictured at an LGBT rights event in New York City in 2013. Her glitzy world came crashing down in summer 2020 after she was arrested in New Hampshire on child sex charges Maxwell is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where her lawyers claim one inmate plotted to strangle the sex abuser in her sleep in return for cash 'Recently, an inmate in Ms. Maxwells unit threatened to kill her, claiming that an additional 20 years incarceration would be worth the money shed receive for murdering Ms. Maxwell,' her lawyers said. 'On information and belief, one of the female inmates in Ms. Maxwells housing unit told at least three other inmates that she had been offered money to murder Ms. Maxwell and that she planned to strangle her in her sleep. 'The inmate who made the threat has been moved to the SHU (special housing unit), presumably to protect Ms. Maxwell. This incident reflects the brutal reality that there are numerous prison inmates who would not hesitate to kill Ms. Maxwell whether for money, fame, or simple street cred.' Her lawyers have previously submitted documents to the court saying she was vulnerable to Epstein due to her traumatic childhood in a plea for leniency As the 'favourite' daughter of disgraced newspaper baron Robert, Ghislaine boasted an impeccable network of contacts. The father and daughter are pictured in 1984 In a brief filed last week, Maxwell's lawyers urged Judge Nathan to sentence the disgraced British socialite to four years, less than the probation department's recommended 20 years. A jury found her guilty on five of six counts, the most serious for sex trafficking minors, in December. Her sentencing was delayed while the court resolved questions over whether a juror unfairly influenced the jury by failing to disclose his history of sexual abuse. A judge subsequently found he did not. Her sentence is to be handed down on June 28 in Manhattan's federal court. 'This Court cannot sentence Ms. Maxwell as if she were a proxy for Epstein simply because Epstein is no longer here,' her lawyers wrote. 'Ms. Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible.' The lawyers emphasized Maxwell's emotional wounds, saying that 'she had a difficult, traumatic childhood with an overbearing, narcissistic, and demanding father.' This sketch shows the moment Maxwell was convicted of four of the five counts she faces in December 2021. She will be sentenced on June 28 'It made her vulnerable to Epstein, whom she met right after her father's death,' the lawyers said. 'It is the biggest mistake she made in her life and one that she has not and never will repeat.' The financier hanged himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 and attention turned to Maxwell who became his replacement, the document also claims. It was also revealed that her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, 46, had foundered as a result of the scandal and disgrace heaped upon her after she was arrested for child sex abuse. The filing continues: Ms. Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible. Ms. Maxwell has already experienced hard time during detention under conditions far more onerous and punitive than any experienced by a typical pretrial detainee, and she is preparing to spend significantly more time behind bars. 'Her life has been ruined. Since Epsteins death, her life has been threatened and death threats continue while she is incarcerated.1 It would be a travesty of justice for her to face a sentence that would have been appropriate for Epstein. In seeking to explain Maxwells background, her lawyers blamed her conduct on her late father, who died in mysterious circumstances after falling off his yacht in 1991. A letter from Philip and Anne Maxwell said: 'Her relationship with Epstein began at a moment of extreme vulnerability. Ghislaine's life after the tragic death of our father. He (our father) was a powerful and dominant figure. Maxwell with her siblings - two of whom have since moved to defend her, and who continue to maintain her innocence 'And as elder siblings we witnessed our father taking Ghislaine under his wing whereby she became over dependent on his approval and vulnerable to his frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections. 'This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.' The document stated that he would subject his children to verbal abuse every Sunday. Robert Maxwell would explode, threaten, and rant at the children until they were reduced to pulp. Mr. Maxwell was relentless, with children ending up in tears, punishments being doled out, and the whole family in utter distress, the filing claims. The document states: Mr. Maxwell employed corporal punishment on his children. Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster. This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaines dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come. The filing notes that Maxwells estranged husband Scott Borgerson was besieged by media coverage and had lost his employment and professional relationships. Maxwell's latest filing also told of how her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, pictured, crumbled in the wake of child sex charges Borgerson married Maxwell on Christmas Day 2016 - her 55th birthday - and dumped her during a heated phone call while she was in solitary confinement. He has since moved on, and was reported to be seeing a yoga teacher mom-of-two called Kris McGinn earlier this year. The filing also claims, the sentence of 51-63 months was appropriate as Maxwell has never been accused of any sex offencesor any crimes, for that matterin the almost 20-year period since the conduct at issue in this case ended. It states: There is absolutely no evidence that Ms. Maxwell is attracted to minors or has the sort of uncontrollable impulses that would compel her to re-offend. According to the trial record, it was Epstein who had such proclivities, whereas Ms. Maxwells role was to facilitate Epsteins sexual abuse. 'Indeed, after she moved on from Epstein in the early 2000s, Ms. Maxwell was involved in two long-term relationships with men who had young children and was actively involved in their lives without even the slightest hint of impropriety. Most importantly, the government concedes that Ms. Maxwell is not a danger to the community. 'The government never made that assertion in connection with Ms. Maxwells numerous bail applications and there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a claim. Put simply, Ms. Maxwell is not dangerous and there is no risk that Ms. Maxwell will ever repeat the offense.' It states: Sadly, the marriage could not survive the negative impact of this case nor a husbands association with his dishonored wife.' Representatives for Caroline Kaufman want the Duke of York to provide a statement as a potential witness to events in Jeffrey Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse during his visit, when he was pictured inside the building The interior of Robert Maxwell's home, Headington Hall, before its contents were sold at auction. Seen above is the tycoon's dining table, which was tipped to sell for up to 15,000 Oxford-educated Maxwell grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty. Her circle included Britain's Prince Andrew, former US president and real estate baron Donald Trump and the Clinton family. Prosecutors in her trial said Maxwell was 'the key' to Epstein's scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them. Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting his own sex crimes trial in New York. In February, Prince Andrew settled a sexual abuse lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre, who said she had been trafficked to the royal by Epstein and Maxwell. Representatives for another alleged victim of Epstein Caroline Kaufman said last week that Andrew was visiting Epsteins home in New York on the night she claims she was raped by the paedophile financier in December 2010. They want the Duke of York to provide a statement as a potential witness to events in the Upper East Side townhouse during his visit, when he was pictured inside the building. The civil lawsuit does not accuse the duke of any wrongdoing or allege that he was aware of any attack on Miss Kaufman, who was 17 at the time. A spokesman for the Duke of York declined to comment. Ukraine is nervously awaiting a historic decision from the EU on its bid to become a member state, with Volodymyr Zelesnky fearing it could lead to an increase in Russian 'hostile activity' this week. The president said there had been 'few such fateful decisions for Ukraine' as the one it expects from the EU this week. 'Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of Europe,' he said in his evening address Sunday. Volodymyr Zelesnky (pictured in Mykolaiv on Saturday) said there had been 'few such fateful decisions for Ukraine' as the one it expects from the EU this week Firefighters work at the site of fire after Russian shelling in Mykolaiv in Ukraine this weekend after the latest bombardment 'Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week... We are preparing. We are ready,' he continued. Moscow's forces have been pummelling eastern Ukraine for weeks as they try to seize the Donbas region, after being repelled from other parts of the country following their February invasion. On Friday, Brussels backed Kyiv's bid for EU candidate status after the heads of the bloc's biggest members - France, Germany and Italy - paid a visit to the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine could join the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week, when member state leaders meet at a Brussels summit. But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, membership could take years. Children stand in front of a building destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv yesterday with an increase in attacks feared NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg meanwhile warned that the war could grind on 'for years' and urged Western countries to be ready to offer long-term military, political and economic aid. 'We must not weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high - not only in terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food prices,' Stoltenberg told German daily newspaper Bild. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western countries to step up their deliveries of arms, despite warnings from nuclear-armed Russia that it could trigger wider conflict. Zelensky made a rare trip outside Kyiv Saturday to the hold-out Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, where he visited troops nearby and in the neighbouring Odessa region for the first time since the invasion. 'We will not give away the south to anyone, we will return everything that's ours and the sea will be Ukrainian and safe,' he said in a video posted on Telegram as he made his way back to Kyiv. Russia's defence ministry said Sunday it launched missile strikes during the past 24 hours, with one attack on a top-level Ukrainian military meeting near the city of Dnipro killing 'more than 50 generals and officers'. Moscow has turned up the pressure on European economies by sharply reducing gas supplies It said it also targeted a building housing Western-provided weapons in Mykolaiv, destroying Ukrainian artillery and armoured vehicles. There was no independent verification of the claims. Mykolaiv is a key target for Russia as it lies on the route to the strategic port of Odessa. With Russia maintaining a blockade of Odessa that has trapped grain supplies and threatens a global food crisis, residents have turned their attention to rallying the home front effort. 'Every day, including the weekend, I come to make camouflage netting for the army,' said Natalia Pinchenkova, 49, standing by a large Union flag, a show of thanks to Britain for its support for Ukraine. The Ukraine war is fuelling not only a global food crisis but an energy crisis too. Hit by punishing sanctions, Moscow has turned up the pressure on European economies by sharply reducing gas supplies, which has in turn sent energy prices soaring. Germany on Sunday announced emergency measures including increased use of coal to ensure it meets its energy needs after a drop in the supply of Russian gas. Austria announced it will reopen a mothballed coal power station to combat shortages, and Italian company Eni joined a huge Qatari project to expand production from the world's biggest natural gas field. The worst of the fighting is in the industrial Donbas region, with battles raging in villages outside the city of Severodonetsk, under unrelenting Russian fire for weeks. Regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said the Russians had targeted the settlement of Toshkivka, south of Severodonetsk. 'But our artillery worked, and we can say the attempt to break through was not successful, even though they tried very powerfully to break our defence,' he wrote on Telegram. Lysychansk, across a river from Severodonetsk, is also under heavy bombardment, with some residents sheltering in basements in dire conditions, with limited supplies of food and water. Natalia Khalaimova, 54, urged Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war. 'Every war in any country ends - but the sooner, the better,' she told AFP. 'So many civilians are killed. Most of them were not involved in the war at all.' Insiders at the BBC have hit out at the corporation for spending up to 10million on a new 'curvy' studio amid fears that 100 staff members could lose their jobs in a merger of its news channels. The newly refurbished studio - complete with a curved catwalk and large vertical screen to display social media posts - was a well kept secret for months until it was unveiled last week. The BBC invested in the renovation before drawing up plans to combine its UK and world news channels, The Times reports. The merger is expected to lead to redundancies and has left some insiders angry at the 'obscene' expenditure on the new studio. A source said the backdrop 'will be on air for three half-hour bulletins a day' while harsh cuts are imposed on the rolling news channels. Presenter Huw Edwards unveils BBC News' new state-of-the-art studio last week. The newly refurbished studio will be home to BBC News at Six and Ten, as well as London bulletins The newly refurbished studio - complete with a spiral staircase and large vertical screen - was a well kept secret for months until it was unveiled last week Known as 'Studio B', the backdrop will be used for BBC News at 6 and 10 as well as London bulletins. It will host live election coverage and also Laura Kuenssberg's new Sunday morning politics show later this year. The precise amount spent on Studio B is unknown and has not been confirmed by the BBC. Last week, it was reported at 5million but more recently The Times has been told the cost is 10million while Private Eye has it at 15million. Presenter Huw Edwards stressed during a video tour that it will add impact to stories, while Jonathan Munro, interim head of news, said it was the first major refurbishment in a decade. Mr Munro said: 'Bringing greater value to our audiences has been at the core of this project and were so excited to finally bring the newly refurbished studio to viewers at home. 'It really puts them at the heart of our reporting while also highlighting the great variety of what BBC News has got to offer. 'As the first major refurbishment our news studios have seen in a decade, it is a real blueprint for how we move forward in future-proofing our news output.' Supporters of the scheme point out that London's New Broadcasting House has not had an uplift in over 10 years and argue the scheme represents value for money in the long-term. BBC executives are reported to have been inspired by Swedish news channel Expressen TV. Set up by a newspaper, it has won awards for its video coverage and expects its presenters to be live on air within three minutes of a story breaking. But reporters are still unaware how the combination of BBC News and BBC World News channels into a single 24-hour operation will affect them. There are fears up to half of the channels' 200 staff workers could be made redundant, including presenters. The precise amount spent on Studio B is unknown and has not been confirmed by the BBC. Last week, it was reported at 5million but more recently The Times has been told the cost is 10million while Private Eye has it at 15million BBC executives are reported to have been inspired by Swedish news channel Expressen TV. Set up by a newspaper, it has won awards for its video coverage and expects its presenters to be live on air within three minutes of a story breaking The plans being proposed form changes to the BBC's content and services which it says will save 500million in its first phase. The corporation needs to save an additional 285million after Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced the licence fee would be frozen for the next two years and scrapped by 2027. As part of plans to become 'digital first' broadcaster, the BBC said it will cut up to 1,000 jobs from the public-funded part of the BBC over the next few years. BBC Four and CBBC are expected to move online to the iPlayer, while Radio 4 Extra could become available on the BBC Sounds service only. Regional TV news programmes South Today in Oxford and Look East in Cambridge are also among the services being scrapped as part of the 'blueprint to build a digital-first public service media organisation'. The former daughter-in-law of billionaire Lord Ashcroft has described trying to 'wiggle out from under him' after the police chief she shot dead in the tropical paradise of Belize collapsed on top of her. Jasmine Hartin, 33, said there was a 'loud bang' and then 'Henry fell back on top of me... I could see blood and feel the blood'. The Canadian-born socialite shot dead Superintendent Henry Jemmott when his gun went off by accident while she handled it as they had a late-night drink together on a pier in May last year. Hartin, who is charged with manslaughter by negligence, said: 'I tried to wiggle out from under him. 'And that's when he started slipping into the water and I tried to catch him and of course he was a lot bigger than me so I couldn't hold him up.' In a sensational interview with TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan, set to air later today, Hartin said Jemmott's death was 'still very difficult to talk about' because it was a 'horrible night that changed everyone's lives and ended some'. Jasmine Hartin, 33, (pictured) has described trying to 'wiggle out from under him' after the police chief she shot dead in the tropical paradise of Belize collapsed on top of her Hartin has admitted she shot Superintendent Henry Jemmott (pictured) when his gun went off by accident while she handled it as they had a late-night drink together on a pier in May last year Lord Ashcroft's son Andrew, 44, (left) and his former partner Jasmine Hartin (right) who has been charged with manslaughter in Belize Ashcroft and Hartin jointly ran the luxurious Alaia Belize Hotel on the resort island of Ambergris Caye off Belize's Caribbean coast Hartin also told Morgan she is 'definitely not a murderer', claimed she 'doesn't remember touching the trigger of the weapon' and suggested the gun could have gone off because it was 'rusty'. She said: 'It don't ever remember touching the trigger of the weapon, But I was holding it when it went off. 'I'm not sure if it was a faulty weapon or not. I really can't tell you how it went off.' She said the Belizean police chief had earlier shown her his Glock 17 pistol while advising her to get a gun to defend herself because he 'believed she needed protection'. She claimed he wanted her to 'practise unloading and reloading' the weapon and told her to 'get familiar with it'. Hartin said: 'I thought it was empty. The only time I handled the weapon was at the very end when Henry asked me to pass it to him.' The mother-of-two claimed that Supt Jemmott had invited her and partner Andrew, 44, the son of the former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, for a drink. But she went alone to meet up with him after Andrew opted for an early night in their apartment in San Pedro on the holiday island of Ambergris Caye off Belize. The mother-of-two (pictured) claimed that Supt Jemmott had invited her and partner Andrew, 44, the son of the former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, for a drink She said the Belizean police chief had earlier shown her his Glock 17 pistol while advising her to get a gun to defend herself because he 'believed she needed protection' She said: 'Andrew was meant to come with us and join us for a cocktail that night. Last minute, he decided to stay in and not join us. So we weren't meant to be by ourselves.' Hartin said before the incident occurred, Supt Jemmott asked her to rub his shoulder as it was sore after his day's fishing. She emphatically denied rumours that she was having an affair with Supt Jemmott, and insisted their relationship was one of friendship. Hartin alleges he was 'sitting a foot, or two away, to her left' before the gun went off. Hartin (left) insisted that she and Supt Jemmott were only friends rather than lovers, even though her relationship with Lord Ashcroft's son Andrew (right) was disintegrating at the time. Hartin pictured under a blanket leaving Hattieville Prison in Belize last June She also attacked other wild rumours swirling around Belize, adding: 'I'm perceived to be this wild cocaine addict party girl. It's just not true.' During the interview, Piers also addressed an old video that had been taken of Hartin shooting a watermelon on a beach. She added: 'I've never owned a gun in my life. I've never owned a firearm. I've fired them, you know, a few times but I'm not an expert. 'And what that video doesn't show you is the ten times I tried to hit that watermelon and missed, and that video was shot by my ex.' Hartin is seen in an old video carrying a pump-action shotgun, then pretending to blow smoke from the barrel Former dental assistant Hartin was raised by a single mother in rural Canada before arriving in Belize in 2014 after a long-term relationship ended, and she landed up in the bustling holiday island of Ambergris Caye. She became an estate agent in the island's main town, San Pedro, where she met businessman Andrew Ashcroft - whose father owned the Belize Bank. Hartin previously said she has been ready to return to Canada, but fell for Andrew's sense of humour and vowed to make Belize her home. The couple became parents to twins in 2017, but never married although they referred to each other in public as being husband and wife. She is now estranged from Andrew and is fighting a bitter custody battle with him over their twins. He has accused her of being an unfit mother. Piers Morgan Uncensored: Death on the Dock, TalkTV at 8pm Monday (Sky 526, Virgin Media 627, Freeview 237, Freesat 217 and Sky Glass 508) and live and on demand on the TalkTV app and at Talk.TV A controversial vegan activist has confronted a butcher after he printed her name onto a price label, stuck it onto a decapitated pig's head, then sent her a photo of the stunt online. Tash Peterson, 28, is no stranger to controversy, with her high-profile demonstrations repeatedly going viral and occasionally landing her in trouble with the law. But the animal rights advocate - who is often filmed in bitter showdowns with butchers - was left shocked on Sunday after receiving a heartfelt apology from a Perth slaughterman after a junior employee taunted her over social media. Ms Peterson and her boyfriend Jack Higgs visited Swansea Street Meats, in East Victoria Park, over the weekend after the activist received the disturbing image in her Instagram inbox. Controversial vegan activist Tash Peterson (pictured) has been filmed confronting a butcher in Perth In a video of the incident posted online, Ms Peterson explained she normally receives lots of images of dead animals from trolls but was able to track the pig head photo down. 'The image had the label of this particular supermarket, so they must have a butcher in there,' Ms Peterson said. 'It happened to have my full name on the price tag. 'They have put my name onto this poor murder victims head, who is being sold for $13.' Once inside, Ms Peterson asked a man at the counter if he knew about the stunt, but was told he was unaware of the situation as he 'only works on weekends'. After demanding to speak to someone, another man walked out from the staff room to meet Ms Peterson and answer her query. 'I'm just wondering why my name has been labelled on a pig's head?' she asks. Ms Peterson stormed into Swansea Street Meats on Sunday after being sent a photo of her name printed onto a label placed on a decapitated pig's head (pictured) The man told her he 'honestly did not know' and said it was the first time he had ever seen the image. 'Obviously that is not something we would condone here,' he says. After accepting his answer, Ms Peterson offered to look up the name of the person who sent the image to double check that he was an employee. But as she scrolled through her phone, the man responsible stepped out of the staff room and confessed 'that was me'. 'Did you send that Lucas? Why did you do that?' his boss asks. The young man said he doesn't know why, but admitted when probed by Ms Peterson that he thought his antics were 'a little bit funny'. Ms Peterson spoke to a boss at the store who was unaware of the stunt and ordered the younger worker responsible to apologise The boss reprimands the teenage worker and ordered him to apologise, which he did, before he was ordered to return to the back of the store. The meat merchant then proceeded to apologise to Ms Peterson and vowed to 'have a strong word' with the teenager. 'Obviously 18-year-old boys don't make very good choices,' he said. 'You are a busy person, you have enough junk going around that I see. I don't want to annoy you. 'Thanks for coming in and letting me know. You have my sincerest apology.' Ms Peterson accepted his apology and eventually left the store on good terms. However, the couple later told fans they felt it was unlikely the teenager would not face any repercussions. 'I'm not concerned about my name on the head, it's obviously disturbing, but I am there to speak for the animals,' Ms Peterson said. A boy called 'Lucas' came out from the back of the store and admitted to being responsible for the picture 'I went there to try and plant a seed in these peoples' minds.' The pair said they intended to escalate the situation with the manager now they were able to identify the boy responsible. The latest incident comes just weeks after the prolific protester stormed a Perth restaurant in a red-stained outfit demanding diners to stop eating meat while playing sounds of animals being slaughtered. Ms Peterson's antics have led police and policymakers in WA to describe her as 'Australia's biggest pest'. She has copped several fines for her semi-nude demonstrations in designer stores, restaurants and supermarkets. In May, she accused a police officer of sexism after he asked her to cover her bare chest during one of her public protests. Ms Peterson stormed into a restaurant earlier this month and demanded diners stop eating meat while she played sounds of animals being slaughtered Ms Peterson had staged the topless demonstration at Hay Street Mall before uploading footage of it to her social media account. In the video, the plant-based protester holds a sign that reads: 'Kangaroos shot and joeys beaten to death for Nike shoes,' while wearing a kangaroo onesie. Last August, Ms Peterson marched topless through a Louis Vuitton store in Perth while smeared with her own menstrual blood. which later saw her fined $3,500 by a Perth magistrate. The activist has also dressed up as a cow and demonstrated in the meat section of supermarkets, invaded the pitch at an AFLW match, and wore a blood-soaked apron while screaming at patrons in a KFC and Coles. She also faced trial for a December 2020 protest at the Boatshed Markets in Cottesloe where she also appeared shirtless, with her chest painted in a cow pattern, and yelled at shoppers that cows were being raped for meat and dairy. Lawmakers in the Texas capital Austin are planning to introduce a law that will raise the minimum age to buy an AR-15 type rifle or other semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 in wake of the Uvalde school massacre. The Austin City Council voted to approve a resolution that would direct Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk to 'explore every option' to let the city 'prohibit or reduce' the sale of the semi-automatic weapons to anyone below the age of 21. The resolution, which was passed with a 10-1 vote, comes just weeks after the Uvalde school shooting, which saw 17 children and two teachers murdered by an 18-year-old who had legally purchased two AR-15 rifles in the week before the massacre. The resolution, which was passed with a 10-1 vote, comes just weeks after the Uvalde school shooting, which saw 17 children and two teachers murdered by an 18-year-old who had legally purchased two AR-15 rifles in the week before the massacre. Pictured: Children run to safery after escaping from a window during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Council member Alison Alter Alison Alter, the council member for District 10 in Austin told Fox 7 Austin that the resolution was prompted by the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York where a total of 31 people were killed. 'This was prompted by Uvalde, by Buffalo, both situations where you had 18-year-olds who were legally able to purchase AR-15s and wreak destruction and to murder other people,' Alter said. She added: 'Any life lost is a life that could have been saved by not having access to any AR-15 period. 'I am the parent of a student who's in high school and anything that we can do to restrict access to AR-15 makes my son safer and every other parents' kids in our community safer.' MacKenzie Kelly, the only council member opposed to the resolution, was concerned about potential legal action from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and local businesses because raising the age for purchasing a gun could violate state law. A Texas statute prohibits local governments from setting their own restrictive gun measures. 'I believe that any attempt by Austin to restrict, regulate, or hamper the sales of firearms does violate state preemption laws. And that violation of the preemption law risks a lawsuit from the attorney general, which I think is a needless waste of taxpayer resources,' Kelly said. Kelly added that Austin residents could still travel to elsewhere in Texas to buy a weapon under the resolution. Three variations of the AR-15 assault rifle are displayed at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento, California. Senator John Cornyn of Texas is meanwhile negotiating the bipartisan gun control bill with Democrats following the Uvalde and Buffalo mass shootings. A group of Democratic and Republican senators last weekend announced the elements of a compromise acceptable to both sides, minus the assault-weapons ban. The lawmakers have spent last week working to finalize a bill that can be voted on by a self-imposed early July deadline. The framework includes access to the juvenile records of gun buyers age 18 to 20. Both shooters in Buffalo and Uvalde were 18, and both used AR-15 style rifles, which can load high-capacity magazines. The plan also includes added spending for mental health and school safety programs, tougher penalties for gun trafficking and requirements that slightly more gun dealers obtain federal firearms licenses. Campaigners concerned by the National Trust's 'woke' direction are demanding an independent watchdog be created to keep the charity accountable to its members. It comes after a spate of 'woke' controversies involving the National Trust, including the publication of a report linking Winston Churchill's former home to the slave trade and an attempt to force volunteers at a Norfolk mansion to wear the gay pride rainbow on lanyards and badges. Restore Trust, an anti-woke group made up of National Trust members, is agitating for the creation of a watchdog as well as the abolition of 'discretionary voting' by the chairman at annual meetings. 'Discretionary voting' allows the National Trust chairman to vote on behalf of members who have abstained, effectively mustering hundreds or even thousands of 'don't know' ballots to their preferred outcome, according to Restore Trust. The two resolutions submitted by Restore Trust will be debated at the National Trust's annual meeting in October, although even if they pass they could be overruled by the charity's board. Restore Trust, an anti-woke group made up of National Trust members, is agitating for the brakes to be put on the National Trust's direction of travel, following the publication of a report in 2020 linking Winston Churchill's former home (pictured), Chartwell, in Kent, with the slave trade Without an independent watchdog, complaints about the National Trust's behaviour will continue to be dealt with by the organisation's chairman, who is not seen as independent from the board. Pictured: Polesden Lacey country mansion in Great Bookham, Surrey Former National Trust chairman Tim Parker got himself into hot water in November 2020 when he made uncritical remarks about Black Lives Matter, while the trust's current director-general Hilary McGrady said 'wokery' is a 'ridiculous term'. Pictured: Ickworth House, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Without an independent watchdog, complaints about the National Trust's behaviour will continue to be dealt with by the organisation's chairman, who is not seen as independent from the board. Former National Trust chairman Tim Parker landed himself in hot water with anti-woke campaigners in November 2020, when he described Black Lives Matter as a 'human rights movement with no party-political affiliations' in a letter to a member. Critics, however, point out Black Lives Matter called on the UK government to 'defund the police' and resolved to 'disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure' on a since-deleted page on their website. Tim Parker stepped down after seven years as chairman of the National Trust in May 2021. Over the next three months, Restore Trust will stage a series of events at National Trust properties - including at Houghton Hall in Norfolk and Shilstone House in Devon - with sympathetic historians invited along to make the case for putting the brakes on the charity's increasingly 'woke' direction of travel. The trust was cleared of breaking charity law last year over a report which detailed links between 93 of its properties and historical slavery and colonialism. Winston Churchill's former home, Chartwell, in Kent, was among the properties on the list because the wartime Prime Minister once held the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies. Former National Trust boss Tim Parker landed himself in hot water with anti-woke campaigners in November 2020, when he described Black Lives Matter as a 'human rights movement with no party-political affiliations' in a letter to a member Its such a ridiculous term, wokery. No one has yet defined what they mean by woke', National Trust's new director-general Hilary McGrady said in May 2022 Following complaints, the Charity Commission opened a case to examine critics' concerns, but concluded in January this year that the National Trust had acted in line with its charitable purposes and there were no grounds for regulatory action against it. In 2017, 350 unpaid National Trust assistants at Norfolk mansion Felbrigg Hall were told to wear gay pride badges and lanyards or else be removed from front-of-house tasks, triggering a pushback and the resignation of 75 volunteers and the cancellation of 240 memberships. The National Trust's director-general Hilary McGrady said in May she had received 'death threats' from people angry at her management of British heritage sites. Hilary McGrady said the charity epitomises what a lot of people consider to be the halcyon days of Britain, and anything that vaguely poked at that was bound to upset them. McGrady said in May: Its such a ridiculous term, wokery. No one has yet defined what they mean by woke. 'Im interested in bringing nature, beauty and history to the nation, and I dont even know what woke means in that context. A World War Two re-enactment group has been condemned as a 'sick joke' and 'grossly offensive' for dressing up as Nazi soldiers as a 'hobby'. Opponents said the group made light of the horrific crimes of Nazi Germany during the Second World War and the Holocaust. The 304 Panzergrenadier Regiment, based in the South of England, takes part in reenactments and history events wearing Second World War German army uniforms with swastika insignias. The group's website says the regiment is committed to 'authenticity' and offers members 'great experiences and camaraderie you will struggle to find in any other hobby.' Critics accused the group of 'trvialising' the murder of millions of Jews and other minority groups, including Roma and disabled people, by the Nazis The regiment don full Nazi military uniform and march in military reenactments under the names of German soldiers The reenactment group is based on one of Hitler's most prolific Panzer divisions, which fought against the Allies in the invasions of Poland, France and Russia Photos of the group show its members in full Nazi uniform and children handling Nazi weaponry. Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, slammed the 304 regiment for glorifying the mass murder of millions of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi regime. She said: 'We are always greatly disturbed when people make light of the horrific crimes suffered by Jewish people and other minority groups such as Roma and Sinti people during World War II. Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, condemned the group as 'insensitive and grossly offensive' 'Nazis and their sympathisers were responsible for the murder of six million Jews and millions of other individuals - solely because of their faith, sexuality or disability. 'Any attempt to revisit, distort or trivialise that genocidal history should be condemned. 'It is insensitive and grossly offensive to portray Nazis in a way that demeans the suffering [endured] by their victims.' The 304 Panzergrenadier Regiment claims to reject racism and far-right politics, and bans its members from doing the Nazi salute or flying the Swastika - the symbol of Hitler's fascist state. The unit said it sought to 'honour the fallen soldiers of all nations of WWII.' However, Dr Dave Rich, the director of policy at the Community Security Trust, said the military reenactments could not be seperated from the horrific crimes of Nazi Germany. He said: 'It is unfathomable why anybody would want to put on a World War Two German uniform and pretend to be part of an army that committed numerous war crimes and devastated much of Europe. 'It is simply not possible to separate this from the genocide and mass murder committed by Nazi Germany in the lands that the German army conquered for Hitler. The group take part in history events and re-enactments it says adds to the 'authenticity and to the preservation of WW2 history' 'For this group to then claim they do not condone any right-wing or racist activity is a sick joke.' Comments on a recruitment post for the 304 regiment include people saying they 'had a blast' with the group. One said: 'Had a great time last year so let's hope this year is even better.' The 304 regiment is based on the Nazi 2nd Panzer Division, formed in 1935 under Hitler's rearming efforts. The division took part in the brutal invasion of Poland which sparked the Second World War after Britain declared war on Germany. It is estimated between five and six million Poles were killed during the Second World War - almost a fifth of the country's population. The 2nd Panzer Division was also involved in the invasion of France and helped to push British forces to the evacuation at Dunkirk. The group takes part in various events around the South of England, and is recruiting new members for 'great experiences and camaraderie' Members are charged 30 to join the reenactment regiment with members buying their own outfits and equipment for joining the group The armoured unit was part of Operation Barbarossa - the Nazi invasion of Russia - before being sent to Normandy in 1943 to defend against an Allied invasion. The division took part in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhine as Hitler's armies tried to stop the Allies' advance into Europe before Germany was finally defeated. The 304 Panzergrenadier Regiment claims it wants to accurately portray military history 'with respect, both for the soldiers and for the public who come to see us.' The unit said on its website: 'The following guidelines demonstrate that we will not tolerate nor condone any right-wing or racist activity. 'Our duty is to honour the fallen soldiers of all nations of WWII. 'Members of the unit will not, nor ever have been, members of any subversive, fascist or anti-Semitic organisation.' The 304 Panzergrenadier Regiment was contacted for comment. Britain's armed forces must be ready and willing to fight Russia in Europe, a former head of UK Special Forces warned today. General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, former director of Special Forces, said the UK must help Nato allies prevent giving Vladimir Putin 'an opening' to widen the war in Ukraine into a battle against the West. The former senior officer's intervention follows an extraordinary announcement by the new head of the British Army. General Sir Patrick Sanders, who assumed overall command last week, warned soldiers at the weekend 'we are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again' as Russia's invasion of Ukraine rocks global stability. Putin and his acolytes have made a series of threats to attack Western countries who are providing materiel support to Kyiv as Ukraine seeks to throw out Russian troops. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Adrian said: 'Yeah, he (Gen Sanders) is absolutely right. The point is that, by preparing for war properly, by building really solid deterrence, we will stop war happening. 'Mr Putin has shown us that he is prepared to take the risk of indulging in open warfare in Europe. He's doing that in Ukraine, with terrible, terrible consequences.' General Sir Adrian Bradshaw (above right), former director of Special Forces, said the UK must help Nato allies prevent giving Vladimir Putin 'an opening' to widen the war in Ukraine into a battle against the West General Sir Patrick Sanders has warned his troops to prepare to fight and beat Putin's armies in a European land war 'It is my singular duty to make our Army as lethal and effective as it can be,' the commander of the Army said, adding: 'The time is now and the opportunity is ours to seize' (Royal Marines pictured in action) The Russian President sat quietly, considering Tokayev's comments, before appearing to deliver a calm but quietly menacing warning. 'What is the Soviet Union?' Putin asked rhetorically. 'This is historic Russia' In a tub-thumping message to British troops, Gen sanders last week wrote: 'I am the first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 to take command of the Army in the shadow of a land war in Europe involving a continental power... The scale of the enduring threat from Russia shows we've entered a new era of insecurity. 'It is my singular duty to make our Army as lethal and effective as it can be. The time is now and the opportunity is ours to seize.' It comes as Putin menaces NATO countries and this week taunted former Soviet states in Europe by declaring: 'They are part of historic Russia'. He made the comments in response to a dramatic statement by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who sensationally declared he did not recognise the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Tokayev, sat metres away from the brooding Russian despot at the St Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF) yesterday, described the DPR and LPR as 'quasi-state territories'. 'We don't recognise Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia or Abkhazia... we apply this principle to the quasi-state territories, which in our view, are the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics', the Kazakh President said in a daring defiance of Putin's war in eastern Ukraine. The Russian President sat quietly, considering Tokayev's comments, before appearing to deliver a calm but quietly menacing warning. 'What is the Soviet Union?' Putin asked rhetorically. 'This is historic Russia.' He went on to paint Kazakhstan as a nation friendly to Russia, but quickly added: 'The same thing could have happened with Ukraine, but they wouldn't be our allies.' Maximilian Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told The Telegraph that Putin's retort to Tokayev was a 'clear threat' and argued that Tokayev was reliant on Russian support following widespread riots in Kazakhstan in January, which were only quelled with the help of Russian paratroopers operating under the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - an eastern security bloc similar to NATO. In a lengthy speech at the SPIEF conference, Putin went on to accuse the US of 'playing God' and treating countries like 'colonies' as he brushed off the impact of Western sanctions on Russia's economy. Amid a lengthy denunciation of America and its allies, Putin, 69, warned 'nothing will be as it used to be' as he delivered his address, which was delayed by 90 minutes after the event suffered a cyber attack. When he eventually took to the stage, Putin issued a thinly-veiled threat to oligarchs thinking of quitting his regime. 'It's safer in your own house,' he said. 'Those who didn't want to listen to this have lost millions abroad.' 'We don't recognise Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia or Abkhazia... we apply this principle to the quasi-state territories, which in our view, are the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics', the Kazakh President said in a daring defiance of Putin's war in eastern Ukraine Putin addressed Russia's political and economic elite at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, a showcase event this year being held with almost no Western participation He went on to announce that Western allies 'think they have won' and said Moscow's war in Ukraine had become a 'lifesaver for the West to blame all the problems on Russia.' He added that the US considers itself 'God's emissary on Earth', and that Western sanctions were founded on a false premise that Russia had no economic sovereignty. Moving on to focus on his so-called 'special military operation', Putin said the main aim of the incursion was to defend 'our' people in the largely Russian-speaking Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Putin said the Russian soldiers in the Donbas were also fighting to defend Russia's own 'rights to secure development'. 'The West has fundamentally refused to fulfil its earlier obligations, it turned out to be simply impossible to reach any new agreements with it,' Putin said. 'In the current situation, against a backdrop of increasing risks for us and threats, Russia's decision to conduct a special military operation was forced - difficult, of course, but forced and necessary.' A prisoner has been sentenced to die after killing two guards during an escape from a prison transport bus in Georgia five years ago. A jury on Thursday agreed unanimously on a death sentence for Ricky Dubose, 29, for shooting Sgt Christopher Monica and Sgt Curtis Billue in June 2017. The jury had found him guilty of charges including murder on Monday. His lawyer had argued that Dubose should have been found guilty but intellectually disabled or mentally ill - which would mean a death sentence couldn't apply. A second prisoner, Donnie Rowe, who was also convicted of murder for the killings in September, was previously given a life sentence without parole as jurors could not agree whether he should be sentenced to death. Dubose and Rowe escaped together from the bus in Putnam County, south-east of Atlanta, on June 13 2017, and were arrested in Tennessee two days later following an intense manhunt. Dubose was accused of firing the gun that killed the officers after he and Rowe slipped out of handcuffs and burst through an unlocked gate at the front of the bus. Ricky Dubose (pictured) has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to die after he killed two prison guards and escaped from a prison transport bus with another inmate in 2017 Dubose and Rowe have now both been found guilty of shooting and killing Sergeant Curtis Billue, 58 (left), and Sergeant Christopher Monica, 42 (right), along Highway 16 after taking their guns The guards had failed to double lock their handcuffs, to lock the compartment door between inmates on the bus (pictured) and their guns were also kept in storage boxes A review of the escape determined the two inmates were able to easily free themselves from their handcuffs and then used an improvised tool to open an unlocked gate that separated the inmates from the guards. Prosecutors say Dubose grabbed one of the officers weapons and shot Sgt Monica, the guard, and then Sgt Billue, the driver, both in the head. Security cameras on the bus recorded the violent escape and roughly 30 other prisoners witnessed the killings. Rowe and Dubose then carjacked the first driver to pull up behind the bus and drove off in a green Honda Civic to Madison, about 25 miles to the north, where they burglarized a house and stole a white Ford pickup truck from a quarry, authorities have said. Two days later, they held a couple hostage during a violent home invasion in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and then fled in the couple's Jeep and fired on sheriff's deputies chasing them on Interstate 24 about 50 miles southeast of Nashville, authorities have said. The chase ended when the pair crashed the SUV, ran through some trees, climbed over a fence and surrendered to a homeowner. Rowe (top) and Dubose (bottom) were arrested on June 15, 2017, after a two day manhunt following their escape from a prison bus Ricky Dubose (left) and Donnie Rowe (right) have now both been found guilty of the murder of two prison officers (pictured in court in 2017) A review by representatives from several state law enforcement agencies found that numerous security policy violations had been committed in the lead-up to the escape. The most egregious error was the failure to secure the gate to the inmate compartment in the bus, the review found. Monica and Billue also kept their guns in storage boxes rather than wearing them and failed to wear ballistic vests, among other errors, the review found. A lawyer for Dubose had acknowledged in her opening statement that he was guilty, but she said the jury should find him guilty and intellectually disabled or guilty but mentally ill. That would have made him ineligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors rejected the defence arguments, saying Dubose is an intelligent and calculated killer. Dubose, 29, was already serving a 20-year sentence for a 2015 armed robbery and assault in Elbert County when he escaped. He had been in prison earlier as well. Sexist male Network Rail workers discriminated against their female colleague by watching porn in the office, asking her about oral sex and 'deliberately using the word c*** around her,' a tribunal found. DO YOU KNOW THE WORKERS INVOLVED? Email claudia.aoraha@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement Rowena Owens was subjected to 'extreme sexism' by at least 16 colleagues at the male-dominated signal centre in Wimbledon, London, where they worked. Signaller Ms Owens had a sex toy waved at her, had to put up with looking at images of topless women around the office, and said female train drivers were routinely unfairly criticised. The employment tribunal heard Ms Owens moved to the Wimbledon site in November 2015, where there were only 'two or three' women out of about 40 staff in total. Held in Croydon, London, the tribunal found there were at least 25 separate incidents of sex discrimination at the large Network Rail signal centre. But Ms Owens has lost her case and won't receive any compensation - because she took the case to tribunal too late. Rowena Owens was subjected to 'extreme sexism' by at least 16 colleagues at the male-dominated signal centre in Wimbledon, London. Pictured, Wimbledon train station On her first day at work, when Ms Owens offered to make tea for her colleagues, a male signaller referred to by the tribunal as 'RS' said 'how do you like your oral sex, giving or receiving?'. In December 2016, another colleague 'MB' watched a porn video while on duty and exclaimed 'there's nothing like a bit of dwarf porn' while his son was sat next to him. After Christmas 2016, Ms Owens started noticing two of her colleagues, 'AF' and 'MB', walk behind her while she was working and deliberately burp loudly as they walked past. Around this time 'WC' sat next to Ms Owens and deliberately burped loudly and continuously for in excess of 15 minutes until she eventually had to ask him if he was OK. For many weeks after this, several male colleagues would burp during a shift with her and loudly say 'excuse me'. The tribunal heard that, throughout her time working at Network Rail, her male colleagues made 'deliberate and gratuitous use of the word c***' around her 'on practically every shift' she worked. The employment tribunal held in Croydon, London (pictured) found that there were at least 24 incidents of sex discrimination Network Rail signal centre in Wimbledon. Because the incidents occurred too long ago, the case was dismissed and Ms Owens did not receive compensation Network Rail admitted 'in such an environment foul language is sometimes used', but did not condone this. Male colleagues left newspapers open in the kitchen with pictures of naked women inside them on show. Ms Owens said if she closed the paper, when she returned to the kitchen it would be open on the same page again. She also complained of how 'RS' looked at almost naked women 'with just two thin lines over their private parts' on a work computer. Regarding these kinds of incidents, Network Rail said it 'did not condone any sort of pornographic material in the workplace and all employees have been trained in diversity and inclusion'. 'MB' once discussed rape scenes from movies for about 20 minutes with 'DT' and was 'expressing pseudo concern' while Ms Owens was the only woman in the room. The tribunal heard Ms Owens complained about 'BF' coming back from the toilet and saying he had been 'spanking the monkey'. Not every incident complained about was overtly sexual. Ms Owens also said, after a mistake had been made, she overheard a male co worker saying 'this is what you get when you let women in the signal box', before going on to mention something about 'women's hormones'. At one point in her time at Network Rail, Ms Owens was told by 'AF' she should sit on another male employee's lap 'to pacify him'. Ms Owens was referred to at one time as 'the fat woman', and the men she worked with would whistle a Laurel and Hardy tune or play the Antiques Roadshow theme song near her. She also said female drivers were criticised differently to how male drivers were when they made a mistake. On at least three occasions, she said she heard 'PT' say things like 'do you think women should be in the workplace?' and 'I think women should be in the home' while she was the only woman working. The tribunal heard how this same worker, 'PT' also brought in a sex toy and showed people while looking at Ms Owens and smiling for about 15 minutes. Ms Owens claimed she was excluded from takeaway orders when male colleagues ordered food and was not made a vegetarian option at a team meal even though she was asked specifically about it. She submitted a grievance in November 2017, highlighting these concerns and others, but it was dismissed. After launching a claim of sex discrimination at the employment tribunal, the panel ruled all 25 incidents she complained about in her grievance were sex discrimination. Employment Judge Anne Martin ruled: 'All events happened, and all events were discriminatory on the grounds of sex. 'This is not the case of the discrimination being the occasional sexist comment or pat on the bottom, the matters described are much more extreme. 'The investigation [by Network Rail] was a shambles, and the conclusions reached were inadequate.' However, because these sex discrimination incidents happened too long ago, the case was dismissed and Ms Owens will receive no compensation. Advertisement New footage shows Ukrainian troops obliterating a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British-designed M777 howitzers. Aerial footage purports to show the 81st Airmobile Brigade using the long-range weapons to target the vehicles. The Command of the Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said: 'Gunners of the 81st Brigade of the DShV [Ukrainian Air Assault Forces] destroyed one tank and two infantry fighting vehicles of the Russian invaders. 'The video shows the successful work of artillery soldiers of the 81st Airmobile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who, using British M777 155-mm field howitzers, destroyed equipment and manpower of the racists. 'In particular, one tank and two infantry fighting vehicles of the Russian occupiers - along with their crews - were turned into scrap metal. Death to the Russian occupiers! DShV - Always First! Glory to Ukraine!' It is the latest blow to Russian forces who have suffered heavy losses to personnel and military hardware in their costly four-month invasion. Ukraine claims Russia has lost 33,800 personnel, 1,477 tanks, 3,588 armoured combat vehicles, 749 artillery units, 235 multiple launch rocket systems, 98 air defence systems, 216 warplanes, 181 helicopters, 601 drones, 130 cruise missiles, 14 warships, 2,527 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 55 units of special equipment. On the battlefield, Russian forces are trying to take complete control of the eastern Donbas region, parts of which were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion. It comes as Ukraine is nervously awaiting a historic decision from the EU on its bid to become a member state, with Volodymyr Zelesnky fearing it could lead to an increase in Russian 'hostile activity' this week. Ukrainian troops have shelled a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British M777 howitzers which blew up the Kremlin machinery into a huge fireball Aerial footage purports to show members of Ukraine's 81st Airmobile Brigade using the long-range weapons to target the vehicles The Command of the Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Kyiv's forces had reduced Russian armoured vehicles to 'scrap metal' following the attack The destruction is the latest blow to Russian forces who have suffered heavy losses to personnel and military hardware in their costly four-month invasion Footage purporting to show Russian tanks being destroyed appeared as Ukraine is nervously awaiting a historic decision from the EU on its bid to become a member state, with Volodymyr Zelesnky fearing it could lead to an increase in Russian 'hostile activity' this week Separate footage also purports to show the moment Ukrainian troops shelled a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British M777 howitzers which blew up the Kremlin machinery into a huge fireball Russia becomes China's biggest oil supplier after Beijing increased imports by 55 per cent to capitalise on low prices Russia has become China's largest oil supplier after slashing its prices due to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. It displaced Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider after a 55 per cent increase over the past year allowed the Chinese state to capitalise on low prices brought about by western countries refusing to buy oil from Russia. Russian oil exports to China totalled nearly 8.42million tonnes in the month of May, nudging out Saudi Arabia which exported 7.82million tonnes to China. Chinese state giants Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months, refining the oil and selling it on. Discounts of up to 30 per cent have undermined western sanctions and sparked fears that Russia will continue to find funding for its war in Ukraine. Last week, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank said Russia earned almost $100bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine. The European Union made up 61 per cent of these imports, worth approximately $59bn. Oil prices have risen by more than 60 per cent over the past 12 months, topping $112 a barrel for international benchmark crude as of Monday. Advertisement A prime target of Moscow's eastern assault is the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk. Russia said on Sunday it had seized Metyolkine, a village on the outskirts, and Russian state news agency TASS reported that many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered there. Ukraine's military said Russia had 'partial success' in the area. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV that a Russian attack on Toshkivka, 20 miles south of Sievierodonetsk, also 'had a degree of success.' In Sievierodonetsk itself, a city of 100,000 before the war, Gaidai said Russia controlled 'the main part' but not the entire town after intense fighting. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts. Both Russia and Ukraine have continued heavy bombardment around Sievierodonetsk 'with little change to the front line', Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. In Sievierodonetsk's twin city of Lysychansk, residential buildings and private houses had been destroyed by Russian shelling, Gaidai said. 'People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters,' he added. He later said 19 people had been evacuated on Sunday. 'We are managing to bring in humanitarian aid and evacuate people as best we can,' Gaidai said. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a note that 'Russian forces will likely be able to seize Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most of their available forces in this small area.' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Ukraine conflict could last for years and urged Western governments to continue sending state-of-the-art weaponry to Ukrainian troops, Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported. 'We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,' Stoltenberg was quoted as saying. Russia has said it launched what it calls a 'special military operation' to disarm its neighbour and protect Russian speakers there from dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and its allies dismiss that as a baseless pretext for a war of aggression. The British military assessment said morale for Ukrainian and Russian combat units in the Donbas was likely 'variable.' 'Ukrainian forces have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks, however, Russian morale highly likely remains especially troubled. Cases of whole Russian units refusing orders and armed stand-offs between officers and their troops continue to occur,' the British Ministry of Defence said on Twitter. Ukrainian soldiers travel down a road near Druzhkivka as Russian forces continue to concentrate their firepower on the Donbas A family takes a Sunday walk through a neighborhood that was recently damaged by a Russian missile strike A man removes debris at a local market following recent shelling in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in Donetsk Smoke rises after Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Saturday in another round of bombardment In Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, Russia's defence ministry said its Iskander missiles had destroyed weaponry recently supplied by Western countries. Russian forces were trying to approach Kharkiv, which experienced intense shelling earlier in the war, and turn it into a 'frontline city', a Ukrainian interior ministry official said. In southern Ukraine, Western weaponry had helped Ukrainian forces advance six miles towards Russian-occupied Melitopol, its mayor said in a video posted on Telegram from outside the city. An EU decision in favor of Kyiv's ultimate membership would put Ukraine on track to realise an aspiration that would have been out of reach for the former Soviet republic before the Russian invasion. 'Whole generations fought for a chance to escape from the prison of the Soviet Union and, like a free bird, to fly to European civilisation,' the speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said in a statement. President Zelensky said there had been 'few such fateful decisions for Ukraine' as the one it expects from the EU this week. 'Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of Europe,' he said in his evening address Sunday. 'Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week... We are preparing. We are ready,' he continued. On Friday, Brussels backed Kyiv's bid for EU candidate status after the heads of the bloc's biggest members - France, Germany and Italy - paid a visit to the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine could join the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week, when member state leaders meet at a Brussels summit. But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, membership could take years. Volodymyr Zelesnky (pictured in Mykolaiv on Saturday) said there had been 'few such fateful decisions for Ukraine' as the one it expects from the EU this week The NHS has reinstated the word 'women' in its latest guidance on miscarriages after it received a barrage of criticism for referring to 'people' who miscarry. The overview guidance provoked fury online when it described 'people who know they are pregnant...' and ended with a note that miscarriage 'only affects about one in 100 people'. Feminist activists argued that the plural wording 'excludes women from the narrative' of what can be a severely traumatic experience. One woman said: 'Language and biology matters... People who are pregnant? Now I am sure there is a word for that, woo man... wom en, oh yes, woman!'' Another wrote: 'Pathetic that the precious useless NHS is unable to bring itself to acknowledge women. Maybe the NHS UK needs reminding ONLY girls and women can get pregnant, not "people."' NHS Digital has now partially amended the webpage to include the word 'woman' once at the end, The Telegraph reports. Feminist activists were angered after NHS guidance on miscarriages failed to include the word 'woman' - instead opting for 'people who know they are pregnant' NHS Digital has now partially amended the webpage to include the word 'women' once at the end Activist Milli Hill challenged the NHS guidance online, tweeting: 'NHS advice page does not mention women and obscures data by telling us "losing 3 or more pregnancies in a row only affects 1 in 100 people". But 1 in 100 people is not the same stat as 1 in 100 women. Who benefits from this lack of clarity?' The post was met with a mass of indignation. Margaret Conlon tweeted that women's health services might improve 'if we didnt have to keep defining who we are or indeed fighting to keep the word "woman" in NHS guidelines'. She added: 'There is some irony in talking about womens health services to then refer to pregnant people or deny women single-sex wards in hospitals.' Another social media user said: 'As a midwife who specialises in early pregnancy and loss, this actually makes me so angry on behalf of the women I support. A section called 'aftermath' refers to 'people' seven times but not once to women, including in its sub-paragraph about emotional impact 'After the tragedy they have to endure to then be erased from the narrative is abhorrent and so very wrong.' Despite amending one of the sentences to state that having three consecutive miscarriages 'only affects about one in 100 women' other pages in the NHS guidance make no mention of women at all. A section called 'aftermath' refers to 'people' seven times but not once to women, including in its sub-paragraph about the emotional impact of a miscarriage. Another section titled 'causes' does mention women several times when attributing their age as a factor on their pregnancy, with one in ten expectant women under 30 having a miscarriage compared to five in ten over 45. Twitter users reacted with fury at the exclusion of the word 'women' from the overview guidance, insisting that 'sex matters' An NHS Digital spokesperson said: 'The NHS website provides information for everyone. 'We keep the pages under continual review to ensure they use language that is inclusive, respectful and relevant to the people reading it. 'We make updates to web pages as part of our routine reviews to keep them in line with the best clinical evidence, and make them as helpful as possible to everyone who needs them. 'We follow the standards and guidelines set out in the NHS Service Manual, which aligns with the NHS Constitutions principle that the NHS is for everybody: "The NHS is available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital or civil partnership status."' A 21-year-old man was killed and eight more people were wounded in a shooting while they were enjoying a barbeque in Harlem, police said. The victims, two women and seven men aged between 21 and 42, were shot near the intersection of East 139th Street and Fifth Avenue in the early hours of Monday morning. Officers from the NYPD responded to numerous reports of people shot in the area at about 12.35am, detective Brian McGee said during a news conference. Paramedics are seen loading a victim onto a stretcher at the scene of the shooting in Harlem NYPD officers are seen running to the scene of the shooting in the early hours of Monday Investigators have recovered a handgun at the scene of the shooting (pictured) Officers are seen examining the scene after a mass shooting in Harlem in the early hours of Monday New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said: 'The emboldened individuals responsible for this are exactly who our officers are battling every day to make our city safe' Upon arrival, officers found five people shot along the footpath under the Madison Avenue Bridge. Those five victims were rushed to area hospitals by paramedics. Four of the victims were transported to local hospitals via private means. A 21-year-old man was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead. McGee said investigators believe the group of people who were shot had been enjoying a barbeque. Investigators have recovered a handgun from the scene of the shooting. A person is seen being helped by a police officer following the shooting along the footpath under the Madison Avenue Bridge A 21-year-old man (not pictured) was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead Emergency personnel are seen at the scene of the shooting in the early hours of Monday A woman is seen being helped off the footpath under the Madison Avenue Bridge Officers from the NYPD responded to numerous reports of people shot in the area at about 12.35am, detective Brian McGee said during a news conference New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said: 'The emboldened individuals responsible for this are exactly who our officers are battling every day to make our city safe. 'And whilst we are making headway against violence, we have a lot of work to do.' The investigation into the shooting is ongoing and detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 800-577-TIPS. A British Airways flight came within 50ft of smashing into a large drone over north London while coming in to land at Heathrow Airport, a report has revealed. The 144-seater Airbus A320 flying from Stockholm was flying at more than 280mph when it nearly hit the illegally flown drone 8,000ft over north London. It is not currently known who was flying the drone at the time of the incident. Te pilot of the British Airways A320 from Stockholm to London saw large black drone with 'bulbous' camera fly just 50ft under the plane's nose as it came into land at Heathrow. The near miss on March 15 with the plane flying at 280mph was rated as the highest risk, category A. Pictured: File photo of a drone with a BA plane landing at Heathrow in the background The pilot had just left a holding stack - a queue of planes which spirals down when they are unable to immediately land - when the drone 'passed 50ft below the nose of the aircraft'. The device was described as 'a large black "quadcopter" drone with a large, bulbous, round camera', according to a report by the UK Airprox Board which investigates near misses. Investigators rated the incident at 8.52am on March 15 this year as the highest possible risk - category A near miss - saying there was a serious risk of collision. The pilot had just left a holding stack when he saw the drone nearly smash into his plane 8,000ft over north London. Pictured: The aeroplanes flight path of the Stockholm to London flight as it came into land as show on Flightradar24 What are the rules for flying drones safely in the UK? The Civil Aviation Authority enforce the rules around flying drones You must pass the CAA theory test before flying a drone more powerful than a toy You must always be able to see your drone without binoculars, a telephoto lens or electronic viewing equipment such as a phone or VR If you fly first person through VR goggles you must have an observer with you Maximum altitude is 400ft (120m) Look out for aircraft flying below this such as air ambulances and police helicopters Do not fly closer than 50m to people, buildings or vehicles Keep 150m away from residential, recreational, commercial and industrial areas Stay away from airports, airfields, spaceports and aircraft You can face five years in prison if you endanger an aircraft Source: Civil Aviation Authority Advertisement Flight tracker records show the airliner was a BA flight from Stockholm, Sweden, to Heathrow. The report added: 'In the Board's opinion the description of the object was sufficient to indicate that it was a drone. 'The Board considered that the pilot's overall account of the incident portrayed a situation where providence had played a major part in the incident and/or a definite risk of collision had existed.' Drones are normally restricted from flying higher than 400ft or out of sight of the operator, and it is a criminal offence to fly anywhere near an aircraft. Operators breaking the rules by flying close to a plane can potentially be convicted of endangering an aircraft which carries a maximum jail sentence of five years. A spokesperson for British Airways said: 'We take such matters extremely seriously and our pilots report incidents so that the authorities can investigate and take appropriate action.' The incident follows a series of other reported near misses between drones and passenger aircraft in UK airspace. It is believed that most cases involve rogue operators flying their devices to illegal heights to try and get dramatic videos of aircraft flying by. Pilots have repeatedly warned of the danger of small drones smashing cockpit windows or potentially damaging jet engines, especially during critical times when aircraft are coming in to land or have just taken off. Research has shown that high speed crashes between drones and planes can cause catastrophic damage. The University of Dayton simulated a collision in 2018 by shooting a drone out of a cannon into a plane wing - tearing the wing up with its spinning propellers. Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has mocked Boris Johnson's departed ethics adviser as 'Lord Geddit' and claimed voters don't care 'who he was, or what he did'. In the wake of Lord Geidt's bombshell resignation last week, the Culture Secretary admitted she had 'no idea' how long there had been an Independent Adviser on Ministers Interests. She also insisted the public 'don't give a fig' whether the peer is replaced, while she suggested the role could now be taken up by more than one person. Ms Dorries, speaking on LBC Radio with the Prime Minister's sister Rachel Johnson, claimed that Lord Geidt 'complained so often about the amount of work that he had to do'. The former aide to the Queen, who was responsible for advising Mr Johnson on ministerial rules, quit after weeks of speculation about his future following the Partygate scandal. In a resignation letter, Lord Geidt - who had previously clashed with the PM over his police fine for breaching Covid laws - revealed he had been been being pushed close to the edge by Coronavirus rule-breaking in Downing Street. But he claimed he had finally been driven to resign after being placed in 'an impossible and odious position'. This was when he was asked to consider measures that represented a 'deliberate and purposeful breach' of ministerial rules by potentially breaking World Trade Organisation rules over Chinese steel tariffs. Lord Geidt later clarified that his departure wasn't about steel. He said it was instead about being asked to approve deliberate breaches of international law by Mr Johnson given the Government's 'widely publicised openness to this'. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries insisted the public 'don't give a fig' whether Lord Geidt is replaced after he quit as Boris Johnson's ethics adviser LBC Radio host Rachel Johnson, the PM's sister, suggested the Government had kept Lord Geidt 'busy' and 'very occupied' Lord Geidt claimed he had finally been driven to resign after being placed in 'an impossible and odious position' Boris Johnson has seen two ethics advisers resign under his premiership. Lord Geidt's predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, quit after the PM overruled his finding that Home Secretary Priti Patel bullied staff Ms Dorries, who is one of the PM's most loyal Cabinet ministers, was asked on a radio phone-in show whether Lord Geidt should be replaced or whether the role should be left vacant. She told the caller: 'You call him Lord Geidt. I think the rest of the country had never even heard his name before and used to call him Lord Geddit. 'I dont think they give a fig who replaces him or even who he was, or what he did. Its a bit of a bizarre one, isnt it? It's someone who wasnt elected who has resigned. 'Everybody thought for 24 hours that he was going to resign over something that would compromise the Prime Minister, was suddenly blindsided by the fact that it was something to do with steel tariffs. 'I suppose the substance of your question is who should replace him. I don't know actually and I don't think it should be one individual.' Liverpool-born Ms Dorries, who is MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, added: 'Lord Geddit, Lord Geidt... most people up North don't call him Lord Geidt and don't know who he is. 'But he complained so often about the amount of work that he had to do that I don't think one person can probably do the job.' Ms Johnson, who was hosting the phone-in show, suggested the Government had kept Lord Geidt 'busy' and 'very occupied'. As well as intervening over Partygate, Lord Geidt had previously investigated the controversy over how the PM funded the refurbishment of he and his wife Carrie Johnson's flat above 11 Downing Street. Although Lord Geidt concluded that Mr Johnson had not broken ministerial rules, the Conservative Party was later fined 17,800 for the improper declaration of donations. Asked by Ms Johnson how long prime ministers had appointed an ethics adviser, Ms Dorries replied: 'I have no idea.' The role of Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interestes was created in 2006 by ex-Labour prime minister Tony Blair. Mr Johnson has now seen two ethics advisers resign under his premiership. Lord Geidt's predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, quit in November 2020 after the PM overruled his finding that Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied staff. The leader of Oldham Council has apologised to victims of child sexual exploitation in the town - after a report said some had not been protected from grooming. Cllr Amanda Chadderton said she would be writing to all the victims in the review and would be happy to meet them personally. The report looked into the alleged grooming of children in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers in the town and concluded there was no evidence of a cover up or 'widespread' child sex abuse in those settings. Despite 'legitimate concerns' of police and the council in Oldham of the far right capitalising on the issue of grooming by predominantly Pakistani men, the authorities in the town, which suffered race riots in 2001, did not shy away from tackling the issue, the report said. But the authorities did fail some children, notably citing the case of one girl identified only as 'Sophie', who was abused aged just 12, after 'significant opportunities missed' to protect her. She went to Oldham police station to report being raped by an Asian man in October 2006. She was told to come back when she was 'not drunk' and was instead taken from the police station in a car and she was then raped in the vehicle, then taken to a house and raped multiple times by five different men. Both Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) should apologise for their failings, the report concluded, after being 'more concerned about covering up their failures' than acknowledging they failed to take action. Cllr Chadderton said of Sophie: 'I will never pretend to be able to understand fully what she went through, but it's clear that the council and the police failed in our duty of care towards her both as a child, and the subsequent responses to her as an adult. For that, I am truly sorry. Cllr Amanda Chadderton at the press conference on the Oldham CSE report saying sorry The report on Oldham, pictured, follows an earlier damning report, centred on grooming gangs in Manchester Report also details how Shabir Ahmed, the ring-leader of a notorious grooming gang in Rochdale, was employed by Oldham Council as a welfare rights officer 'It is clear that at the time, the police and the local authority did not understand enough about this horrendous crime and how best to support and protect its victims. 'Much has changed since then. We've learned from similar reports and reviews from around the country. From changes to national guidelines and from best practice - and the way we deal with victims of this terrible abuse is now completely different.' The 202-page report is authored by Malcolm Newsam, a renowned child care expert, and Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent with Cambridgeshire Police. Maggie Oliver, the former GMP detective who turned whistleblower (second left) in April The report also details how Shabir Ahmed, the ring-leader of a notorious grooming gang in Rochdale, was employed by Oldham Council as a welfare rights officer and seconded to the Oldham Pakistani Community Centre. Despite multiple concerns being raised about him and his arrest for the sexual assault of children, police failed to tell his employers. 'If this had happened, it may have potentially avoided the tragic abuse of other children' the report states, citing 'serious multiple failures' by both GMP and the local authority. Ahmed, identified only as 'Offender A' in the report, is now serving a 22 year jail sentence. The report on Oldham follows an earlier damning report, centred on grooming gangs in Manchester, which said victims had been failed by police and local authorities in the city. Maggie Oliver, the former GMP detective who turned whistleblower, said: 'Another day, yet another report about the failures of a police force to protect the most vulnerable in our society, even when there is irrefutable evidence to prosecute offenders and safeguard children. 'This report yet again clearly evidences catastrophic failings by the force and their repeated attempts to cover up and hide these failings both from the victims and from the public they serve, and that is extremely worrying.' Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: 'This report continues the process of shining a spotlight on past failures in Greater Manchester. 'There were serious failings and victims were let down, particularly Sophie. 'Whilst there was no evidence of a cover-up, we must not flinch from acknowledging shortcomings.' A criminal investigation has been reopened in Manchester and police watchdogs called in to investigate former senior GMP officers following the grooming report on the city published in January 2020. Both probes are still ongoing. Mr Burnham, chief constable of GMP Stephen Watson and the report authors will hold a press conference later today on publication of the report. Video has emerged showing how images of Johnny Depp in character as Captain Jack Sparrow are being projected on to the castle at Disneyland Paris - weeks after the star won his defamation case against Amber Heard. And furious fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor slammed Disney for using his image after they had unceremoniously dumped him in 2018 when Amber Heard made her defamatory claims. The images appeared over the weekend as part of an impressive fireworks and pyrotechnic nightly show called Disney Illuminations that has been airing nightly for approximately 5 years. During his bitter court battle, Depp confirmed to Heard's lawyer that 'nothing on this earth', not even '$300 million and a million alpacas' could get him to go back to work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film. Disney dumped Depp just four days after Heard made allegations of domestic abuse against him in a Washington Post op-ed in 2018. But last month a Virginia court found in favor of Depp against his ex-wife in his defamation trial against her, ordering her to pay him $15 million in damages. One of Depp's central claims in his suit was that Heard calling herself a 'public figure representing domestic abuse' caused him to lose his role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. An image of the vindicated Captain Jack Sparrow actor was projected onto the castle in Disneyland Paris over the weekend for the first time since the House of Mouse cut ties with Depp During the trial - which he won - Depp confirmed to Heard's lawyer that 'nothing on this earth', not even '$300 million and a million alpacas' could get him to go back to work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film One of Depp's central claims in his suit was that Heard (pictured) calling herself a 'public figure representing domestic abuse' caused him to lose his role Of Captain Jack Sparrow in the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise The image was projected during an impressive Pirates of the Caribbean display featuring fireworks and pyrotechnics in which a line spoken by Jack Sparrow could also be heard at Disneyland Paris over the weekend In 2018, Disney production chief Sean Bailey confirmed that Depp was no longer a part of the franchise's future plans, but did not ascribe the decision to the allegations against him. He told The Hollywood Reporter, 'We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason (writers) Paul (Wernick) and Rhett (Reese) are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that's what I've tasked them with.' But the official line did not wash with many, and now fans are demanding that Disney apologise to Depp and reinstate him in the role of the beloved character. The decision clearly still rankles with Depp, who told the court that he believed it came down to the allegations that he was a 'wife beater'. He said: 'Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife-beater. So I'm sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe. 'The #MeToo movement was in full swing at that point.' Depp also maintained that Disney still wanted to make a profit from the character despite removing him from the movie series. 'They didn't remove my character from the rides,' he explained to the court. 'They didn't stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn't stop selling anything. 'They just didn't want there to be something trailing behind me that they'd find.' Captain Jack Sparrow became a beloved and iconic character that was the flagpole of Depp's career - until Amber Heard's allegations against him Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, from 2017, was Depp's last appearance for Disney before they dropped him in 2018 over allegations of domestic abuse So it would seem that Depp would not be receptive to an apology from Disney executives for their decision to ditch him personally after still milking his character for profit. Heard's lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn asked: 'The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?' Depp replied: 'That is true, Mr. Rottenborn.' Hollywood mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that there are two scripts were still in the works for a Pirates of the Caribbean 6, but neither featured Johnny Depp. Speaking about the prospect of a sequel with a female lead, he said: 'We're talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two scripts one with her, one without.' However, rumours have started to persist that Depp will return in a supporting role next to Robbie as Sparrow. CCCTV footage shows the split second an Indian policeman pulls a woman from the brink of death as a train hurtles towards her in Uttar Pradesh. The elderly woman was in the direct path of the train and likely would have been killed had the Railway Police Force official in Lalitpur train station not come to her rescue on Saturday. Head constable Kamlesh Kumar Dubey, who can see the train approaching, frantically waves his hand to warn the woman against crossing the railway track. But Ramsakhi Tiwari, a 65-year-old woman from the village Padaria in the north of India, crosses anyway. Dubey grabs the woman and quickly pulls her up just in time as the Sampark Kranti express shoots past them. Passengers at the scene saluted the efforts of the officer after seeing the miraculous rescue of Tiwari. A brave police officer who sees the train approaching frantically waves his hand to warn the woman against crossing the railway track the elderly woman did not listen to the warnings of the railway police personnel and tried crossing the railway track despite knowing that the train was about to pass. Dubey grabs the woman and quickly pulls her up just in time as the Sampark Kranti express shoots past them Passengers at the scene saluted the efforts of officer Kamlesh Kumar Dubey after seeing the miraculous rescue of Ramsakhi Tiwari According to local media, the elderly woman did not listen to the warnings of the railway police personnel and tried crossing the railway track despite knowing the train was about to pass. 'An elderly woman crossing the track at Lalitpur station of Jhansi division was saved by the railway security personnel posted there by playing on her life,' said the Ministry of Railways in a statement. 'All are requested to use Foot Over Bridge to go from one platform to another.' Viewers took to social media to praise the policeman, but other said the woman should have known better. 'Because of such ignorant people, our security guard has to save them at the palm of their lives,' said Twitter user Pritesh A Patel in Hindi, who added: 'You take care of yourself. Security guard, your life is also precious for the country, don't let it go this way.' Rajesh Sehra, who works at Indian railways and lives in Jhansi, said: 'Many congratulations to the RPF personnel for their alertness. But strict action should be taken against such people who play with their lives as well as put someone else's life in danger because of them. 'Such insolent people put all the blame on the administration when an accident happens.' Other uses said the government should investigate the problem and see if more funds could be allocated towards improving rail safety. Gaurav Kumar, a student, said: 'The foot over bridge at Mustara railway station of Jhansi division is under construction for years, which was also complained about but the work has not started, everyday passengers have to cross the tracks and sit in the train. It seems that the railway is waiting for an accident.' Britons could face fines worth hundreds of pounds if they are caught urinating in the sea off the Spanish coast. Lawmakers in Vigo, a city in the Galicia region, said anyone found relieving themselves 'in the sea or on the beach' will be forced to shell out 645. The city council has branded public urination a 'minor infraction' and 'an infringement of hygiene and sanitary regulations.' Town officials are planning to install public toilets on beaches during the high season to accommodate any beachgoers bursting for the loo. But the town council said it could go further than fining people for urinating in the sea. Lawmakers in Vigo, a city in the Galicia region, said anyone found relieving themselves 'in the sea or on the beach' will be forced to shell out 640 A no peeing sign is photographed. Britons could face fines worth hundreds of pounds if they are caught urinating in the sea off the Spanish coast - file image The clamp downs came right after Spain said bikini-wears had to beware on their next visit to the beach, saying authorities would impose fines for anyone inappropriately dressed when on the street. But it's not only bikini-wearing Brits who are at risk of a fine if they forget to cover up before heading away from the sand. Men seen without a top on are also subject to the new rules. Spain is also cracking down on littering, fining anyone who leaves rubbish or takes a gas cylinder or barbeque to the beach. Using soap in the sea is also banned. Beachgoers caught playing bat and ball or attempting to reserve a spot on the beach with a towel will also be fined under the by-laws that came into force on July 18th. Sparking off the new rules, Majorca and Ibiza announced earlier in the year that holidaymakers will be limited to just six drinks a day on their all inclusive holidays. The number of drinks on his all-inclusive holiday was limited to six - three at lunch, and three at dinner. The Balearic Government in January banned the sale of alcohol in shops between 9.30pm and 8am, as well as pub crawls, two-for-one drinks offers and happy hours at certain spots in Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca and Sant Antoni de Portmany in Ibiza. Local authorities in Spain introduced the booze ban in January this year, which affects certain resort areas of the Balearic Islands, including Palma, Ibiza and Magaluf (tourists enjoy the sunset at Escondida beach) The new law, which affects some hotels in the Balearic Islands, means that holidaymakers are forced to pay extra if they want more than three free alcoholic drinks per meal. Spain's tourist industry is trying to shed its reputation as the party capital of Europe, attracting a disproportionate amount of Brits. The Costa del Sol announced in May it will crackdown on 'scandalous' hen and stag parties and said it was considering installing noise monitors in tourist apartments. Malaga is leading the way after hoteliers and local residents said they were fed-up with 'Magaluf-style drunken tourism' in the historic city. They were particularly incensed about the large groups of men and women who dress up in 'outrageous costumes' carrying phallic symbols and taking over high-class restaurants for their celebrations. The number of hen and stag parties has soared over the last few months following the easing of coronavirus restrictions and the resurgence of tourism. Nicola Sturgeon's SNP was embroiled in a furious political and legal row today over attempts by the party to rally round sex pest MP Patrick Grady. The party's leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, faces demands to quit after a leaked recording caught him urging party politicians to support the former chief whip. But the SNP has instead threatened its own MPs with legal action over the leak of the tape to the Daily Mail, which came after Mr Blackford promised Mr Grady's victim he would show a 'zero tolerance' attitude to abuse. According to the Times, the current SNP chief whip Owen Thompson told MPs in a late-night email that parliamentary security had been informed of the leak from a private meeting. A Westminster probe concluded last week that Grady had made 'unwanted sexual advances' to the male party worker, who was just 19 years old at the time. The Glasgow North MP, now 42, was found to have touched and stroked the neck, hair and back of the teenager at a London pub in 2016. The man, who works for the party, said today he is considering legal action against the party over its inaction. Opposition parties have demanded that Mr Blackford either resign or be sacked by Nicola Sturgeon as the crisis engulfed the SNP's leadership. Scottish Labour's Neil Bibby said: 'The only investigation the SNP should be launching is into their own failures to protect staff in this tawdry case. The party's leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, faces demands to quit after a leaked tape caught him urging party politicians to rally round the former chief whip. A Westminster probe concluded last week that Grady had made 'unwanted sexual advances' to the male party worker, who was just 19 years old at the time. 'That SNP MPs stood and applauded one of their colleagues after he admitted abusing his position to take sexual advantage of a staff member is disgusting. 'From the start, the SNP have behaved in a way that is disgraceful - closing ranks and intimidating people who tried to bring this story to light. 'There are serious questions for the SNP about whether Patrick Grady is being treated so lamely compared to others because of his closeness to the SNP establishment.' And Scottish Tory MP John Lamont added: 'Ian Blackford must break his silence and explain why he has taken no action to prevent sexual harassment in the SNP Westminster Group. 'Instead of acting as we requested more than a year ago, he has treated a disgraced MP with more sympathy than the victim who suffered harassment.' In the recording, obtained by the Mail, Mr Blackford can be heard asking MPs to 'deliver as much support as possible' to Mr Grady. 'Hes going to face a number of challenges over the short term and so he should have our absolute full support,' the head of the SNP in London added. 'I for one very much look forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week. I am sure that everybody here will agree.' Today the Mail revealed Mr Blackford told the young SNP staff member he would take a 'zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour'. Instead he was secretly recorded last week urging MPs to rally around Grady. The victim, who is still a party employee, said: 'Ian Blackford has broken his promise to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. No one can believe a word he says any more. My fear is the way he has handled this will discourage victims from coming forward in future. This has been a betrayal.' Mr Blackford was made aware of the allegations in February 2018 but he kept Grady as chief whip at Westminster for a further three years. Grady finally stepped down from the post on March 9, 2021 when the complaint was made public. It can be revealed today that Mr Blackford wrote to SNP staff, including the victim, two days later to promise he would tackle the problem of harassment. In an email sent on March 11, 2021, which has been obtained by the Mail, he said: 'Following the news of allegations of sexual harassment, I want to write and offer reassurance that the SNP Westminster Group has a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour.' His email added: 'I am clear that the welfare of our staff is paramount.' But Mr Blackford has now been accused of failing to keep his promise by directing the party's MPs to give their 'absolute full support' to Grady. At a meeting of the SNP's parliamentary group last Tuesday, it was decided that Grady should only lose the party whip until he has completed a two-day suspension from the Commons. According to the Times, the current SNP chief whip Owen Thompson told MPs in a late-night email that parliamentary security had been informed of the leak from a private meeting. A recording obtained by the Mail reveals how Mr Blackford celebrated the choice to allow Grady to remain as a Nationalist MP only 15 minutes after it was agreed. Following the decision, he told the party group that he 'would encourage' them to give 'as much support as possible' to their shamed colleague. 'He's going to face a number of challenges over the short term and so he should have our absolute full support,' Mr Blackford said. 'I for one very much look forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week. I am sure that everybody here will agree.' In the bombshell tape, the gathering of the parliamentary group can be heard shouting 'hear, hear' at a call from Amy Callaghan, another SNP frontbencher, for Grady to be supported. Scottish Conservative Party chairman Craig Hoy said: 'This email confirms that the SNP have seriously warped priorities when it comes to handling severe misconduct. Ian Blackford must now resign as Westminster leader or be sacked. Scottish Labour frontbencher Neil Bibby said: 'Ian Blackford and the SNP's promise to support staff and show zero tolerance to abusers lies in tatters. 'Instead the SNP has closed ranks, sidelined victims and tried to intimidate anyone who wanted the truth to come to light. This disgraceful behaviour from Grady and Blackford is unacceptable. Nicola Sturgeon can no longer ignore the actions of her Westminster group.' Angus Robertson, who led the Nationalist MPs at Westminster for a decade before losing his seat to the Tories in 2017, revealed he had spoken to his successor about the 'very difficult' situation but rejected any call for him to quit. The Scottish Government's Constitution Secretary told the BBC's Sunday Show: 'There has to be a way back for people while at the same time supporting people who've been treated inappropriately.' Asked if he thought Mr Blackford should resign for his role in orchestrating a show of support for Mr Grady, Mr Robertson added: 'No I don't. Challenged about the broken promise for zero tolerance, a spokesman for the SNP Westminster parliamentary group said: 'Staff and MPs have been offered pastoral support throughout this process.' 618 shopping fest shows rebound of consumption, bodes well for Q3 (Global Times) 09:58, June 20, 2022 Major Chinese e-commerce platforms have reported record sales during this year's just-ended June 18 (618) shopping festival, shrugging off concerns that consumer demand is "faltering" amid the continuous impact of the epidemic and a decline in retail trade for three months. Although the growth shows some slowdown according to data from China's e-commerce giant JD.com, and lingering epidemic control measures have caused some problems with deliveries, the promotion, which ran for the past 18 days and concluded Sunday, has become further proof of consumption recovery and growing consumers' appetite in the world's second largest economy. Chinese observers are also optimistic toward the strong recovery in Chinese consumption triggered by this promotion, and predicted that the Chinese economy will see an upward trend from June with the recent Omicron flare-ups largely brought under control, while GDP growth in the third quarter could be around 6.8 percent. Total sales by JD.com hit a record 379.3 billion yuan ($56.47 billion) in the past 18 days, according to the company. In 10 minutes of the last round of promotion starting from 8 pm on Friday, sales of smart phones rose 200 percent on JD.com, with domestic brand HONOR selling 100,000 handsets in one minute, according to data released by JD.com. The "618" shopping festival was proposed by China's e-commerce giant JD.com to celebrate the company's founding anniversary, but has now become a nationwide shopping spree with nearly all shops and merchants on and off line taking the opportunity to boost sales. Other major e-commerce platforms also reported improved sales performances. Suning.com, which has both online and offline stores, told the Global Times Sunday that offline stores led the spending recovery during this year's shopping festival, with sales surging 182 percent year-on-year. Orders worth more than 70,000 yuan saw a 103-percent year-on-year increase, the company said. Sales data released by Pinduoduo over the weekend showed that the sales of home appliances on the platform had doubled from a year earlier. The 618 sales festival indicated the national economy has bottomed out with a strong growth momentum, Tian Yun, former vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Sunday. If the consumption and export indexes for June, July and August maintain a clear momentum of recovery, Tian believed that China's economy will see an upward trend from the second quarter this year, and predicted that the year-on-year GDP growth rate for the third quarter would stand at 6.8 percent. Rising sales "I was waiting for the festival to stock up on milk powder for my newborn baby," a resident in Shanghai told the Global Times. She bought clothes and other daily necessities for her son from both online and offline stores. In general, the proportion of basic consumption has increased. Taking JD.com as an example, sales of ice cream increased by 800 percent within 10 minutes of the opening of 618. In addition, sales of goods such as jerky, milk, and peanut oil also increased significantly, Meng Qi, an industry observer told the Global Times on Sunday. In addition to domestic brands, many overseas brands are also enjoying record sales during this year's 618 event. More than 29,000 overseas brands from 87 countries and regions joined the shopping spree on Alibaba's Tmall, including more than 3,000 new overseas brands, according to a statement sent by Tmall to the Global Times. Prada's sales in the first hour on Tmall since this year's festival kicked off on May 31 grew by triple digits from last year. In addition to traditional e-commerce platforms, new innovative players such as livestreaming platform giant Douyin have also entered the new business arena. Data from Douyin showed that from June 1 to 18, the number of merchants participating in the sales festival increased 159 percent year-on-year, with total livestreaming of more than 40 million hours, contributing to production resumption. Shopping fever in many places gradually picked up during the 618 festival. According to Douyin, Shanghai consumers showed strong purchasing power, ranking first in purchasing volume, followed by Chongqing, Beijing, Chengdu and Guangzhou. Juhuasuan, a group-buying website under Alibaba Group, said that on June 1, sales of smart locks increased by 454 percent year-on-year, water filters increased by 243 percent year-on-year, and bluetooth headsets increased by 1,516 percent year-on-year, which reflect the consumption upgrade trend in third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier cities and even rural areas. Amid growing sales, the epidemic prevention and control measure however have caused some uncertainties in delivery and logistics. A staff member from a Shanghai-based body care product manufacturer told the Global Times on Sunday that some goods were stuck or returned in logistics in some places due to the epidemic control measures, which brought complaints from buyers and an increase in costs. But he said the sales target has basically been reached, thanks to the help of livestreaming channels such as Douyin and Kuaishou, in addition to traditional platforms such as Taobao. Chinese economic activities fell sharply in most of May as expected. During May, China's retail sales of consumer goods plunged by 6.7 percent on a yearly basis to end at 3.35 trillion yuan, followed by a decline in retail by more than 11 percent in April and fall of 3.5 percent in March. To stimulate the economy, China's State Council, the country's cabinet, in May held what was seen as an unprecedented national video teleconference on stabilizing the economy with reportedly upwards of 100,000 participants, including officials of various levels, stressing the need to better implement measures to safeguard the economy operating in a reasonable range. China's consumption market now has many positive factors, such as the supply chain being under continuous recovery, the operating rate in areas severely affected by the epidemic increasing significantly, and logistics speed accelerating. It is also expected that consumption of goods such as automobiles and home appliances will rebound strongly in the second half of this year, Zhao Ping, vice-president of the Academy of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, told the Global Times on Sunday. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) The BBC brain drain continued today as Lewis Goodall announced he is ditching the broadcaster to join Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel as a co-host on their LBC news podcast. The Newsnight editor will leave his role at Broadcasting House and join Leicester Square-based Global, which is also home to Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, Shelagh Fogarty and James O'Brien. He will become Global's new analysis and investigations editor, while being a co-host on Ms Maitlis and Mr Sopel's daily news podcast. Mr Goodall - whose salary is not published by the BBC, suggesting it is under 150,000 - is the latest top news star to jump ship at the corporation, which is facing a 1.4billion hole in its finances after the licence fee was frozen until 2024. Mr Goodall said he will be leaving the current affairs show for his new role in September. The 32-year-old, who joined Newsnight as policy editor in January 2020, said it has been a 'privilege' to work on the programme but it is 'so important to keep yourself challenged'. His exit follows Dan Walker, who earlier this year left BBC Breakfast to join Channel 5's nightly news gig for a reported 1.5million. Other top names who have left in recent months include Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. Lewis Goodall announced he is ditching the broadcaster to join Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel as a co-host on their LBC news podcast Emily Maitlis, former BBC Newsnight journalist, said she is 'utterly delighted' that Goodall was moving over to Global Mr Goodall will become Global's new analysis and investigations editor, while being a co-host on Emily Maitlis (right) and Jon Sopel's (left) daily news podcast In a tweet this morning, he wrote: 'My brief will be to supercharge the organisation's video output. 'What does that look like? Much more to come but we have big plans. I'll be reporting on and breaking stories in the UK and beyond. 'Global has reinvented radio - its ambitions for podcasting and quality video journalism (and how all three work together) are just as big. 'This of course sadly means I'll be leaving wonderful Newsnight. This programme is in my bloodstream. I'm so passionate about it. It is utterly indispensable. I love the team. 'It's been a privilege to work there under two great editors and it runs through me like a stick of rock. I was a young producer there. I came back as policy editor and I couldn't have been happier. 'To the sad, politics-obsessed Brummie teenager inside me who used to watch the show in his bedroom as a kid night after night, to hear '"and here's our policy editor, Lewis Goodall"... is thrilling to me - every single time. 'But it's so important to keep yourself challenged and that's what I'm doing here. The chance to create entirely new things was tantalising - especially with such a fantastic team.' Ms Maitlis and Mr Sopel announced in February that they would be leaving the BBC for their new venture at Global. One LBC insider previously told MailOnline that Ms Maitlis will now be on 'at least' 400,000-a-year, with Mr Sopel likely to be through the 300,000-a-year barrier, but it 'could be more' because of the number of projects they will work on together. Ms Maitlis and Mr Sopel announced in February that they would be leaving the BBC for their new venture at Global After six years at the helm of BBC Breakfast, Dan Walker, 45, (left) presents Channel 5's evening bulleting at 5pm on Monday, June 6 alongside Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije (right) Ms Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001 and has presented Newsnight since 2006, winning a Royal Television Society award for her interview with the Duke of York in 2019, while Sopel joined the broadcaster in 1983 and was formerly its North America editor. However, BBC insiders said they believed Ms Maitlis, 51, quit in part because she was frustrated at being repeatedly ticked-off by bosses over impartiality issues, following tweets and on-air comments about the pandemic, the Tory Government and Boris Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings. Tom Cheal, managing editor of LBC, said: 'I'm delighted that Lewis will be joining Emily and Jon for our new Global podcast. 'Lewis combines expansive knowledge of the inner workings of Westminster with brilliant storytelling, and impactful, agenda-setting reporting which will be a core focus as we continue to enhance our video output.' The deal will also see Dino Sofos, founder of audio production company Persephonica, join Global as its new podcast's executive producer. Sofos is the former head of BBC News Podcasts and created the Brexitcast, Newscast and Americast formats. He tweeted that he is 'absolutely delighted' Goodall is joining the presenting line-up, while Ms Maitlis added that she is 'utterly delighted' to have him on their team. Mr Sopel said: 'You're going to be a huge asset, and it's going to be one helluva ride.' Mr Goodall's announcement comes amid a string of high-profile departures from the BBC, including veteran journalist Andrew Marr, who said he was moving to Global after 21 years with the corporation last November. Marr joined the broadcaster as political editor in May 2000 and later spent 16 years at the helm of his own Sunday morning show. In February 2020, former deputy political editor John Pienaar announced he was leaving the BBC to join Times Radio after nearly three decades. Later that year, the Andrew Neil Show was a casualty of BBC cuts, following the broadcaster's announcement in 2016 that it needed to save 800 million, with around 80 million of that figure coming from news. Goodall announced his career move on social media, saying that he is 'delighted' about the new adventure Jon Sopel - who was also a BBC veteran until he moved over to LBC - wished Goodall well and said he will be a 'huge asset' Neil later announced that he was to be the face and chairman of GB News, signalling the end of his relationship with the BBC, where he has been one of the most respected political interviewers. The former Sunday Times editor has since stepped down from GB News, joining Channel 4 for a new Sunday night political show which launched in May. However, in April the BBC dismissed the brain drain of top talent ditching the broadcaster as 'people come, people go'. Insiders said there was always a 'natural point where people move on' but there are mounting fears the Corporation will be left with a lack of experienced presenters. A BBC source told MailOnline: 'People come, people go, but we have lots of existing talent and new and emerging stars and there is always a natural point where people move on.' Meanwhile, insiders at the BBC have hit out at the corporation for spending up to 10million on a new 'curvy' studio amid fears that 100 staff members could lose their jobs in a merger of its news channels. Presenter Huw Edwards unveils BBC News' new state-of-the-art studio last week. The newly refurbished studio will be home to BBC News at Six and Ten, as well as London bulletins The newly refurbished studio - complete with a curved catwalk and large vertical screen to display social media posts - was a well kept secret for months until it was unveiled last week. The BBC invested in the renovation before drawing up plans to combine its UK and world news channels, The Times reports. The merger is expected to lead to redundancies and has left some insiders angry at the 'obscene' expenditure on the new studio. A source said the backdrop 'will be on air for three half-hour bulletins a day' while harsh cuts are imposed on the rolling news channels. A British art dealer is facing extradition to the United States for allegedly supplying forged documents to a fraudster who duped investors out of 68 million. Robert Newland, 43, is charged with providing false information and documents to help 'serial swindler' Inigo Philbrick perpetrate a 'ponzi-like scheme' on his clients. Philbrick, 34, an American citizen dubbed the 'Mini Madoff of the art world', was imprisoned for seven years last month for the fraud where he used money from some customers to buy artworks, pay off debts and bankroll a lavish lifestyle, federal prosecutors said. Artworks used in the scheme included, among others, a 1982 painting by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat titled 'Humidity,' a 2010 untitled painting by the artist Christopher Wool, and an untitled 2012 painting by the artist Rudolf Stingel depicting the artist Pablo Picasso, authorities said. Robert Newland, 43, is charged with providing false information and documents to help 'serial swindler' Inigo Philbrick perpetrate a 'ponzi-like scheme' on his clients Inigo Philbrick pictured with former partner Victoria Baker-Harber, of Made in Chelsea fame, whom he had a baby with last year The scheme unravelled after a lender notified Philbrick that he was in default of a $14million loan, prosecutors said. Art buyers defrauded by Philbrick filed civil lawsuits and he stopped responding to legal processes. In November 2019, Philbrick failed to appear for court hearings in London and Miami, cities in which he owned art galleries. He was eventually arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu, where he had fled with his fiance, Victoria Baker-Harber, 33, the Made in Chelsea socialite whom he began dating in 2017, and who is the mother of his child. Newland reportedly met Philbrick at White Cube, the London-based gallery where Philbrick started out in the art world and where Newland had previously been a director. Pictured: Inigo Philbrick being arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu in 2019 Victoria pictured with Jamie Laing (right) having lunch during an episode of Made in Chelsea in 2017 He was named as a suspect in February when New Yorks Southern District Court unsealed an indictment against him. Extradition proceedings for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud are due to take place at Westminster magistrates court, where a full hearing is scheduled for November. Newland, who is currently held up in his 1.8 million west London home, is on bail for 250,000. He is under a nightly curfew and required to wear an electronic tag. Victoria Baker-Harber said that she is standing by her fiance, the convicted art dealing fraudster. Ms Baker-Harber began dating Philbrick in 2017 and the pair had a baby together two years later The home of Philbrick's registered offices in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. The art dealer fraudulently lived a lavish lifestyle The British reality TV star said that rumours she and 'serial swindler' Philbrick are no longer a couple are a 'load of bulls***'. She told The Sun: 'I've stood by him and will continue to do so.' Last month, Ms Baker-Harber wept in the US courtroom when Philbrick spoke about the 'anguish' of being unable to support their daughter Gaia-Grace, who has born in 2020. Philbrick's scams included the sale of a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat named Humidity, pictured above The pair began dating in 2017, with their daughter born two years later. Philbrick has never met Gaia-Grace, but they have spoken on the telephone, after he was arrested in 2019. Philbrick said their was 'no sweeter sound' than his daughter calling him daddy. As he was taken to prison, he whispered to a tearful Ms Baker-Harber, and blew her a kiss. She told The Sun that he said he loved her. Ms Baker-Harber said that she 'dreads' the day she has to explain things about Philbrick to her daughter, and does not want to take Gaia to the 'barbaric' Brooklyn prison where her father is now being held. The Made in Chelsea socialite posted pictures of their daughter's first birthday on Instagram in November last year. 'She doesn't know she doesn't have a father yet,' she told the paper. 'I dread the day I have to start explaining things to her.' She added that Philbrick is the 'best person' she knows. Advertisement Emmanuel Macron could face a no-confidence vote after his parliamentary majority was wiped out, with French voters ditching their 'arrogant' leader and opting instead for the far-right and far-left. The chastened president, who only two months ago won the presidential elections, now has his tail between his legs after his alliance haemorrhaged 105 seats, meaning he will struggle to force through his centrist agenda. Marine Le Pen's National Rally and Jean-Luc Melenchon's left-wing Nupes alliance were the major winners in Sunday's vote, which decides the make-up of the 577-seat National Assembly, France's lower chamber. Nupes said today it now plans to put forward a no-confidence vote against the government on July 5. Nupes is the second-biggest grouping in the lower house of parliament, following Sunday's election, but does not have enough votes on its own to get the no-confidence vote adopted, and has few allies in a very fragmented parliament. But it represents another humiliation for Macron, who was forced to rely on voters across the spectrum to stop Le Pen winning the presidential elections two months ago amid his waning popularity. Le Pen said today that her party's extraordinary surge is a 'historic victory' and a 'seismic event' in French politics. The electorate turned against Macron's 'arrogance', a government source said, with Le Pen's National Rally growing from eight to 89 seats, and the Nupes alliance winning 131 seats to become the main opposition force. Macron's centrist alliance won the most seats - 245 - but fell 44 seats short of a straight majority. He will now need to rely on the support of the right-wing Republican party to meet the threshold of 289 to pass bills in the lower house. It means he will now face a struggle to implement his manifesto promises to further deepen European Union integration, raise the retirement age and inject new life into France's nuclear industry. Critics say voters turned against Macron for being out of touch and elitist, failing to appoint a new prime minister for weeks after his election, the embarrassment of the chaotic Champions League final in Paris, and being too pro-business. Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte take a stroll on the beach in Le Touquet as he suffers an embarrassing loss of his parliamentary majority Macron's centrist alliance took a pounding in the latest election, losing 105 seats from 2017. The centre-right Republicans also lost seats, while Le Pen's National Rally gained a huge 81 seats. In 2017, Melenchon only led his own party, winning 17 seats, but this team he gathered together a left-wing alliance which won 131 seats, making them the largest opposition group Marine Le Pen is all smiles today as she talks to the press in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, after boosting her party's seats The president, who only two months ago won the presidential elections, now has his tail between his legs Critics say voters turned against Macron for being out of touch and elitist after five years in power Macron's at-risk manifesto pledges Cost of living: Remove all tax on inheritance valued less than 150,000, abolish TV licence fee Immigration: Reform the asylum system to make it more efficient, long-stay permit is only given to people who pass a French language exam and are professionally successful Europe: Strengthen the EU and its armies, increase the continent's energy autonomy, fill the gap left by Angela Merkel as de facto EU leader Pensions: Raise the pension age from 62 to 65 to keep the pension system afloat. Minimum pensions raised to 1,100 a month Climate: Subsidies for environmental home improvements, access to affordable electric vehicles, building more nuclear reactors Advertisement While the left and right focused on the cost of living crisis by cutting the cost of food and oil while raising minimum wages, Macron alienated voters after five years of loosening labour protections and slashing employment benefits. One source said: 'It's a message about the lack of grassroots and the arrogance we have sometimes shown.' His centrist catch-all message may have been enough to stave off a Le Pen presidency but it was not fooling voters this time, who increased her party's parliamentary share more than tenfold. She secured 42 per cent in April's presidential election after tapping into the general disenchantment with Macron and identifying anger across the country over the rising cost of living and the decline of many rural communities. She has now won 89 seats in parliament, up from just two in 2012 and eight in 2017, despite major pollsters last week predicting just 25-50 seats. The previous record for a far-right party was the 35 seats won by the then National Front in 1986 when the party was led by her father, the convicted racist and anti-Semite Jean-Marie Le Pen. 'We have achieved our three objectives: that of making Emmanuel Macron a minority president, without control of power and that of pursuing the political recomposition essential to democratic renewal,' a triumphant Le Pen told reporters after being re-elected in northern France and vowing to be a respectful opposition. 'And of forming a decisive opposition group against the deconstructors from above, the Macronists, and from below, the Nupes,' she added referring to the left wing alliance, which became the largest opposition bloc in parliament. Today, Le Penn said in Henin-Beaumont, her stronghold in northern France: 'Macron is a minority president now. ... His retirement reform plan is buried. It's a historic victory (...) a seismic event.' French President Emmanuel Macron casts his ballot in Le Touquet, northern France, on Sunday French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party leader, Member of Parliament and leader of left-wing coalition Nupes (Nouvelle Union Populaire Ecologique et Sociale - New Ecologic and Social People's Union), Jean-Luc Melenchon (C) casts his vote at a polling station in Marseille, southern France She told reporters: 'We are entering the parliament as a very strong group and as such we will claim every post that belongs to us.' As the biggest single party in the parliament - Macron and Melenchon both lead coalitions - she said National Rally will seek to chair the parliament's powerful finance committee, one of the eight commissions that oversee the national budget. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne suggested Sunday evening that Macron's alliance will seek to find 'good compromises' with lawmakers from diverse political forces. Macron himself has not commented on the elections' results yet. Jean-Luc Melenchon's Nupes alliance, comprising Socialists, the hard left, Communists and greens, secured 131 votes. The 70-year-old leftist branded the results an 'electoral failure' for Macron, adding: 'The rout of the presidential party is complete.' After the results were announced French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne vowed to seek a 'working majority' from Monday. Key ministers in the government of President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday admitted that the ruling coalition's performance in parliamentary elections was 'disappointing' after projections showed it had lost its majority. The results are 'far from what we hoped', Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said on the TF1 channel, while Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told BFM television: 'We're in first place but it's a first place that is obviously disappointing.' A triumphant Le Pen heralded a 'new chapter' in French politics and said her new parliamentary group would represent 'all patriots who wish to defend our country against collapse'. To cries of 'Marine! Marine! Marine!', the 53-year-old spoke to delirious supporters in her home constituency of Henin-Beaumount, in northern France. 'Here we are at the end of a long electoral journey, and the people have spoken,' said Ms Le Pen. 'We have overcome obstacles such as the electoral system. The people have given us the great power of creating a parliamentary group in the National Assembly. This is a great chapter in the history of our political family. 'We welcome all patriots who wish to defend our country against collapse.' The number two of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, hailed her party's performance as a 'tsumani'. The election also cost Mr Macron his recently appointed Secretary of State for the Sea, Justine Benin. Ms Benin was appointed last month to deal with a range of issues including fishing rights in the English Channel. But early voting in France's overseas territories on Saturday saw Ms Benin lose her National Assembly seat in Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Macron headed to Ukraine last week, hoping to remind voters of his foreign policy credentials and one of Melenchon's perceived weaknesses - his anti-NATO and anti-EU views at a time of war in Europe She was beaten by Christian Baptiste, a candidate for the Nupes alliance. Celebrating confirmation of his victory on Sunday, Mr Baptise said: 'The interests of Guadeloupe do not involve persisting with the brutal politics of Emmanuel Macron.' Mr Macron came to power as an independent in 2017, and his En Marche ! (On The Move!) party enjoyed a parliamentary majority throughtout his first five years in power. But it has been diminished constantly, meaning he now has to rely on allies to support him in the National Assembly. Mr Macron himself has never been an MP, or stood for any elected office except for President of France. He won his second and final term in April, promising to bring in tough new pro-business reforms, including making it easier for bosses to hire-and-fire. This has given the ex-merchant banker and tax civil servant the nickname 'President of the Rich.' Falling short of the majority may force Macron into tricky partnerships with other parties on the right to force through legislation. There could now potentially be weeks of political deadlock as the president seeks to reach out to new parties. The most likely option would be an alliance with - or poaching MPs from - the Republicans (LR), the traditional party of the French right. The ruling party's campaign had been shadowed by growing concern over rising prices while new Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne failed to make an impact in sometimes lacklustre campaigning. French television reports said Borne had gone to the Elysee to talk with Macron even before the projections were published. Macron headed to Ukraine last week, hoping to remind voters of his foreign policy credentials and one of Melenchon's perceived weaknesses - his anti-NATO and anti-EU views at a time of war in Europe. 'We need a solid majority to ensure order outside and inside our borders. Nothing would be worse than adding French disorder to global disorder,' Macron said. As president, he would retain control of foreign and defence policy whatever the outcome, but his domestic agenda could be thwarted. Melenchon has promised a break from '30 years of neo-liberalism' - meaning free-market capitalism - and has pledged minimum wage and public spending hikes, as well as nationalisations. It has been 20 years since France last had a president and prime minister from different parties, when right-winger Jacques Chirac had to work with a Socialist-dominated parliament under premier Lionel Jospin. The father of a young girl who died in a freak accident has opened up about his daughter's final moments after she fell out of his moving vehicle during a family trip in the outback. Kim Roser and his children, who are from Yarraman in Queensland, were travelling with a friend to a campsite 25km east of Harts Range - a remote community 215km northeast of Alice Springs - earlier this month. But the trip would end in tragedy with seven-year-old Kahlessi Roser 'jumping' out of the moving car. She suffered severe head injuries. Seven-year-old Kahlessi Roser (pictured) died after she fell out of her father's moving car during a family trip in central Australia 'The kids jumped in the car and we went to get water and I don't know what happened, I think she tried to jump out the window before the car stopped to be the first to open the gate,' an emotional Mr Roser told 7News. He explained that he was driving '15km/h maybe slower' when his daughter fell out of the car and he heard his friend yell 'Kahlessi'. Mr Roser jumped out of his Nissan Patrol and ran to his daughter who was 'twisted up'. The horrified father picked up his daughter, got back inside the vehicle and drove quickly to find help. He was unable to contact any emergency services as the group were at a remote location with no phone signal. 'All I could do was hold my little girl's hand and look into her eyes and say 'Kahleesi, just look into my eyes baby' and say 'I love you, you're a big girl. You're tough, it's OK',' Mr Roser recalled. He managed to get Kahlessi to Harts Range medical clinic before she was airlifted more than 1,600km to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for Women and Children. She later died from her injuries at the hospital. Kim Roser (left) told 7News that his daughter Kahlessi (right) possibly 'jumped' out of the vehicle before it stopped. He described the heartbreaking moment he picked her up from the ground and drove to find urgent help Mr Roser has been struggling with the loss of his youngest child. The father-of-six explained that his children are his priority in life as he spends 'every minute' with them 'every day of the week'. He also shared how the tragedy had deeply affected Kahlessi's siblings. Mr Roser described the situation as a 'nightmare' that the family desperately want to wake up from. 'Everyone who knows her is hurting. I don't think life can get any worse,' he added. NT Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding Kahlessi's death. A three-month-old baby died after he was left in his parents' car 'for several hours,' in Pennsylvania, while temperatures reached above 90F (32C). Authorities were called to a minivan in Upper Saint Clair at 5pm on Thursday, June 16, where they found an unresponsive baby. Efforts to save the child's life failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to officials. The infant was later identified as Kayden Nguyen by the Medical Examiners Office. On Thursday the highest temperature recorded in Upper Saint Clair was 92F (33C), according to the National Weather Service. The incident is under investigation, the police statement said: 'Upper Saint Clair police determined the infant was left inside a parent's vehicle for several hours and requested homicide detectives.' A three-month-old boy died last week after he was left in a car for 'several hours' on Fort Couch Road in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, (pictured) The baby was the fifth child to die in a hot car this year in the United States, according to KidsAndCars.org, and on average, 38 children a year die in hot cars. A one-year-old died on May 19 after being found in a vehicle outside a Memphis, Tennessee, day care centre. Earlier that month, an eight-month-old girl died after she was left in a car for hours while her father was being arrested at a police station in Georgia. Those who leave their children in the car also may not understand the danger they're in, or consider how fast cars can heat up. Dozens of children die every year in the US after they are left by themselves in hot cars The interior temperature of a car can quickly soar with 80 per cent of the total temperature rise happening in the first 30 minutes a child is inside a car. Temperatures inside the car can often exceed those outside by up to 50 degrees. The Centers for Disease Control say that it is never safe to leave children unattended in a car in any weather, even with the window cracked open. To remember that a child is in the car, they recommend keeping a stuffed animal in the child's car seat on days when they're not, and moving the stuffed animal to the front passenger seat when the child is there as a reminder. Other suggestions include placing purses or bags in the backseat by the child, or even one shoe so parents are assured to check before leaving the car. Boris Johnson has retaken the reins of government this afternoon, hours after undergoing surgery on a sinus problem this morning, No10 has revealed. The Prime Minister is feeling well and will be holding meetings this afternoon, after the minor operation under general anaesthetic at an unspecified London NHS hospital, his spokesman said. Mr Johnson was admitted to hospital at 6am for the scheduled procedure, and returned to Downing Street around 10am. It was the first time the PM had visited hospital since he suffered from Covid in the spring of 2020, and his spokesman said they two were not related. It is understood Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab remains on hand to assist with any major decisions, in line with the general advice to the public on not making significant choices for the first 24 hours after undergoing general anaesthesia. However, Boris Johnson remains Prime Minister and will continue acting as such, No 10 said. The Prime Minister, who flew to Ukraine at the weekend, had a 'minor' operation at an unspecified London NHS hospital early today He left home at 6am and was back in Westminster by 10am without using an ambulance after the procedure, which had been scheduled some time in advance. The timing of Mr Johnson's return to work would depend on how he feels, but he was planning to chair Tuesday morning's Cabinet meeting, according to the spokesman. Asked who was in charge of the UK nuclear accounts during the procedure, the spokesperson said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case were aware in advance and that Mr Johnson was under for a 'relatively brief time'. He said: 'Operationally, my understanding is there's a 24-hour period from when the operation takes place ... under which sort of significant decisions would be deferred to probably in the first instance the Deputy Prime Minister. 'Now we're not anticipating any of that being required currently, but we do have that capability.' The operation was on the NHS and was scheduled 'for a while', he said, without specifying at which hospital it took place. On Saturday Mr Johnson made a second surprise visit to Ukraine, a day after Emmanuel Macron and EU leaders visited the capital for the first time. The Prime Minister was pictured in a warm embrace with President Zelensky, who greeted him by his first name in Kyiv. After viewing a graveyard of Russian military vehicles, Mr Johnson pledged more UK military assistance, including training for more than 120,000 troops, that aims to expel Russian forces from the war-torn nation. Speaking at a joint news conference he said that would be the point at which talks on Ukraine's future could begin. 'We will continue, as we have from the beginning, to provide the military equipment you need - and now, of course, the training that may be necessary to go with that new equipment - so that you, the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian armed forces, will be able to do what I believe Ukrainians yearn to do, and that is to expel the aggressor from Ukraine,' he said. 'That will be the moment for talks about the future of Ukraine and it will be in that context of a free Ukraine that we and other countries will be making the security commitments and guarantees we have discussed so often.' The Kremlin has threatened Lithuania after EU-sanctioned goods were blocked from reaching the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, fuelling fears of NATO being dragged into the war. Moscow warned of 'very tough actions' against the Western security alliance member after deliveries of coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology were stopped from entering the Russian territory. The Lithuanian charge d'affaires in Moscow was told that unless cargo transit was resumed in the near future, Russia reserves the right to act to protect its national interests. The Russian foreign ministry said: 'We consider provocative measures of the Lithuanian side which violate Lithuania's international legal obligations, primarily the 2002 Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the European Union on transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation, to be openly hostile.' Loyalist senator Andrey Klimov warned it was 'direct aggression against Russia, literally forcing us to immediately resort to proper self-defence'. Vladimir Putin 's allies have threatened Lithuania after the NATO country blocked EU-sanctioned goods from reaching the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad A Russian customs officer works at a commercial port in the Baltic Sea town of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region (file image) Smoke and flame rise after a military strike on a compound of Severodonetsk's Azot Chemical Plant in Ukraine The head of the parliamentary sovereignty protection commission, he vowed that Russia would solve the blockade 'in ANY way we choose'. Any direct Russian attack on alliance member state Lithuania would be seen as an act of war against NATO and could spark a world war. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his country was simply implementing sanctions imposed by the EU. He said the measures implemented were taken after 'consultation with the European Commission and under its guidelines.' 'Sanctioned goods (will) no longer be allowed to transit Lithuanian territory,' Landsbergis added. The foreign ministry emphasised it has not imposed 'unilateral, individual or additional' restrictions. But Russia disagrees, with Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: 'This decision is really unprecedented. It's a violation of everything.' He warned: 'We consider this illegal. The situation is more than serious... we need a serious in-depth analysis in order to work out our response.' Konstantin Kosachyov, senate deputy speaker, claimed Lithuania was flouting international law in banning goods reaching Lithuania from Russia via Belarus. The Kaliningrad exclave, home to some 430,000 people, is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, another EU country, to the south and isolated from the rest of Russia. Trains with goods for Kaliningrad travel via Belarus and Lithuania. There's no transit through Poland. Russia can still supply the exclave by sea, without falling foul of EU sanctions. Russian state TV reporter Grigory Yemelyanov, from Channel 1, warned over footage of blocked trains: 'The attempt to isolate the region is - from the point of view of international law - in fact a casus belli, a term meaning a formal reason to declare war.' Loyalist senator Andrey Klimov (left) warned it was 'direct aggression against Russia, literally forcing us to immediately resort to proper self-defence', while Konstantin Kosachyov (right), senate deputy speaker, claimed Lithuania was flouting international law A couple walk past a building destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv, Ukraine, yesterday amid fears of an escalation of the conflict Another senator Andrey Klishas stated: 'Lithuania's attempt to establish a virtual blockade of the Kaliningrad region is a violation of Russia's sovereignty over this region and may be the basis for very tough and absolutely legal actions on the part of Russia.' Putin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky warned in The Financial Times that the Kremlin leader's 'next step' would be an 'air blockade' of Lithuania. 'It will allow Russian aviation to fly right through between Russia and Kaliningrad. Then Nato will face a question of what to do.' Former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak - a TV presenter - warned: 'After Lithuania banned the transit of sanctioned goods to the Kaliningrad region through its territory, Russian politicians and the media have started talking the basis for declaring war.' Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: 'Russia has no right to threaten Lithuania. Moscow has only itself to blame for the consequences of its unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.' Kremlin henchmen were also warning of the threat of war in Kazakhstan after Putin was 'humiliated' by Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev when they shared a platform together on Friday at Russia's major economic summit in St Petersburg. Tokayev snubbed Putin by refusing to recognise as independent states the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. Kremlin henchmen were also warning of the threat of war in Kazakhstan after Putin was 'humiliated' by Kazakh leader Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, they claim (pictured together) One account said Putin was 'literally furious' and felt humiliated. He was ready for 'revenge'. Pro-Putin MP Konstantin Zatulin warned of 'Ukraine-like measures' from Russia in Kazakhstan. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov warned Kazakhstan: 'You've got to stand with Russia and show your position, and not be scared of US and EU sanctions.' Kazakhstan and other ex-Soviet states were 'all silent, fearing the sanctions of America or Europe'. An oil exporting terminal in Kazakhstan had been disrupted by Russia, according to reports. In another report General SVR channel claimed Putin has not ruled out a major mobilisation of half a million men in five regions of western Russia close to Ukraine. This could happen if Ukraine hit civilian and military facilities on a continued basis. The regions mentioned were Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov. Ukrainian reports said that Putin is seeking to pressure Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko into opening a second front by invading Volyn, Rivne and Kyiv regions. Firefighters work at the site of fire after Russian shelling in Mykolaiv in Ukraine this weekend after the latest bombardment Elsewhere today, new footage shows Ukrainian troops obliterating a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British M777 howitzers. Aerial video purports to show the 81st Airmobile Brigade using the long-range weapons to target the vehicles. The Command of the Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said: 'Gunners of the 81st Brigade of the DShV [Ukrainian Air Assault Forces] destroyed one tank and two infantry fighting vehicles of the Russian invaders. 'The video shows the successful work of artillery soldiers of the 81st Airmobile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who, using British M777 155-mm field howitzers, destroyed equipment and manpower of the racists. 'In particular, one tank and two infantry fighting vehicles of the Russian occupiers - along with their crews - were turned into scrap metal. Death to the Russian occupiers! DShV - Always First! Glory to Ukraine!' It is the latest blow to Russian forces who have suffered heavy losses to personnel and military hardware in their costly four-month invasion. Ukraine claims Russia has lost 33,800 personnel, 1,477 tanks, 3,588 armoured combat vehicles, 749 artillery units, 235 multiple launch rocket systems, 98 air defence systems, 216 warplanes, 181 helicopters, 601 drones, 130 cruise missiles, 14 warships, 2,527 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 55 units of special equipment. On the battlefield, Russian forces are trying to take complete control of the eastern Donbas region, parts of which were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion. It comes as Ukraine is nervously awaiting a historic decision from the EU on its bid to become a member state, with Volodymyr Zelesnky fearing it could lead to an increase in Russian 'hostile activity' this week. Ukrainian troops have shelled a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British M777 howitzers which blew up the Kremlin machinery into a huge fireball Aerial footage purports to show members of Ukraine's 81st Airmobile Brigade using the long-range weapons to target the vehicles The Command of the Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Kyiv's forces had reduced Russian armoured vehicles to 'scrap metal' following the attack The destruction is the latest blow to Russian forces who have suffered heavy losses to personnel and military hardware in their costly four-month invasion Footage purporting to show Russian tanks being destroyed appeared as Ukraine is nervously awaiting a historic decision from the EU on its bid to become a member state, with Volodymyr Zelesnky fearing it could lead to an increase in Russian 'hostile activity' this week Separate footage also purports to show the moment Ukrainian troops shelled a Russian tank and two infantry fighting vehicles using British M777 howitzers which blew up the Kremlin machinery into a huge fireball Russia becomes China's biggest oil supplier after Beijing increased imports by 55 per cent to capitalise on low prices Russia has become China's largest oil supplier after slashing its prices due to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. It displaced Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider after a 55 per cent increase over the past year allowed the Chinese state to capitalise on low prices brought about by western countries refusing to buy oil from Russia. Russian oil exports to China totalled nearly 8.42million tonnes in the month of May, nudging out Saudi Arabia which exported 7.82million tonnes to China. Chinese state giants Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months, refining the oil and selling it on. Discounts of up to 30 per cent have undermined western sanctions and sparked fears that Russia will continue to find funding for its war in Ukraine. Last week, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank said Russia earned almost $100bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine. The European Union made up 61 per cent of these imports, worth approximately $59bn. Oil prices have risen by more than 60 per cent over the past 12 months, topping $112 a barrel for international benchmark crude as of Monday. Advertisement A prime target of Moscow's eastern assault is the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk. Russia said on Sunday it had seized Metyolkine, a village on the outskirts, and Russian state news agency TASS reported that many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered there. Ukraine's military said Russia had 'partial success' in the area. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV that a Russian attack on Toshkivka, 20 miles south of Sievierodonetsk, also 'had a degree of success.' In Sievierodonetsk itself, a city of 100,000 before the war, Gaidai said Russia controlled 'the main part' but not the entire town after intense fighting. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts. Both Russia and Ukraine have continued heavy bombardment around Sievierodonetsk 'with little change to the front line', Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. In Sievierodonetsk's twin city of Lysychansk, residential buildings and private houses had been destroyed by Russian shelling, Gaidai said. 'People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters,' he added. He later said 19 people had been evacuated on Sunday. 'We are managing to bring in humanitarian aid and evacuate people as best we can,' Gaidai said. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a note that 'Russian forces will likely be able to seize Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most of their available forces in this small area.' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Ukraine conflict could last for years and urged Western governments to continue sending state-of-the-art weaponry to Ukrainian troops, Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported. 'We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,' Stoltenberg was quoted as saying. Russia has said it launched what it calls a 'special military operation' to disarm its neighbour and protect Russian speakers there from dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and its allies dismiss that as a baseless pretext for a war of aggression. The British military assessment said morale for Ukrainian and Russian combat units in the Donbas was likely 'variable.' 'Ukrainian forces have likely suffered desertions in recent weeks, however, Russian morale highly likely remains especially troubled. Cases of whole Russian units refusing orders and armed stand-offs between officers and their troops continue to occur,' the British Ministry of Defence said on Twitter. Ukrainian soldiers travel down a road near Druzhkivka as Russian forces continue to concentrate their firepower on the Donbas A family takes a Sunday walk through a neighborhood that was recently damaged by a Russian missile strike A man removes debris at a local market following recent shelling in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in Donetsk Smoke rises after Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on Saturday in another round of bombardment In Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, Russia's defence ministry said its Iskander missiles had destroyed weaponry recently supplied by Western countries. Russian forces were trying to approach Kharkiv, which experienced intense shelling earlier in the war, and turn it into a 'frontline city', a Ukrainian interior ministry official said. In southern Ukraine, Western weaponry had helped Ukrainian forces advance six miles towards Russian-occupied Melitopol, its mayor said in a video posted on Telegram from outside the city. An EU decision in favor of Kyiv's ultimate membership would put Ukraine on track to realise an aspiration that would have been out of reach for the former Soviet republic before the Russian invasion. 'Whole generations fought for a chance to escape from the prison of the Soviet Union and, like a free bird, to fly to European civilisation,' the speaker of Ukraine's parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said in a statement. President Zelensky said there had been 'few such fateful decisions for Ukraine' as the one it expects from the EU this week. 'Only a positive decision is in the interests of the whole of Europe,' he said in his evening address Sunday. 'Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week... We are preparing. We are ready,' he continued. On Friday, Brussels backed Kyiv's bid for EU candidate status after the heads of the bloc's biggest members - France, Germany and Italy - paid a visit to the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine could join the list of countries vying for membership as early as this week, when member state leaders meet at a Brussels summit. But officials and leaders in the bloc caution that, even with candidacy status, membership could take years. Advertisement Prince Andrew was pictured looking glum driving his Range Rover after leaving Windsor Castle today - as it emerged that he would never again have the Union Flag flying in his honour. Wearing mirrored aviator-style sunglasses as he sat behind the wheel of the dark green SUV the Duke of York left his home on the Windsor estate this morning in the sunshine. The Queen's second son had previously been spotted horse riding at Windsor with two attendants. Last night, it was revealed that he had been effectively barred from having the flag adorn government buildings for his birthday after the Queen and Prince Charles became the only royals to keep the privilege. The flag flying days for 2022 which appear to have been changed on February 11 this year also stripped royals William, Kate, Anne, Edward, Camilla and Sophie of the privilege. The government decision, believed to have been directed by the 96-year-old monarch, is said to have been agreed upon in a bid to save Andrew from embarrassment, the Sun reported. In the run up to his birthday earlier this year, a number of councils allegedly said they would not obey a rule to fly it for Andrew on his birthday because of the disgraced Duke of York's association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his lawsuit with Virginia Roberts which he settled for 12million. The guidance change in February was just four days before the Queen's second son reached his out-of-court settlement with his accuser Ms Giuffre nee Roberts, a month after the Monarch stripped him of his military patronages and he gave up his HRH style, and a week before his 62nd birthday. It came as the shamed royal faced further woes after lawyers for an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein threatened to serve him with legal papers. Prince Andrew who was pictured driving while leaving Windsor today has been looking glum after news broke he would never again have the Union Flag flying in his honour The Queen and Prince Charles will be the only royals honoured with the Union Flag flying over government buildings on their birthdays. In a bid reportedly to save Prince Andrew from embarrassment the honour was stripped from the Duke of York as well as William, Kate, Anne, Edward, Camilla and Sophie The Queen's second son had previously been spotted looking in good spirits while horse riding at Windsor with two attendants yesterday In the run up to his birthday earlier this year, a number of councils allegedly said they would not obey a rule to fly the Union flag for Prince Andrew on his birthday because of his association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein The Government publishes a list each year of designated days for the flag to fly over governmental buildings. Pictured: Union Flag on a tower of Parliament Prince Andrew pictured taking a stroll through New York's Central Park with convicted paedophile and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. News of the flag honour being done away with came as the shamed royal faced further woes after lawyers for an alleged victim of Epstein threatened to serve him with legal papers The Duke of York is effectively barred after the Queen and Prince Charles became the only royals to have government buildings adorned with the flag on their birthdays. The Duke of York was pictured today wearing mirrored sunglasses in an aviator-style this morning as he left his home on the Windsor estate in the dark green Sport PHEV in the sunshine Each year the government publishes a list of designated days for the flag to fly over government buildings. Yet the guidance on flags changed in 2022 according to archives of its code on flying the Union Flag, with the alteration meaning the Duke of York's February 19 birthday is no longer a designated day. Only Her Majesty and her successor, the Prince of Wales, will have their birthdays marked. The government said: 'Since 2021, the default position is the flag flies all year unless another flag is being flown.' Andrew's 60th in 2020 sparked a storm of controversy after councils were sent notes by the private secretary to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government permanent secretary reminding them to fly the flag in his honour. The Government later said this would not be required. Other removed dates include the late Duke of Edinburghs birthday on June 10, and the Queen and Philips wedding anniversary on November 20. Philip, who was married to the Queen for more than 70 years, died in April 2021 at the age of 99. The news came after tepresentatives for Caroline Kaufman say Andrew was visiting Epstein's home in New York on the night she claims she was raped by the paedophile financier in December 2010. They want the Duke of York to provide a statement as a potential witness to events in the Upper East Side townhouse during his visit when he was pictured inside the building. In the run up to his birthday earlier this year, a number of councils allegedly said they would not obey a rule to fly it for Andrew on his birthday because of the disgraced Duke of York's association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his lawsuit with Virginia Roberts which he settled for 12million. Pictured: The Duke leaves Windsor Just last year the Duke of York's birthday was included as a designated day to fly the flag Yet in a bid to spare the disgraced Duke's blushes the order was pared back this year The civil lawsuit does not accuse the duke of any wrongdoing or allege that he was aware of any attack on Miss Kaufman, who was 17 at the time. But her lawyer's comments come just a week after Andrew, 62, was reported to have lobbied the Queen to return his royal duties and ceremonial roles. Spencer Kuvin, who represents Miss Kaufman, now 28, said he wanted Andrew to give a statement about his visit to the New York townhouse. The latest accusations come amid rumours Prince William is lobbying the Queen to have his uncle Andrew barred from public life. 'He has strong views on the Duke of York and believes his insistence in trying to cling on to a public role is highly dangerous for the institution,' a friend of William told the Daily Mail. The friend added: 'He would have cut him loose a long time ago if it had been up to him. 'He understands that when it comes to mother and son the situation is complicated, but honestly I think he just wishes he would vanish from public view.' There are fears the friction between the duo of William and Charles and their disgraced relative Andrew could trigger a fallout among the Royal Family during their upcoming summer retreat at Balmoral. Prince William, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles are pictured together at the funeral of Prince Philip. William is lobbying the Queen to have his uncle Andrew barred from public life '[William] has strong views on the Duke of York and believes his insistence in trying to cling on to a public role is highly dangerous for the institution,' said a friend (pictured: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (L) and Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York (R) in 2018) Prince Andrew drives from his Windsor home to the castle for the private elements of the Order of the Garter ceremony after being banned from the public parts earlier this June Prince Andrew is furious with the heirs to the throne for preventing his return to public life at the Order of the Garter ceremony earlier this month, it has been claimed. 'Andrew is desperate to rebuild his life and wants his titles back,' a source told The Sun. 'But he is fuming with Charles and William for stopping his plans.' Buckingham Palace said that the Duke of York's absence from the Windsor Castle procession and Order of the Garter service was a 'family decision', but it is believed it came about after the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge lobbied the Queen about his participation. Andrew was still allowed to join the Queen at the formal investiture of new members of the Order of the Garter - including the Duchess of Cornwall and ex PM Tony Blair - and as well as the lunch afterwards, the Mail on Sunday reported. It came amid reports that Andrew had been pushing for a return to royal duties but his older brother Prince Charles and nephew Prince William had asked the Queen not to give in to the disgraced royal. Her Majesty apparently informed him to keep out of sight 'for his own good'. A trendy London pub is selling what is believed to be Britain's most expensive beer - at an eye-watering 80.15 a pint. The pricey beverage, which is served at a boozer in Brixton, south London, is an American import. The Craft Beer Co chain has shipped over Reforged 20th Anniversary Ale at 105 per 750 ml bottle, which is around 1.3 pints, from an 'artisanal' microbrewery in San Diego, California. Tipplers are entitled to a one third discount if they wish to take away a bottle of the highly potent ale to enjoy at home. The 11 per cent ABV beer is dark brown in colour and has a thick, syrupy consistency. It is aged in a bourbon barrel for 18 months. A barman pours a bottle of Reforged by Alesmith, thought to be the most expensive beer in London The Craft Beer Co in London, where the exorbitantly priced Californian ale is struggling to make a splash with the pub's hipster clientele A bottle of Reforged in the trendy Brixton pub where it is served for an eye-watering 80.15 a pint The sour ale contains roasted malts and hops, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and barley wine. It is a fusion of three other beers brewed by the same company, Speedway Stout, which sold on tap for 22.50 at the same pub chain in 2018, Wee Heavy and Old Numbskull. But the beer is so far struggling to make a splash with the pub's hipster clientele. Just one bottle of the recherche Californian ale has been sold so far - to a group of six lads who 'absolutely loved it,' according to pub staff. The pub's patrons are dismayed by the exorbitant price tag attached to the beer, which most claimed wasn't good enough to be worth the amount it costs. Ben O'Neill, 22, a beer enthusiast who manages The Needle and Pin pub in Loughborough, said even he wouldn't pay so much just for one bottle of beer. Ben, whose favourite ale is Speedway Stout, wasn't overly impressed with the 105 a bottle brew. Ben O'Neill drinks a glass of Reforged by Alesmith, London priciest beer that is aged in a bourbon barrel for 18 months He said: 'Compared to most other Imperial stouts it is a bit on the thin side. 'I would not pay 70 for a pint of that. 'It has a tiny bit of smoke and oak on the back of the palette. 'I pretty much drink anything, but my favourite is Speedway Stout. 'Without the price I would rate this as an 8.2 out of 10. With the price factored in it is more like a four out of ten. 'I would definitely expect more from something that is so expensive. 'The most I would pay is 45 for a pint.' His pal Chris Anagnostopoulos, 27, a software engineer from Bath, said of the 105-a-bottle booze: 'It surprisingly light, it tastes of leather with a hint of chocolate. 'It is a good beer, but I would not pay that much for it. 'It does grow on you, but I would not pay that much for it even to have it once.' Chris Anagnostopoulos said: 'It surprisingly light, it tastes of leather with a hint of chocolate.' Elliott Clark, a 26-year-old banker from Brixton, said: 'It is not what I want from a beer. 'It is very syrupy and the taste is quite overwhelming. 'It is not something I would want to drink a pint of. 'If it was a shot or a cocktail, yes. I like a taste of it. 'It is more like a winter beer, maybe it would be nice in a warm cosy pub in winter. 'I would not pay to buy that. I have spent a couple of hundred pounds on a bottle of wine before but I would not buy that.' His friend, Dan Jones, 25, an assistant radio producer from Clapham, south London, said: 'It has got a coffee taste and you can really taste the alcohol in that. 'It tastes like a mixture of liquorice, coffee and alcohol. Dan Jones drinks a glass of Reforged by Alesmith, which he said 'tastes like a mixture of liquorice, coffee and alcohol' 'You can taste every single bit of that 11 per cent alcohol. 'A pint of that would really sit in your stomach for a long time. 'I didn't think it was a beer when I first looked at it. 'I don't dislike the taste, it is really intense and rich, but there is no chance I would pay that much for it. 'I would maybe pay 8 for it and that is accounting for the alcohol percentage.' Hospitality worker Agata Chudziak, 27, from Bristol who was visiting the capital for a gig at the O2 Academy Brixton, said: 'It is tasty, but I would pay no more than 8 for it- not 70, you just can't. 'I like wheat beer and pales. 'I would pay as much as 12 for a half of an eight per cent beer. 'You would never pay as much as they are asking.' Jacob Evans, 29, a carpenter who is also from Bristol, said: 'What I would pay depends on what it is. 'A lot of these beers are like wine, they are aged in stupid expensive barrels and people will pay stupid amounts of money for them. 'People pay a lot of money for these beers but I would never pay that much for it. 'It tastes like a strong stout. 'When the weather is so warm you just want a lager.' The pub's general manager, Andrew Barton, said: 'We have only ever sold one before to a group of six guys who absolutely loved it. 'They really loved the sourness they got from it, combined with the sweetness of the bourbon.' The Brixton pub's next most expensive tipple is another American ale called the 'Brewery Out of the Lunch Box', which is cheap by comparison at 45 for a 750ml bottle. Andrew added: 'We like to highlight the different breweries around the world and selling these sorts of beers has given people the opportunity to try things they would never have tried before. 'People will have heard about a beer on the internet or social media and they come to us to get the chance to try it. 'We campaign for small craft breweries and we try to help them by buying them. 'We understand the cost of living at the moment is very expensive. 'With the beers we have on tap, we try to make craft beer very accessible and we try to be cheaper than other pubs nearby - we sell one IPA for 6.50 when they sell it for more than 7. 'It is not all about charging people these crazy prices. 'We charge what we charge because the cost of a keg is very expensive. 'We could raise our prices further, but we want to make this accessible for people.' The Brixton bar's most expensive beer on tap costs 11. More than 20,000 migrants have attempted to reach the UK this year by crossing the Channel from France - which is up 68 per cent from last year. So far 11,643 people have reached the UK on small boats this year, which is double the number who had reached Britain this time last year. Frances interior ministry announced today that the number of migrants seeking to cross the Channel from France to England rose 68 percent in the first half of 2022. From January 1 to June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people, with the department claiming that French security forces had prevented most of the crossings. More than 300 people made it to Britain by crossing the Channel this weekend making it the busiest for crossings since April. It comes as seven more migrants who are facing removal to Rwanda are bringing new challenges in the High Court this afternoon. The first deportation flight to Rwanda was blocked just minutes before it was meant to take off by European Judges last week. Seven more migrants have lodged applications in the High Court following the European Court of Human Rights injunction. The approach has been dubbed 'punitive' and 'draconian' by left-wing campaigners, who argue that those fleeing to Britain for safety are being treated like 'criminals' (Pictured: migrants brought into the Port of Dover on Friday) The government has also announced a 12-month pilot scheme will see those who arrive in Britain via dangerous or 'unnecessary' routes fitted with tags (Pictured: migrants brought into the Port of Dover on Friday) Home Secretary Priti Patels removal jet was supposed to take its first trip on Tuesday but was cancelled after the late intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Previous applications by those who were on the plane had already been rejected by Justice Swift. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal over the judge's refusal to call off the removal of an asylum seeker due to be deported. A total of 28,526 migrants crossed the Channel in 2021 - significantly higher than the 8,410 who arrived in 2020. Some 52,000 people tried to cross in 2021, with 28,000 of the migrants succeeding, according to the French authorities. Now seven new cases have been lodged by migrants at the High Court, in the hope that their move could also be blocked. The hearings will be heard in front of Justice Swift at the Royal Courts of Justice later this afternoon, and is expected to last for around two and a half hours. Other migrants said that they felt like they were being sent for 'execution' before the ECHR's extraordinary late-night intervention. The government announced on Friday that refugees who arrive over the English Channel in small boats could be electronically tagged. They will also face prosecution if they fail to comply, under the new 12-month proposals from the Home Office. The pilot scheme will see those who arrive in Britain via dangerous or 'unnecessary' routes fitted with tags. The Rwanda deportation flight at Boscombe Down Air Base on Tuesday was grounded at the eleventh hour after an intervention by European Judges. It comes as more than 300 people arrived in the UK over the Channel this weekend There are 130 refugees who are set to be put on a plane to Rwanda under the governments deportation scheme. Further flights are being planned, but specific bookings and dates are yet to be confirmed (Pictured: migrants brought into the Port of Dover on Friday) However, this may potentially include refugees who are victims of torture and trafficking. First on the list to be tagged are the 130 who were due to be on the first deportation flight to Rwanda before it was stopped. Secretary Dominic Raab now examining whether ministers can disregard last-minute rulings from the Strasbourg court in cases which have already been considered by British judges. The Home Secretary has vowed to press on with the Rwanda policy despite the ECHRs ruling, and has already started planning a further series of flights. But it is thought that there will be no final decision on booking the travel until the full implications of the Strasbourg ruling are made clear. It remains unknown whether the 11th-hour ruling is broad enough to bar all migrants from being removed. The Home Secretary said she was 'disappointed and surprised' by Strasbourg's decision to overrule British courts but told MPs it was 'inevitable' there would be legal challenges to the policy. Protesters gathered outside Colnbrook Immigration Detention Centre in Heathrow and lay on the ground in an effort to halt Tuesday's flight - which was later ground after legal wrangling A convoy believed to be carrying asylum seekers leaves MOD Boscombe Down on Tuesday after a private charter jet grounded just before it was due for take-off to Rwanda Miss Patel announced the Rwanda policy on 14 April, the day after 651 people crossed the Channel, which is the highest figure so far this year. Government lawyers are examining whether some people such as those who do not claim to have suffered ill-treatment in their home countries would not be covered by the ECHR injunction's terms and could still be put on a plane to Kigali. In an apparent reference to the campaign groups and human rights lawyers who have brought repeated legal actions, Miss Patel told MPs that 'the usual suspects' had set out to 'thwart' the plan. She criticised the 'very opaque' ruling by the ECHR late on Tuesday night which led to the inaugural flight being aborted. It is understood a number of migrants were already aboard a chartered Boeing 767 at the Ministry of Defence air base at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, when the flight was abandoned. Miss Patel also attacked 'mobs' who staged a blockade of the A4 at Colnbrook immigration removal centre, near Heathrow, in an attempt to stop migrants being removed. Advertisement Heroic pilots are rolling up their sleeves to help tackle the UK's airport chaos by loading bags on to plane and checking passengers' tickets. Conscientious captains have swapped the comfort of their cockpits for the tarmac in order to help get holidaymakers to their destinations in the face of crippling staff shortages. In the latest incident, one diligent Edelweiss pilot was seen loading luggage onto a conveyor belt ahead of an Edelweiss flight from Edinburgh airport. Passengers also filmed a punctilious TUI pilot rushing to help staff at Manchester Airport after his flight was given a 40-minute window to take off. Have you seen a pilot, crew member or airport employee going above and beyond to get your holiday off the ground? Send your pictures and videos to: james.robinson@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement And easyJet passengers also heaped praise on one pilot, named only as 'Marcus', who also helped ground staff load up a plane ahead of a flight to Corfu earlier this month. It comes as holidaymakers continue to face chaos at UK airports, which has been caused by staffing shortages following the lifting of Covid travel rules. Today the chaos, which has now lasted months, continued with Heathrow ordering airlines to cancel 10 per cent of their flights to cope with the baggage backlog - leaving 15,000 passengers stranded. Passengers' travel plans were thrown into disarray at the 11th hour again following weeks of cancellations as the ongoing staffing crisis continues to cause mayhem at Britain's travel hubs. Some 90 flights are expected to be affected today after airlines flying from Terminals 2 and 3 at Heathrow were asked to scale back schedules. Virgin Atlantic has cancelled at least three long-haul flights to destinations including New York and Los Angeles, while British Airways has been forced to make a small number of cancellations. Three flights BA had planned to Toulouse in France have been grounded alongside two of four Marseille departures. Meanwhile, a huge 'carpet' of baggage has been set up outside Heathrow Terminal 2 following a 'technical glitch' on Friday. Pilots are now doing their best to help out. One diligent captain was spotted loading luggage on to a plane ahead of an Edelweiss flight from Edinburgh airport. A diligent airline pilot has been spotted loading luggage on to a plane, as baggage chaos continues to hit airports across the UK. Video shows the conscientious captain down on the tarmac helping ground crew to load up to the cargo hold ahead of an Eldeweiss flight at Edinburgh airport It comes as earlier this month a hero pilot saved hundreds of holidays by getting out of his cockpit and loading luggage on to his plane that was delayed by 32 hours. Passengers watched as the pilot, known only as Simon, rushed to help staff at Manchester Airport after the flight was finally given a 40- minute window to take off. Katherine Cox, who was among those travelling from Manchester to Crete, said the pilot was the hero of our holiday. On the Manchester flight, passenger Jenny Cook claimed the hands-on captain had saved hundreds of Tui holidays. She said the pilot had told those on the flight that the crew were doing everything in their power to ensure the flight took off. He said, Even my co-pilot is loading bags, Mrs Cook, from Warrington Cheshire, revealed. We looked out of the window and there he was. The next thing we knew we were taxiing to the runway. We were all cheering. Simon had gone above and beyond. Mrs Cook, who was travelling with her husband and daughters, added that the pilot should be recognised Tui for his work. In one video, shared by the BBC, passengers are told that staff on the plane will be helping load the bags to help get the plane off the runway A hero pilot, known only as Simon, saved hundreds of holidays by getting out of his cockpit and loading luggage on to his plane that was delayed by 32 hours at Manchester Airport Katherine Cox, who was among those travelling from Manchester to Crete, said the pilot was the hero of our holiday Others also praised Simon's heroic efforts on Twitter and called for him to receive an award. Richard White wrote on Twitter: 'TUI, can we get Simon the co-pilot on of TOM2744 flying from Manchester an exellence award? 'He is out on the tarmac in the rain helping to load the bags to try and get us on our way after 30 hours delay so far. #Awardforsimon.' Holidaymakers also said how their holiday had been saved by a dedicated pilot, named only as Marcus, on a flight from Manchester to Corfu. One wrote: 'EasyJet, flight number EZY1977 from Manchester to Corfu. We were delayed due to ground staff shortages and the pilot, Marcus, was absolutely brilliant keeping passengers informed and getting off the plane to help the one ground crew load the bags.' Another, on the same flight, wrote: 'A big cheer to the pilot on Manchester 5.20pm to Corfu on June 17, EZY1977, who helped load our bags into the plane.' Others said they had seen similar at Bristol Airport. One TUI passenger wrote on Twitter last month: 'Sat on a TUI plane now. Cabin staff doing all they can but Bristol Airport ground agents are so far a few between that bags are sat next to the plane but not getting loaded. 'Pilot even tried to go and load them but was told not allowed as he's not insured. Madness.' And it appears that it is not just a UK phenomenon either. In the US, two diligent pilots for a SouthwestAir flight was also spotted loading bags on to a plane. One Twitter user wrote: 'SouthwestAir pilot and co-pilot helping the cew load the bags so we can take off on time! Talk about quality humans.' Thousands of British holidaymakers faced chaos again at UK airports today as Heathrow ordered airlines to cancel 10 per cent of their flights to cope with the baggage backlog - leaving 15,000 passengers stranded. Passengers' travel plans have been thrown into disarray at the 11th hour again following weeks of cancellations as the ongoing staffing crisis continues to cause mayhem at Britain's travel hubs. Some 90 flights are expected to be affected today after airlines flying from Terminals 2 and 3 at Heathrow were asked to scale back schedules. Virgin Atlantic has cancelled at least three long-haul flights to destinations including New York and Los Angeles, while British Airways has been forced to make a small number of cancellations. Three flights BA had planned to Toulouse in France have been grounded alongside two of four Marseille departures. As the chaos continued, two women said they were left without food or water for 11 hours while stranded in Palma de Mallorca Airport after their Jet2 flight back to Manchester was scrapped at the last-minute. Meanwhile, EasyJet said it is 'proactively consolidating a number of flights' at airports affected by 'operational issues', such as London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol. The airline expects its capacity between April and June to be 87 per cent of 2019 levels - rising to 90 per cent during the following three months. Easyjet also said there will be a 'cost impact' from disruption and the amount of money it spends to operate each seat per mile excluding fuel will 'exceed' previous guidance. It added: 'We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak periods.' EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said he could not provide a figure for the number or proportion of flights that will be cancelled because 'we need to work this through' as 'it would be misleading for me to give any numbers today because we simply don't know.' He added: 'The actions we're taking, we do need to make sure that we can continue to operate a stable programme for the remainder of the summer. We believe it's the right measure to take.' An easyJet trading update issued today stated that 'there will be a cost impact from disruption, coupled with the enhanced resilience easyJet is putting in place this summer, from additional wet leased aircraft, crew costs and airport charges. We will therefore exceed the previously provided operating CASK [Cost for Available Seat Kilometres] ex fuel guidance. We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak periods'. 'Wet leasing' agreements are between air carriers where the aircraft is operated under the party from which it is leased. For example, British Airways have wet leased four FinnAir planes with crew to run BA flights. The reason for the ongoing chaos has been due to an aviation staffing crisis - recruiting for roles such as security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff which is seeing passengers advised to arrive much earlier than normal for their flights because they are facing long queues. HEATHROW AIRPORT: Passengers continue to face chaos at UK airports, including at Heathrow, where hundreds of bags are mounting up outside Terminal 2 HEATHROW AIRPORT: The baggage crisis has caused chaos at Heathrow with hundreds of suitcases piled up in the airport, with airport staff having to move them today HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues BRISTOL AIRPORT: Thousands of British holidaymakers again faced lengthy queues in Bristol airport this morning HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues BRISTOL AIRPORT: Passengers were pictured sleeping in the airport after arriving early this morning to try and beat the queues HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues MANCHESTER AIRPORT: Today holidaymakers are facing even more travel chaos - with exceptionally lengthy queues at Bristol, Manchester and Heathrow Airport at 4am this morning HEATHROW AIRPORT: Baggage is moved from busy Terminal 2 over to Terminal 3 and 4 - where more staff are in hand to move the outward bound luggage again due to T2 staff shortages HEATHROW AIRPORT: A spokesperson said that while there is 'ongoing disruption' caused by the issue, no additional baggage was being delayed and the airport is doing its best to ensure all passengers flying today do take their luggage with them BRISTOL AIRPORT: Hundreds of passengers queued this morning outside the Jet2 check-in desk at Bristol airport STANSTED AIRPORT: EasyJet has today announced plans to cut more flights over the busy summer period and has scrapped seven per cent of the 160,000 flights it expected to run between July and September STANSTED AIRPORT: Chaos continues at Stansted Airport in Essex today with passengers sleeping on the floors amid further cancellations and delay While many businesses in the aviation sector are struggling to rehire staff after many were let go during the pandemic due to a collapse in demand thanks to successive lockdowns, high levels of staff sickness for those who are still employed is also having an impact. A Heathrow spokesman told MailOnline: 'We apologise unreservedly for the disruption passengers have faced over the course of this weekend. Passengers 'left without food or water for 11 hours' after Jet2 flight back from Palma was scrapped Two women say they were left without food or water for 11 hours while stranded in Palma after their Jet2 flight back to Manchester was scrapped. Nyomi Loftus, of Sale, and her friend Megan Sainsbury were due to fly home from Palma Airport on Saturday and arrived early for their Jet2 flight at 11.25pm. However the flight was delayed and they eventually got an update at 3.50am which revealed a mix-up with baggage led to Jet2 'missing their slot to fly'. Ms Loftus, 36, said 70 bottles of water were then shared around 380 passengers before arrangements for hotels were made. She told the Manchester Evening News: 'The worst part was that they called out the names of 30 or 40 passengers and told them to go to a special spot so we could go to an adult-only hotel. We had to pay for the hotel; families with babies were lying on the floor. 'The hotel ended up being a family hotel anyway they could have gone. We were told there was a mix-up with the baggage and they had miscounted. They had to unload it off one plane before moving it and then they lost the slot to fly as the staff needed a rest. No one could get any detail from anyone.' She added: 'There was a little girl sat near us in the airport who was being sick because she was crying so much. People were just walking around trying to find out what was going on. It was left it absolute uproar it was a bit of a disaster.' Miss Loftus and Miss Sainsbury had to pay for a taxi to their hotel 40 minutes away from the airport, costing 65. The pair were eventually flown home nearly 24 hours later and said the first food and drink was given at the hotel at 7.30am - eight hours after the flight was due to depart and 11 hours after they arrived at the airport. A Jet2 spokesman said: 'We would like to apologise once again to customers affected by this delay. Our teams have worked tirelessly to look after everyone, however unfortunately there was a shortage of accommodation in Majorca yesterday evening. We advised customers immediately via text that we would reimburse anyone that needed to book hotels separately and we have done everything we can to look after everyone. All remaining customers are being flown home this evening.' Advertisement 'The technical issues affecting baggage systems have led to us making the decision to request airlines operating in Terminals 2 and 3 to consolidate their schedules on Monday 20th June. This will enable us to minimise ongoing impact and we ask that all passengers check with their airlines for the latest information.' Today holidaymakers are facing even more travel chaos - with exceptionally lengthy queues at Bristol, Manchester and Heathrow Airport at 4am this morning. One 'stressed out' passenger who was queuing at Manchester took to Twitter and said: 'I've been queuing for an hour and I'm not even at security stress levels are through the roof!' Meanwhile, Brussels airport has cancelled all departing flights today following a strike by security staff. In a statement, the Belgian hub said: 'Brussels airport has closed to all departures due to security strike. No departing flights on Monday 20 June. 'Due to the national manifestation and strike of a large part of the security staff of G4S on Monday 20 June, no passenger flights will depart from Brussels airport. Passengers are urged not to come to the airport and to rebook their flight. 'Only arriving (and cargo) flights will be carried out. Contact your airline to rebook your flight.' The chaotic scenes came after one pilot was spotted loading luggage on to a plane, helping ground crew to load up to the plane with baggage ahead of an Edelweiss flight from Edinburgh airport. The issue started on Friday with Heathrow chiefs blaming a 'technical glitch' in the luggage system. But it has sparked a huge baggage backlog which has been described a 'carpet of luggage'. Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers have reportedly been waiting up to three hours to retrieve their baggage today after flying into Heathrow. A spokesperson for the west London airport said that there is 'ongoing disruption' from Friday's glitch. But they said no additional baggage was being delayed. They also said the airport was doing its best to ensure all passengers flying today can take their luggage with them - and reiterated that baggage is the responsibility of airlines and not the airport itself. Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, appeared on Sky News with Kay Burley this morning and said it's 'sensible' that airports are 'revising their schedules' because it will prevent a repeat of the 'terrible scenes' passengers have been experiencing. He added: 'What we're seeing here is a result of the airline industry having massively contracted during the pandemic and now it's facing this surge of pent-up demand as things stand back up. 'It isn't resourced and manned for that challenge and that's why I think it is sensible that we're starting to see some of the airports revising their schedules for the summer season ahead. 'Frankly, we can't have a repeat of the scenes we've had in some of our airports in recent weeks. 'The transport secretary and ministers have been working very closely with the airline industry to try and get it into a more sensible place because they are offering flights they simply can't honour and that is simply terrible for passengers.' Mr Clarke also addressed the baggage crisis happening at Heathrow and said the ongoing issues are due to the Covid pandemic which led to the airline industry 'slimming down' their staff and operations. He added: 'This is not a result of Brexit, what I would say is it's an industry that massively slimmed down and understandably so - at a time when flying was impossible for a year and a half. 'It's now massively expanded its operations and the pressure is enormous and it hasn't managed to align the two. 'We will do our part as government to try and make sure our side of things is right from issues like passports to border control. 'We're pouring resources into this and making sure the process is as robust as it can be. The airlines need to do their part and make sure the flights they're offering can indeed be honoured.' An Australian woman living in Pakistan has allegedly been killed with an axe by her father-in-law after revealing her plans to move back Down Under with her three children. Sajida Tasneem, 38, was forced by her husband, Ayub Ahmad, to leave their home in Perth to move to Pakistan, according to BBC Urdu. The engineer was allegedly gagged and killed at the home she shared with her in-laws near the city of Sargodha in the country's north on June 11. Her death, which allegedly took place in front of her own dad, allegedly followed an argument with her father-in-law about her desire to relocate back to Australia to give her children a better education. After she revealed her intentions, he confiscated the family's passports before allegedly attacking her with an axe. Sajida Tasneem, 38, (pictured) was allegedly axed to death by her father-in-law in Pakistan on June 11 Ms Tasneem's husband, who is also an engineer, was reportedly working in Bahrain at the time. Police in Punjab have confirmed one person had been arrested and charged with Ms Tasneem's murder. Tributes have begun pouring in online for the beloved mother, who leaves behind a son and two daughters - the youngest of whom is just three years old. 'I don't know how to comprehend my pain,' friend Nazia Mesia said. 'Sajida is someone who was always ready to help , positive and beautiful soul. 'You are in our heart and I will always cherish our memories and beautiful moments we had together.' Ms Tasneem's devastated father Sher Muhammad Khan told BBC Urdu his family had been 'wronged'. 'My daughter's only fault was that she came to Pakistan after being seduced by her husband. This was disliked by the in-laws and husband Ayub,' he said. Ms Tasneem was reportedly forced to move back to Pakistan by her husband. Pictured are buses in Sargodha, in the country's north Ms Tasneem had hoped to return to Perth where her children could receive a better education 'She wanted her children to get a higher education in Australia and not see the deprivations of life that are with us.' One woman reported that the children are currently in the care of Ms Tasneem's family in Pakistan. She said the children are 'traumatised' and 'still adjusting' to the tragic event last week and their new lives without their mother. In an eerie coincidence, Ms Tasneem penned a post a year before her death out women being killed by their 'brothers, father or husband'. 'God knows how long this law of horror and ignorance will continue here, not the jungle,' she wrote. 'Why is it that a woman is killed every time in the name of honour?' A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had made contact with the family to offer their condolences. 'The family is being provided consular assistance,' the spokesperson said. The boat used by killed British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira to travel Brazil's Amazon was found on Sunday night. The Civil Police said the suspects placed sink sandbags before sinking the speedboat 65 feet deep under and 98 feet to the right of the Itacoai River shore in the Amazon rainforest near the northern town of Cachoeira. Investigators were led to the site of the boat by Jeferson da Silva, or 'Pelado da Dinha', after he turned himself in to the police Saturday. It took police divers approximately five hours to locate the boat. Authorities also recovered the vessels engine and four drums. A team of Brazilian police divers recovered the speedboat that was used by British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira to travel Brazil's Amazon before they were killed. The duo were reported missing June 5 and authorities found their bodies last Wednesday hours after Amarildo Pelado Oliveira, 41, confessed to shooting Phillips and Pereira and led investigators to the forest where they were buried near the Itacoai River in Atalaia do Norte British freelance journalist Dom Phillips was killed in Brazil's Amazon region while doing research for a book Bruno Pereira (pictured) the former head of isolated and recently contacted tribes at federal indigenous affairs agency Funai, was found dead last Wednesday after his confessed killer Amarildo Pelado Oliveira led police to his body Phillips, a 57-year-old freelance reporter, was doing research for a book on the trip with the 41-year-old Pereira, a former head of isolated and recently contacted tribes at federal indigenous affairs agency Funai. They were reported missing on June 5 after traveling together by boat through the Javari Valley, a remote region bordering Peru and Colombia. Amarildo Pelado Oliveira, 41, who had been under arrest on a firearm ammunition possession charge since June 7 and was held in temporary custody as part of the investigation, confessed to shooting Phillips and Pereria last Wednesday. He led the Federal Police to a forest near the Itacoai River in the municipality of Atalaia do Norte, where the bodies of the duo were found buried following his confession. His brother, Oseney Oliveira, 41, was also arrested last Tuesday. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the fisherman shot both men or helped bury them Jefferson da Silva was placed in temporary custody after he turned himself in to the police Saturday for in involvement in the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira Amarildo Pelado da Costa admitted to the police last Wednesday that he shot dead British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira Police divers recovered the speedboat's engine as well as three drums on Sunday night Dental exams were used to identify Phillips on Friday and Pereira on Saturday. An autopsy showed Pereira was shot twice in the chest and once in head. Phillips was shot once in the chest. According to police, both were shot with hunting ammunition. Shock at their fate has echoed across Brazil and around the world, highlighting the overhaul of indigenous agency Funai under President Jair Bolsonaro, along with a rising tide of violence and criminal incursions on native lands. A police diver is helped on to a boat Sunday evening moments after the speedboat used by British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira was recovered Brazilian authorities drag the speedboat to the shore on Sunday night after one of the three suspects linked to the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira led investigators to the spot where the vessel was sunk Jeferson da Silva is escorted by a police officer at a port in Atalaia do Norte, Brazil, after leading investigators to the sunken boat belonging to British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira Authorities have said a main line of the police investigation into the disappearances has pointed to an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley reserve, which is Brazils second-largest indigenous territory. Pereira, who previously led Funai, took part in several operations against illegal fishing. British freelance journalist Dom Phillips visits Roraima State, Brazil, on November 16, 2019 In such operations, as a rule the fishing gear is seized or destroyed, while the fishermen are fined and briefly detained. Only the indigenous can legally fish in their territories. While some police, the mayor and others in the region link the mens disappearances to the fish mafia, federal police have not ruled out other lines of investigation, such as drug trafficking. The case has put a global magnifying glass on violence in the Amazon. Police believe people are keeping key details 'secret' as they appeal for further help from the public to identify the killer of a teenage Easter Show worker. Uati 'Pele' Faletolu, 17, was working on the Break Dance ride at Sydney Showground on April 11 when he was fatally knifed in the chest during a vicious brawl, with police still hunting for the killer. Officers arrested his 15-year-old relative at the scene in April after he was found in possession of a 10cm folding knife, with the boy shouting 'six, seven, motherf***er' while being handcuffed - believed to be a reference to postcode gangs. He pleaded guilty to two charges after coming to the aid of Uati - but investigators are still no closer to identifying the person who fatally stabbed the teen and have released further footage hoping someone comes forward. 'We do know there are people out there who have information and for whatever reason have not disclosed that information to the police,' Homicide Squad boss Danny Doherty said on Monday. 'They're either protecting someone, or just want to hold that secret for whatever reason.' Uati ' Pele ' Faletolu, 17, was working on the Break Dance ride at Sydney Showground on April 11 when he was fatally knifed in the chest during a vicious brawl Police are making a 'fresh appeal' and have released more CCTV footage of a group of young men who officers wish to speak with over the incident. The men can be seen walking through an area close to where the stabbing occurred, with Mr Doherty saying they could offer 'significant information'. 'We encourage them and urge them to come forward because we believe by coming forward you may be able to provide answers for the family of Uati and may be able to help police finally resolve this matter,' the Homicide Squad boss said. Police are making a 'fresh appeal' and have released more CCTV footage of a group of young men who officers wish to speak with over the incident The men can be seen walking through an area close to where the stabbing occurred, with Mr Doherty saying they could offer 'significant information' The only arrest to come from the incident is that of the 15-year-old, who was excused from appearing in court earlier this month and released on bail under strict conditions. It's alleged the boy was coming to the aid of Uati, who was being attacked outside the ride where he worked. In a previous hearing, the court heard the teenager had allegedly pulled a 10cm knife and chased three unknown men after learning Uati had been stabbed. NSW Police do not believe he was responsible for the fatal stabbing and are still looking for those responsible. It also remains unclear if the victim was involved in the reported gang activity or if he was simply caught up in the melee. A 15-year-old relative who allegedly attempted to help the teenager who was fatally stabbed in a massive brawl at Sydney's Easter Show has pleaded guilty to two serious charges Uati (pictured) has been remembered by his heartbroken mother as a happy young man with a big heart In a video of the arrest, the teenager yelled 'six, seven, motherf**ker' as police officers secured his handcuffs. The words have fuelled suspicions the stabbing was part of a postcode rivalry between two groups, 67 from Doonside and 27 from Mount Druitt. The groups are named after their respective postcodes 2767, and 2770. The case has been adjourned until Tuesday. Meanwhile, detectives are still looking for the killer of the 17-year-old despite trawling through hours of CCTV footage from the day of Uati's death. Uati 'Pele' Faletolu and his girlfriend Taylor Piliae (pictured together) were excited parents-to-be before the tragedy Uati's shattered family and pregnant girlfriend Taylor Piliae remained tight-lipped about the tragedy in the days following his death, but the teenager's mother Janice Faletolu broke her silence last month. 'Uati was a happy, outgoing young man with a loving heart. He was a loyal friend, a caring brother, and a selfless son and partner,' a family friend told the Daily Telegraph on Ms Faletolu's behalf. 'Even with the tragic circumstances surrounding Uati's passing, we as a family do not want Uati remembered as a victim but to use this time to honour and celebrate the beautiful person that he was.' She thanked friends and the community for sending heartfelt messages, flowers, food, and offering financial support. 'We are truly grateful for the generosity and kindness shown. The support has been a true blessing and has lightened the burden for us as we grieve our beloved Uati,' she said. 'Uati, we miss you so much and your loss is deeply felt. We are so proud of the young man you became and we will cherish every memory we have with you always. We LOVE you Uati.' Uati 'Pele' Faletolu (pictured with his girlfriend Taylor) was working on the Break Dance ride at Sydney Showground when he was fatally knifed in the chest Members of the two groups reportedly had an altercation near the adult section of the show about 8pm before it descended into an all-out brawl. Mr Faletolu was from Doonside, with his friends reportedly telling police that those responsible for this death were from Mt Druitt. Members of a Druitt group named OneFour have been pictured making a '27' hand gesture to represent their postcode. A surveillance camera captured the shocking moment an armed robber in a purple balaclava roughed up a 74-year-old woman in a cramped Brooklyn elevator, threatened to kill her and made off with $600. 'I have a gun and will kill you if you don't give me the purse,' the masked brut told the elderly lady as he grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her up against the wall of the elevator cab in Coney Island on June 15 at about 11.30am. Video of the assault released by police shows the woman clutching her purse as she rides in the lift with two men in the Carey Houses, the public housing complex on 21st Street between Mermaid and Surf avenues. Video surveillance shows a mugger wearing a purple balaclava grabbing a 74-year-old woman and taking $600 in a Coney Island elevator The NYPD is looking for these men who are believed to have been involved in the mugging of a 74-year-old lady in a Brooklyn elevator After one of them steps off, the man with a purple mask covering everything but his eyes, steps in front of the woman and grabs her blouse by the collar and pushes her back against the elevator wall. The man, who was wearing tan pants and a black shirt with a crescent moon on it, towers over her during the assault. She appears to be desperately bargaining with the man before going digging in her purse and pulling out a wad of bills. The coward keeps one hand in his pocket the whole time, implying that's where he keeps his weapon. The mugging lasts only seconds, from the fourth floor to the seventh floor of the apartment building, the video shows. This image released by police shows a man wearing the same T-shirt as the mugger who roughed up a 74-year-old woman, threatened her life and stole $600 from her This man is believed to have exited the elevator shortly before an elderly woman was roughed up at gunpoint and threatened The man fled on 21st Street and is believed to have an accomplice, who left the elevator shortly before the attack. Police released images of the two men, showing one wearing a purple do-rag, who appears to be the accessory to the crime. Another photo shows a man shopping in a convenience store wearing the same crescent moon shirt that the mugger wore. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected on a platform of cleaning up crime, has suffered low poll numbers in the face of rising crime. Overall crime has jumped 38 percent in the first six months since the same period last year, according to NYPD statistics. Felony assaults have risen nearly 19 percent and robberies, like the elevator mugging, are up more than 40 percent. Rapes continue to jump across the five boroughs, increasing 17 percent from the first half of 2021. Homicides, however, have dipped 11 percent and shootings are down 8 percent, according to the police data. Gun crime continues to plague the city. Over the weekend, a Father's Day picnic in Harlem erupted in gunfire that killed one and wounded eight people. Over the weekend, Adams complained that state lawmakers and prosecutors are more concerned with helping criminals stay out of jail than helping victims of crime. 'What about innocent people? How about a zero tolerance for the victims of crimes? How about refocusing our attention on the innocent people who get up everyday and do what's right?' Adams said during a speech on Saturday, according to the New York Post. The driver was beaten and choked by the man, who also threatened to kill him An Uber driver has been left temporarily blinded in one eye after he was allegedly savagely attacked and threatened by a passenger. Confronting dashcam footage has emerged showing driver Moiz Akash being punched and choked by a man that entered his car on Sunday night. Mr Akash had picked up the man in a street at Koongamia in Perth for an Uber ride, according to WA Police. Perth Uber driver Moiz Akash was viciously attacked in his vehicle on Sunday night after picking up a stranger for a ride The man allegedly entered the car 'in an aggressive manner' and punched and spat on Mr Akash, who put up his arms in a defensive position. The situation had reportedly de-escalated before the man realised he was being recorded on the vehicle's dashcam, prompting him to start his vicious attack. 'He said 'I'm going to kill you tonight, you're going to die tonight',' Mr Akash recalled to 7News. The driver claimed he was unable to breathe for upwards of 10 seconds when the stranger choked him. But Mr Akash managed to fight back, biting the man's finger after it had slipped into his mouth. Both men then exited the vehicle, where the stranger allegedly threatened the driver again. Mr Akash (pictured) was left temporarily blinded in one eye after he was punched and choked by the man 'I get out of the car, he runs behind me and saying 'I'm gonna kill you tonight,' Mr Akash said. He returned to his car minutes later and fled the area. Mr Akash said he had initially installed the dashcam in his car in the off chance he was attacked while he working. He has vowed to never drive for Uber again. Midland Police are investigating. Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday shared a threatening letter mailed to his family and warned 'there's violence in the future.' He said the letter was sent to his home and addressed to his wife, Sofia. It also targeted their five-month son. The congressman from Illinois is one of two Republicans serving on the committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the panel for its work. The letter accuses Kinzinger of betraying his country and 'god-fearing families.' The congressman defied Republican leadership when he took a role on the panel. Kinzinger posted a photo of the letter to his twitter account, noting its contents were 'threatening the life of my family.' It mentions the couple's son, Christian Adam Kinzinger, who was born in January. 'That pimp you married not only broke his oath, he sold his soul. Yours and Christian's too,' the letter reads. 'Although it might take time, he will be executed. But don't worry! You and Christian will be joining Adam in hell too!,' the letter said. Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger had a threatening letter mailed to his home and addressed to his wife. It also mentioned the couple's young baby Kinzinger tweeted out an image of the letter Kinzinger told ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday that he was not worried personally about his safety but was concerned about his family. 'Look, Im not worry personally. This threat that came in, it was mailed to my house. We got it a couple of days ago and it threatens to execute me, as well as my wife and 5-month-old child. Weve never seen or had anything like that. It was sent from the local area,' he said. He added he feared there was violence to come. 'I don't worry -- but now that I have a wife and kids, of course, it's a little different. There are people that -- there's violence in the future, Im going to tell you. And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can't expect any differently,' he said. A spokesperson for Kinzinger told Business Insider their office has reported the threat, and they are "taking extra precautions for the Congressman's family." Threats against members of Congress have been on the rise. Last May, U.S. Capitol Police reported that the number of threats against lawmakers more than doubled from the previous year. The department said it had investigated about 9,000 potential threats in 2020. Lawmakers are allowed to use campaign money to fund security for their homes and that funding surged after Trump's second impeachment trial. Shortly after the January 6th insurrection, the Federal Election Commission voted to allow members of Congress to use campaign funds to hire personal body guards. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and his wife Sofia had a baby boy, Christian, in January Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the Jan. 6 Committee, tells @GStephanopoulos that a threat recently mailed to his house targeted him, his wife and their 5-month-old child. https://t.co/jbBw8E5LJX pic.twitter.com/HXETHSM38K This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 19, 2022 In his interview with ABC on Sunday, Kinzinger blasted Trump and the Republican leadership. 'Unfortunately, my party has utterly failed the American people at truth. It makes me sad, but its fact,' he said. Kinzinger said Trump knew what he was doing in the wake of the 2020 election when the former president falsely claimed he won and was the victim of voter fraud. He said he was very worried about 2024. Trump has said he may run for president again but has made no formal announcement. 'Wake up, America. Wake up, Republicans, because this is not going to be good for you if you think it is,' Kinzinger said. Fox News has paid former host Melissa Francis a reported $15 million settlement after she complained about a gender pay gap at the network. It comes after the former child star, who featured on camera for Fox News and Fox Business Network from 2012 to 2020, filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor accusing the conservative-leaning news network of retaliating against her after she highlighted the pay disparities. Francis' attorney Kevin Mintzer told the Daily Beast said his client initially filed the complained 'not for herself but for the women of the company who are still there.' He added: 'Contrary to Fox News' false claims about a "new era," what happened to Melissa shows that sexism and retaliation are still prevalent at the network,' he added. 'We continue to cooperate with the Department of Labor, and we look forward to receiving the findings of their investigation.' Former Fox News anchor Melissa Francis was awarded a $15million settlement after accusing her former employer of gender-based pay disparities Francis reportedly kept a spreadsheet of all of her male and female coworkers salaries during her time at Fox, which is when she noticed a pay gap between both genders A spokesperson for Fox News responded that the network had 'parted ways with Melissa Francis over a year and a half ago and her allegations were entirely without merit.' 'FOX News has always been committed to the equitable treatment of all employees which we have demonstrated consistently over our 26-year history, and we are extremely proud of our business,' the company's statement said in full. 'We parted ways with Melissa Francis over a year and a half ago and her allegations were entirely without merit. We have also fully cooperated with the New York State Department of Labors investigation and look forward to the completion of this matter.' Francis, who found out about the discrepancies in pay at the company between male and female employees by keeping track of her co-workers' salaries on a spreadsheet, did not personally comment on the settlement. In 2017, Francis became a familiar figure on Fox News, co-hosting the network's talk and news commentary program, Outnumbered. She was then offered a 'negligible increase in compensation,' reportedly under $1million a year, the Washington Post reported significantly less than what other anchors for the network were earning. Francis declined the offer and agreed to renegotiate her salary in 2019, once her contract with the news network expired. Francis' settlement is on par with compensation awarded to female employees at Fox who accused former CEO Roger Ailes of sexual misconduct and harassment In the meantime, she anchored the Happening Now newscast and After the Bell, an afternoon broadcast started by Fox Business. In November 2019, when her contract was subject to renewal, Francis recalled a revealing conversation with Dianne Brandi. The former Fox News executive vice president for legal and business affairs told her that she would not receive the pay increase that she was long looking forward to. 'That's how the world works. Women make less. It's just a fact,' Brandi allegedly told Francis, according to news anchor herself. Fox News countered the exchange, which was first revealed by the Daily Beast, sharing in a statement that 'Melissa Francis's version of that conversation is untrue and patently absurd furthermore, it is logical that anyone with Dianna Brandi's level of experience in negotiating talent contracts for a living would make such a ludicrous statement.' A little less than a year later, in August 2020, Francis took action against Fox after the network declined her attorney's request to share the salaries of her co-workers. The conservative-leaning cable channel had until October 7 of that year to then share these salaries in court, according to the Daily Beast. Francis was reportedly notified that she had been removed from the network's airtime while getting ready to present a Fox Business program called After the Bell. A teleprompter with the words 'You've been canceled' appeared right as the show was about to start Francis officially parted ways with Fox News when she was about to feature on-air for the network that day on the program After the Bell. As she was waiting to go live, she suddenly read a message on a teleprompter that read: 'You've been canceled.' She was never to be seen on Fox ever again and handed her resignation on February 2, 2021. As of Monday, her bio on the social media platform fails to mention any past involvement with the conservative-leaning news channel. It reads: 'News anchor, mom & wife, slurpee drinker, best selling author, comedy writer. Not a member of any party; I consider every issue on a case by case basis.' The hefty settlement amount allocated to Francis is similar to what other female employees received in compensation after accusing former CEO Roger Ailes and former network commentator Bill O'Reilly of sexual misconduct in 2017. Advertisement Portland's open-air drug market is laid bare as people smoke heroin on the streets and needles litter the sidewalks as city officials start homeless sweeps while a nearby city's mayoral candidate 'wants to round them up and use 'Japanese-style pods' to house them. New photos taken by DailyMail.com show the current situation in Portland, a city that has been plagued with homelessness and addicts openly using drugs in broad daylight. Users were seen injecting themselves, slumping over in a semi-comatose state. Discarded needles, human waste and the smell of urine adds another layer of tarnish to city's progressive policies - one of them being the Ballot Measure 110 decision, which has decriminalized hard drugs in the Democrat-run state. Oregon was the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs after voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to decriminalize hard drugs. But drug overdose deaths in the state also hit an all-time high in 2021 with 1069, a 41 percent increase from 2020, Fox News reported. Now, Leslie Wright, who is a retired sergeant major in the U.S. Marine Corps and currently a mayoral candidate for the Portland suburb of Oregon City detailed his plan to use vacant schools for homeless shelters like 'the Japanese people.' Photos show the current situation in Portland, where homeless people and addicts are on full display in public shooting up drugs or passed out in broad daylight. Pictured: A man is slumped over semi-comatose condition barely able to move Homeless people are scattered across Portland, many of them using flattened out boxes to sleep on In this aerial photo taken with a drone, pods in homeless camps were constructed in Portland, Oregon in 2020. Now, the Oregon City mayoral candidate wants to round up the homeless in Portland and place them in such pods at vacant schools Kenneth Lebanno moves his belongings into a new pod setup by the city in Portland, Oregon on December 9, 2020 Leslie Wright, a mayoral candidate for Portland suburb Oregon City, says he wants to round up the homeless and put them in 'Japanese-style' pods 'Have you ever seen the Japanese people, how they live? They live in these small, compact areas,' Wright told radio show host Lars Larson. 'We're gonna take each one of those (homeless) people and give them their own little area and give them an address.' During the Japanese internment in the 1940s, American citizens of Asian descent were rounded up in government compounds - which were crowded, buildings where many of them died. Wright said that with his plan, homeless people who sheltered in a designated vacant school would have to get eye tests and potentially be sent elsewhere if they have mental health issues. No alcohol would be allowed on the property. Wright did not specify what former school building it would be, but added he would get permission from various local and state agencies before enacting the plan. 'When they first walk in the door, they will be assessed, just as the military does,' he said. 'In this community I'm gonna have a job lottery every single day. The community is gonna take care of each other. They're gonna make sure the yard is clear. They're gonna make sure the barracks are clean. No drugs, no needles.' Wright received less than 30 percent of the vote in the March 2021 mayoral election, losing to former Mayor Rachel Lyles Smith. He has no previous experience in ab elected position in Oregon City. In August, Wright will face off in a special election against commission president Denyse McGriff, who has been serving as acting mayor since Smith's resignation. Wright's comments about his plan come as nearby Portland has become an 'open air drug market' and overdoses skyrocket Drugs were openly being used in fully view of the general public who took great effort to avoid getting close Several people noticulbly dealing with mental issues, were seen roaming the streets. Pictured: A person covered in tattoos spotted in a parking lot as they strip off their overalls and pull the clothing down around their ankles Discarded needles, trash, human waste and the smell of urine adds another layer of tarnish to city's progressive policies A man is pictured using drugs in public out in broad daylight in Portland, Oregon as overdoses in the city continue to rise A comatose person is splayed on the sidewalk in Portland, their legs sticking out as passersby walk past Another homeless person is camped out on the sidewalk in Portland, wrapped in a blanket with only their shoes showing Homelessness and drug use continues to be an issue in the Portland area, and only got worse after the state decriminalized certain drugs for drug use. Oregon was the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs after voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to decriminalize hard drugs. A person found with personal amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs receives a citation, like a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they call a hotline for a health assessment. The state's program, which has been promoted as a way to establish and fund addiction recovery centers that would offer people aid instead of incarceration, is being watched as a potential model for other states. People walking by homeless camps and addicts shooting up tried to keep their distance. Wright said that with his plan, homeless people who sheltered in a designated vacant school would be sent elsewhere if they have mental health issues A woman is pictured curled up against her suitcase in downtown Portland where homelessness and drug issues are rampant A group of people are seen using drugs in Portland. Homelessness and drug use continues to be an issue in the area, and only got worse after the state decriminalized certain drugs for drug use Oregon was the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone A man is passed out in broad daylight as the public passes by in Portland. Overdose deaths in the state hit an all-time high in 2021 with 1069, a 41 percent increase from 2020 Structures constructed in 2020 to help keep the homeless warm and separate from people during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic appear abandoned as now many have taken up sidewalk space and parks in Portland A woman is seen sweeping up outside a tent encampment in Portland. The Downtown area has become crowded with tent cities overflowing with trash, discarded needles and humane waste New possession limits Under the new Oregon law that went into effect in February 2021, offenders caught with the following drug amounts can avoid criminal charges: Less than 1 gram of heroin Less than 1 gram, or less than 5 pills, of MDMA Less than 2 grams of methamphetamine Less than 40 units of LSD Less than 12 grams of psilocybin Less than 40 units of methadone Less than 40 pills of oxycodone Less than 2 grams of cocaine Offenders caught with the following amounts of drugs will be charged with misdemeanor simple possession, rather than a felony: 1 to 3 grams of heroin 1 to 4 grams of MDMA 2 to 8 grams of methamphetamine 2 to 8 grams of cocaine Advertisement But some critics say that spending more money to reduce homelessness would not necessarily reduce the number of people living on the streets. 'We're used to saying, until there's enough housing, don't hold us accountable. But we have to be able to show that progress is being made,' Rosanne Haggerty, founder and CEO of Community Solutions told KOIN. Community Solutions argues that every homeless person needs to be identified by name, location and need in real time though a process it calls Built for Zero. The process is working for 107 communities, many of which have reduced their homeless populations. In Portland's Old Town neighborhood, a group of neighbors and property owners have taken things into their own hands when the challenged the city to 'reopen' Old Town with graffiti clean-ups, tent sweeps, and increased police, a local news blog reported. The city reports that 343 tents were cleared from the Old Town area in April and May, and 87 of the people living in those tents were referred to a shelter bed. However, it is not know how many people actually moved into a shelter. Oregon's first-in-the-nation scheme to decriminalize drugs and encourage those caught possessing them to seek medical help has been blighted with problems, officials admitted earlier this month. The pioneering scheme, Ballot Measure 110, was approved by voters in November 2020, and went into effect in February 2021. A person found with personal amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs receives a citation, like a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they call a hotline for a health assessment. And of the 1,885 people who received tickets for personal possession in the first year, only 91 people, a measly five percent, called the hotline, according to its non-profit operator, Lines For Life. Earlier this month, those behind the scheme admitted that they had underestimated the effort required to distributed the $300 million in funds for the program, and only $40 million has been spent. 'So clearly, if we were to do it over again, I would have asked for many more staff much quicker in the process,' said Steve Allen, Oregon's behavioral health director. 'We were just under-resourced to be able to support this effort, underestimated the work that was involved in supporting something that looked like this and partly we didn't fully understand it until we were in the middle of it.' The ballot measure redirected millions of dollars in tax revenue from the state's legal marijuana industry to treatment. In some neighborhoods of Portland where there are many tent encampments, communities are rallying together to sweep the homeless problem with graffiti clean-ups, tent sweeps, and an increased police presence A man wearing several layers of clothing, including a coat with a fur collar, eats with his hands in a Portland tent encampment Two men are seen looking around as talk to each other in an area that has become rampant with drug buying and selling Some people were pictured shielding themselves with umbrellas as they used drugs A semi-comatose man falls over against his things as he takes shelter against a building in Portland A man is seen slumped over in an area riddled with drug use and homelessness. Portland is just one of several Democratic-led cities blighted by rampant open-air drug abuse But applications for funding stacked up after state officials underestimated the work required to vet them and get the money out the door, officials testified earlier this month before the House Interim Committee on Behavioral Health. Portland is just one of several Democratic-led cities blighted by rampant open-air drug abuse. Recent images and videos of the streets of San Francisco show loiterers using drugs in full view, car break-ins, aggressive shoplifting, homeless encampments and fouling of pavements with human excrement. Things began going downhill in the liberal city under ousted Democratic District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Boudin was elected in 2019 on a platform of criminal justice reform, but the DA has been widely blamed for rising crime and homelessness in the Bay Area since the start of the pandemic - where brazen looters ransacking stores and breaking into cars has become commonplace. So far this year, statistics show that the crime wave has worsened from last year - one of the worst crime years in decades - with the city's murder rate rising 11 percent, and rapes up by nearly 10 percent. Boudin's time in office has also seen a marked rise in vagrancy - a stand-out issue in the Bay Area, where homelessness and brazen open drug use has increased in earnest during the pandemic. But as infection rates plunge and restrictions continue to lessen, the city's crime and seedy underbelly has persisted - frustrating citizens to no end. As larceny continues to see the largest increase in crime, the Bay Area has contended with a series of smash-and-grab robberies in the past year, with brazen thieves raiding stores in the middle of day. A homeless man is seen passed out in Portland, with his small collection of belongings, including phone and bottle of water The general filth, discarded needles, human waste and the smell of urine is prevalent across areas of Portland The streets of Downtown Portland are filled with tent cities (pictured) where people are known to carry on with open drug use Homeless encampments are strewn across the Portland area with many of the people using drugs out in public A homeless person is slumped over in a chair while injecting drugs into their arm. The area is blighted with rampant open-air drug abuse, car break-ins, aggressive shoplifting, homeless encampments and fouling of pavements with human excrement More tents line a residential neighborhood in Portland as the homeless scene continues to worsen. In the background, a man is seen slumped over on the sidewalk A person's foot sticks out from beneath a tarp that has been fastened as a shelter in downtown Portland Illicit fentanyl started appearing on San Francisco streets in 2018, and is often mixed with other drugs such as heroin and cocaine to increase potency. Overdose deaths rose rapidly with the arrival of fentanyl and deaths connected to the drug increased from nine in 2009 to 230 in 2019, the city said in a report. In 2021, the city reported 474 deaths due to fentanyl. The city has taken several steps to address the fentanyl epidemic, including adding new drug and mental health beds and launching the Street Overdose Response team to provide care for people at high risk of overdose, SFGATE reported. San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency in the city, which streamlined the city's permitting regulations in order to quickly open the linkage center. The facility connects people living on the street and struggling with substance use and mental health issues, to services. A man is pictured passed out on the sidewalk in front of a fence that has been defaced with graffiti, as has much of Portland A man using drugs is seen sheltered underneath a sculpture at a park in Portland. Some of the drug use around Portland took place in parks and near playgrounds where children were seen playing A homeless person wrapped in a sleeping bag is seen passed out on the sidewalk, an empty bag of chips nearby Two people are pictured using drugs while sitting on a dilapidated wall outside a building in Portland A homeless man leans his head into a passing car in Portland where many of the homeless and drug addicts are known to approach the locals and tourists to beg for money or to possibly and sell drugs The state of emergency expired in April, but the mayor renewed aspects of the declaration to allow city workers to serve as disaster service workers to respond to issues in the Tenderloin neighborhood, which is particularly hard hit. 'The mayor agrees that we need to break up open-air drug dealing in San Francisco,' the mayor's office wrote in an emailed statement. 'Police officers are making arrests every day, and in the last few weeks an additional 20 officers have been added to the Tenderloin neighborhood to support our emergency response initiative. The police have seized over 10 kilos of fentanyl in the Tenderloin area this year alone, which is roughly four times more than was seized over the same time period last year. We know more needs to be done to make more arrests, but there also needs to be accountability for the people who are dealing drugs, committing acts of violence, and making our communities less safe.' Five Britons held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban have been freed. The group had travelled to the Central Asian state 'against travel advice' the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the nationals would 'soon be reunited with their families' and praised 'the hard work of British diplomats to secure this outcome.' It was not immediately clear who the freed British nationals were or when they were detained by the Taliban but in February the foreign ministry said they were providing support to 'a number' of citizens being held in Afghanistan. Among those detained was distinguished British journalist Peter Jouvenal, 64, who was arrested in Kabul on December 13. Five Britons being held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban have been freed, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has announced A FCDO spokesperson said: 'We welcome and appreciate the release by the current administration of Afghanistan of five British nationals who were detained in Afghanistan. 'These British nationals had no role in the UK Government's work in Afghanistan and travelled to Afghanistan against the UK Government's travel advice. This was a mistake. 'On behalf of the families of the British nationals, we express their apologies for any breach of Afghan culture, customs or laws, and offer their assurance of future good conduct. 'The UK Government regrets this episode.' Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted: 'Pleased the UK has secured the release of 5 British nationals detained in Afghanistan. 'They will soon be reunited with their families. I am grateful for the hard work of British diplomats to secure this outcome.' Three other foreign nationals have been released by the Taliban in recent months. A Canadian woman was freed in March after spending around a month in detention. While in February, former BBC South Asia correspondent Andrew North and another foreign journalist were released by the Taliban after a week in custody. The pair were in the country on an assignment for the UN refugee agency, according to reports. In February, former BBC South Asia correspondent Andrew North (pictured) and another foreign journalist were released by the Taliban after a week in custody Jouvenal has been held in a separate group since early December while visiting Afghanistan for business and family reasons. Jouvenal, a Muslim man who is married to an Afghan woman, has been travelling to Afghanistan for more than 40 years as a freelance cameraman, businessman and investor. His friends and family said in a statement in February that they fear he may have been detained 'in error' and released a public plea in which they said they were 'deeply concerned for his safety'. 'He is being held without charge, and with no freedom to contact his family or lawyers,' they said. 'Peter's family and friends believe that he may have been detained in error, as he was in Afghanistan to discuss investments in Afghanistan's mining industry as well as conducting family business. Before his arrest he was working openly and had frequent meetings with senior Taliban officials. 'We urgently request that the Afghan authorities release Peter. He suffers from high blood pressure and needs medication. There is a high threat of Covid infection in the Afghan prison system.' Among those detained are distinguished British journalist Peter Jouvenal, 64, (left) who was arrested in Kabul on December 13 After enduring years of war and drought, Afghanistan hurtled into crisis when the Taliban gained control last August as the US and NATO forces were withdrawing from the country they had invaded two decades earlier. The Taliban quickly started enforcing strict measures, including edicts requiring women to cover their faces except for their eyes in public and banning girls from attending school past the sixth grade. Amid international sanctions, the Afghan economy collapsed, and millions of people fell into poverty. The UN and other aid agencies have been struggling to raise the $4.4 billion they said was needed for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan this year. Meanwhile, bombings and other attacks on civilians have persisted. A bitter Taliban rival - the Islamic State groups Afghanistan affiliate - has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. Boris Johnson is under pressure from Tory MPs to lift the 24-year-old ban on new grammar schools when he brings forward fresh schools legislation later this year. Senior Conservative backbencher Sir Graham Brady is ready to table an amendment to the forthcoming Schools Bill when it reaches the House of Commons. This would lift the ban on new grammar schools being created that was brought in by ex-Labour prime minister Tony Blair in 1998. According to The Times, Mr Johnson could support the backbench campaign to lift the ban, or even table plans of his own on allowing new grammar schools. The Prime Minister's senior aide David Canzini is said to view the issue as a new dividing line with Labour. A Conservative source also told the newspaper that Mr Johnson would not be able to withstand a Tory rebellion in the Commons, if he tried to block the backbench move. Labour claimed that Downing Street considering lifting the ban on new grammar schools showed the Tories were 'out of ideas' after 12 years in power. They also criticised the move for being focussed on saving the PM's future, after his battering by Tory rebels in a recent no confidence vote. There are currently 163 grammar schools in England, with a total of around 176,000 pupils. Boris Johnson could reportedly support a backbench campaign to lift the ban, or even table plans of his own on allowing new grammar schools Senior Conservative backbencher Sir Graham Brady is ready to table an amendment to the forthcoming Schools Bill when it reaches the House of Commons There are currently 163 grammar schools in England, with a total of around 176,000 pupils The New Labour government banned the creation of new selective schools, but Mr Blair steered away from shutting down those that already existed. Mr Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, had previously planned to overturn the ban on new grammar schools but shelved her ambition when she lost her Commons majority after the 2017 general election. Sir Graham, the chair of the Tories' powerful 1922 Committee, is a long-time supporter of grammar schools and a former student at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. He said: 'After 12 years of Conservative-led government it is really very odd that we still have a statutory ban on any new selective schools. 'At the very least lifting that ban would provide freedom and flexibility for people where there is demand.' Support for overturning the 1998 ban has also been found among 'Red Wall' Tory MPs elected at the 2019 general election. Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis suggested the move could help Mr Johnson with his 'levelling up' agenda. He said: 'By lifting Labours ban, we can spread opportunity fairly across the country and turbocharge social mobility in places like Teesside and Ashfield which we are determined to level up.' Polling by YouGov in March revealed that 29 per cent believed the Government should build more grammar schools Polling by YouGov in March revealed that 29 per cent believed the Government should build more grammar schools. This compared to 21 per cent who thought the Government should retain the existing laws, by allowing existing grammar schools to continue buyt not allowing new ones to be built. A similar number, 23 per cent, believed ministers should stop schools selecting by academic ability and force existing grammar schools to be opened to children of all abilities. The survey found that 27 per cent were not sure of their view on grammar schools. Labour's shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said that grammar schools 'aren't popular among parents', 'don't improve outcomes across the education', and 'ingrain expectations of failure'. She added: 'Twelve years of Tory rule and clearer than ever they are out of ideas. This isnt about our childrens future its about the PMs future.' A government spokeswoman said there were 'no current plans to open new grammar schools' but said that existing grammars were 'a valuable part of the school system'. 'Through our new Schools Bill, we are considering options on how we can spread their DNA through the wider education system,' they added. Pc Archie Payne, 27, was convicted of assaulting Scott Rooney, 26, after he told a court how he was grabbed by the throat and thrown to the ground A police officer who assaulted a man outside a Wetherspoons while on duty has had his appeal thrown out. Pc Archie Payne, 28, was convicted of common assault after he grabbed Scott Rooney, 27, by the throat and threw him to the ground. He has since left the force and now works as a railway driver. His Met colleague Pc Jack Wood, 27, was found guilty of assaulting Mr Rooneys friend, Jake Smith, 26, who suffered a gaping gash to his skull in Romford, Essex on 5 January 2020. Mr Rooney, a railway engineer, had told a court how he was attacked after he tried to take a picture of PC Wood and his officer number outside the Worlds Inn. CCTV footage shown to the court captured the moment Pc Wood strikes Mr Smith to the head. Body worn footage showed Payne grabbing Mr Rooneys throat, pushing him to the wall and lying on top of him. Mr Rooney had touched Pc Woods jacket lapel to which Payne told him theres no need to touch him. Payne is then heard saying tell you what mate, well deal with you as he takes Mr Rooney to the ground. Pc Wood, based at Romford Police Station, denied but was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Mr Scott and assault by beating against Mr Rooney following a trial at City of London Magistrates Court last year. Payne denied the charge but was convicted of common assault against Mr Rooney. He was ordered to pay a total of 1,632 in compensation and court costs last June. Payne appealed against his conviction but his appeal was thrown out at Southwark Crown Court. The judge, Mr Recorder Ben Douglas-Jones, QC, said: Mr Rooney was calm and not disorderly throughout. He was seeking evidence and information from the officers. We are sure that Mr Rooney asked for permission to take the photograph. His hands were behind his back demonstrating that he was not threatening. He came back and wanted to gather information and did that in an orderly manner. Pc Payne acted violently and there was no basis for doing so. Mr Rooneys body language showed no sign of threatening behaviour. There was no basis for an arrest and no reason, rightly or wrongly, to arrest [Mr Rooney]. Mr Rooney, a railway engineer, said he was the victim of an unprovoked onslaught after trying to take a picture of Pc Wood and his officer number [Pc Payne] caused a violent episode that was completely unnecessary. Ms Nicola Shannon, prosecuting, asked Payne: Did you really think laying hands on Mr Rooney at that time was going to help? Payne replied: In that scenario I was trying to control Mr Rooney the whole time. At that moment of time I have no idea what was going on behind me. Ms Shannon said: I suggest that that was not a lawful arrest. You simply lost your temper; you lost your patience. GRAPHIC IMAGE WARNING: Jake Smith, 26, was left with a gaping head wound She said Paynes attempt to arrest Mr Rooney for being drunk and disorderly was to silence Mr Rooney and cover up any complaint he might have made. She told Payne: You assaulted Mr Rooney that evening and it was not a lawful arrest. Payne said he had felt Mr Rooney tense up before he took him to the ground and he was concerned that Pc Wood did not know how volatile he really was. He said during his police training he was taught to use his surroundings to prevent someone swinging a punch so took Mr Rooney to the floor to prevent him from manoeuvring. The judge added: We find the appellant guilty and in those circumstances the appeal is dismissed. Months after being heckled by students of the Washington D.C. school, Dave Chappelle's alma mater has decided to name a theater after him. Duke Ellington School of the Arts planned the unveiling of the Dave Chappelle Theatre on June 20 with a dedication ceremony to the comedian, TMZ reports. Chappelle visited the Duke Ellington School of the Arts to speak in November, but was met with furor from many of the students who currently attend over jokes he made about transgender people in several Netflix comedy specials, with one 16-year old calling him 'childish.' The heated Q&A became increasingly contentious between Chappelle and the students, with the comedian remarking 'I'm better than every instrumentalist, artist, no matter what art you do in this school, right now, I'm better than all of you. I'm sure that will change. I'm sure you'll be household names soon.' Following the response from the students at the school, Chappelle issued a challenge on Instagram for those who opposed the school's plans for a building named after him: 'If you object to my receiving this honor, I urge you to donate to the school noting your objection. 'If you are in favor of the theater being named "Chappelle," I urge you to donate to the school, noting your approval.' Prior to issuing the challenge, Chappelle has been a generous donor to the school over the years, reportedly donating $100,000 and one of his Emmy awards in 2017. Duke Ellington School of the Arts planned the unveiling of the Dave Chappelle Theatre on June 20 with a dedication ceremony to the comedian Dave Chappelle speaks at his Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he will have a theater named after him Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C., where Chappelle graduated from in 1991 It appears his opposition were unable to raise enough money, and now his name will appear on the Dave Chappelle theatre. Much of the backlash directed at Chappelle came after comments he made in his special 'The Closer,' including the statement 'gender is a fact,' and aligning himself with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who famously stated transgender women were not real women in 2019. Daphne Dorman, a trans comedian and friend of Chappelle, died in 2019 and is spoken about in Chappelle's Netflix special 'The Closer' He also jokes about the anatomy of transwomen in the Netflix special, saying that they lacked real female reproductive organs and that they did not have menstrual blood but 'beet juice' instead. Chappelle also spoke about his friend and transwoman Daphne Dorman, who killed herself in 2019 at the age of 44 after defending Chappelle over earlier jokes he'd made. 'When she did that, the trans community dragged that b**** through Twitter,' Chappelle said in 'The Closer.' 'It's a true story; my heart was broken,' he continued. 'I don't know what was going on, but I'll bet dragging her didn't help.' The jokes he made resulted in a fiery backlash against the Ohio comedian, who says his documentary was pulled from film festivals and dropped by film distributors. Organizations like National Black Justice Coalition and GLAAD condemned the jokes told in Chappelle's special. Chappelle's special 'The Closer,' his latest in a string of comedy acts for Netflix, ignited debate around his remarks on transgender people and the LGBTQ community Chappelle's jokes about the transgender community were backed by Netflix, with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defending the comedian in an internal email, saying 'we dont allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we dont believe crosses that line.' Chappelle thanked the co-CEO at a later comedy show, telling the audience 'thank God for Ted Sarandos at Netflix, he's the only one that didn't cancel me yet.' Netflix faced backlash for the defense, including employee resignations and an organized employee walkout last October. Dave Chappelle and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos are seen speaking backstage at the 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on October 30, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio But Sarandos later backtracked on his initial stance, saying 'I screwed up the internal communication and I don't mean just mechanically.' Sarandos continued: 'I feel I should've made sure to recognize that a group of our employees was hurting very badly from the decision made, and I should've recognized upfront before going into a rationalization of anything the pain they were going through. I say that because I respect them deeply, and I love the contribution they have at Netflix. They were hurting, and I should've recognized that first.' Many transgender activists felt Chappelle's comedy was an example of 'punching down' on a community with little power. In a video posted to his Instagram after the special, Chappelle said he would meet with the transgender community but will not be 'bending to anybody's demands.' Tributes have been paid to a 'humble and compassionate' British-Jewish soldier who assisted in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen following his death aged 96. Bernard Maurice Levy was just 19 when he was tasked with 'sorting the living from the dead' at the Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany at the end of the Second World War in April 1945. On the day the young corporal crossed through the gates, at least 50,000 men, women and children had already been murdered by the Nazis. About 60,000 others were found barely alive. So horrific were the scenes that he saw that Mr Levy found himself unable to convey the experience in words. His family have revealed that he suffered with insomnia for nearly 70 years until he finally spoke for the first time. After the war, Mr Levy went on to found 'outsized' men's clothing chain High and Mighty, which eventually had more than 40 outlets across five countries. Bergen-Belsen was where the young Dutch diarist Anne Frank died, along with her sister Margot. Tributes have been paid to a 'humble and compassionate' British-Jewish soldier Bernard Levy, who assisted in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, following his death aged 96 Speaking this week to Jewish News, Mr Levy's daughter Judith recalled how her Hull-born father who died on 29 May 'went off to war a very naive young boy and came back much more worldly-wise'. Bergen-Belsen: The concentration camp liberated by the British The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was located in northern Germany, south-west of the town of Bergen itself. From 1941 to 1945 almost 50,000 people were killed there along with 20,000 Soviet inmates. It was run by the cruel and tyrannical SS commandant Joseph Kramer - known as the Beast of Belsen. Among the inmates was Dutch teenage diarist Anne Frank, who died in the camp. It was liberated on April 15, 1945 by the British 11th Armoured Division and soldiers discovered roughly 60,000 starved, and ill prisoners inside. Some 13,000 unburied corpses littered the ground around the camp when they arrived. When the Allies arrived at Bergen-Belsen, it was in the grip of a terrible typhus outbreak, with prisoners dying at a rate of 500 a day. A sombre sign erected by the British Army, and photographed by Mr Parsons, documents at least part of that grisly death tool, revealing that 13,000 people perished even after troops came to their aid. Shortly after the camp was liberated by British and Canadian troops in 1945, it was torched, and at least part of that suffering was destroyed forever as the buildings, along with the Reichskriegs flag and Hitler portrait which adorned them, were consumed by flames. Advertisement Mr Levy signed up for The Green Howards, an infantry unit based in Yorkshire, on April 6, 1944, about a year before he arrived at Belsen. But, as his daughter revealed, he was 'not of a soldier physique at all'. At just seven stone and 5ft 3, severely asthmatic and with 'only one good eye', Mr Levy enrolled in secretarial training and joined the Royal Army Service Corp as a clerk. In usual circumstances, he may not have been able to join military service at all, but as Judith said, 'at that point in 1944 it was "all hands on deck" and they would take anyone.' His role would soon, however, migrate from desk work to much more active service. In the aftermath of D-Day in June 1944, Mr Levy crossed the Channel on a landing craft. Judith's husband, Howard Parker, said: 'He remembers sitting on the deck sunbathing, because nothing seemed to be happening. 'But while the Germans had been pushed back in certain areas, they were still present along the coast and suddenly Bernard saw all these shells came flying overhead. He was certainly more active than I had understood.' Mr Levy finally landed at Arromanches-les-Bains in Normandy, which had seen some of the heaviest of fighting on D-Day and as the war was ending, made his way to Celle, near Belsen, deep into German territory. He was now tasked with helping to bring organisation back to Germany amid the chaos. This started with him being sent over to Belsen. Judith said: 'At Celle he bunked up with another soldier who was sent over to Belsen. When he returned that day, the soldier didn't say anything, but he was physically sick. The next day they sent Bernard.' She remembers her father unable to articulate what he had seen and as a child she was reminded regularly by her mother, Doreen, never to mention the Holocaust. 'If there was a picture, a book, or something in the newspaper about concentration camps we had to hide it. My mum would say, "He can't take it." As soon as something came on the telly, it was, "Quick, turn it off." He got upset if he saw something like that, so my mum protected him.' On the day the young corporal crossed through the gates, at least 50,000 men, women and children had already been murdered by the Nazis. About 60,000 were found still clinging to the last remnants of life. Above: Prisoners on the day of liberation Mr Levy was just 19 when he was tasked with 'sorting the living from the dead' at the Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany at the end of the Second World War in April 1945 The veteran returned to Bergen-Belsen in June 2015 for the 70th anniversary of the camp's liberation. He was introduced to the Queen during her first visit to a Second World War concentration camp. Above: Mr Levy seen to the right of the Queen as Her Majesty shakes his wife Doreen's hand After the war, Mr Levy went on to found 'outsized' men's clothing chain High and Mighty, which eventually had more than 40 outlets across five countries. Above: A High and Mighty outlet Coupled with the humanitarian rescue operation at Belsen, Mr Levy was a scribe at the British military tribunal in Luneburg in September 1945, where 45 high-ranking Nazi officials were charged with war crimes. The testimonies he heard were 'terribly distressing' and his daughter believes may have in some ways traumatised him more than the initial weeks he spent at Belsen. For most of his life after the war, he never had a good night's sleep. She said: 'He used to sleep with the radio on and get up three times during the night and he never really slept. I used to think he would be better if he talked about it and would encourage him to. I trained as a psychotherapist and knew that hidden trauma was not a good thing.' But it was only at the age of 85 that he finally opened up, first to Judith's son and then to a local historian, which led to an extended interview with ITV. He was subsequently invited to return to Bergen-Belsen, accompanied by the broadcaster Natasha Kaplinsky. Mr Levy said at the time: '[There was] barbed wire everywhere, chaos, bodies. SkeletonsInvariably they all looked like skeletons. 'You can't help thinking about the people who were dying in there with no help, no food, no succour, no hospital treatment. It just feels terribly sad.' It was only at the age of 85 that he finally opened up, first to Judith's son and then to a local historian, which led to an extended interview with ITV After the war, Mr Levy returned home to his parents and two brothers in Hull before, at the age of 24, marrying 18-year-old Doreen (right) in 1950. The couple had Judith and other daughter Ruth He added: 'I wish I could have done more, at least show more humanity. We were moving bodies, we were moving living bodies, we were moving people. Disinfecting them, moving them. 'I was a boy doing a job and that's what I did.' The veteran returned in June 2015 for the 70th anniversary of the camp's liberation. He was introduced to the Queen during her first visit to a Second World War concentration camp. He was also passionate about educating young people and worked closely with the Holocaust Educational Trust. Returning to Belsen was 'a huge thing' for Mr Levy, but alongside the mass death he witnessed, he also saw a rebirth. Having experienced unimaginable tragedy, many survivors at the camp began to forge new relationships and marriages skyrocketed. In 1946, 1,070 weddings took place at Belsen alone and in one week there were as many as 50. His daughter said: 'He talked about people coming back from the dead, that people looked like skeletons, but he saw them gradually come back to life. 'As he was a Jewish soldier, he was invited to all the weddings, all the bris ceremonies. That was a big memory for him.' After the war, Mr Levy returned home to his parents and two brothers in Hull before, at the age of 24, marrying 18-year-old Doreen in 1950. The couple had Judith and other daughter Ruth. Mr Levy joined his father at his menswear shop, where according to family folklore, an erroneous delivery of men's suits arrived one day in extra-large sizes. Rather than return them, he placed an advert in the Daily Express for 'outsized' men's clothing and swiftly sold out, giving rise to the idea of selling more. Within years, he had established High and Mighty. He eventually retired in the 1990s. Most of High and Mighty's stores was bought by online retailer the N Brown Group in 2009. For all his success, Mr Levy who had six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren remained humble to the end. Judith added: 'In his eyes, he was just a very lowly soldier and very self-deprecating about his role. 'He even went to Hitler's bunker, but never saw the enormity of it all. He was a great dad, a lovely man and had so much humanity. 'Without a doubt, being at Belsen gave him that compassion.' Advertisement Hollywood star Ben Stiller has said 'seeking safety is a right and it needs to be upheld for every person' during a visit to Ukraine where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. The actor, 56, arrived in Poland on Saturday and was pictured in the large south-eastern city of Rzeszow, close to the border, speaking to aid workers in a storage facility. On Monday morning, Stiller, who is a long-term Goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the UN refugee agency visited Ukraine on World Refugee Day. The actor was seen walking among bombed out buildings in the city of Irpin where Russian forces have bombed residential buildings. In a video posted to his Instagram account, Stiller said: 'Hey, I'm Ben Stiller, and I'm here in Ukraine. I'm meeting people who've been impacted by the war and hearing how it's changed their lives. 'War and violence are devastating people all over the world. Nobody chooses to flee their home. Seeking safety is a right, and it needs to be upheld for every person.' He later met with President Zelensky where the pair discussed the importance of the world remembering the on-going conflict with Russia. 'Sir, really nice to meet you. Thanks for taking the time. You're my hero,' Stiller told Zelensky as he approached him and shook his hand. The Hollywood star then complimented the President on his 'great acting career', to which Zelensky laughed, and replied: 'Not as great as you'. Stiller then told him that he was inspired by Zelensky, 'for what you've done in this country and for the world'. Hollywood star Ben Stiller has said 'seeking safety is a right and it needs to be upheld for every person' during a visit to Ukraine where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. Stiller, who is a long-term Goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the UN refugee agency visited Ukraine on World Refugee Day. As he met with Zelensky, the actor told him: 'You're my hero' Stiller met with Zelensky after walking through a bombed-out neighborhood in Ukraine. At their meeting, Stiller told Zelenskey that he was inspired by him, 'for what you've done in this country and for the world' President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met alongside Stiller to discuss the importance of the world remembering the on-going conflict Earlier on Monday, to mark World Refugee Day, Stiller walked through the rubble of a neighborhood in Lypki, Irpin Footage emerged on Sunday of Hollywood actor in Ukraine after recently visiting refugees fleeing the war in Poland. The Night At The Museum actor met with Ukrainian families afflicted by Russia's war, according to the UN's refugee agency. Earlier on Sunday Stiller, said he was at the Medyka border between Poland and Ukraine where he 'met families who fled the war in Ukraine, leaving loved ones behind, with no idea when they will be able to return home.' The footage showed him speaking on the phone and then with what appeared to be resident's in Ukraine's western capital, in an unannounced visit. 'It's nice that people make this public and come to help on their own,' said a Ukrainian TikToker who spotted the celerity. The Hollywood actor shared on social media his journey through Ukraine while urging the right to safety in video Footage reportedly taken in Lviv shows actor Ben Stiller speaking on the phone next to people wearing UN insignia Lviv is a 2.5 hour drive from Rzeszow, where Stiller was visiting on behalf of the UN refugee agency. Stiller said on Sunday he had arrived at the Polish-Ukrainian border, only an hour and a half away from Lviv A Ukrainian resident uploaded the footage to TikTok, with locals reacting with enthusiasm to the actor's impromptu visit. 'Super, why do your heroes in peacetime during the war also turn out to be wonderful people?' said one TikTok commenter. 'I adore this actor,' said another, in Ukrainian. On Saturday, Stiller stopped over in the large south-eastern Polish city of Rzeszow, close to the border, where he spoke to aid workers in a storage facility. More than 3.5 million people are thought to have crossed over into Poland since the war began in February. Stiller's trip is aimed at helping share 'stories of the human impact of war' and to 'amplify calls for solidarity'. Actor Ben Stiller, 56, has arrived in Poland to meet refugees forced to flee the war in Ukraine The actor took to Twitter to announce his arrival in Poland to meet with Ukrainian refugees Stiller embraces children at a UNHCR Protection Hub providing psycho-social support, SGBV prevention and response and child protection and legal aid services in Medyka, Poland on June 18 Stiller visits a UNHCR Protection Hub providing psycho-social support, SGBV prevention and response and child protection and legal aid services in Medyka, Poland Stiller meets children at the UNHCR Protection Hub in Medyka, Poland, on June 18 Stiller took to Twitter and posting a photograph of himself speaking with two aid workers, said: 'I've just arrived in Poland with UNHCR, to meet families whose lives have been torn apart by war and violence in Ukraine. 'Millions have been forced to flee their homes with over 90% being women and children. 'I'm here to learn, to share stories that illustrate the human impact of war and to amplify calls for solidarity. 'I hope you'll follow along and share your own messages of support, for people who have fled their homes in Ukraine and for people who have been forced to flee all over the world. 'Everyone has the right to seek safety. Whoever, wherever, whenever.' Stiller and Silva Alkebeh, Chief of Supply Logistics, talk at Rzeszow UNHCR warehouse, in Rzeszow, Poland, on June 18 Goodwill Ambassador actor Ben Stiller visits a UNHCR Protection Hub providing psycho-social support, SGBV prevention and response and child protection and legal aid services in Medyka, Poland on June 18 Stiller started working with the UNHCR in 2016 and has travelled with the body to meet refugees in Germany, Jordan, Guatemala and Lebanon. In 2019, he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, where he pleaded with lawmakers. He said: 'We must not look away, we cannot let Syrian families go deeper into destitution and we cannot let their children be part of a lost generation.' Stiller is not the first celebrity to involve themselves in humanitarian work for Ukraine, with Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher raising $35 million for the country and David Beckham handing over his Instagram page to a Ukrainian doctor in Kharkiv for the day. More than 3.5 million refugees are thought to have crossed over into Poland from Ukraine since the conflict began in February (file pic from March 2022) The news comes as the grinding battle over Severodonetsk continues, with Russia making marginal gains but finding its forces whittled down to the bone due to the near four-month campaign. The Institute said Russia will likely take control of Severodonetsk, but at the cost of concentrating its forces, making it vulnerable to attack in other areas. If successful in Severodonetsk, the Russians will likely advance into Metolkine further into the country. Just over an hour's drive away from Severodonetsk, Ukrainian artillery has been bombing railway lines used to supply Russian offensive operations toward Slovyansk. Russia is trying to push the Ukrainian forces back, hoping to force the enemy artillery out of range of their supply lines. But so far, Russia is struggling to capture Slovyansk and advance east of Bakhmut in the east of Ukraine. Some of Russia's battalion tactical groups, initially made up of approximately 600800 officers and soldiers, now have as few as 10 to 15 troops remaining. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate said it intercepted phone calls on June 17 and 18 and overheard Russian soldiers complaining about frontline conditions, suggesting a worsening Russian moral. They complained of poor equipment and an overall lack of personnel. The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which are separated by a river, have been targeted for weeks as the last areas still under Ukrainian control in the eastern Lugansk region A California man has been arrested for bludgeoning his co-worker to death with an irrigation pipe because the man was having an affair with his ex-girlfriend, and colleagues had made fun of him. Jose Gutierrez-Rosales, 49, is accused of killing his co-worker, Hector Javier Castaneda Vasquez, 56, on April 18 when the pair were working at a job site near Lamont, California. 'We were there picking up the [irrigation] pipes,' Gutierrez-Rosales told investigators. 'I ate about two tacos, and I felt my body like strange, and then all of a sudden, I grabbed the pipe, and I just started going at him.' As he was beating Vasquez with the metal pipe Gutierrez-Rosales told him: 'This is for getting involved with my family,' Newsweek reported. Vasquez suffered multiple facial fractures, cuts to his face, back of his head, and lost several teeth during the fatal attack, according to KGET News. At least one witness tried to tell Gutierrez-Rosales to stop the attack, and others later told investigators they could only see him from a distance and thought that he was attacking a snake, according to reports. The scene where Jose Gutierrez-Rosales, 49, is accused of killing his co-worker, Hector Javier Vasquez, 56, on April 18 when the pair were working at a job site, in the area of Di Giorgio Road east of Lamont, California 'We were there picking up the [irrigation] pipes,' Gutierrez-Rosales said. 'I ate about two tacos, and I felt my body like strange, and then all of a sudden, I grabbed the pipe, and I just started going at him.' As he was beating Vasquez with the metal pipe Gutierrez-Rosales uttered the words: 'This is for getting involved with my family,' Newsweek reported On April 28, deputies from the Ken County Sheriff's Department arrested Gutierrez-Rosales who had fled after the attack Vazquez's body was found on Di Giorgio Road by deputies later that day after witnesses reported the fatal beating to them. The Kern County Coroner's office determined that Vasquez had died of multiple blunt force trauma, and his death was ruled a homicide. Gutierrez-Rosales, who had fled after the attack, was arrested 10 days later and charged with first-degree murder. He told investigators that he was laughed at and bullied by his co-workers regarding the alleged affair claiming that he was 'provoked.' Its unclear from the documents if Gutierrez-Rosales was actually married to the woman. A woman whose name is redacted from the court documents told investigators she and Gutierrez-Rosales were in a relationship for three months, KGET News reported. She said they had separated several weeks before the killing because he had anger issues. Gutierrez-Rosales being held without bail. He is due back in court on June 28. Advertisement The speedboat used by killed British journalist Dom Phillips has been found sunk and weighed down by sandbags in a river in the Amazon rainforest after the murder suspect led police to the site. The speedboat was submerged about 20 meters (65ft) deep under the Itacoai river in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil with the help of six sandbags, authorities said in a press statement. They added they were led to the site of the boat's sinking by the latest suspect in the killings, Jeferson da Silva Lima, or 'Pelado da Dinha', who surrendered himself to police on Saturday. Two other men are already being held over alleged involvement in the killings - Amarildo Oliveira, known as Pelado, and his brother, Oseney de Oliveira, known as Dos Santos. On Sunday, police identified five more suspects for the murders. Phillips, 57, a freelance reporter, was doing research for a book on the trip with Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, a former head of isolated and recently contacted tribes at federal indigenous affairs agency Funai. They were reported missing on June 5 after traveling together by boat through the Javari Valley, a remote region bordering Peru and Colombia. According to police, both were shot with hunting ammunition. Shock at their fate has echoed across Brazil and around the world, highlighting the overhaul of indigenous agency Funai under President Jair Bolsonaro, along with a rising tide of violence and criminal incursions on native lands. The speedboat used by killed British journalist Dom Phillips has been found sunk and weighed down by sandbags in a river in the Amazon rainforest after the murder suspect led police to the site The speedboat was submerged about 20 meters (65ft) deep under the Itacoai river in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil with the help of six sandbags, authorities said in a press statement Police said they were led to the site of boat's sinking by the latest suspect in the killings, Jeferson da Silva Lima, or 'Pelado da Dinha', who surrendered himself to police on Saturday Civil police arrive at the port of Atalaia do Norte, state of Amazonas, Brazil to find the boat used by Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips before their deaths Pictured: British journalist Dom Phillips, 57, whose remains are thought to have been discovered Mr Phillips went missing in the Amazon with Brazilian companion Bruno Araujo Pereira, pictured The Javari region is an area notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking, and the pair had reportedly faced threats before their disappearance The speedboat was submerged about 20 meters (65ft) deep under the Itacoai river in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil with the help of six sandbags, authorities said in a press statement Civil police watch at the port of Atalaia do Norte, state of Amazonas, Brazil as the boat used by Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips before their deaths is brought up from the bottom of the Itacoai river The speedboat used by killed British journalist Dom Phillips has been found sunk and weighed down by sandbags in a river in the Amazon rainforest after the murder suspect led police to the site On Friday, federal police confirmed that human remains found in Brazil's remote Amazon area had been identified as belonging to Mr Phillips. Additional remains found at the site near the city of Atalaia do Norte have not yet been identified but are expected to belong to Indigenous expert Mr Pereira, 41. 'The confirmation [of Phillips' remains] was made based on dental examinations and anthropological forensics,' federal police said in a statement. 'Work is ongoing for a complete identification of the remains so we can determine the cause of death, and also the dynamics of the crime and the hiding of the bodies.' The remains were found on Wednesday, after fisherman Pelado allegedly confessed to killing the pair, and took police to the place where he buried the bodies. He is said to have told officers that he used a firearm to kill both men. The remains were taken to the capital city of Brasilia on Thursday for forensics tests to take place. The area where Mr Phillips and Mr Pereira went missing has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers, and government agents. It is also criss-crossed by drug smuggling routes, operated by ruthless gangs. One of the coffins containing human remains found during the search for missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the Amazon forest, is carried upon arrival at the Federal Police hangar in Brasilia on June 16 Officials are pictured loading one the coffins on to a plane in Brasilia on June 16 Oseney da Costa, 41, or 'Dos Santos,' is pictured leaving a courthouse in Atalia do Norte, Brazil on Wednesday June 15 after he was detained by military and civil officers the previous night Police with a man believed to be Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira in Brazil's Amazonas state of Atalaia do Norte on June 15, 2022 Brazilian officials suggest disappearance of British journalist and his local guide may be linked to 'fish mafia' Mr Pereira and Mr Phillips were last seen on their boat in a river near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. That area has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents. Authorities have said a main line of the police investigation into the disappearance has pointed to an international network that pays poor fishermen to fish illegally in the Javari Valley reserve, which is Brazil's second-largest Indigenous territory. Pereira, who previously led the local bureau of the federal Indigenous agency, known as FUNAI, took part in several operations against illegal fishing. In such operations, as a rule the fishing gear is seized or destroyed, while the fishermen are fined and briefly detained. Only the Indigenous can legally fish in their territories. 'The crime's motive is some personal feud over fishing inspection,' Atalaia do Norte's Mayor Denis Paiva speculated to reporters without providing more details. While some police, the mayor and others in the region link the pair's disappearances to the 'fish mafia,' federal police have not ruled rule out other lines of investigation, such as narco trafficking. Advertisement The family of British journalist Dom Phillips said they were 'heartbroken' after they were informed his body and that of Brazilian indigenous affairs official Bruno Araujo have been recovered. A statement posted on Twitter on behalf of his sister Sian Phillips, brother Gareth Phillips, Sian's partner Paul Sherwood, his sister-in-law Helen Davies and nieces Domanique Daviester and Rhiannon Davies, said: 'Early this morning we were informed that two bodies have been recovered from a remote location after a confession from one of the men in custody. 'We are heartbroken at the confirmation that Dom and Bruno were murdered and extend our deepest sympathies to Alessandra, Beatriz and the other Brazilian family members of both men. 'We are grateful to all those who have taken part in the search, especially the indigenous groups who worked tirelessly to find evidence of the attack. 'In due course we will offer our perspective on the courageous lives and important work of these remarkable men but for the moment, we request that representatives of the media allow the family some peace to deal privately with what has happened to their beloved Dom. 'We thank the many people who have joined us in urging the authorities to intensify the search and those who have reached out with wards of comfort and sympathy.' Bolsonaro has made no secret of his desire to industralise the world's largest rainforest often referred to as 'the lung of the planet', and under his leadership the forest has been hacked back at a record pace. The far-right firebrand, who is facing both domestic protests and international scorn over his handling of Mr Phillips' disappearance, yesterday attempted to shift blame on to the journalist himself. Bolsonaro said Phillips 'was frowned upon in the Amazon region' for reporting on illegal mining activities and should have paid more attention 'to himself' rather than to exposing the activities of others. Suggesting that Mr Phillips was at least partially responsible for his own murder, Bolsonaro added that he 'decided to enter a completely inhospitable area alone, without security,' according to Folha de Sao Paulo. Amnesty International said Bolsonaro's 'cruel and insensitive comments... characterized the insensitivity of the authorities' management in the search for the two men'. It comes after former Tory prime minister Theresa May insisted the UK must do 'everything it can' to press Brazilian authorities to uncover the truth about the disappearances. Mrs May made the plea on Wednesday to Boris Johnson in the House of Commons after police arrested a second suspect in connection with the case. The Prime Minister replied: 'FCDO officials are working closely now with the Brazilian authorities following his disappearance on June 5. 'The minister responsible has raised the issue repeatedly, the search and rescue efforts, with Brazil's justice and public security minister and what we told the Brazilians is we stand ready to provide all the support that they may need.' Flavia Farias (R), a relative of Dom Phillips, cries with her friend Luis Fabiano (L) during a protest against their disappearances Pictured: Federal police officers carrying boxes at the pier after searching for Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips in Atalaia do Norte Shock at their fate has echoed across Brazil and around the world, highlighting the overhaul of indigenous agency Funai under Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro (pictured speaking in Florida, USA on June 11), along with a rising tide of violence and criminal incursions on native lands Developments began moving Wednesday when federal police officers took a suspect they didn't identify at the time out on the river toward search parties looking for Phillips and Pereira. An Associated Press photographer in Atalaia do Norte, the city closest to the search zone, witnessed police taking the suspect, who was in a hood. On Tuesday, police said they had arrested a second suspect in connection with the disappearance. He was identified as Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, 41, a fisherman and a brother of Pelado, who police already had characterized as their main suspect. Police investigators said Wednesday that de Oliveira had not confessed to any participation in the crime, but added they had evidence against him. Indigenous people who were with Mr Pereira and Mr Phillips have said that Pelado brandished a rifle at them on the day before the pair disappeared. Official search teams concentrated their efforts around a spot in the Itaquai river where a tarp from the boat used by the missing men was found Saturday by volunteers from the Matis Indigenous group. Authorities began scouring the area and discovered a backpack, laptop and other personal belongings submerged underwater Sunday. Police said that evening that they had identified the items as the belongings of both missing men, including a health card and clothes of Pereira. The backpack was said to belong to Phillips. Police previously reported finding traces of blood in Pelado's boat. Officers also found organic matter of apparent human origin in the river that was sent for analysis. Bruno Pereira takes part in an Indigenous protest in Brasilia, Brazil, 2019 in this picture obtained by Reuters on June 10, 202 Phillips talks to two indigenous men while visiting a community in Roraima, Brazil, on November 16, 2019 Police officers and rescue team members sit on a boat during the search operation for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira on Sunday Indigenous people march to protest against the disappearance of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, in Atalaia do Norte, Vale do Javari, Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, June 13, 202 Pictured: Boats belonging to indigenous members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley as they search for clues as to the whereabouts of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Pictured: An indigenous member of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley trecks through the rainforest during the search for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Images of German soldiers wearing their spiked helmets in the trenches are some of the most recognisable of the First World War. The famous 'pickelhaube' helmets were ditched in favour or ordinary steel ones in 1916, due to the fact that they were impractical for use in trench warfare. But it is less well-known that tens of thousands of the infamous head pieces later ended up being displayed on enormous pyramids in New York after Germany's defeat in the war. The US erected the structures on Park Avenue - which was temporarily renamed Victory Way - outside Grand Central Station in 1919 as part of a display of captured German equipment. Along with rifles, bayonets, swords, pistols and even artillery pieces, they were offered for sale and also given as rewards to those who had purchased war bonds. A new Youtube video by historian Mark Felton delves into the history of the helmet pyramids. Dr Felton raises the prospect that the helmet worn by future Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler when he was a soldier in the trenches could have been unwittingly bought by an ordinary American. Like hundreds of thousands of his comrades, Hitler, who served in a Bavarian infantry regiment in the war, exchanged his pickelhaube for a 'stahlhelm' steel helmet in 1916. After Germany's defeat in the First World War, thousands of captured German spiked helmets were displayed on giant pyramids outside Grand Central Station in New York Images of German soldiers wearing their spiked helmets in the trenches are some of the most recognisable of the First World War. Above: German infantrymen wear spiked helmets as they arrest a Russian peasant in 1915 The helmets were stored along with other equipment in warehouses which fell under US control following Germany's defeat. Dr Felton reveals in his video that more than 12,000 leather and metal pickelhauben were used to adorn the wooden pyramids in New York. The helmet dated from 1842 and had been designed by Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. However, the design was not practical and offered little protection in the First World War. When Germany introduced the stahlhelm, head injuries dropped by 73 per cent, according to Dr Felton. The warehouses containing the pickelhauben fell into US hands when it was assigned an occupation zone in Germany shortly after its defeat to Allied forces. The US erected the structures on Park Avenue - which was temporarily renamed Victory Way - outside Grand Central Station in 1919 as part of a display of captured German equipment The helmets and other military supplies and equipment that had been surrendered from November 1918 onwards were then shipped back to the United States. On hundreds of stalls that were erected on Victory Way, the equipment and weapons were sold off to ordinary citizens. As a result, the US now contains one of the largest supplies of German spiked helmets in the world. Victory Way took up several blocks of Park Avenue and was adorned with statues of eagles, ticker tape and banners bearing the colours of the American flag. The US only joined the war in the latter half of 1917 and needed to pay off the debts it had accrued in not only fighting but also providing equipment to allies including Britain. As well as making money from the sale of the equipment, the US also gave some of the items to citizens who had bought bonds from the government to fund the war effort. Dr Felton reveals in his video that more than 12,000 leather and metal pickelhauben were used to adorn the wooden pyramids in New York The helmets and other military supplies and equipment that had been surrendered from November 1918 onwards were then shipped back to the United States War bonds acted as a way in which civilians could help to finance the conflict whilst getting a return on their investment later on. The general sale of the equipment was a success and the Victory Way display was finally dismantled in late 1919. The left overs were sold to private parties. Dr Felton said: 'The US government sold captured German military equipment to the highest bidder. 'All along Victory Way there were stalls staffed by US government contractors where you could purchase German mauser rifles, bayonets, swords, pistols and much else besides. 'The artillery pieces were also for sale and were often given as premiums to towns who bought a certain number of war bonds. 'The pickelhauben of the pyramids and the thousands more in storage were also given away as premiums. This time to individuals who purchased a certain value of war bond. 'This is why the US is full of pickelhaube even though they were withdrawn before US entered the war.' Texas Republicans want to hold a referendum next year to decide whether or not the state should secede from the U.S. The party charges the state has taken its right to self-govern and calls for secession. The demand was part of the party platform Republicans voted on at their state convention this weekend, where they also formally rejected President Joe Biden's election in 2020 as legitimate. Under a section titled 'State Sovereignty,' the platform states: 'Pursuant to Article 1, Section 1, of the Texas Constitution, the federal government has impaired our right of local self-government. Therefore, federally mandated legislation that infringes upon the 10th Amendment rights of Texas should be ignored, opposed, refused, and nullified. 'Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto.' Texas has long pushed an independent movement, called 'Texit.' After the area declared independence from Mexico in 1836, it was a sovereign state for nine years before it was annexed by the United States in 1845. There have been multiple secession movement since then. Legally Texas cannot secede from the union. There has been a myth that it can because of the way it was annexed but the Congressional order of annexation merely stated Texas could - at a future date - divide itself into five states. It says nothing about leaving the union. Texas Republicans want to hold a referendum next year to decide whether or not the state should secede from the U.S. State Republicans held their annual gathering at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Thursday until Saturday, and the secession issue was one of many voted upon, includng a provision to reject Biden's presidential win. That resolution said: 'We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the US Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3 2020.' The resolution went on to say that 'substantial election fraud' in cities helped Biden win. It concluded: 'We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.' Republicans were also urged to show up en masse to vote in the November midterms to minimize the effect of any future election fraud. The other notable moments at the convention saw the Texas Republicans publicly rebuke Senator John Cornyn for engaging in bipartisan gun control talks, voted in favor of repealing the Voting Rights Act and voted on a measure demanding that schoolchildren 'learn about the humanity of the preborn child.' The party's embrace of unfounded electoral fraud allegations in a bedrock Republican state came as a bipartisan congressional committee seeks to definitively and publicly debunk the false idea that Biden did not win the election. The platform will be sent to the state capital Austin to be certified officially by the state Republican party. A Donald Trump cutout stands at Patriot Mobile display at the Republican Party of Texas convention at George R. Brown Convention Center on Thursday Members voted to repeal the Voting Rights Act, a law that was passed to make it easier to Black Americans to vote Among the events at the convention was a screening of the conspiracy theory movie '200 Mules.' The film claims to have revealed evidence of mass voter fraud The convention was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Party spokesman James Wesolek said that it was unusual for votes of this nature to be rejected, reports the Texas Tribune. Biden received 7 million more votes than rival Donald Trump. Biden also received 306 votes from the Electoral College, more than the 270 needed to win. Speaking to KUT, delegates at the convention echoed the sentiments of the resolution. Mary Jo Bloomqvist said: 'There's no way in hell Biden got 81 million votes. Are you kidding me?' While Jessica Steels said that she saw the 'numbers change' and that she not longer trusts 'the voting system.' Steels added: 'I became a precinct chair two years ago when Donald Trump was running in 2020, which we all know he won.' Texas was one of the many states that conducted an extensive audit of the 2020 presidential election but found few discrepancies. Donald Trump comfortably won the state by more than 600,000 votes. Among the events at the convention was a screening of the conspiracy theory movie '200 Mules.' The film claims to have revealed evidence of mass voter fraud. The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is building a case that Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election -- including by denying he lost -- amounted to conspiracy to illegally hold onto power. In recent weeks, testimonies from members of former President Donald Trump inner circle admitted that they did not believe his claims of election fraud. Trump, the 45th U.S. president, has denied any wrongdoing with regard to the January 6 riot. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was one of the keynote speakers at the convention Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan addressing members of the party at a special reception Texas Republicans also passed a resolution declaring Joe Biden's 2020 win illegitimate Texas is a major player in U.S. national politics, with 38 electoral votes, the second highest after California. Voters there have backed Republican presidents for the past four decades. The White House had no comment. According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, about two-thirds of Republicans believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. State and federal judges dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies challenging the election while reviews and audits found no evidence of widespread fraud. One of the proposed principles in the latest Texas Republican party platform also includes new language criticizing homosexuality and voicing opposition to 'all efforts to validate transgender identity.' 'Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,' it reads, a statement that is not in the 2020 platform. A week before the convention, President Joe Biden signed an executive order protecting members of the LGBTQ community from state laws that would prohibit them from health care access. Among the most controversial moments of the convention saw Rep. Dan Crenshaw heckled by conservative activists Biden said in signing the order: 'My message to all the young people: just be you. You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You do belong.' Votes on the provision are being tallied and certified following the bi-annual state party convention, a party spokesperson said. The Log Cabin Republicans of Houston, an organization that represents LGBT conservatives, said it was once again denied a request to set up a booth at the party's convention this week, as it has been for past conventions. The group called the Texas Republican Convention's actions 'not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted.' However, the group is seeing 'no evidence' of other state Republican conventions adopting similar bans or exclusionary language, Charles Moran, Log Cabin Republican managing director, told Reuters. 'If anything we are being more included' than in the past, he said, noting that the 2020 Republican presidential campaign had an official pride coalition, and the gay Republican vote doubled between 2016 and 2020. 'President Trump was the most pro-gay Republican that we have ever had,' he added. Acting chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, Michael Cargill, told KXAN: 'These are just crazy people. It's a small minority of people that are being un-Christian-like and spewing this hateful language.' The station reported that one speaker at the convention attempted to get the party to temper its language on homosexuality. That speaker said: 'We're the Republican Party of Texas. We're not the Westboro Baptist Church.' A reference to the Topeka, Kansas, based church that consistently stage anti-LGBTQ protests nationwide. On Friday, Senator John Cornyn who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002. There have been renewed nationwide calls for gun law reform following the deaths of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Another highlight of the convention saw Texas Congressman and former Navy SEAL Rep. Dan Crenshaw accosted by a group of party activists. Crenshaw was called 'Eyepatch McCain,' a reference to the late Republican Senator John McCain who famously did not always vote along party lines. The phrase was first coined by Fox News Tucker Carlson. A Line of Duty style advert has been commissioned by the Met Police in an effort to try and recruit 4,000 new officers. The glossy 30-second commercial has been made up to look like the hit BBC show, famous for its dramatic scenes and tense showdowns. It even features phrases that come up on screen, done in the style of excerpts from critics. They include 'truly inspiring', 'challenging and thought-provoking' as well as 'Moments of sheer exhileration'. 'Choose a career that only most people see on screen,' a woman's voice intones towards the end of the ad, before adding 'Search Met Police careers.' The short film is described as a TV ad but is also available on YouTube and the force's social media. The new advert looks just like an episode from the BBC TV hit Line of Duty when it starts The video even features phrases on screen, just like critics' comments, including 'intense' It been commissioned by the Met Police in an effort to try and recruit 4,000 new officers It is the Met's first ever television commercial and officers believe it gives 'the audience a glimpse into a wide variety of roles' available. Some of the jobs shown include firearms and explosives officers as well as safer neighbourhoods and marine police. The nod to the exploits of Ted Hastings, Steve Arnott and Kate Fleming are barely concealed in the police press release about the ad. It declares: 'The scenes are inherently dramatic and give a realistic flavour of the different activities officers carry out in their day to day jobs, aiming to convey to the millions of viewers in London and beyond who love police shows that they don't need to just watch the action from their sofas but could be part of it themselves if they choose to join up.' One of the officers featured in the ad is trainee PC Courtney Thompson, currently based in west London Some of the jobs shown include firearms and explosives officers as well as safer neighbourhoods and marine police It one moment a large man is arrested and brought in by officers for questioning during the ad One of the officers featured in the ad is trainee PC Courtney Thompson, currently based in west London. She is a former restaurant manager that fell in love with the PC role on starting her apprenticeship route course. PC Thompson said: 'I wanted to do a job that was meaningful and something that required passion and drive. 'I thought it was really important for London to have a police force that's reflective of the communities it serves. 'I feel proud to be part of the ad, It's a really exciting time to join and I'd encourage anyone considering it to apply. 'There are major changes happening and the vision for the future Met is one anyone would be proud to be part of.' After reaching its highest ever headcount at the end of March 2022, of 34,000, the Met confirmed it wanted to expand further, to 36,500 officers by March 2023. Taking into account the number of people who will retire and leave, overall recruitment will be close to 4,000 - double the number of officers normally recruited over a year period. This is the moment EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace is arrested outside a nightclub after allegedly attacking a police officer following a 'drunken' night out. Footage shows the star, best known for playing barmaid Kat Slater in the BBC soap, being arrested by officers outside a Burger King in Bury St Edmunds. Witnesses have today claimed how the 50-year-old actress appeared 'drunk' during the incident in the Suffolk town in the early hours of Sunday. They claim the soap had been kicked out of Flex nightclub for being 'gobby' and at one point branded onlookers 'c***s' in a foul-mouthed rant. Earlier in the day Wallace had been with her new builder boyfriend watching a Madness gig at Thetford Forest, Brandon - where she posed for photographs with fans. The star was later detained on suspicion of assaulting a police officer as well as drunk and disorderly conduct in Bury St Edmunds. But she was later released without charge by Suffolk Police after receiving a conditional caution. Today a Suffolk Police spokesman told MailOnline: 'A 50-year-old woman was arrested early on Sunday morning in St Andrew's Street, Bury St Edmunds, on suspicion of assaulting a police officer / drunk and disorderly conduct and was released without charge after receiving a conditional caution.' The force would not confirm she was arrested, while neither her agent nor manager responded to a request for comment. The arrest was first reported by The Sun. Today one witness told MailOnline how Wallace was arrested after being kicked-out of the club for being 'gobby'. The witness said: 'She was acting very drunken disorderly, assaulting police officers and swearing constantly. Video has emerged of EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace being arrested outside a nightclub The star, who is known for playing Kat Slater in the BBC soap, was detained in the early hours of yesterday on suspicion of assaulting a police officer as well as drunk and disorderly conduct in Bury St Edmunds Footage shows the star, best known for playing Kat Slater in the BBC soap, being arrested by officers outside a Burger King in Bury St Edmunds, in the early hours of yesterday She was later released without charge by Suffolk Police after receiving a conditional caution. A Suffolk Police spokesman told MailOnline today: 'A 50-year-old woman was arrested early on Sunday morning in St Andrew's Street, Bury St Edmunds, on suspicion of assaulting a police officer / drunk and disorderly conduct and was released without charge after receiving a conditional caution.' Wallace was out at Flex nightclub at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk on Saturday night (file picture) Jessie Wallace arrested after 'drunken' night out: Eastenders star's previous encounters with the law and her co-stars Footage has shown the moment Jessie Wallace was arrested outside a nightclub after allegedly attacking a police officer following a 'drunken' night out. But it is not the Eastenders star has had a run-in with law enforcement. Wallace was banned from driving for three years and fined 1,000 in 2003 for an offence of drink driving. Police stopped the then 32-year-old in Chelmsford, Essex, in March after she was caught breaking the speed limit in her 32,000 silver Mercedes. She was one and a half times the legal limit, with tests revealing 51mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35. Wallace claimed she had been drinking wine, which someone had 'laced' with vodka. However a judge rejected her claim and banned her for three years. A three-year ban was imposed because it was her second drink-related driving offence. Former colleague Barbara Windsor also revealed how she had a blazing row with Wallace when working together on the Eastenders set. Windsor said she had lost her temper because then 39-year-old Wallace, kept her waiting. Jessie Wallace was the first time I erupted. She was late, she was young. Shes not like that any more. I lost my temper, said Barbara. In 2017, Wallace was also filmed launching an expletive-ridden tirade after being reportedly kicked out of a pub. Video filmed by the Old Eagle in Camden, north London, showed the soap star with a friend shouting 'f**** you' at a man who had accused her of creating a disturbance inside. In December, she appeared strained as she spoke to police near her London home alongside her daughter Tallulah, 16. Wallace emerged in her slippers to speak to two police officers, who parked their squad car in the middle of a suburban street on December 28. She was flanked by Tallulah, who she shares with Mr Morgan, as they engaged in the strained conversation with the law-enforcement officers. The actress previously blasted Met Police's failure to investigate when Tallulah was mugged in north London in 2018. Advertisement 'She then went on to shout out, I hope this is all entertainment for you c***s, whilst barging through the middle of our group. She then ended up banging on the door of the police wagon she was in. 'Bouncers had chucked her out due to how gobby and annoying she was being to others.' Earlier this month, Wallace was pictured outside a party in Hackney after the British Soap Awards. The star was wearing a glitzy top with bright white trousers and no shoes as she left the party in east London. It comes after Wallace revealed she had been dating her builder boyfriend for a year. It was previously reported that Wallace had fallen for the workman after booking him for a job, but the star has since clarified they've known each other far longer. In May, she shared an Instagram that they had known each other for 34 years before commencing their romance. Predicting that it will be a long-term union, a source told The Mirror: 'It's like a plotline from the soap a classic Kat escapade. Jessie seems to be over the moon.' The NTA winner laughed up a storm as she chatted with him in the Transit in May. She split with her last boyfriend, father of five Paul Kempin in 2019 after a two year relationship and, before that, was dumped by musician Tim Arnold in 2016. Wallace had been dating the singer since 2012, but he claimed to have become 'tired' of the limelight at the time. Before she began a relationship with Tim, the award-winning actress was engaged to catering boss Vince Morse, but she called off their wedding after she found out he'd sent raunchy texts to a former lover the night before their wedding day. Wallace, originally from Enfield, north London, joined EastEnders in 2000 having featured in The Bill a year earlier. She played the role of barmaid Kat Slater, the partner of popular character Alfie Moon - played by Shane Richie. She quickly became a fan favourite. The pair had a five-year break from the screen before returning in the autumn of 2010 for another stint on the popular soap. They left again for six months in 2015 to film their own BBC One drama, Kat & Alfie: Redwater. In the series Kate and Alfie go to the fiction Irish town of Redwater to 'search for answers to some very big questions' and put their past behind them. After the six-part drama, Wallace returned to EastEnders as Kat in 2018. In early 2020, Wallace was suspended from EastEnders again by the BBC, with a two-month suspension incurred due to an 'incident while filming'. She was said to have been summoned to a meeting with bosses of the show who ordered her to 'sort herself out' before returning. Earlier in the day Wallace had been with her new builder boyfriend watching a Madness gig (pictured) at Thetford Forest, Brandon - where she posed for photographs with fans In May, she shared an Instagram that her and her boyfriend (pictured together at the Madness concert) had known each other for 34 years before commencing their romance Dating: The EastEnders star shared on Instagram that they had known each other for 34 years before commencing their romance Her man: It was previously reported that Jessie fell for the workman after booking him for a job, but the star has since clarified they've known each other far longer Jessie Wallace outside a party in Hackney after the British Soap Awards in London on June 11 Jessie Wallace (left) at a party in Hackney after the British Soap Awards in London on June 11 Jessie Wallace, pictured at the National Television Awards at The O2 in London in January 2019 Wallace is known for playing Kat Slater in the BBC soap EastEnders (pictured in August 2021) It is not the first time Wallace has had a run-in with the law. She was banned from driving for three years and fined 1,000 in 2003 for an offence of drink driving. Police stopped the then 32-year-old in Chelmsford, Essex, in March after she was caught breaking the speed limit in her 32,000 silver Mercedes. She was one and a half times the legal limit, with tests revealing 51mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35. Wallace claimed she had been drinking wine, which someone had 'laced' with vodka. However a judge rejected her claim and banned her for three years. A three-year ban was imposed because it was her second drink-related driving offence. The actress recently became a grandmother after her 17-year-old daughter Tallulah gave birth to a boy. James Bond scriptwriter Paul Haggis, writer of Casino Royale, was held by Italian police probing claims he subjected a British woman to a two day rape ordeal James Bond scriptwriter Paul Haggis has been held by Italian police probing claims he subjected a British woman to a two-day rape ordeal. The 30-year-old woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was found in a confused state by airline staff at Brindisi airport in southern Italy early on Sunday morning. She told police Haggis who is in Italy for a film festival which is due to start on Tuesday - had kept her for 48 hours in a bed and breakfast and abused her before dumping her at the airport. Haggis, 69, wrote the screenplays for the Daniel Craig blockbusters Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and he won an Oscar with his screenplay for the 2004 hit Crash. Prosecutors in Brindisi, a port town in Puglia, the region that forms the 'heel' of southeastern Italy, announced on Sunday that police had detained the Canadian-born director, screenwriter and producer for investigation of alleged aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries. They described the alleged victim as a 'young foreign woman.' State TV and other Italian media said she is a 30-year-old Englishwoman who had known Haggis before he came to the tourist town of Ostuni to participate in an arts festival. Haggis's Italian lawyer was in court Monday morning on other matters and couldn't be reached for comment. Police called to the airport by staff tracked Haggis down at his hotel in Ostuni and he was questioned before being released and has been told not to leave the country ahead of a preliminary appearance before an investigating judge in nearby Brindisi. Haggis's Italian lawyer was in court Monday morning on other matters and couldn't be reached for comment The woman told police: 'He dumped me at the airport after two days of abuse. I was here because we were supposed to be working together but instead he raped me. Police say the woman arrived in Italy last Wednesday and was found in the early hours of Sunday at the airport. A staff member who found her told local media: She was in a terrible state. She was curled in a ball and had tears down her face. She kept running her hands through her hair. She could barely speak but I told her she was safe and nothing else would happen to her before asking what the matter was. She said she had been raped in a hotel by man she knew well and said it was the director Paul Haggis and he had abandoned her at the airport. Local prosecutors Antonio Negro and Livia Orlando confirmed they were investigating an allegation of rape but said they would be unable to speak ahead of the this weeks planned court appearance. In a written statement on Sunday announcing that Haggis had been detained, prosecutors said that according to investigative elements gathered, Haggis allegedly 'forced the young woman, known by him from some time ago, to submit to sexual relations.' The statement also said that the woman was 'forced to seek medical care,'. The prosecutors added that after a couple of days of non-consensual relations, the woman was allegedly accompanied by Haggis to Brindisi airport and 'was left there at dawn despite (her) precarious physical and psychological conditions.' Airport staff and police noticed her 'obvious confused state' and took her to Brindisi's police headquarters, where officers accompanied her to a local hospital for examination, the prosecutors said. Haggis wrote the screenplays for the Daniel Craig blockbusters Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and he won an Oscar with his screenplay for the 2004 hit Crash An investigating judge in Brindisi will have to decide if the evidence is strong enough for Haggis to be held in his hotel under house arrest or move him to a prison, ahead of a formal accusation. Today his Italian lawyer Michele Laforgia told Mail Online: Paul Haggis is currently in Ostuni, at his hotel residence, after being held by the police on orders of the Brindisi prosecutor. We are waiting to hear when exactly the hearing before an investigating magistrate will take place but we expect it to be sometime this week and we will then present our version of events. Mr Haggis denies the accusations against him and he is completely innocent and hopes for a swift conclusion to the investigation which will clarify events. Obviously, ahead of the hearing we cannot say anything and especially as we are awaiting full disclosure from the judicial authorities, we cannot enter into any further discussions. Police said Haggis was under house arrest at his hotel on suspicion of sexual violence and causing personal injury. Haggis and the woman were allegedly in the tourist town of Ostuni, pictured, to participate in an arts festival that begins on Tuesday. Today his Italian lawyer Michele Laforgia told Mail Online: Paul haggis is currently in Ostuni, at his hotel residence, after being held by the police on orders of the Brindisi prosecutor' He was due to take part om the Allora Film Festival and give a series of talks on film production while his daughter Alissa was also among those taking part, along with Jeremy Irons and Matt Dillon. In a statement the organisers said: The directors of the Allora Fest have immediately eliminated any participation by the director in the event. They express their total solidarity with the woman involved in the matter. The themes chosen for the festival include gender equality and solidarity. A police source in Brindisi told MailOnline: The woman said he was in Italy to meet Haggis for work and she does have injuries on her body consistent with the claims and thats why the prosecutor asked police to intervene and hold him. CCTV at the hotel and the airport is being checked and an initial examination would appear to show him picking her up at the airport last week. Advertisement Staff have warned that Heathrow Airport is 'at breaking point' with bags being processed in different terminals, holidaymakers being made to wait a week for missing luggage and families forced to sleep on the floor. Are you being caught up in airport chaos in Britain or elsewhere? Email: tips@dailymail.com Advertisement Thousands of British holidaymakers faced chaos again at UK airports today as Heathrow ordered airlines to cancel 10 per cent of their flights to cope with the baggage backlog - leaving 15,000 passengers stranded. Staff members told MailOnline that an emergency system has been set up where passengers' bags are driven to different terminals to be processed because of the mounting pressure. A lift was set aside for workers to ferry trolley after trolley down to the ground floor where the bags were piled up next to a car park and outdoor smoking area. Baggage handlers in high visibility vests then loaded them onto another set of trollies where they were wheeled to vans waiting in an area where passengers are picked up by taxis. One worker told how the vans were then driven to the baggage area in nearby Terminal 3 where they were put through security checks - before being sent back to Terminal 2 where the bags should have been checked in. They told MailOnline: 'We got absolutely hammered last week so they have had to introduce this system as an emergency. 'The airport is at breaking point. There is too much luggage in the baggage area at Terminal 2 so they cannot be processed there. There is just no room. 'The baggage for all short haul flights has to go to Terminal Three because it is not quite as bad there.' Some frustrated travellers have been waiting for up to a week with no word on what has happened to their belongings. Patria Fopiano, from Los Angeles, has been waiting for her bags for a week. She came to the UK to see family and friends. She said: 'I am waiting to get my tickets scanned to look for my bags. 'I arrived on Tuesday June 14 from Florence via Munich to get here. Missed flights, came in late, got an email from Lufthansa saying my bags did not make my plane so I came back to Heathrow on Thursday last week. 'They could not tell me whether my bags were scanned or where they were. Lufthansa is very unhelpful. I have no clothing except what I wore and I don't like shopping, I'm here to visit and have a bit of a holiday.' Passengers' travel plans have been thrown into disarray at the 11th hour again following weeks of cancellations as the ongoing staffing crisis continues to cause mayhem at Britain's travel hubs. Dozens of flights were affected today after airlines flying from Terminals 2 and 3 at Heathrow were asked to scale back schedules. Virgin Atlantic has cancelled at least three long-haul flights to destinations including New York and Los Angeles, while British Airways has been forced to make a small number of cancellations. Three flights BA had planned to Toulouse in France have been grounded alongside two of four Marseille departures. STANSTED AIRPORT: EasyJet today announced plans to cut more flights over the busy summer period and has scrapped seven per cent of the 160,000 flights it expected to run between July and September. Families were pictured this morning waiting in long queues at Stansted Airport HEATHROW AIRPORT: Passengers continue to face chaos at UK airports, including at Heathrow, where hundreds of bags are mounting up outside Terminal 2 Patria Fopiano (pictured), from Los Angeles, has been waiting for her bags for a week after arriving to the UK to see family and friends HEATHROW AIRPORT: The baggage crisis has caused chaos at Heathrow with hundreds of suitcases piled up in the airport, with airport staff having to move them today Passengers 'left without food or water for 11 hours' after Jet2 flight back from Palma was delayed Two women say they were left without food or water for 11 hours while stranded in Palma after their Jet2 flight back to Manchester was delayed. Nyomi Loftus, of Sale, and her friend Megan Sainsbury were due to fly home from Palma Airport on Saturday and arrived early for their Jet2 flight at 11.25pm. However the flight was delayed and they eventually got an update at 3.50am which revealed a mix-up with baggage led to Jet2 'missing their slot to fly'. Ms Loftus, 36, said 70 bottles of water were then shared around 380 passengers before arrangements for hotels were made. She told the Manchester Evening News: 'The worst part was that they called out the names of 30 or 40 passengers and told them to go to a special spot so we could go to an adult-only hotel. We had to pay for the hotel; families with babies were lying on the floor. 'The hotel ended up being a family hotel anyway they could have gone. We were told there was a mix-up with the baggage and they had miscounted. 'They had to unload it off one plane before moving it and then they lost the slot to fly as the staff needed a rest. No one could get any detail from anyone.' She added: 'There was a little girl sat near us in the airport who was being sick because she was crying so much. 'People were just walking around trying to find out what was going on. It was left it absolute uproar it was a bit of a disaster.' Miss Loftus and Miss Sainsbury had to pay for a taxi to their hotel 40 minutes away from the airport, costing 65. The pair were eventually flown home nearly 24 hours later and said the first food and drink was given at the hotel at 7.30am - eight hours after the flight was due to depart and 11 hours after they arrived at the airport. A Jet2 spokesman said: 'We would like to apologise once again to customers affected by this delay. 'Our teams have worked tirelessly to look after everyone, however unfortunately there was a shortage of accommodation in Majorca yesterday evening. 'We advised customers immediately via text that we would reimburse anyone that needed to book hotels separately and we have done everything we can to look after everyone. 'All remaining customers are being flown home this evening.' Advertisement As the chaos continued, two women said they were left without food or water for 11 hours while stranded in Palma de Mallorca Airport after their Jet2 flight back to Manchester was delayed at the last-minute. Meanwhile, EasyJet said it is 'proactively consolidating a number of flights' at airports affected by 'operational issues', such as London Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol. The airline expects its capacity between April and June to be 87 per cent of 2019 levels - rising to 90 per cent during the following three months. EasyJet also said there will be a 'cost impact' from disruption and the amount of money it spends to operate each seat per mile excluding fuel will 'exceed' previous guidance. It added: 'We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak periods.' The airline's chief executive Johan Lundgren said he could not provide a figure for the number or proportion of flights that will be cancelled because 'we need to work this through' as 'it would be misleading for me to give any numbers today because we simply don't know.' He added: 'The actions we're taking, we do need to make sure that we can continue to operate a stable programme for the remainder of the summer. We believe it's the right measure to take.' An EasyJet trading update issued today stated that 'there will be a cost impact from disruption, coupled with the enhanced resilience easyJet is putting in place this summer, from additional wet leased aircraft, crew costs and airport charges. We will therefore exceed the previously provided operating CASK [Cost for Available Seat Kilometres] ex fuel guidance. We believe that these capacity/cost impacts are a one-off this summer as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for 2023 peak periods'. 'Wet leasing' agreements are between air carriers where the aircraft is operated under the party from which it is leased. For example, British Airways have wet leased four FinnAir planes with crew to run BA flights. Alice Speak, 34, said she was due to fly to Lisbon in Portugal to work on the production of a film, but instead she has been stuck in a queue trying to secure another ticket. Her flight with the Portuguese airline Tap Air was cancelled. She said: 'I just got an email saying it had been cancelled by the airline. I was in the taxi on the way to the airport. 'It said there is a staff shortage. I was told they would try to get me on another flight, but I dont know. 'Im lucky, Im from London and can just go home, but Ive heard others are having to book hotels.' One couple from Germany, who flew to London for the first time this weekend, also became stuck in queues after their flight home with the German airline Eurowings was cancelled. Ely Coimbra, 27, said: 'We were going back to Cologne today at 8pm. We received an email yesterday that our flight was cancelled. 'But strangely, it was also saying it was on time on their website. We were able to check that, but then three hours later we received another email saying it had been cancelled. Now we are trying to get a new ticket. 'We read in a German newspaper that there is a staff shortage.' His partner Julia Martins, a 27-year-old student, added: 'We are trying to get a flight to another nearby city, Dusseldorf. We never got the option to reschedule for tomorrow which is not great because we both work. 'Dont schedule three flights a day if they cannot do it. They cannot put that on the customers.' Mr Coimbra, a compliance analyst, continued: 'No-one seems to know what we are supposed to do, to ask here or what we will receive in the end. Its very unorganised.' Other passengers gathered around a phone at baggage reclaim in Terminal 2 trying to get hold of someone who could tell them where their luggage was. Julia Martins and Ely Coimbra, who flew to London for the first time this weekend, also became stuck in queues after their flight home with the German airline Eurowings was cancelled Fady (pictured) was also victim to the chaos at Heathrow today after the airport announced 10 per cent of flights were cancelled due to a baggage backlog HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues BRISTOL AIRPORT: Thousands of British holidaymakers again faced lengthy queues in Bristol airport this morning HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues BRISTOL AIRPORT: Passengers were pictured sleeping in the airport after arriving early this morning to try and beat the queues HEATHROW AIRPORT: Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport today as passengers still continue to face long queues MANCHESTER AIRPORT: Today holidaymakers are facing even more travel chaos - with exceptionally lengthy queues at Bristol, Manchester and Heathrow Airport at 4am this morning HEATHROW AIRPORT: Baggage is moved from busy Terminal 2 over to Terminal 3 and 4 - where more staff are in hand to move the outward bound luggage again due to T2 staff shortages HEATHROW AIRPORT: A spokesperson said that while there is 'ongoing disruption' caused by the issue, no additional baggage was being delayed and the airport is doing its best to ensure all passengers flying today do take their luggage with them BRISTOL AIRPORT: Hundreds of passengers queued this morning outside the Jet2 check-in desk at Bristol airport STANSTED AIRPORT: Chaos continues at Stansted Airport in Essex today with passengers sleeping on the floors amid further cancellations and delay Heathrow Airport chaos: 'No-one seems to know what we are supposed to do' Travellers at Heathrow Airport have been left in limbo after being told at the last minute that their flights were cancelled while thousands more have had their luggage lost in transit. Alice Speak, 34, said she was due to fly to Lisbon in Portugal to work on the production of a film, but instead she has been stuck in a queue trying to secure another ticket. Her flight with the Portuguese airline Tap Air was cancelled. She said: 'I just got an email saying it had been cancelled by the airline. I was in the taxi on the way to the airport. 'It said there is a staff shortage. I was told they would try to get me on another flight, but I dont know. 'Im lucky, Im from London and can just go home, but Ive heard others are having to book hotels.' A couple from Germany, who flew to London for the first time this weekend, were also became stuck in queues after their flight home with the German airline Eurowings was cancelled. Ely Coimbra, 27, said: 'We were going back to Cologne today at 8pm. We received an email yesterday that our flight was cancelled. 'But strangely, it was also saying it was on time on their website. We were able to check that, but then three hours later we received another email saying it had been cancelled. Now we are trying to get a new ticket. 'We read in a German newspaper that there is a staff shortage. His partner Julia Martins, 27, a student who works in HR said: 'We are trying to get a flight to another nearby city, Dusseldorf. 'We never got the option to reschedule for tomorrow which is not great because we both work. 'Dont schedule three flights a day if they cannot do it. They cannot put that on the customers. Mr Coimbra, a compliance analyst, added: 'No-one seems to know what we are supposed to do, to ask here or what we will receive in the end. Its very unorganised.' Other passengers gathered around a phone at baggage reclaim in Terminal 2 trying to get hold of someone who could tell them where their luggage was. Ciara Eustace had just returned from a three-day trip in Dublin and said her suitcase had gone missing on the way out there. She said: 'I flew from Heathrow to Dublin on Friday. We all got on the plane, no problems, and we went through to the conveyor belt. 'It said now loading luggage from Heathrow. The belt turned on. It was on for about five minutes and two bags came through, a baby carrier and something else, and then it just stopped. 'We found out later that it was only what couldnt be carried on the plane which had been put in the back. 'The carriage said all baggage had been delivered so everyone was confused.' The 21-year-old student added: 'There was a man working there on his own. He said sorry to tell you this but none of your luggage was put on the plane. 'He said the conveyor belts at Heathrow had all broken. Our bags were supposed to be delivered to the plane but never were. 'He was handing out forms but there was only one pen between everyone, we had to pass it around.' Ms Eustace said she was lucky as she had family in Dublin from whom she could borrow clothes but others were less fortunate. She added: 'There were people in Dublin saying there was medication in their bags. 'The staff at Dublin Airport did not know anything about it all until the bags came out. 'Im just happy they have acknowledged our bags are missing.' Another traveller whose bags have vanished said she has been waiting three days since arriving from Addis Ababa via Cairo and is due to fly to Vietnam tomorrow. Hien Dang, a diplomat, said she has no idea where her bags are and has been unable to contact anyone who can give her information. The 45-year-old said that when she arrived at Heathrow she was given a piece of paper on which was the location of the customer service counter for her airline. She added: 'The thing is, its all hiding behind unanswered numbers. I had to travel from London town to the airport hoping to meet someone from Egypt Air. 'When I got to the counter the guy there said he only sold tickets and directed me to this phone but no one is answering. 'I have been wearing the same clothes for three days. I have to go tomorrow, I dont know what will happen. I just want my bags back.' Advertisement The reason for the ongoing chaos has been due to an aviation staffing crisis - recruiting for roles such as security staff, ground handlers and check-in staff which is seeing passengers advised to arrive much earlier than normal for their flights because they are facing long queues. While many businesses in the aviation sector are struggling to rehire staff after many were let go during the pandemic due to a collapse in demand thanks to successive lockdowns, high levels of staff sickness for those who are still employed is also having an impact. A Heathrow spokesman told MailOnline: 'We apologise unreservedly for the disruption passengers have faced over the course of this weekend. 'The technical issues affecting baggage systems have led to us making the decision to request airlines operating in Terminals 2 and 3 to consolidate their schedules on Monday 20th June. This will enable us to minimise ongoing impact and we ask that all passengers check with their airlines for the latest information.' Ryanair, which has been largely unaffected by recent cancellations, announced it has added 200 'rescue flights' on its routes serving 19 UK airports until the end of September. This is aimed at passengers whose flights have been cancelled by easyJet, British Airways and Tui, the Dublin-based carrier said. Today holidaymakers are facing even more travel chaos - with exceptionally lengthy queues at Bristol, Manchester and Heathrow Airport at 4am this morning. One 'stressed out' passenger who was queuing at Manchester took to Twitter and said: 'I've been queuing for an hour and I'm not even at security stress levels are through the roof!' Meanwhile, Brussels airport has cancelled all departing flights today following a strike by security staff. In a statement, the Belgian hub said: 'Brussels airport has closed to all departures due to security strike. No departing flights on Monday 20 June. 'Due to the national manifestation and strike of a large part of the security staff of G4S on Monday 20 June, no passenger flights will depart from Brussels airport. Passengers are urged not to come to the airport and to rebook their flight. 'Only arriving (and cargo) flights will be carried out. Contact your airline to rebook your flight.' The chaotic scenes came after one pilot was spotted loading luggage on to a plane, helping ground crew to load up to the plane with baggage ahead of an Edelweiss flight from Edinburgh airport. The issue started on Friday with Heathrow chiefs blaming a 'technical glitch' in the luggage system. But it has sparked a huge baggage backlog which has been described a 'carpet of luggage'. Meanwhile, hundreds of passengers have reportedly been waiting up to three hours to retrieve their baggage today after flying into Heathrow. A spokesperson for the west London airport said that there is 'ongoing disruption' from Friday's glitch. But they said no additional baggage was being delayed. They also said the airport was doing its best to ensure all passengers flying today can take their luggage with them - and reiterated that baggage is the responsibility of airlines and not the airport itself. Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, appeared on Sky News with Kay Burley this morning and said it's 'sensible' that airports are 'revising their schedules' because it will prevent a repeat of the 'terrible scenes' passengers have been experiencing. He added: 'What we're seeing here is a result of the airline industry having massively contracted during the pandemic and now it's facing this surge of pent-up demand as things stand back up. 'It isn't resourced and manned for that challenge and that's why I think it is sensible that we're starting to see some of the airports revising their schedules for the summer season ahead. 'Frankly, we can't have a repeat of the scenes we've had in some of our airports in recent weeks. 'The transport secretary and ministers have been working very closely with the airline industry to try and get it into a more sensible place because they are offering flights they simply can't honour and that is simply terrible for passengers.' Mr Clarke also addressed the baggage crisis happening at Heathrow and said the ongoing issues are due to the Covid pandemic which led to the airline industry 'slimming down' their staff and operations. He added: 'This is not a result of Brexit, what I would say is it's an industry that massively slimmed down and understandably so - at a time when flying was impossible for a year and a half. 'It's now massively expanded its operations and the pressure is enormous and it hasn't managed to align the two. 'We will do our part as government to try and make sure our side of things is right from issues like passports to border control. 'We're pouring resources into this and making sure the process is as robust as it can be. 'The airlines need to do their part and make sure the flights they're offering can indeed be honoured. EDINBURGH AIRPORT: A diligent airline pilot has been spotted loading luggage on to a plane, as baggage chaos continues to hit airports across the UK. Video shows the conscientious captain down on the tarmac helping ground crew to load up to the cargo hold ahead of an Eldeweiss flight HEATHROW AIRPORT: Heathrow was seen to be chaotic with long queues at the departure counters today and heaps of luggage piled up pending collection HEATHROW AIRPORT: Passengers have encountered long delays to get to check-in and security at Heathrow today HEATHROW: Passengers continue to face hours of waiting just to check in at the under staffed Terminal 2 at Heathrow today Pregnant woman left stranded in Lanzarote for 17 hours after TUI 'told her there was no space left on flight home' A woman seven months pregnant was left stranded in Lanzarote for more than 17 hours after TUI allegedly told her there was no space left on her flight home. Ceri Burns waited through six hours of delays on her flight home to Birmingham on Sunday, June 12 before she was denied boarding. Ceri Burns and Chris Goulding were caught up in airline delays Ms Burns, 37, and partner Chris Goulding were allegedly told by the holiday agents that 'those who needed assistance and those with children' had priority boarding. However, Mr Goulding, 38, claims that TUI kept himself and Ceri inside a pen by the gate, where he and other travelers weren't allowed to board the flight. Having spent the night in a hotel, the couple finally boarded a Ryanair flight home the following afternoon, more than 17 hours after their original flight departure time. However, having finally touched back down in Birmingham, the pair were met with another blow when TUI revealed they had lost track of their luggage. Passengers in Lanzarote waiting for information on a TUI flight Still without their suitcases, the couple have still not received a refund from TUI. Mr Goulding said: 'I went for a week in Lanzarote with my partner Ceri for our babymoon. TUI told us that we were flying home but then we kept getting delayed, by 2:10am I had gotten a text to say the reason for this was an unwell passenger in Birmingham. This meant that the crew had used up their maximum legally permitted flying hours. 'We were put in a pen and as Ceri is pregnant I told her to sit down as we all had seats booked. It became clear when passengers started arguing that something was not right. They were scanning boarding passes and holding people in the room on the right of the gate if their bags had been removed due to there not being enough space on the flight. They randomly selected who wasn't flying. 'When the commotion started they stopped scanning boarding passes to deal with people and then told us the plane had already gone before we had our passes scanned. We were delayed three hours coming here which made us miss our first evening as well. 'There has been no refund from TUI, it is ridiculously hard to get hold of someone and they are saying they cannot find our flight. We've not received any contact for the next steps from TUI and are struggling to actually speak to someone.' TUI declined to comment when contacted last Friday. Advertisement Yesterday huge queues built up at Stansted airport and some passengers described the scenes of people sleeping in the airport overnight as looking 'like a shootout'. Meanwhile, scores of BA passengers, including a frail 81-year-old woman, were forced to spend the night on the floor of Rome airport when their flight was cancelled. Holidaymakers endured a gruelling 14-hour delay on Saturday night after their 9.30pm flight was scrapped. One traveller, Samantha Booth, fumed online: '@British_Airways you are a disgrace my 81 year old frail mother and my family have been left stranded over night in Rome airport. What are you doing about this.' Other pensioners on the same cancelled flight to Heathrow told MailOnline they were treated 'appallingly.' Retired mechanic Tony Fairhead, 62 and his wife Sandra, 63 from Weybridge, Surrey, spent most of the night outside the check-in area before Tony borrowed an Emirates business class check-in mat to try and sleep on. The couple, along with Tony's sister Maureen, were being treated by big sister Jean, 74, to a week-long Greek island cruise with business class flights to and from Rome. But the dream holiday was beset with cancelled flights, downgraded tickets and unwelcome surcharges which Jean is now addressing with BA and the cruise company. The flightmare began as the four of them checked in, recalled Tony. 'Our other sister back in the UK used to work for BA and she told us as early as 8pm that there was no flight showing from Rome to Heathrow that night, which obviously worried us. 'Then we were told we had to leave the business lounge as it was closing, but it wasn't until hours later that we were told the flight was cancelled. 'We had to get our luggage back and were told we could spend 200 per hotel room for two people, but when we looked online there were absolutely no hotel rooms at that price and we'd have to spend about 50 for a taxi each way as well. 'We were shunted back to the check-in area as everything else was closed, but there were hardly any seats there and we spent much of the night outside on the pavement. 'There was an old lady with dementia and a young baby who needed formula milk, but there wasn't anywhere to make it. 'It was the worst night I've ever spent. About 4am we moved inside and I rolled up the mat from the Emirates check in, but it wasn't much better. 'It was just horrendous.' The flight was finally scheduled for 11.30am the next morning, but the unlucky planeload found their problems were still not over. Added Tony: 'We checked in again and were sent over to security with the same boarding passes from the night before, and of course were not allowed through. 'There was a young Dutch lady who went back and forward across the terminal three times, being assured by the check-in staff that the problem had been sorted, only to be refused entry by security. 'In the end, she shouted and swore at them, and the security people let us all through!' Film worker Clare Wilson, 26, from West London, was booked on a TAP flight to Lisbon at 1.45pm but said she could end up arriving in Lisbon three days late for work because of the chaos. Clare told how she was one of 10 people flying out to work on a film production in Portugal. She said: 'This is my first day working for a movie production company. 'I was supposed to get there this afternoon and have a quick catch up ten start work tomorrow. It's chaos at the moment. 'I'm trying to check things online but it says the next available flight is not until Thursday.' Retired mechanic Tony Fairhead, 62 and his wife Sandra, 63 from Weybridge, Surrey, (both middle) spent most of the night outside the check-in area before Tony borrowed an Emirates business class check-in mat to try and sleep on Describing the mayhem she said: 'We were booked onto the 1.45pm which has been cancelled and somebody automatically moved me to the 8am. 'Because we are booked through the film company the message did not get through to me. I found out at 9am that it had been cancelled. 'It might be three days before I can get out there. I live only 10 minutes away so I came down to try to find out what is happening. I've been queuing up for 45 minutes to try to sort it out. 'There are 10 of us travelling out there and I am supposed to be going out for a month. Some of the group were automatically moved to a later flight at 6.45pm. I'm trying to find out what's happened to the others.' Miguel Mora, 24, told how he is battling to get to Rome to meet up with his sister Daniella, 22, to go on a special cruise to celebrate her university graduation in three days time. Liverpool fan Mr Mora told how he had flown to London with his mother Rosa from Miami. They found out an hour before leaving the US on Sunday night that their Heathrow flight to the Italian capital had been cancelled. He said: 'My sister is in Rome with a couple of friends. We have to get there to meet up for the cruise but we've got no idea how we are going to do it. We were going to spend a day in London. 'We wanted to see the sights but all you can see out of the window is a car park at Heathrow. My mum is trying to figure it all out. We might end up taking a train all the way there.' HEATHROW: Passengers luggage is pictured at Terminal 2 today following the ongoing staffing crisis HEATHROW: Piles of bags are being moved from Heathrow's Terminal 2 this afternoon following a 'technical glitch' which effected the baggage systems on Friday HEATHROW: A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'We unreservedly apologise for the technical issues with our baggage systems that have impacted passengers this weekend'. Pictured: Heathrow staff are attempting to clear the huge backlog of luggage today IT worker Dale Kingsbury, 54, was flying with his wife Carrie and son Paul, 20, to return to Newark in the US after a week's holiday in the UK. Dale said: 'We showed up for our flight. We queued up and got right up to the front. When we arrived at the check in desk they said 'Didn't you get the email?' 'They told us that our travel agent had been sent an email telling them that our flights had been rescheduled. The flight had been moved forward to 11am but we had no idea. 'It was sent at 7am but because of the time difference that would have been in the early hours on Sunday. They probably haven't even seen the email now. 'We were flying via Lisbon. We were due on the 1.45pm flight and were rescheduled in the middle of the night for a flight nearly three hours earlier. 'So we turned up and found we had missed the flight we'd been moved onto. 'We had a week in London. We thought we had timed it perfectly and would get out just before all the chaos started. It's frustrating' Baggage carnage continued at Heathrow with one worker saying how passengers' bags were being driven to different terminals to be processed because of a massive backlog. A worker said: 'It must be strange for passengers to check in their bags and then watch as they are taken back past them on trolleys rather than going airside. 'The bags are sent down to the left to the car park. It's not ideal and takes up a lot of manpower which seems crazy since a shortage of staff is one of the reasons we are in this situation.' HEATHROW: Travellers flying out of Heathrow were pictured today before check-in to avoid the lengthy queues ** Are you being caught up in airport chaos in Britain or elsewhere? Please email: tips@dailymail.com ** The parents of a 12-year-old boy at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute have been given the go-ahead to take the case to the Court of Appeal after a High Court judge concluded that the youngster was dead. Mrs Justice Arbuthnot recently ruled that doctors could lawfully stop providing treatment to Archie Battersbee after considering evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Archie's parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, from Southend, Essex, want Court of Appeal judges to consider the case. Mrs Justice Arbuthnot on Monday gave Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee permission to take the case to the Court of Appeal. It comes after Archie's mother said her son will wake up and is 'responding to music and smell' as she appealed the High Court ruling today. Hollie, 46, and Archie's father Paul, 56, want Court of Appeal judges to consider their case as they believe, if his treatment is given more time, his condition could improve. Ms Dance said the youngster had 'responded to music and smell' after lavender oil was placed under his nose, which has given his family a 'glimmer of hope'. She said: 'His blood pressure went up, so we put on a deep-breathing meditation recording and put lavender oil under his nose and within 10 minutes his blood pressure dropped to normal levels.' Speaking to The Mirror, she added: 'It's a glimmer of hope. He's in there and he's going to wake up, he just needs time. All I want is for them to give him time to heal.' The brain-damaged schoolboy has been at the centre of a High Court dispute after doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London, said they believed he was brain dead and his ventilator should be disconnected. Archie has been in a coma since he was found unresponsive with a ligature around his neck at his home in Southend, Essex, on April 7. Ms Dance believes her son, a talented gymnast, choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the 'blackout challenge' that first began circulating online 14 years ago. The youngster has not regained consciousness since. On the eve of the decision, she issued a last-gasp appeal to the High Court judge to 'find it in your heart to give my son the time to heal'. Lawyers representing the Royal London Hospital's governing trust, Barts Health NHS Trust, asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to decide what moves are in Archie's best interests. But in her ruling last Monday, Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said: 'I find that Archie died at noon on May 31 2022, which was shortly after the MRI scans taken that day,' said the judge in a written ruling. The parents of Archie Battersbee at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute are preparing to launch an appeal bid today after a High Court judge ruled the 12-year-old was 'likely' to be 'brain stem dead'. Pictured: Archie's mother, Hollie Dance The brain-damaged schoolboy has been at the centre of a High Court dispute after doctors treating him at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London, said they believed he was brain dead and his ventilator should be disconnected Ms Dance said the youngster had 'responded to music and smell' after lavender oil was placed under his nose, which has given relatives a 'glimmer of hope' Ms Dance believes her son, a talented gymnast, choked while taking part in a viral social media trend known as the 'blackout challenge' that first began circulating online 14 years ago. The youngster has not regained consciousness since The eight-week battle for life-support for Archie April 7 - Archie is found unresponsive at his home in Southend, with a ligature around his neck. May 5 - The Royal London Hospital, which is treating Archie, asked a judge to decide what was is in his best interests because medics believed he was braindead. May 13 - The judge calls for Archie to have a brain stem test after a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Friday. June 1 - Judge Arbuthnot visits Archie in hospital to see for herself his condition and treatment. June 7 - High Court hearing to work out what should happen is told parts of Archie's brain are dead. June 8 - A medical specialist tells judge Mrs Justice Arbuthnot tests showed no 'discernible' brain activity'. June 13 - The judge rules Archie is 'likely' brain dead and life support should stop. His family say they will appeal the ruling in a 'legally complex' process that could take months to conclude. Advertisement 'I find that irreversible cessation of brain stem function has been conclusively established. 'I give permission to the medical professionals at the Royal London Hospital to cease to ventilate mechanically Archie Battersbee.' Archie's parents are being supported by a campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre. Andrea Williams, chief executive of the centre said after Mrs Justice Arbuthnot's appeal decision: 'A ruling that says death can be declared on the balance of probabilities sets a troubling precedent for our society and must be appealed. 'This case is the first of its kind in an English court and has raised significant moral, legal and medical questions as to when a person is dead. 'Archie's parents believe that the time and manner of his death should be determined by God and claim a right to pray for a miracle until and unless that happens. That belief must be respected. 'The ideology of "dignity in death", meaning a planned time of death as fixed and carried out by the doctors, should not be brutally imposed on families who do not believe in it. 'We will continue to stand with the family as they appeal the ruling and continue to pray for a miracle.' Ms Dance and Mr Battersbee, who are separated, asked Mrs Justice Arbuthnot at a High Court hearing on Monday to give them permission to mount an appeal. They must establish that have an arguable or compelling case before a full appeal hearing can be staged. A barrister leading their legal team argued that evidence had not shown 'beyond reasonable doubt' that Archie is dead. Edward Devereux QC said the decision had been made on a balance of probabilities. He argued that a decision of such 'gravity' should have been made on a 'beyond reasonable doubt' basis. A spokesman for campaign organisation the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Archie's family, said relatives will use a follow-up High Court hearing to ask Mrs Justice Arbuthnot to give them the go-ahead to mount an appeal. Relatives must establish they have an arguable case before a full appeal hearing can be staged. Arguments would be heard by the Court of Appeal, which has the power to dismiss the appeal, but if given the green light, the case could be heard at the Supreme Court - the final appeal court for civil cases in the UK. Ms Dance said last week she would 'not give up' her ongoing fight for her son and said the High Court ruling 'was on only the start'. She said: 'I am devastated and extremely disappointed by the judge's ruling after weeks of fighting a legal battle, when I wanted to be by my little boy's bedside. 'Basing a judgement on an MRI test and is 'likely' to be dead is not good enough. I feel sickened at the hospital and the judge have failed to put the wishes of the family into consideration. 'I do not believe Archie has been given enough time. His heart is still beating he has gripped his hand and as his mother and my gut instincts I know my son is still there. 'Until it's God's way I wont accept he should go. I know of miracles when people have come back from being braindead. 'We do intend on appealing, this is only the start, I will not give up my fight for my son.' At the time of the ruling, Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'This ruling is a devastating moment for Archie and his family. 'The idea that death can be declared on the balance of probability is frankly ludicrous. Archie Battersbee's mother, Hollie Dance, (centre-right) speaking outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, after the High Court judgement last week on the future of the 12-year-old boy Archie Battersbee's brother Tom Summers kisses him on the head in hospital as he visited him on Wednesday Hollie Dance, 46, (right) has begged a High Court judge to allow Archie Battersbee's life support treatment to continue after he choked while reportedly performing an online 'blackout' craze 'Life is the most precious gift that we have. This ruling sets a troubling and dark precedent. 'This case has raised significant moral, legal and medical questions as to when a person is dead. 'Archie's parents do not accept that he is dead and are fighting courageously for his life. They will not give up now and intend to appeal. We will continue to stand with the family and continue to pray for a miracle.' Alistair Chesser, the chief medical officer at Barts Health NHS Trust, expressed sympathies for Archie's family today, adding that the hospital will give them time to appeal. Speaking outside the Royal London Hospital, Mr Chesser said: 'This is a sad and difficult time for Archie's family and our thoughts and sympathies are with them as they come to terms with what has happened. 'In line with the guidance issued by the court, our expert clinicians will provide the best possible care while life support is withdrawn. 'We are also ensuring that there is time for the family to decide whether they wish to appeal before any changes to care are made.' Archie, pictured wearing a medal and holding a trophy, was a talented gymnast. His mother believes he was taking part in a viral social media challenge when he was found injured The family were represented in court by lawyer Bruno Quintavalle and consultant Pavel Stroilov, who worked on the Alfie Evans case. The family of Alfie, a 23-month old boy, lost a High Court life support dispute after Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust argued that it was not in his 'best interests' to continue treatment. His family wanted his treatment to continue in Italy, but a High Court judge ruled against them, before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court dismissed their appeals. He died in April 2018. Ms Dance has said fighting for her son's treatment to continue has been 'agonising', adding that there are 'a lot of kids being sentenced to death' by decisions made at the Royal London Hospital where he is on life support. Also speaking with journalists outside the hospital in Whitechapel, east London, she said: 'I'm not the only one going through this. 'There's people up there (in the hospital) at the moment who have been told on day three that their child is brain dead. 'There's a lot of kids being sentenced to death through this hospital. This is not just for Archie now, it's for the other children as well.' Sir Keir Starmer is risking a new row with his MPs after it emerged the Labour leader is preparing to rule out bringing back EU free movement. Six years on from the EU referendum, Sir Keir is set to firm up Labour's position on post-Brexit immigration rules. He is said to be preparing a speech that will dismiss any notion a future Labour government under his leadership would agree to a return of free movement and once again allow unlimited migration. This is despite Sir Keir's past pledge to 'defend free movement as we leave the EU', which he made when he was campaigning to be Labour leader in 2020. EU freedom of movement allows people to move across the bloc to live and work without the need for permits, as well as enjoy equal treatment in obtaining employment or benefits. A handful of non-EU countries who have close ties to the bloc - such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - are also under free movement rules. Sir Keir's move is set to anger those Labour MPs who are agitating for the party to seek to return to the EU's single market, which would include an obligation to abide by free movement rules. The Labour leader has also been mocked by Tory Brexiteers over the 'pointless' pledge and for 'belatedly acknowledging a conclusion' made by the majority of voters at the EU referendum in 2016. Sir Keir Starmer is said to be preparing a speech that will dismiss any notion a future Labour government would agree to a return of free movement Sir Keir pledged to 'defend free movement as we leave the EU' when he was campaigning to be Labour leader in 2020 According to The Times, Sir Keir's speech will be aimed at winning back voters Labour lost to the Tories at the 2019 general election. The party is hoping to win back one 'Red Wall' seat it lost to the Tories at the Wakefield by-election on Thursday. A Labour source told the newspaper: 'Keir recognises that its time to put a line in the sand and stop any speculation about what our position on immigration might be.' It comes after one of Sir Keir's shadow ministers was reprimanded for telling a private meeting she hoped the UK would 'get back into the single market and the customs union and who knows in the future'. Anna McMorrin, the MP for Cardiff North, was also recorded outlining how she wished there might be 'some scope' to renegotiate the UK's Brexit deal with the EU if Labour were to win the next general election. Meanwhile, prominent Labour MP Stella Creasy used a newspaper article this weekend to put pressure on Sir Keir to end the party's silence on Brexit. 'For fear of saying the wrong thing, many in Labour claim it is better to say nothing at all about Brexit,' she wrote in the Observer. 'But such reticence does not honour those who voted Leave or Remain.' The Walthamstow MP added: 'We cant solve the cost of living crisis without revisiting what leaving the single market and customs union has done to grocery shopping.' In their 2019 general election manifesto, Labour pledged to hold a second Brexit referendum on a 'sensible deal' it would negotiate with Brussels. The manifesto, written while Sir Keir was the party's shadow Brexit secretary, added: 'If we remain in the EU, freedom of movement would continue. 'If we leave, it will be subject to negotiations, but we recognise the social and economic benefits that free movement has brought both in terms of EU citizens here and UK citizens abroad and we will seek to protect those rights.' Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, a committed Brexiteer, told MailOnline that Sir Keir's planned speech 'won't change' Labour's position as 'the party of open borders and unlimited immigration'. He added: 'Sir Keir is belatedly acknowledging a conclusion the majority of the electorate came to six years ago and one that the electorate will remember he and his party vociferously opposed.' Nick Timothy, who was ex-prime minister Theresa May's chief of staff, branded Sir Keir's action a 'non-promise'. He said: 'Does he believe in controlling immigration? How? And at what level? 'He plans to change our deal with the EU. How? What does he want to get? And in what ways would he cede independence? 'This is why voters think hes pointless.' Senate candidate Eric Greitens urged his supporters to 'hunt' those who don't support former President Trump is a new gun-wielding ad. The Missouri Republican posted the new 38-second clip to Twitter. 'I'm Eric Greitens, Navy Seal and today we're going RINO hunting,' he said. 'A RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice.' 'We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left. Order your RINO Hunting Permit today!' he captioned the new clip. In the video Greitens and an armed military squad are seen breaking into a home and firing round after round of shots. 'Join the MAGA crew and get a RINO hunting permit,' Greitens says. 'There's no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn't expire 'til we save our country.' Trump has not endorsed Greitens or waded into the Missouri race at all so far. The Greitens campaign could not be reached for comment, but the ad generated much pushback on social media. Facebook removed it from the platform and Twitter put a warning on it that reads: 'This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about abusive behavior. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the publics interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.' Senate candidate Eric Greitens urged his supporters to 'hunt' those who don't support former President Trump is a new gun-wielding ad The Missouri Republican posted the new 38-second clip to Twitter. 'I'm Eric Greitens, Navy Seal and today we're going RINO hunting,' he said. 'A RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of corruption' 'This is sociopathic. Youre going to get someone killed,' Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, wrote on Twitter of the ad. He said that any broadcast network that agrees to air it should be referred to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 'This type of fa[s]cist messaging needs to stop. It only encourages political violence,' Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., blamed Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for failing to 'confront and condemn the MAGA radicals.' Greitens is the frontrunner of 20 vying for the GOP nomination on Aug. 2 upon the upcoming retirement of GOP Sen. Roy Blunt. The 48-year-old Navy Seal and former Democrat has an impressive resume - he was a Rhodes Scholar, has a Ph.D. from Oxford University and has worked as a humanitarian volunteer and documentary photographer in nations the world over. But he's no stranger to gun-toting campaign ads - in 2016 during his run for governor, Greitens released an ad of himself firing off rounds of an automatic Gatling gun. Greitens won that campaign and served as Missouri's governor for two years before resigning amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance violations. Greitens is the frontrunner of 20 vying for the GOP nomination on Aug. 2 upon the upcoming retirement of GOP Sen. Roy Blunt 'Join the MAGA crew and get a RINO hunting permit,' Greitens says His ex-wife has accused him of spousal and child abuse. Sheena Greitens recently requested records from the governor's office proving that Greitens has had his access to firearms limited numerous times - she said that her ex-husband repeatedly threatened to commit suicide unless she showed 'specific public political support' in 2018 as he weathered multiple scandals. As a result, she and others limited his access to firearms at least three times that year. Greitens resigned the governorship after being indicted in 2018 over claims he sexually and physically assaulted his hairdresser in 2015 - and used nude photographs taken of her to keep her quiet. She also claims that he tied her up in a basement and coerced her to have sex with him. Greitens admitted to having an extramarital affair with his hairdresser and said their encounters were consensual. Greitens is pictured above in 2016 with his ex-wife and children during his campaign for governor Sheena Greitens has accused her ex-husband of spousal and child abuse Greitens' mugshot from 2018 when he was indicted on an invasion of privacy charge He also faced felony charges for using a veterans charity list to raise campaign cash. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley demanded Greitens drop out of the race after the abuse allegations from his ex-wife came to light. 'If you hit a woman or a child, you belong in handcuffs, not the United States Senate. Its time for Eric Greitens to leave this race,' he wrote on Twitter in March. Greitens has claimed his ex-wife's attacks are politically motivated and that she has conspired with Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove to keep him out of power. He is seeking full custody of his children. Ghislaine Maxwell used her connections to Bill Clinton in an effort to get herself a lower sentence for trafficking underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein. The disgraced socialite pointed to her work for the former Presidents philanthropic endeavors three times as she argued she should serve just four years in jail at her sentencing on June 28th. Maxwell claimed that helping launch the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) demonstrated she has a desire to do good in the world. Maxwell, 60, will be sentenced next Monday after she was found guilty of trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls last December. She has asked to serve just four years and three months in jail when she is sentenced later this month - and claimed she is getting death threats in prison. A photo from 2002 on the Africa trip shows Clinton standing on the steps of Epstein's plane with his arm on the shoulder of a smiling Maxwell. Clinton flew on Epstein's jet dozens of times including trips to Africa and Asia after he left office DailyMail.com has obtained a photograph of a signed copy of Bill Clinton's memoir. The former President wrote 'To Ghislaine with love' in blue marker in the front cover of 'My Life', said Maxwell's former dog walker Rasmus Alpsjo She also claimed that guards inside the prison where she is currently being held told her there was concern she could be shot by a sniper. The explanation was supposedly the reason why she was held in such high security conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Her legal filings accuse prosecutors of scapegoating Maxwell by making her a proxy for the crimes of Epstein, who hanged himself while awaiting trial in 2019. In her 77-page filing Maxwell references Maxwells history of philanthropy, charitable work, and helping others namely her work with the Clinton Global Initiative. The filing states: Ms. Maxwell has always worked hard. Her many educational, occupational, and avocational accomplishments include becoming an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), a helicopter pilot, a submersible pilot, a banker; partnering with the Cleveland Clinic to establish a telemedicine platform to enable people in remote areas to obtain quality medical treatment; helping develop the Clinton Global Initiative; and supporting a variety non-profit and charitable organizations. In a later section the document states that Maxwell is not an heiress, villain, or vapid socialite. Her lawyer wrote: She has energy, drive, commitment, a strong work ethic, and desire to do good in the world. She has supported friends and family through tough times and personal crisis and currently is assisting women in her unit at the MDC. The friendly tone of the letter is one of the latest indications of how close Maxwell was with Clinton, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. Pictured in 1993 She has endeavored to contribute to society.(by) helping launch the Clinton Global Initiative. The claim puts renewed spotlight on the links between Maxwell, Epstein and Clinton. Epstein claimed to have helped Clinton launch the CGI and the former President flew on his private jet - known as the Lolita Express - dozens of times. One photo taken as the jet was about to depart shows Maxwell standing with Clinton on the planes steps, the two smiling warmly. The friendship between Epstein, Clinton and Maxwell dates back to the mid 1990s at least when they were all photographed together at the White House. Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and said he never visited his private island in the Caribbean as some reports claimed. The claim about Maxwell being targeted by a sniper was made during a section of the pre sentencing filing which talked about Maxwells treatment in the MDC while awaiting trial. The document states: The treatment imposed on Ms. Maxwell was unnecessarily and intentionally degrading and threatening. While in isolation, a high-ranking prison guard told Ms. Maxwell that there was concern that she would be shot by a sniper. Putting aside the reason and propriety of dispensing this alarming information, the diminution of security concerns resulting in her transfer to general population appears correlated to Ms. Maxwell having been sufficiently safeguarded to fill Epsteins empty seat. In 2010 Maxwell attended the wedding of Clinton's daughter Chelsea in Rhinebeck, upstate New York The filing includes a number of letters from friends of Maxwell including Jeffrey Roth, the archivist at the New York Times. He was seen during multiple pretrial hearings sitting with Maxwells family and sat on the front bench with her siblings during the trial. He writes that he has known Maxwell for 50 years and finds her to be forthright, kind, respectful. Maxwell should serve substantially less than the 50 year maximum sentence at the hearing on June 28, her lawyers claimed in court documents published Wednesday They said that the higher sentence would be absurd and that Maxwell does not present a containing danger to the public The most recent known image of Ghislaine Maxwell, released by her lawyers in 2021. They're now demanding she serves just four years behind bars for child sex abuse The filing said that Maxwells life has been ruined and an inmate in her prison said the extra 20 years in jail would be worth it for the money they would get for killing her. It also revealed that her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, 46, had foundered as a result of the scandal and disgrace heaped upon her after she was arrested for child sex abuse. And the filing detailed a letter sent to the court from Maxwell's brother Philip and sister Anne. It said abuse she'd suffered at the hands of their newspaper tycoon father Robert Maxwell had ultimately left her 'vulnerable' and open to manipulation from her pedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. Detailing the bloodcurdling threat allegedly made against the disgraced socialite, the filing said: 'Recently, an inmate in Ms. Maxwells unit threatened to kill her, claiming that an additional 20 years incarceration would be worth the money shed receive for murdering Ms. Maxwell. 'On information and belief, one of the female inmates in Ms. Maxwells housing unit told at least three other inmates that she had been offered money to murder Ms. Maxwell and that she planned to strangle her in her sleep. 'The inmate who made the threat has been moved to the SHU (special housing unit), presumably to protect Ms. Maxwell. This incident reflects the brutal reality that there are numerous prison inmates who would not hesitate to kill Ms. Maxwell whether for money, fame, or simple street cred.' Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Her sentencing was delayed while the court resolved questions over whether a juror unfairly influenced the jury by failing to disclose his history of sexual abuse. A judge subsequently found he did not. In their 77-page sentencing submission and 29-page legal argument, Maxwell's lawyers said that she should not be made a proxy for Epstein. This sketch shows the moment Maxwell was convicted of four of the five counts she faces in December 2021. She will be sentenced on June 28 The financier hanged himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 and attention turned to Maxwell who became his replacement, the document claims. The filing states: In sentencing Ms. Maxwell, the Court cannot be influenced by this inexorable drumbeat of public condemnation calling for her to be locked away for good. 'The Court cannot heal the wounds caused by Epstein by heaping on Ms. Maxwells shoulders the pain of every one of his victims, the outrage of society, the public scorn of the community, and then driving her out of the community forever. 'While that may assuage the public and give the perception that justice was done, that is not justice. That is scapegoating. Ms. Maxwell must be sentenced on the record before the Court and not these external pressures Arguing that Maxwell was treated far more harshly than any other suspect held in custody ahead of their trial, the filing claims her 'life has been ruined. It continues: Ms. Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible. Ms. Maxwell has already experienced hard time during detention under conditions far more onerous and punitive than any experienced by a typical pretrial detainee, and she is preparing to spend significantly more time behind bars. 'Her life has been ruined. Since Epsteins death, her life has been threatened and death threats continue while she is incarcerated.1 It would be a travesty of justice for her to face a sentence that would have been appropriate for Epstein. In seeking to explain Maxwells background, her lawyers blamed her conduct on her late father, the disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell who died in mysterious circumstances after falling off his yacht in 1991. A letter from Philip and Anne Maxwell said: 'Her relationship with Epstein began at a moment of extreme vulnerability. Ghislaine's life after the tragic death of our father. He (our father) was a powerful and dominant figure. Maxwell's latest filing also told of how her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, pictured, crumbled in the wake of child sex charges Maxwell with her siblings - two of whom have since moved to defend her, and who continue to maintain her innocence 'And as elder siblings we witnessed our father taking Ghislaine under his wing whereby she became over dependent on his approval and vulnerable to his frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections. 'This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.' The document stated that he would subject his children to verbal abuse every Sunday. Robert Maxwell would explode, threaten, and rant at the children until they were reduced to pulp. Mr. Maxwell was relentless, with children ending up in tears, punishments being doled out, and the whole family in utter distress, the filing claims. The document states: Mr. Maxwell employed corporal punishment on his children. Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster. This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaines dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come. The filing notes that Maxwells estranged husband Scott Borgerson was besieged by media coverage and had lost his employment and professional relationships. It states: Sadly, the marriage could not survive the negative impact of this case nor a husbands association with his dishonored wife.' Maxwell is pictured at an LGBT rights event in New York City in 2013. Her glitzy world came crashing down in summer 2020 after she was arrested in New Hampshire on child sex charges Borgerson married Maxwell on Christmas Day 2016 - her 55th birthday - and dumped her during a heated phone call while she was in solitary confinement. He has since moved on, and was reported to be seeing a yoga teacher mom-of-two called Kris McGinn earlier this year. The sentence of 51-63 months was appropriate as Maxwell has never been accused of any sex offensesor any crimes, for that matterin the almost 20-year period since the conduct at issue in this case ended, the filing claims. It states: There is absolutely no evidence that Ms. Maxwell is attracted to minors or has the sort of uncontrollable impulses that would compel her to re-offend. According to the trial record, it was Epstein who had such proclivities, whereas Ms. Maxwells role was to facilitate Epsteins sexual abuse. 'Indeed, after she moved on from Epstein in the early 2000s, Ms. Maxwell was involved in two long-term relationships with men who had young children and was actively involved in their lives without even the slightest hint of impropriety. Most importantly, the government concedes that Ms. Maxwell is not a danger to the community. 'The government never made that assertion in connection with Ms. Maxwells numerous bail applications and there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a claim. Put simply, Ms. Maxwell is not dangerous and there is no risk that Ms. Maxwell will ever repeat the offense.' A vast network of companies holding a combined total of more than $4.5billion in luxury assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin all share one common email domain, it has been reported. An investigation by Russian-Latvian news organisation Meduza and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that a total of 86 different companies, seemingly unrelated and operating across different industries, all communicated under the email domain 'LLCInvest.ru'. The email domain is hosted by a Russian IT company heavily tied to Bank Rossiya - described by the US Treasury as 'the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation' - whose shareholders are a collective of Putin's friends, associates and even one of his supposed mistresses. A whole host of assets owned by various companies and their oligarchs - including a Black Sea palace, a luxury ski resort and a superyacht - have reportly been used and enjoyed by Putin in the past. But a digital paper trail, revealed via the common LLCInvest email domain, has shown for the first time how all of these companies and their respective assets are inextricably linked to one vast network of power and wealth, at the centre of which sits the Russian President. A vast network of companies holding a combined total of more than $4.5billion in luxury assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) all share one common email domain, it has been reported This grab taken on January 25, 2021 of an handout video of the Alexey Navalny Youtube Channel shows an aerial view of a property, located along Russia's southern Black Sea, that Navalny claims is owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin A whole host of assets owned by various companies and their oligarchs who share an LLCInvest email address - including this Black Sea palace - are all reported to have been used and enjoyed by Putin in the past Alexei Navalny's team share new pictures from what they describe as President Vladimir Putin's 'palace' in Gelendzhik, by the Black Sea This image from the Black Sea mansion was described as 'Putin's bedroom' by Navalny's team The vast 'Igora' ski resort outside St Petersburg is one of many assets owned by LLCInvest companies Previous attempts to prove which assets are owned by Putin have been futile, though the reality is widely believed to be vastly different to the picture painted by official Russian records, which suggest the President owns little more than an apartment and a few cars. Each time a luxurious villa or superyacht has been linked to the Russian despot, one of his friends, associates or oligarchs came forward to claim ownership. Billionaire businessman and Putin's fellow judo practitioner Arkady Rotenberg was named as the owner of the Gelendzhik Black Sea palace, while the Sellgren villa north of St Petersburg was claimed by Sergey Rudnov, the son of an old Putin associate who died in 2015. But the companies associated with both of these individuals were found to operate a private email address connected to the LLCInvest network. Other unofficial members of the network include Putin's childhood friend and majority Bank Rossiya shareholder Yuri Kovalchuk, oligarch Gennady Timchenko, and alleged mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh. A Russian corruption expert, who remained anonymous for safety reasons, told Meduza: 'The only explanation I see is that these companies are united by a common management system... '[LLCInvest] looks most of all like a cooperative, or an association, in which its members can exchange benefits and property.' This theory of a common management system through which Russian elites can trade and share incredible sums of money and highly-desired assets supports the longstanding claims that Putin has consolidated a vast fortune shrouded by a series of proxies and frontmen. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately shut down enquiries following the revelation of LLCInvest, declaring that 'The President of the Russian Federation is not linked or affiliated in any way with the assets and organisations mentioned.' Meduza and OCCRP meanwhile said they did not receive a single response from hundreds of LLCInvest email addresses they had contacted in the course of their investigation, though read receipts showed dozens of the emails were opened by the recipients. Ownership of this lavish villa north of St Petersburg was claimed by Sergey Rudnov, the son of an old Putin associate who died in 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg (L) attend judo training at Yug Sport complex February 14, 2019. Rotenberg is the supposed owner of a huge palace on the Black Sea connected to the LLCInvest network Unofficial members of the network include Putin's childhood friend and majority Bank Rossiya shareholder Yuri Kovalchuk (L), oligarch Gennady Timchenko, and alleged mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh (R) The findings of the investigation were published just days after Putin slammed the West's sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs and businesses following his invasion of Ukraine and delivered a thinly-veiled threat to any oligarchs thinking of abandoning Russia for sunnier climes. Amid a lengthy denunciation of the US and its allies, Putin, 69, warned 'nothing will be as it used to be' as he delivered last week's St Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF) keynote speech more than 90 minutes later than expected after the event suffered a cyber attack. When he eventually took to the stage, Putin issued a warning to Russian elites thinking of quitting his regime. 'It's safer in your own house,' he said solemnly. 'Those who didn't want to listen to this have lost millions abroad.' Putin drew applause from the hall when he reaffirmed his determination to continue the 'special military operation' in Ukraine that has unleashed what he said was an 'unprecedented' barrage of Western economic sanctions. Putin ominously claimed the West 'thinks they have won' and said Moscow's war in Ukraine had become a 'lifesaver for the West to blame all the problem on Russia.' He added that the US considers itself 'God's emissary on Earth', and that Western sanctions were founded on a false premise that Russia had no economic sovereignty. President Joe Biden said on Monday he won't visit the Ukraine during his upcoming trip to Europe but he said he talks to President Volodymyr Zelensky three or four times a week. Biden leaves at the end of the week for a G7 meeting in Germany and then heads to a NATO summit in Spain. 'On this trip, not likely,' he said when asked if he'll travel to the Ukraine. He said a visit to Kyiv depends on 'whether or not it causes more difficulty for the Ukrainians, whether it distracts from what's going on.' 'I have been meeting with Zelensky I talk to him three, four times a week,' he told reporters during a walk on the beach in Rehoboth, where he is spending Father's Day weekend with his family. Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro are the only two G7 leaders who haven't visited Zelensky in Kyiv. President Joe Biden said he won't visit the Ukraine during his upcoming trip to Europe but he said he talks to President Volodymyr Zelensky three or four times a week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week visited Ukraine for a second time since the Russian invasion in February and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the Ukraine last week for a second time since the Russian invasion began in February. The leaders of France, Germany and Italy made a joint trip there last week to meet with Zelensky as Ukraine has submitted its application to join the EU. The three head the European Unions three largest economies and said they backed Ukraines candidacy to join the 27-member bloc. The EU will debate the matter at its summit next week. Ukraine needs approval from all 27 member nations in order to be approved. Biden said he expected Ukraine's application to join the EU to be approved. 'I think that's very likely to happen,' he said. Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Olaf Scholz, President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic Mario Draghi and President of Romania Klaus Iohannis visited Romania last week The leaders of France, Germany and Italy made a joint trip there as Zelensky has applied for the Ukraine to join the EU - France, Italy and Germany are the biggest economies in the 27-member European Union French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, visited Ukraine at the end of last week. The three leaders traveled together from Poland on an overnight train. Zelensky has asked Europe for more military support as it fights over Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion. The United States has sent $40 billion in aid to the Ukraine in the form of military equipment and humanitarian resources. Johnson pledged a major military training program from the United Kingdom during his visit. Reality star Blac Chyna has reached an 11th hour cash settlement with her ex-fiance Rob Kardashian in her lawsuit accusing him of posting 'revenge porn' of her online after they split up. Just how much Rob - Chyna's co-star in the reality show Rob and Chyna and father of her five-year-old daughter Dream - agreed to pay the 34-year-old hasn't been disclosed and will likely remain 'confidential.' But the settlement averts a jury trial that was scheduled to start today at Los Angeles Superior Court. As prospective jurors gathered outside the courtroom, neither Chyna nor Rob showed up today - and nor did their attorneys - for what was supposed to be the process to select 12 men and women for a jury. Instead, Judge Gregory Alarcon's clerk announced that a settlement had been reached between the former couple. Judge Alarcon scheduled a hearing August 12 when hell formally dismiss Chynas revenge porn lawsuit against Rob, which she filed almost five years ago. Blac Chyna reached an 11th hour cash settlement with her ex-fiance Rob Kardashian today in her 'revenge porn' lawsuit against him Just how much Rob agreed to pay his 34-year-old ex hasn't been disclosed and will likely remain 'confidential' Today's settlement comes four days after a motion from Rob claiming the two had already agreed a settlement was thrown out by the judge. Chyna had insisted that she'd never signed any such agreement. And, after hearing arguments from lawyers on both sides, Judge Alarcon denied Rob's motion to enforce the settlement he insisted they had reached. In the settlement Rob claimed he and Chyna brokered, she supposedly agreed to drop the revenge porn lawsuit if he got her removed from another unrelated lawsuit brought against both of them by her former friend, Pilot Jones, who accused them of falsely outing him as gay. His attorney, Eagan, argued Thursday that the settlement Chyna denied signing, was actually agreed on May 23 via email by her attorney Lynne Ciani. And, he added, Rob lived up to his side of the bargain by getting Chyna removed from the Jones lawsuit. 'We performed the request..And we got the dismissal (of the Jones case), signed by Mr. Jones.' But he said, Ciani was trying to renege on the agreement and push for the revenge porn trial anyway. 'She is trying to re-trade after we performed our part of the agreement,' said Eagan. 'It's a classic bait and switch with them saying now, 'We want hundreds and thousands of dollars.' Ciani called Eagan's motion to enforce the settlement he claimed Rob had, 'absurd' and 'preposterous.' 'There is no binding agreement to enforce,' she told the court Thursday. 'They are trying to enforce an unenforceable agreement.' She said that Chyna never agreed to give up her claim to financial damages for the revenge porn lawsuit if the Jones case was dismissed. 'We have a legal right to go to trial.' Chyna previously accused the Kardashians of plotting to cancel her hit reality show Rob & Chyna The pair were once engaged, co-star in the reality show Rob and Chyna and share five-year-old daughter Dream Kardashian Ciani added that the revenge porn case comes down to money. 'What X amount of dollars would get this settled,' she said. 'If we came up with an amount to agree on, we would not be here today.' Eagan proposed sending the case to a settlement judge for a 'negotiated resolution.' 'The parties do want to settle this case,' he said. 'Mr. Kardashian thought he had an agreement. 'He doesn't want his daughter in five or 10 years to read about a fight between her parents involving sexually explicit images.' Ciani countered, saying that Chyna 'wants her daughter to know that it is not OK to have nude photos posted against your will. 'Revenge porn is serious - it's a crime.' Thursday's ruling sending the case to trial was a major victory for Chyna who is still smarting over her loss to the Kardashian women in April when the jury in her $108 million defamation lawsuit against the billionaire family awarded her zero in damages. Chyna lost her suit against Kim, Kylie, Khloe and Kris for allegedly plotting to have her show Rob and Chyna axed. They are seen in court in a sketch from the trial It was also welcome news for her, hot on the heels of another blow dealt to the former stripper last week when the Kardashians stuck her with a $391,000 bill for expenses they ran up during her losing trial. She's fighting their cash demand. After Thursday's ruling, Chyna's attorney, Lynne Ciani, told DailyMail.com, 'Chyna is very pleased that the trial judge denied Rob's motion to 'enforce' a settlement that never existed. 'Without a settlement, Chyna will prove her case to a Los Angeles jury on June 20 that Rob posted devastating revenge porn of her to millions of his Instagram followers without her consent. 'Revenge porn is a very dangerous form of violence predominantly perpetrated against girls and women. Victims of revenge porn typically experience serious anxiety, shame, and helplessness. Some revenge porn victims have committed suicide. 'Rob Kardashian has never taken responsibility for his heinous and vengeful act of posting revenge porn against Chyna in July 2017. 'He was never criminally prosecuted. It is finally time for Rob to be held accountable in a court of law.' An American who traveled to Ukraine along with two US veterans who have now been captured by Russian forces has told of his guilt. The soldier spoke anonymously to CBS Mornings on Monday as Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh were paraded on Russian state television. 'They sort of followed me out here. We all agreed there was no leader in the group but I definitely feel a bit guilty, without a doubt. 'We should have taken a closer look at more humanitarian options or training options. 'If we did, then they wouldn't be in the situation they're in,' he said. Scroll down for video The soldier spoke anonymously to CBS Mornings on Monday as Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh were paraded on Russian state television American veterans Andy Huynh and Alex Drueke were captured by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. Another American who fought alongside them says he would apologize to them: They wanted to do good, and this is sort of, I suppose, the unfortunate result of that. pic.twitter.com/14uyOXLurz CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 20, 2022 Alexander Drueke, 39, left, and Andy Huynh, 27, appeared terrified in footage released by Russian forces where they identified themselves and denounced war. They men went missing last week after their platoon in Ukraine was ambushed by Russian soldiers Drueke, 39, and Huynh, 27, were captured on June 11 during a battle in Kharkiv. They were captured by Russian fighters after disabling a tank with grenades. The anonymous group-leader who was with them told CBS that he and they knew execution was a possibility. 'They wound up out here a bit by accident. They wanted to do good and this is sort of, I suppose, the unfortunate result of that. 'We were warned that execution could be a possibility. I'm very happy that they did not know follow through with that,' he said. Drueke served in the US Army in Iraq but Huynh has never been in active combat before. His fiancee in Alabama said he traveled to the region to help after watching the war unfold from afar. An undated photo of the two veterans, Drueke, (left) and Huynh (right), was uploaded on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday, a day before the video went up In the video issued by Russian state media, the men appear beaten and tired. 'My name is Alexander Drueke, I am against war,' Drueke said. He then reiterates in Russian, 'Ya protiv voyny,' meaning I am against war. 'Ya protiv voyny,' Huynh repeats after a quick cut. Another video shows Drueke addressing his mother, Bunny, as he promises her that he will be back home. 'Mom, I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive, and I hope to be back home as soon as I can,' Drueke said. 'Love you.' Kurpasi had arrived in the country on March 7 and was in the capital by March 21. He was last heard from around April 23 and 24 Pentagon spokesman John Kirby last week said the US would do 'everything' to bring the pair home safely. He however reiterated that Ukraine was 'no place for Americans right now', and he urged anyone considering joining the fight not to go. The two men's families are begging the Biden administration to help them. Bunny Drueke, Alex's mother, said the latest photos and videos give her hope because her son is still alive. 'Unmistakably under duress, but thank God they're alive,' she said in a previous interview with CBS. Drueke, who will turn 40 this month, is a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who served two tours in Iraq and who volunteered with the Ukrainian Army. Huynh, a Marine for four years, had never been in active combat before flying to Ukraine in April to volunteer. Both of the U.S. fighters are from Alabama, but it remains unclear if they knew each other before they ventured to the war zone. The pair were part of a ten-man squad defending Kharkiv last week when they were ambushed by Russian soldiers, according to one of their comrades. Drueke and Huynh disabled a Russian tank with a grenade but were lost in the fog of return fire. By the time it cleared, they had vanished. 'We were out on a mission and the whole thing went absolutely crazy, with bad intel. 'We were told the town was clear when it turned out the Russians were already assaulting it. Both of the U.S. fighters are from Alabama and had disabled a Russian tank with a grenade but were lost in the fog of return fire 'They came down the road with two T72 tanks and multiple BMP3s (armored fighting vehicles) and about 100 infantry. The only thing that was there was our ten man squad,' one of their comrades told The Daily Telegraph in an interview on Tuesday. 'We suspect that they were knocked unconscious by either the anti-tank mine, or by the tank shooting at them, because later search missions found not sign of them, nothing. 'Afterwards we sent drones up and had a Ukrainian search team on the ground but we found nothing: if they had been hit by the tank shell there would have been remains of their bodies or equipment at the scene,' he said. Meanwhile, the United States government has said it has not yet asked Russia about Drueke and Huynh's whereabouts. 'As of today, we have not raised this yet with the Russian Federation... (We) haven't seen anything from the Russians indicating that two such individuals are in their custody,' U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday. Also missing now is U.S. Marine veteran Ret. Captain Grady Kurpasi, who left for Ukraine in March, according to CNN. Firefighters work at the site of fire after Russian shelling in Mykolaiv in Ukraine this weekend after the latest bombardment A couple walk past a building destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv, Ukraine, yesterday amid fears of an escalation of the conflict He has not been heard from since April. No trace of him has been found, sparking fears he may have been killed. He had been living in Wilmington, North Carolina, before leaving for the eastern European country. Captain Kurpasi had only recently retired from the U.S. military in November 2021, having served in the US Marine Corps for 20 years. He decided to volunteer alongside Ukrainians in Ukraine but did not see himself fighting on the frontlines, a family friend said. 'For him personally, he has a skill set that he feels he can give back,' George Heath, a family friend of Kurpasi's, told CNN. 'He wanted to go and help the Ukrainian people. He wasn't really planning on fighting.' Kurpasi had arrived in the country on March 7 and was in the capital by March 21. He was last heard from around April 23 and 24 according to Heath. By the end of April he was tasked with tasked manning an observation post near Kherson. It was around that time, he stopped communicating with those back in the U.S. It's believed the post he was at came under 'small arms fire' on April 26. Kurpasi went to investigate what was happening along with another soldier and left the observation post before radioing to the Ukrainian military to fire back. 'It was the last time anyone heard from him,' Heath explained. 'His goal was not to be in firefights doing stuff like that,' Heath added. 'It just ended up being that way in the end.' Kurpasi's body has not been found. A month-old baby was killed by a monkey after it broke into his family's home in a Tanzania village and snatched him away. 'ncidents of animals invading villages are not uncommon. It's not known what species of monkey the animal was, nor exactly how big it was. Luhaiba Said was being breastfed by his mother Shayima in Mwamgongo, western Tanzania. A gang of monkeys invaded the property and grabbed the boy. He was injured on his head and neck and passed away during emergency medical treatment. Regional commander James Manyama said villagers tried to use force in an attempt to rescue Luhaiba from their grasp. The animal then lashed out at the child and killed him, Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen reported. Mr Manyama said: 'She screamed for help and villagers rushed to her house to assist her in getting her child identified as Luhaiba Said - back from the troop of monkeys. 'When they tried to take him back by force he got injured on the head and the neck.' Police urged citizens to stay on the lookout for the dangerous animals. Police urged citizens to stay on the lookout for the dangerous animals out the national park The commander added: 'It should be noted that Mwamgongo village shares a border with Gombe National Park. 'Incidents of animals invading villages are not uncommon.' It's not known what species of monkey the animal was, nor exactly how big it was. The Said family has not yet been pictured. Fresh pressure was piled on the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford tonight after one of his MPs apologised for attempting to rally support for a sex pest colleague. Amy Callaghan, the MP for East Dunbartonshire, revealed she had been 'searingly reflective' as she issued a 'wholehearted apology'. It came after she was recorded telling her SNP colleagues they should be 'rallying together' around Patrick Grady, who was last week suspended from the House of Commons for two days for sexual misconduct. But Mr Blackford - who is facing demands to quit after the same leaked recording also caught him urging SNP MPs to support Mr Grady - remained silent. Mr Grady, a former SNP chief whip at Westminster, made an unwanted sexual advance towards a 19-year-old male member of staff. The Glasgow North MP, now 42, was found to have touched and stroked the neck, hair and back of the teenager at a London pub in 2016. He was found guilty by a Westminster watchdog of a 'significant breach' of Parliament's sexual misconduct policy. In a statement posted on Twitter, Ms Callaghan today offered her apology to 'anyone - especially survivors of harassment - who has been hurt or triggered as a result of this week'. She added: 'I am both sorry and, ultimately, take full responsibility for my words, as insensitive, poorly worded and misplaced as they were. 'I'm taking full accountability for the hurt and disappointment I've caused, not least of all to those directly impacted by sexual misconduct in this case.' Amy Callaghan, the MP for East Dunbartonshire, revealed she had been 'searingly reflective' as she issued a 'wholehearted apology' In a statement posted on Twitter, Ms Callaghan today offered her apology to 'anyone - especially survivors of harassment - who has been hurt or triggered as a result of this week' Patrick Grady was last week suspended from the House of Commons for two days for sexual misconduct The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford is facing demands to quit after the leaked recording also caught him urging SNP MPs to support Mr Grady In the leaked recording, obtained by the Daily Mail, Ms Callaghan was heard telling a gathering of SNP MPs last week: 'Regardless of our position on Patrick's situation, we should be rallying together around him to support him at this time as well.' Mr Blackford could also be heard asking MPs to 'deliver as much support as possible' to Mr Grady. 'He's going to face a number of challenges over the short term and so he should have our absolute full support,' he said. 'I for one very much look forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week. I am sure that everybody here will agree.' Mr Blackford previously promised Mr Grady's victim he would show a 'zero tolerance' attitude to abuse. It has been revealed how the SNP threatened its own MPs with legal action over the leak of the tape to the Daily Mail. According to the Times, the current SNP chief whip Owen Thompson told MPs in a late-night email that parliamentary security had been informed of the leak from a private meeting. Opposition parties have demanded that Mr Blackford either resign or be sacked by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as the crisis over Mr Grady engulfs the party's top ranks. Scottish Labour's Neil Bibby said: 'The only investigation the SNP should be launching is into their own failures to protect staff in this tawdry case. 'That SNP MPs stood and applauded one of their colleagues after he admitted abusing his position to take sexual advantage of a staff member is disgusting. 'From the start, the SNP have behaved in a way that is disgraceful - closing ranks and intimidating people who tried to bring this story to light. 'There are serious questions for the SNP about whether Patrick Grady is being treated so lamely compared to others because of his closeness to the SNP establishment.' And Scottish Tory MP John Lamont added: 'Ian Blackford must break his silence and explain why he has taken no action to prevent sexual harassment in the SNP Westminster Group. 'Instead of acting as we requested more than a year ago, he has treated a disgraced MP with more sympathy than the victim who suffered harassment.' Today the Daily Mail revealed Mr Blackford told the young SNP staff member he would take a 'zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour'. Instead he was secretly recorded last week urging MPs to rally around Grady. The victim, who is still a party employee, said: 'Ian Blackford has broken his promise to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. 'No one can believe a word he says any more. My fear is the way he has handled this will discourage victims from coming forward in future. This has been a betrayal.' Mr Blackford was made aware of the allegations in February 2018 but he kept Grady as chief whip at Westminster for a further three years. Mr Blackford previously promised Mr Grady's victim he would show a 'zero tolerance' attitude to abuse A Westminster probe concluded last week that Mr Grady had made 'unwanted sexual advances' to the male party worker, who was just 19 years old at the time 'That SNP MPs stood and applauded one of their colleagues after he admitted abusing his position to take sexual advantage of a staff member is disgusting. 'From the start, the SNP have behaved in a way that is disgraceful - closing ranks and intimidating people who tried to bring this story to light. 'There are serious questions for the SNP about whether Patrick Grady is being treated so lamely compared to others because of his closeness to the SNP establishment.' And Scottish Tory MP John Lamont added: 'Ian Blackford must break his silence and explain why he has taken no action to prevent sexual harassment in the SNP Westminster Group. 'Instead of acting as we requested more than a year ago, he has treated a disgraced MP with more sympathy than the victim who suffered harassment.' In the recording, obtained by the Mail, Mr Blackford can be heard asking MPs to 'deliver as much support as possible' to Mr Grady. 'He's going to face a number of challenges over the short term and so he should have our absolute full support,' the head of the SNP in London added. 'I for one very much look forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week. I am sure that everybody here will agree.' The Mail revealed Mr Blackford told the young SNP staff member he would take a 'zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour'. Instead he was secretly recorded last week urging MPs to rally around Grady. The victim, who is still a party employee, said: 'Ian Blackford has broken his promise to take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. No one can believe a word he says any more. My fear is the way he has handled this will discourage victims from coming forward in future. This has been a betrayal.' Mr Blackford was made aware of the allegations in February 2018 but he kept Grady as chief whip at Westminster for a further three years. Mr Grady finally stepped down from the post on March 9, 2021 when the complaint was made public. It can be revealed that Mr Blackford wrote to SNP staff, including the victim, two days later to promise he would tackle the problem of harassment. In an email sent on March 11, 2021, which has been obtained by the Mail, he said: 'Following the news of allegations of sexual harassment, I want to write and offer reassurance that the SNP Westminster Group has a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour.' His email added: 'I am clear that the welfare of our staff is paramount.' But Mr Blackford has now been accused of failing to keep his promise by directing the party's MPs to give their 'absolute full support' to Grady. At a meeting of the SNP's parliamentary group last Tuesday, it was decided that Grady should only lose the party whip until he has completed a two-day suspension from the Commons. A recording obtained by the Mail reveals how Mr Blackford celebrated the choice to allow Mr Grady to remain as a Nationalist MP only 15 minutes after it was agreed. Following the decision, he told the party group that he 'would encourage' them to give 'as much support as possible' to their shamed colleague. 'He's going to face a number of challenges over the short term and so he should have our absolute full support,' Mr Blackford said. 'I for one very much look forward to welcoming Patrick back into the group next week. I am sure that everybody here will agree.' In the bombshell tape, the gathering of the parliamentary group can be heard shouting 'hear, hear' at a call from Ms Callaghan, another SNP frontbencher, for Mr Grady to be supported. According to the Times, the current SNP chief whip Owen Thompson told MPs in a late-night email that parliamentary security had been informed of the leak from a private meeting Scottish Conservative Party chairman Craig Hoy said: 'This email confirms that the SNP have seriously warped priorities when it comes to handling severe misconduct. Ian Blackford must now resign as Westminster leader or be sacked. Scottish Labour's Mr Bibby said: 'Ian Blackford and the SNP's promise to support staff and show zero tolerance to abusers lies in tatters. 'Instead the SNP has closed ranks, sidelined victims and tried to intimidate anyone who wanted the truth to come to light. This disgraceful behaviour from Grady and Blackford is unacceptable. Nicola Sturgeon can no longer ignore the actions of her Westminster group.' Angus Robertson, who led SNP MPs at Westminster for a decade before losing his seat to the Tories in 2017, revealed he had spoken to his successor about the 'very difficult' situation but rejected any call for him to quit. The Scottish Government's Constitution Secretary told the BBC's Sunday Show: 'There has to be a way back for people while at the same time supporting people who've been treated inappropriately.' Asked if he thought Mr Blackford should resign for his role in orchestrating a show of support for Mr Grady, Mr Robertson added: 'No I don't. Challenged about the broken promise for zero tolerance, a spokesman for the SNP Westminster parliamentary group said: 'Staff and MPs have been offered pastoral support throughout this process.' A Scottish Government minister also said Mr Blackford should not resign. Neil Gray, who was MP for Airdrie and Shotts from 2015 to 2021, however, said he believed the sanctions on Mr Grady were 'right'. When asked if he believed Mr Blackford and Mr Grady should resign, he said: 'No, I think there was an independent process that was set up and agreed by all parties at Westminster that ensured that people who had complaints were able to come forward and have them considered in an independent fashion. 'That process concluded that there was a sanction to be meted out on Patrick Grady which was absolutely right and the SNP group at Westminster mirrored that sanction. 'So, I think now what's important is ensuring that all parties concerned obviously my first thought is with the complainant and ensuring they have the support that they require, but that all parties have the pastoral support that is required going forward and that, obviously, following incidents like this, we always reflect and ensure that our processes as a party or Westminster group are as responsive as possible and make sure that we learn any lessons that are necessary.' Vice President Kamala Harris surprised a group of children at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Monday to mark Juneteenth, where one little girl was so overwhelmed she started to cry. Harris appeared to feel bad she caused such an emotional reaction from the young girl, who was at a table coloring along with other children. The vice president clasp her hands over her mouth and gasp as the child rubbed her eyes. The other kids took the surprise visit more calmly, pausing in their coloring to chat with Harris about the new federal holiday. A little girl was overwhelmed when Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture to mark Juneteenth Vice President Harris surprised the kids when she walked in and wished them 'Happy Juneteenth young leaders' But the children were visibly surprised when Harris, dressed in pants and a tan blazer, walked into the room. They gasp in excitement when they saw the vice president, who wished them a Happy Juneteenth. 'Happy Juneteenth young leaders!' she said. Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff met with about two dozen kids aged 4-10, who were there for story time. They heard The ABC's of Black History by Rio Cortez before Harris arrived. The vice president talked to them about freedom and what it means. 'How do we define freedom? Freedom in terms of the the autonomy you have. Is freedom given to us? are we born with human rights? I would argue it is our God given right to have freedom. It is your birthright to have freedom. And then during slavery, freedom was taken. And so we're not going to celebrate being given back what God gave us anyway,' Harris said. 'Let this be a day to celebrate the principle of freedom and to speak about it honestly, and accurately, both through the context of history and its current application,' she added. Vice President Harris talked to the kids about what freedom means Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff joined Vice President Harris at the National Museum of African American History and Culture visit to mark Juneteenth Juneteenth was signed into law by President Joe Biden and is a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It marks the anniversary of the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas. The holiday started in Galveston and was celebrated in the African American community before becoming a federal holiday. Israel will undergo its fifth general election in only three years after the country's ruling coalition collapsed. Far-right prime minister Naftali Bennett has led a polarised coalition alongside centrist party leader and foreign minister Yair Lapid, who will now take over as PM. Mr Bennett told the press today: 'I stand here with my friend Yair Lapid, who will soon take over as prime minister in accordance with an agreement between us.' The eight parties involved in the fragile bloc include Bennett's New Right party, Lapid's Yesh Atid, the Labor party and the United Arab List. Prime minister Bennett (right) smiles with coalition partner Lapid (left) in Jerusalem yesterday It finally fell after months of turmoil which followed numerous high-profile defections. The government has held minority status in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, for two months. Splits came about following a spate of Palestinian terror attacks - and controversial Israeli responses - along with talk of an ongoing 'shadow war' with Iran. The Bennett-Lapid coalition's collapse could prove another comeback opportunity for Benjamin Netanyahu, the ex-leader who served two terms as prime minister in the late-1990s and from 2009 to 2021. Controversial ex-PM Netanyahu, whose party is ahead in the polls, could make another return The anti-Netanyahu coalition included nationalists, secularists and even Israel's Arab minority Mr Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud party, was toppled in June last year after his allies abandoned him for refusing to resign amid a bruising corruption trial. 'Bibi' was charged in November 2019 with of breach of trust, bribery and fraud. One of the three cases, which are still being fought in the courts, alleges that Netanyahu accepted cigar boxes and champagne worth more than 160,000 without declaring them. Another suggested the controversial ex-leader handed out favours to sympathetic journalists in return for positive coverage. He denies wrongdoing. Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid is pictured at the ballot box in March 2021, the most recent election Lapid waves to photographers alongside unlikely ally Bennett after forming their coalition In a nation where politics is virtually synonymous with horse-trading, Netanyahu's Likud party may become the largest without winning enough seats to form a government. Netanyahu's trial put off numerous old allies, including Bennett, who spent two years as Bibi's chief of staff and protege between 2006 and 2008. The 2021 election saw Likud win almost double the seats of the next-largest party, Lapid's Yesh Atid. Lapid, who will now become PM, hosted EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in Jerusalem last week Netanyahu's Likud is set to win more seats than anyone - but could have difficulty finding allies But Lapid was able to rally a horde of anti-Bibi forces - and handed Bennett the premiership to seal the deal. Lapid will now take over as prime minister, overseeing the election campaign and the coalition negotiations which are likely to follow. The poll is expected to be held in October or November. The Bennett-Lapid coalition counts among its achievements passing the country's first national budget for three years and making a series of key civil service appointments. Yet since it became the minority in the Israeli parliament, it has struggled to function, forcing the election. Cops discerned she had financial motive for the murder, due to the fact the couple were in debt and that she had a life insurance policy on her husband Zigerelli-Henderson was a self proclaimed 'powerful political name in western Pennsylvania,' serving as court clerk in the 80s and running for office in 2000s According to police, the dispatcher took notes during the late-night call, writing: 'something is very off with the caller. She is hesitant to answer questions' Lawmen came across the ex-cop's savaged body after Zigerelli-Henderson, a former political candidate and politician in the county, called 911 Thursday night Cops said that when they came across the body of Henderson, 84, larvae in the ex-cop's nose and mouth showed he had been dead longer than his wife said A woman has been charged with killing her retired deputy sheriff husband and burning his naked body on their back porch. Evelyn Zigerelli-Henderson, 66, stands accused of criminal homicide, aggravated arson, and arson, following a grisly discovery at the couple's house Thursday, in the Pennsylvania suburb of Susquehanna, 40 miles north of Scranton. Cops said that when they came across the badly burned body of 84-year-old Carmen Henderson at around 5am, fly larvae found in the former Dauphin County chief deputy sheriff's nose and mouth indicated he had been dead for some time. Larvae typically form in a rotting corpse after one to three days. Lawmen came across the ex-cop's savaged body after Zigerelli-Henderson, a former political candidate and politician in the county, called 911 to tell dispatchers she suspected her husband had set himself on fire, a probable cause affidavit shows. However, cops said she took four hours to make the call - and once cops arrived, she could not keep a straight story, spurring officers to become suspicious. According to police, the dispatcher wrote in notes of Zigerelli-Henderson late-night call: 'Something is very off with the caller. She is hesitant to answer questions.' The wife also allegedly admitted her husband, who retired in 1995, had a $10,000 life insurance policy, with her listed as the sole beneficiary. Evelyn Zigerelli-Henderson, 66, stands accused of criminal homicide, aggravated arson, and arson, following cops' grisly discovery at the couple's house Thursday, in the Pennsylvania suburb of Susquehanna, 40 miles north of Scranton Cops said that when they came across the badly burned body of 84-year-old Carmen Henderson (pictured in this undated photo) at around 5am, fly larvae found in the ex Dauphin County chief deputy sheriff's nose and mouth indicated he had been dead longer than his wife had told officers, causing them to become suspicious and eventually arrest the widow Cops said it was not immediately clear when the former officer died, and have yet to release a cause of death. Officers arrived at the home, located on 306 Stuart Place, to find Henderson, severely burned and nude on the couples back patio, police wrote in Zigerelli-Henderson's warrant. Police soon came to suspect Zigerelli-Henderson, however, after her story about her finding her husband's burned body began to change as she was questioned by investigators. Initially, she claimed it was a suicide, cops said - but as she was was prodded further, the woman allegedly shifted her story to say her husband had accidentally set himself alight while smoking a cigar on the porch. That assertion came after officers caught Zigerelli-Henderson in what appeared to be a lie, after she told dispatchers during the 911 call that she heard her husband scream around 1:00 am. Zigerelli-Henderson, a former local politician who worked as the court clerk for nearby Beaver County and in the state auditor generals office in '80s, could not explain to officers why she waited four hours to call 911, cops wrote in the complaint. According to cops, the widow allegedly 'eventually settled' on a story that saw her assert she saw her husband sitting in a folding camp chair with a lower pant leg on fire while screaming her name for help around 1am, spurring her to call 911. However, in this account of the events that led to the former cop's death, the defendant allegedly picked up the phone to dial 911 but, inexplicably, decided against making the call. Police reportedly said the woman could not offer an explanation as to why she elected not to call when she saw that her husband was on fire. Officers arrived at the home, located on 306 Stuart Place, to find Henderson, severely burned and nude on the couples back patio, police wrote in Zigerelli-Henderson's warrant Investigators also reportedly discerned during their questioning of the suspect that she possessed a financial motive for the alleged murder, with the two allegedly deeply in debt - to the tune of roughly $40,000. That debt, Zigerelli-Henderson allegedly told police, was largely her fault, police said, with her admitting to spending all of the couples money on a combination of lavish vacation homes, day spas, and other 'self-indulgent activities.' She also admitted that she ran their shared business, Henderson Limousine Service, into the ground, costing the couple even more money. The debt, cops said, stemmed from a second mortgage the pair had put on their home as well as back taxes. Cops wrote in Zigerelli-Henderson's arrest warrant that the pair had accepted that their home was going to be seized due to the debt, and that Henderson was planning to live with his children from another marriage. 'E. Henderson stated that she knew she would be homeless shortly,' the criminal complaint obtained by Lancaster NBC affiliate WGAL alleges. 'E. Henderson said that C. Henderson would live with his children from another marriage. E. Henderson stated she was not welcome to live with the children.' Zigerelli-Henderson, pictured here decades ago in the undated photo, was a self proclaimed 'powerful political name in western Pennsylvania,' holding clerk of court positions in nearby counties during the 80s, and unsuccessfully running for office four times in the 2010s According to PennLive, the pair reportedly married 30 years ago, and had been prominent figures in their local community since. Aside from her stints as a politician from 1983 to 1988, Zigerelli-Henderson ran, unsuccessfully, for Dauphin County clerk of courts in 2011, the Susquehanna Township School Board in 2014, Dauphin County sheriff in 2015, and prothonotary in 2017. 'Zigerelli is a powerful political name in western Pennsylvania,' she told PennLive in 2011. 'Everybody knows me in Beaver County.' Henderson, meanwhile, served the Dauphin County police department for decades before retiring in 1995 at the age of 57, shortly after meeting Zigerelli-Henderson. The 66-year-old suspect is now facing charges of criminal homicide, aggravated arson, and arson resulting in danger of death or bodily injury due to the inconsistencies in her story. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 23. Former President Trump said he has not talked to Ron DeSantis about if he will run in 2024, but said he's confident he would beat the Florida governor in a matchup. 'I don't know if Ron is running, and I don't ask him,' Trump told the New Yorker in an interview. 'It's his prerogative. I think I would win.' Trump also said he is 'very close to a decision' on whether he will run for the presidency. Trump has persistently teased a run in 2024, and those close to the former president has said he's grown jealous of the congressman-turned-governor whose career he believes he made. Trump took credit for the governor's win in 2018, telling the New Yorker: 'If I didn't endorse him, he wouldn't have won.' DeSantis and Trump so far have long had a public alliance, but in 2020 the former president began to question DeSantis' fealty. The governor campaigned for Trump, appeared at some of his Florida rallies, but Trump was not convinced, inside sources told the New Yorker. 'Ron will tell you he's doing everything he can for the President, and he'll sound believable,' a lawyer who speaks regularly with both men said. Former President Trump said he has not talked to Ron DeSantis, above, about if he will run in 2024, but said he's confident he would beat the Florida governor in a matchup. 'I don't know if Ron is running, and I don't ask him,' Trump told the New Yorker in an interview. 'It's his prerogative. I think I would win' And since the election DeSantis' visits to Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence have dwindled. But Trump insisted to the New Yorker that he has a 'very good relationship' with Trump. 'I'm proud of Ron,' he said. But a consultant who has worked for multiple Republican candidates said that Trump has talked with aides about ways to take down DeSantis: 'Trump World is working overtime to find ways to burn DeSantis down. They really hate him.' 'He won't kiss the ring,' a political insider who speaks with DeSantis often said. Others said it's unlikely the governor will back down from a fight, given his swelling popularity. 'Ron has been told for four years that he's Trump's successorthat all the women want to sleep with him, and all the men want to be him,' the consultant said. 'Ron has heard way too many times, 'You're next.' DeSantis has not ruled out a presidential bid, but has insisted that he is focused on his reelection campaign this year. DeSantis has not ruled out a presidential bid, but has insisted that he is focused on his reelection campaign this year Trump is pictured golfing with musician Kid Rock and a number of others on Monday Trump has persistently teased a run in 2024, and those close to the former president has said he's grown jealous of the congressman-turned-governor whose career he believes he made Trump poses with Kid Rock, right, and two others during a game of golf Trump is reportedly talking about launching his 2024 from the Sunshine State and hosting a massive party close to the governor's mansion Still, DeSantis has been traveling across the nation to secure donations for his 2022 reelection bid, drawing in another $10.2 million in May to bring the total raised for his reelection bid to $124 million. And a few recent polls have put the governor ahead of the former president in popularity with conservatives recently - DeSantis beat Trump in a recent straw poll asking attendees at the Western Conservative Summit who they'd like to see at the top of the ticket in 2024. DeSantis, 43, was checked off by 71.0 percent of respondents, Trump by 67.8, and Sen. Ted Cruz in third by 28.7 percent. DeSantis also won the straw poll last year. In one way the former president is said to be looking at ways to to unsettle any plans the Florida governor may have for a presidential bid of his own, Trump is reportedly talking about launching his 2024 from the Sunshine State and hosting a massive party close to the governor's mansion, according to Rolling Stone. Advertisement A private island off the coast of Shetland which comes with a 17th Century six-bed mansion, 757 acres of land and a flock of 200 sheep is now on the market for 1.75million. The Scottish Isle of Vaila, Shetland, has been owned by Richard Rowland and Dorota Rychlik for around three decades, and is perfect for escaping the rat race of the city as it is located in the northernmost part of the UK and has no neighbours. The purchase will also include Vaila Hall, a 17th century mansion, which has an 18th century watchtower, three-bedroom farmhouse and a two-bedroom cottage. It is just west of the Shetland Islands archipelago, which is a ten-minute boat journey from Mainland Shetland. The island has 6.5 miles of coastline with lots of sheltered bays and caves and the area is renowned for its sailing and fishing, offering complete privacy, tranquillity and breath-taking scenery. It is also a haven for wildlife with a huge variety of visiting bird life as well as otters, orcas and dolphins. The Scottish Isle of Vaila, a private island off the coast of Shetland which comes with a 17th Century six-bed mansion, 757 acres of land and a flock of 200 sheep is now on the market for 1.75million The purchase will also include Vaila Hall (pictured), a 17th century mansion, which has an 18th century watchtower, three-bedroom farmhouse and a two-bedroom cottage The Isle of Vaila, Shetland, has been owned by Richard Rowland and Dorota Rychlik for around three decades, and is perfect for escaping the rat race of the city as it is located in the northernmost part of the UK and has no neighbours. Pictured is Vaila Hall The island is just west of the Shetland Islands archipelago, which is a ten-minute boat journey from Mainland Shetland. Pictured is inside the 17th century mansion Vaila has been home to Neolithic tribes and Norwegian Viking chiefs during its 4,000 years of inhabitation. The mansion was built for a laird and it was developed into a grand summer residence for a Yorkshire mill owner in the late 19th century, hosting lavish house parties in the early 20th century. In the 1890s, the mill-owning Yorkshireman Herbert Anderton had six-bedroom mansion Vaila Hall built as his summer residence. Prior to the Anderton era, Arthur Anderson, the founder of P&O, leased the island in 1837 and established the Shetland Fishing Company there. But by the time current owners Richard Rowland and Dorota Rychlik bought the island in 1993, the house had fallen into disrepair and was on Historic Scotland's Buildings 'at risk' register. They have since carried out extensive restoration jobs. The island has 6.5 miles of coastline with lots of sheltered bays and caves and the area is renowned for its sailing and fishing, offering complete privacy, tranquillity and breath-taking scenery Vaila has been home to Neolithic tribes and Norwegian Viking chiefs during its 4,000 years of inhabitation. The mansion was built for a laird and it was developed into a grand summer residence for a Yorkshire mill owner in the late 19th century, hosting lavish house parties in the early 20th century In the 1890s, the mill-owning Yorkshireman Herbert Anderton had six-bedroom mansion Vaila Hall built as his summer residence. Prior to the Anderton era, Arthur Anderson, the founder of P&O, leased the island in 1837 and established the Shetland Fishing Company there. Pictured is the farmhouse By the time current owners Richard Rowland and Dorota Rychlik bought the island (pictured) in 1993, the house had fallen into disrepair and was on Historic Scotland's Buildings 'at risk' register. They have since carried out extensive restoration jobs It also has a farmhouse and a cottage and is perfect for fishing and hiking, and is a haven for wildlife with a huge variety of visiting bird life as well as otters, orcas and dolphins Luke French, from estate agents Savills, said: 'At the meeting point of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, this is a wild and beautiful part of the world' The main house has a baronial great hall with massive stone fireplace, full height stained glass windows and a minstrels' gallery and is furnished with the original late 1800s furniture. There is also a kitchen, morning room, conservatory, study and six bedrooms. The master bedroom has a secret passage through to the tower bedroom and the great hall has a concealed entrance to the kitchen. The farmhouse and cottage work well as guest accommodation or could be staff quarters. Vaila was the first farm in Shetland to get organic status in 1994 and the flock of 200 pure bred Shetland ewes can be negotiated separately. There is about 142 acres of grazing land surrounding the hall and 581 acres of heathland. Mr Rowland, a retired solicitor and his Polish wife have decided to focus on their fine art gallery business in Lerwick on the Shetland mainland. Mr Rowland said: 'We've had 30 fantastic years here, and we're getting on in years now, so I think the time has come for someone else to take on the place,' he said. 'One just has to be realistic that nothing is forever.' Mr Rowland said the couple now intend to base themselves in Lerwick, and keep their Vaila Fine Art premises in the town. Luke French, from estate agents Savills, said: 'At the meeting point of the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, this is a wild and beautiful part of the world. Vaila was the first farm in Shetland to get organic status in 1994 and the flock of 200 pure bred Shetland ewes can be negotiated separately. There is about 142 acres of grazing land surrounding the hall and 581 acres of heathland There is also a kitchen, morning room, conservatory, study and six bedrooms. The master bedroom has a secret passage through to the tower bedroom and the great hall has a concealed entrance to the kitchen The main house has a baronial great hall with massive stone fireplace, full height stained glass windows and a minstrels' gallery and is furnished with the original late 1800s furniture Owners Richard Rowland and Dorota Rychlik gave up their London life and headed to the far north, getting married on the island in 1994 in front of 150 guests there. They bought up the mansion and all its fittings and furnishings - and even the boat used to cross to and from mainland Shetland 'The juxtaposition of the dramatic, elemental land and seascape with the exquisite craftsmanship of historic Vaila Hall makes for a quite extraordinary property. 'A rare prize indeed for the next owner but also one which benefits from practical forethought by the sellers with the shore base building providing ease of access and the farming enterprise, farmhouse and cottage creating a variety of opportunities.' Explaining how he discovered Vaila, Mr Rowland said: 'We were looking for a project to take on and restore, and had really thought more of the Western Isles or mainland Scotland, and hadn't really thought about Shetland at all until we saw this.' The couple gave up their London life and headed to the far north, getting married on the island in 1994 in front of 150 guests there. They bought up the mansion and all its fittings and furnishings - and even the boat used to cross to and from mainland Shetland. Mr Rowland said: 'We've had innumerable parties. We used to charter planes to bring guests up here.' Meanwhile after 30 years on the island, Mr Rowland conceded it will be 'quite a wrench' to leave Vaila. He wrote in a book about the island: 'Vaila is a microcosm of all that is best about Shetland. Space, peace, natural beauty and wonderful light.' The Australian is looking for people to join him on the island for help with health Glasheen has admitted that he might need 'some help' as he nears 80-years-old The 78-year-old hermit recently suffered some health scares and broke his hip Millionaire stockbroker moved to secluded island in 1997 after losing his wealth David Glasheen says he will live out his days at Restoration Island in Queensland A millionaire stockbroker turned island castaway has been forced to admit that he may need 'some help' as he nears 80. David Glasheen, 78, has been living alone on Restoration Island, off the coast of North Queensland, Australia, after he lost his wealth in the 'Black Tuesday' crash in 1987. In 1991, he divorced his wife and moved to the island on the Cape York Peninsula six years later, where he has been living ever since - but only with the company of his beloved dingoes and two female mannequins ever since. But recently, he has admitted that his body 'doesn't work like it used to' and revealed he has recently suffered a string of health scares. 'I'm not 18 anymore, it's heavier and harder. I fainted one day and then fell and broke my hip. The phones don't work when you need them half the time, so the best security I could get is more people,' he told news.com.au. 'The wheels start falling off when you're 80. That's what happens.' Mr Glasheen said he was looking for people to join him on the island because while they're good company, dingos can't call for help if he gets into trouble. He said he would pay a middle-aged couple with the appropriate skills to help out on the island with stipends, as he can't afford to pay a full salary. The castaway has tried to employ some help using Gumtree, but is yet to find anyone willing to pack up and move to the remote island. Mr Glasheen (pictured with a friend and his two mannequins, Miranda and Phyllis) has lived on Restoration Island in Far North Queensland since 1997 The castaway divorced his wife in 1991 and moved to the island on the Cape York Peninsula, where he has been living with only the company of his beloved dingos ever since He admitted some 'back-up' was needed after he suffered a blood clot that could have killed him if left untreated one more day. 'If things go wrong, your life is at risk and you're really aware of it,' he said. 'The wild is pretty severe; it's a tough world. Things are forever going wrong, and you've just got to deal with it.' However, for Mr Glasheen, leaving his island home of 25 years is not an option. Mr Glasheen (pictured) admitted some 'back-up' was needed after he suffered a blood clot which could have killed him if left untreated one more day Mr Glasheen said he was looking for people to join him on Restoration Island (pictured) because while they're good company, dingos can't call for help if he gets into trouble He has made a home for himself amid the rugged wilderness and says he wishes he had hadn't been born in the city but raised on the island instead. The castaway is tuned in to current events in Australia and beyond but admitted the Covid-19 pandemic hadn't affected him at his remote home. Speaking on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said 'men are the problem' and called on women to take over and stop men from killing each other for their resources. The castaway has made efforts to employ some help using Gumtree, but is yet to find anyone willing to pack up and move to the remote island off the Queensland coast Mr Glasheen is due to turn 89 in August and will spend his birthday with his beloved dingo Zeddie, who replaced Polly after she was bitten by an adder snake Mr Glasheen said he wished Vladimir Putin would 'realise that he's failed'. The castaway also shared some philosophical musings on society's expectations of young men and women. 'I wish Id never been in the city, I wish I was born here in the bushes. We all do the same thing. We leave school. Were expected to go into our mother or fathers businesses, or take over things from the family, or be doctors, lawyers or accountants or whatever. 'And we did all that. Half of the marriages failed. And youve got all the broken families and kids everywhere. And we wonder why every one is a bit dysfunctional,' he told news.com.au. Mr Glasheen is due to turn 89 in August and will spend his birthday with his beloved dingo Zeddie, who replaced Polly after she was bitten by an adder snake. He told MailOnline Travel in April, 2020 that he had first moved to the island with a suitcase containing 'three shirts, two pairs of shorts and swimmers, a decent torch, a couple of books, a jar of chilli powder, some toothpaste and my toothbrush'. The 78-year-old has an essential list of things that enable him to enjoy life in isolation, including a solar-powered internet connection, a stockpile of good books and two mannequins (Miranda and Phyllis) for company. The 78-year-old has an essential list of things that enable him to enjoy life in isolation, including a solar-powered internet connection and a stockpile of good books For drinking, he collects rainwater and water also comes from a catchment in the hilly areas of the island and says the ocean contains 'all the protein' he needs (pictured, his bedroom) For drinking, he collects rainwater and water also comes from a catchment in the hilly areas of the island and says the ocean contains 'all the protein' he needs. For that reason, fishing tackle, a cast net for catching bait, a flintstone for lighting a fire and a bush knife are among Glasheen's essential items. 'It's like living in Jurassic Park,' he says of his hunter-gatherer exploits. Other foods on Restoration Island, or Resto as Mr Glasheen fondly calls it, include coconuts, acidic beach almonds, bush cherries, native capers and wongai plums. The islander also has a stockpile of tinned and dried goods, which he picks up on an annual grocery shopping trip to Cairns using a small boat. Before moving to Restoration Island he was leading a high flying city life in Sydney, living in a property overlooking the Harbour with his wife and two children. But after the infamous Black Tuesday event in 1987, the businessman lost his wealth and the bank foreclosed on his property with his wife leaving him shortly after. Before moving to Restoration Island Glasheen was leading a high flying city life in Sydney, living in a property overlooking the Harbour with his wife and two children In 2019, Mr Glasheen penned a book about his story titled The Millionaire Castaway (pictured) He moved to the island with his then partner Denise, but after she gave birth to their child she decided to relocate, saying the island life was not safe for a newborn baby. In the meantime his has his two 'mannequin girlfriends' and numerous animals for company, including his trusty dingo, Zeddie. In 2019, Mr Glasheen penned a book about his story titled The Millionaire Castaway. 'Resto had affirmed my commitment to find a different way of life: one beyond the vicious cycle of pressure to earn enough money for a lifestyle by which other people measure your value and success,' he writes. 'I couldnt bear the thought of this place being a rich mans playground. This short time on the island had convinced me that Resto was somewhere I could live in utter contentment. Spending the day fishing and the night yarning was my idea of bliss.' Elon Musk is wondering out loud if 'TikTok is destroying civilization' as he's poised to buy one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO who made a $44 billion bid for Twitter suggested he's thinking about the impact of social media. 'Is TikTok destroying civilization? Some people think so,' he tweeted last week in reference to the hugely-popular video-sharing app. 'Or perhaps social media in general.' Musk has said that he's still interested in taking over the social media site even after he pumped the brakes on the deal over questions about the number of fake accounts on the platform. The billionaire tech businessman told Twitter employees at an all-hands meeting on June 16 that he recognizes TikTok's appeal, and he wants to make Twitter more like it in some ways The billionaire tech businessman told Twitter employees at an all-hands meeting on June 16 that he recognizes TikTok's appeal. 'TikTok 'does a great job of making sure you're not bored,' he told workers. 'I mean, it does just feel like ADD,' he said, according to a recording of the meeting heard by Insider. 'But like, next level.' He admitted that he's offended by some TikTok videos, but that won't lead to more censorship on Twitter. He reassured employees that the platform would be open to allow users to 'say pretty outrageous things within the law' but those word bombs should not be played up by the app, he said. Musk told workers that he wants Twitter to be as engaging as TikTok, but more educational. 'TikTok is interesting, but you want to be informed about serious issues as well,' he said. Chinese-owned WeChat is another source of inspiration for the tech businessman. Musk believes that there's a space in America's social media market to be filled by bringing the features of WeChat to the U.S. market. Elon Musk, who put a $44 billion bid for Twitter, wonder whether TikTok was destroying civilization Musk seems impressed by the Chinese-owned app WeChat, which he says users 'live on' and hopes to change Twitter to be more like it 'There's no WeChat equivalent outside of China. You basically live on WeChat in China. If we can recreate that with Twitter, we'll be a great success,' he said during the company meeting. WeChat features text messaging, broadcasting, hold-to-talk voice messaging, photo sharing, video conferencing and more. Musk said his goal is growing Twitter to 1 billion users, a milestone that the younger TikTok reached in September of 2021. Currently, Twitter has 39.6 million daily active users in the U.S. and 189.4 million daily active users internationally, a 16 percent increase in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. Despite those gains, shares of Twitter have dipped 11 percent so far this year. Reporters said Musk addressed topics ranging from free speech, layoffs, and his preference for in-person work during the hourlong call, held Thursday morning Musk's musings on the impact of TikTok on society comes after news broke that employees at Bytedance, the social media app's parent company, regularly accessed data of its American users, a long-held worry under the Trump administration about the foreign owned tech company. 'According to leaked audio from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings, China-based employees of ByteDance have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about US TikTok users,' Buzzfeeds reported on Friday. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got mocked to his face by a right-wing comedian and 'troll' Alex Stein Saturday at the Texas Republican Party convention. 'If you care about America, why do you do that to your constituents in the freezing cold?' Stein told Cruz, referring to the trip to Cancun the Texas Republican took in February 2021, amid a massive power outage caused by a winter storm in the state. Cruz tried responding and then got cut off. 'You do more for Ukraine than you do for America. Remember how Trump made fun of your wife and you go become best friends with Trump?' Stein went on. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got mocked to his face by a right-wing comedian and 'troll' Alex Stein over the weekend at the Texas Republican Party convention Far-right social media activist Alex Stein heckled Sen. Ted Cruz to his face Saturday During the 2016 primary when Cruz and former President Donald Trump were running against one another, an anti-Trump super PAC called Make America Awesome put out an ad shaming former First Lady Melania Trump for posing nude during her modeling career. The group floated Cruz as an alternative for Republican primary voters. Trump took the ad out on Cruz, despite his campaign not being responsible. 'Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad,' Trump tweeted. 'Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or i will spill the beans on your wife!' Trump said. The tweet featured an unflattering image of Heidi Cruz. Trump also previously said that Cruz's father Rafael, who is Cuban, was part of the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy - which is false. Stein went after Cruz, repeatedly calling his a 'globalist.' 'When people were freezing and dying, you were in Cancun, Mexico. Remember that?' Stein continued. The video shows security swooping in and moving him away from Cruz. 'You remember when you were at the all-inclusive buffet while people were freezing? You remember that, Ted?' he continued. 'You care more about the border between Russia and Ukraine than you care about the border between Texas and Mexico,' Stein - who goes by PrimeTimeStein on Instagram - told the senator. Christians in a small town in Texas are celebrating the survival of a holy cross which remains standing despite a fire ripping through the church where it was erected. The fire destroyed the Balsora Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Texas, on Friday June 17. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but it was severe enough to cause the roof of the church to collapse while firefighters were inside battling the flames. In an announcement on Facebook, the Wise County volunteer fire company said: 'A devastating loss to our community, but a sight to behold. 'The fire took the structure, but not the cross. The fire destroyed the Balsora Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Texas, on Friday June 17. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but it was severe enough to cause the roof of the church to collapse while firefighters were inside battling the flames 'A symbol that the building was just that, a building. The Church is the congregation, and where 2 or more gather, there he shall be also.' The fire company suggested that the fire was caused by extreme heat in the region, where temperatures soared to over 100F last week. 'A huge thank you to mutual aid, once again. 'Extreme temperatures are beyond taxing to resources and manpower in events like these. 'Churches also pose an inherent danger related to the great span of the sanctuaries and great halls, which makes them very prone to collapse.' The roof of the church collapsed while firefighters were working inside The firefighters who were injured were treated at local hospitals and all are expected to recover. The church held a prayer gathering on Sunday. On Facebook, the congregation celebrated the cross still being in tact. 'The Cross that held our prayer request in the sanctuary, was still standing! 'We praise God that He still answers prayers. We look forward to all He's going to do at Balsora Baptist!!!' church leaders said. Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Milwaukee are on track to surpass their already-soaring homicide rates from last year. Last year, the FBI warned that homicides in the US rose nearly 30 percent from 2020 and overall violent crime rose for the first time in four years. The stunning trend in homicides has continued this year. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the homicide rate leaped 24.7 percent from the year-to-date compared to the same period last year. Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia, have seen a 13.4 percent and 13.3 percent increase in homicides, respectively, Fox first reported. Meanwhile, law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland, has reported 7.7 percent more homicides this year. Los Angeles tailgates the Charm City with a 7.3 percent spike. The surge in homicides, which has not shown signs of slowing down anytime soon, has been attributed, in part, to COVID-19 hardships. The rising violence has also been blamed on liberal cities' lax bail policies and their support for the defund the police movement after protests over policing erupted nationally in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis in 2020. Last year, the FBI warned that homicides in the US rose nearly 30 percent from 2020 and overall violent crime rose for the first time in four years. The stunning trend in homicides has continued this year Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Milwaukee are on track to surpass their already-soaring homicide rates from last year People are being killed in Los Angeles at a faster pace than in 2021, when homicides hit a 15-year high. So far this year, LA has seen 162 slayings - 11 more than the same time last year. Assaults are also up nearly 5 percent from 2021, with police so far recording 8,779 incidents. Last week, a now-dead gunman killed two Southern California police officers in a motel shootout. Justin William Flores, 35, was on probation for a prior gun charge at the time he committed the killings. The illegal handgun sentence was handed to Flores in 2021, as part of a lenient plea deal made possible by lax prosecution laws from DA George Gascon. Flores killed himself during the confrontation with the cops, which transpired after officers responded to a call of a stabbing at the Scenic Motel in El Monte, a small suburb within Los Angeles County. Last year, Flores - already on parole, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a felony charge that law enforcement sources said should have sent him back to prison for a minimum of three years. However, because of Gascon - who was sworn into office in late 2020 as part of a wave of woke prosecutors who vowed to seek alternatives to incarceration - he received the bare minimum sentence of two years probation, and 20 days of jail time. The case has subsequently sparked outrage, with many criticizing Gascon. Last week, now-dead gunman Justin William Flores, 35, killed two Southern California police officers in a motel shootout in Los Angeles County El Monte Police Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana died in the shootout So far this year, LA has seen 162 slayings - 11 more than the same time last year In Washington, 93 homicides have been reported by law enforcement this year - 11 more than in 2021. With homicide and violent crime rates spiraling, Mayor Muriel Bowser finds herself in a reelection fight, fending off two challengers from the District of Columbia Council who accuse her of mishandling public safety issues and criticize her push to hire more police officers. Against the backdrop of mass shootings around the country, the mayoral campaign reflects a wider dynamic playing out in longtime Democratic strongholds, with progressives facing off against party traditionalists over crime. 'Call it sky blue vs. Tar Heel blue,' said Michael Fauntroy, an associate professor of policy and government at George Mason University. 'People have an anxiousness around crime. There's no question about that.' Crime and public safety have dominated the campaign. Homicides have risen for four years straight, and the 2021 homicide count of 227 was the highest since 2003. In January, a candidate for the D.C. Council, Nate Fleming, was carjacked at gunpoint. Baltimore saw 337 homicides last year, up from 334 in 2020, and well above the 290 that the city's Mayor Brandon Scott had hoped his new 'violence reduction' strategies would bring the homicide rate down to in 2021. This year, the Charm City has seen 153 homicides, compared to 142 during the year-to-date period last year. Meanwhile, non-fatal shootings increased from 721 in 2020, to 726 in 2021. The violent streak of shootings has kept increasing steadily since 2015. Democrat-led cities with mayors who have pushed to defund police - and later asked to 'refund' police departments - now account for America's most violent cities. In Washington, 93 homicides have been reported by law enforcement this year - 11 more than in 2021. Above, police direct pedestrians after 4 people were shot at the end of the Moechella concert at 14th and U Streets in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2022 In Milwaukee, authorities have blamed the shootings on criminals having 'easy access' to guns. The Cream City has seen 96 homicides this year - 19 more than the same time this year. This photo taken from video provided by WISN 12 News shows police responding to the scene of a shooting at Water Street and Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee on May 13, 2022 In Milwaukee, authorities have blamed the shootings on criminals having 'easy access' to guns. The Cream City has seen 96 homicides this year - 19 more than the same time this year. 'There is open carrying of firearms with utter disregard' for law-abiding citizens, assistant police chief Nicole Waldner said in May, adding that 'There is a lack of consciousness that is just really hard to fix right now. 'It goes beyond law enforcement,' she said. Over the past year, homicide rates in the city leaped 48 percent, according to statistics from the Milwaukee Police Department. Homicides in Atlanta are also on track to beat last year's 30-year high of 158 homicides after a soft-on-crime mayor and pandemic lockdowns sent crime in the city spiraling. According to Atlanta Police Department's latest statistic, released on June 11, homicides are up 13 percent for 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. In total, there were 68 homicides so far in 2022 compared to 60 last year. The Atlanta Police Department has said 'irresponsible gun ownership' has led to many of the shootings this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after more than 2,000 firearms were stolen from vehicles in Atlanta last year. First home buyers in NSW will no longer have to pay thousands of dollars in stamp duty upfront under a plan to be unveiled in Tuesday's state budget. Premier Dominic Perrottet is overhauling the 'hated tax' paid to the state government when purchasing a home - in favour of an annual land tax. Those snapping up their first property will now have the option from January 16, 2023, of either paying the lump sum fee or shelling out for a smaller property tax each year - on homes up to $1.5 million. The tax will be 0.3 per cent of the land value per year plus a flat fee of $400. That means the owner of a $1.12million property - the medium property price in Sydney - may have a land value of about $750,000 and would need to pay $2650 a year instead of $49,934 upfront. But the annual figure will increase in time as the value of the land rises. Homebuyers in NSW would no longer have to pay thousands of dollars in stamp duty under a plan to be unveiled in next today's state Budget. Pictured: Bondi Beach Premier Dominic Perrottet once called stamp duty 'the worst tax a government could have,' when he was treasurer. 'We want to lower the barriers to owning a home for first home buyers seeking a place of their own,' he said. 'In the past two decades, the share of first home buyers under 35 years of age has declined from 67 per cent to 61 per cent. Lifting home ownership is part of this Government's efforts and ambition to help families who are feeling the squeeze. 'The First Home Buyer Choice will remove one of the largest upfront costs to buying a home and help deliver a brighter future for first home buyers.' The state government has allocated $728 million in today's state budget over the next four years, as part of its housing affordability package aimed at getting more people on the property ladder. Instead of paying the stamp duty fee up front buyers could chose to pay an annual land tax to the state government instead. Pictured: A home auction in Sydney Treasurer Matt Kean said the reforms will help about 55,000 people per year buy their first home. 'We know that first home buyers are being forced to enter the property market later in life and this reform will make the property market more accessible for them,' Mr Kean said. What is stamp duty? Stamp duty is a tax paid to the state government by the buyer when purchasing a home The figure depends on the value of the home but the median average stamp duty in Sydney is $49,934 First home buyers can qualify for a stamp duty exemption for homes they buy for less than $650,000 while a concessional rate is available for properties worth up to $800,000 The rule applies whether the home is brand new or existing Advertisement 'It will mean more NSW residents will get into their first home at an earlier age and achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership.' For contracts exchanged in the period between enactment of the legislation and January 15 2023, eligible first home buyers will be able to opt-in and receive a refund of stamp duty already paid. The current initiative which exempts first home buyers from paying stamp duty altogether on homes up to $650,000 will remain in place, with concession still available for properties up to $800,000. Ken Morrison, chief executive of The Property Council of Australia, described stamp duty tax as 'the worst thing in Australia' because it 'distorts behaviour, cripples job creation, lowers growth, and locks people into housing that might not be appropriate for their needs'. Tim Lawless, head of research at property analytics firm CoreLogic Australia told Daily Mail Australia 'It's probably the state's most hated tax there is.' 'That's because it's a tax on transacting. It's a tax you have to pay for the privilege of purchasing a property. And it's a huge tax as well.' Mr Lawless agrees that doing away with the lump sum would be a 'smart move'. 'It takes away one of the biggest hurdles to homebuyers,' he said. 'The tax has been a huge impediment to getting people into the marketplace. 'So spreading the initial cost out over a long period of time makes a lot more sense and is a much more efficient way to administer that tax.' Premier Perrottet, who has called stamp duty an 'inherently terrible tax', floated axing it when he was Treasurer but then backed down saying he needed federal government support Mr Perrottet wanted 80 per cent of homes across the state to have the option of paying an annual land tax, and buyers would be eligible regardless of whether they were purchasing their first home. However, he conceded such large-scale reform couldn't be achieved without the help of the Commonwealth. 'It is a massive impediment for people getting into the housing market,' Mr Perrottet told reporters. 'But the reality is, state governments can't do away with stamp duty without support from the federal government. 'This is a moment for the federal government and the state governments to work together to unlock opportunity and economic opportunity for people going forward.' The NSW government rakes in 32 per cent of its revenue from stamp duty which was worth $12.2 billion in the 10 months to April 2022, according to Revenue NSW. This has soared from 18.3 per cent 10 years ago as house prices skyrocketed. The median average stamp duty in Sydney is $49,934. Pictured is an auction at Hurlstone Park in Sydney's inner west NSW Treasury predicted switching to a land tax would collect about 20 per cent less revenue than the current system. Labor opposes the move to a land tax, with the state election coming up in March. In the 2020-2021 financial year, $9.6 billion of stamp duty was collected. Even with house prices tapering off in recent weeks, and even falling in some suburbs, the state government is likely to have taken in $14 billion in stamp duty by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year on June 30. Monthly revenue from stamp duty surged during the Covid pandemic from a low of $450 million in May 2020 to a peak of $1.6 billion in October and December 2021. The figure dropped to $976 million in April as house prices stabilised or fell. Treasurer Matt Kean said the reforms will help about 55,000 people per year buy their first home (pictured, a Sydney real estate agent) Meanwhile, in another move aimed at getting more NSW residents their first home, some essential workers will be able to partner with the government to buy a property. Dubbed the Shared Equity Scheme, the NSW Government will pay a proportion of the purchase price of a property in exchange for an equivalent ownership share of the property. The government will contribute up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new dwelling and up to 30 per cent of an existing dwelling. Buyers only need to fork out a minimum deposit of two per cent with no lenders mortgage insurance required. No repayments are required on the equity contribution, however when the property is sold. But participants of the scheme can make voluntary payments to progress to full ownership of their property. Those eligible include single parents of a child or children under 18 years of age, a single person 50 years of age or above, or essential workers such as nurses, teachers or police. Their income, however must not exceed $90,000 for singles and $120,000 for couples and only homes worth less than $950,000 in Sydney and major regional centres (Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Illawarra, Central Coast, North Coast of NSW) are available. The property price limit is $600,000 for homes in other regional areas. A newborn baby's ear was nearly cut off after the doctor who delivered him via C-section opted to use three cellphones for lighting following a power outage at a hospital in Mexico. Karla Urizandi, 19, gave birth to Juan Adriel Solis on June 6 at Mexicali International Specialties Clinic in Mexicali, Baja California, after the medical facility lost power for about 26 minutes. Urizandi checked in at 11am and was transferred to the delivery room at 12:40pm. The power went out around 12:48pm and the backup generator reportedly was not activated. The teenager recalled the anesthesia had already been applied when the lights suddenly went out. #Estados | En una clinica particular de #Mexicali, #BajaCalifornia; medicos cortaron la oreja de una bebe recien nacida. Mientras los doctores atendian un parto hubo una falla de energia electrica por lo que decidieron alumbrarse con la luz de sus celulares. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/nxVrapTY2o Observer.NR (@ObserverNR) June 16, 2022 Juan Adriel Solis was delivered by C-section at a Baja California, Mexico, clinic during the middle of a power outage at the facility on June 6. Doctors at the hospital elected to go through the procedure against the wishes of the mother, Karla Urizandi, after seeing that the physicians were using three cellphones as lighting and cut his left ear while removing a hemangioma Physicians hold two cellphones that were used for lighting purposes moments while doctors delivered Juan Adriel Solis on June 6 at a clinic in Mexico. One of the doctors cut the child's left ear while removing a hemangioma Juan Adriel Solis almost had his left ear cut off by doctors who delivered him via C-section at a clinic in Mexicali, Baja California, on June 6. The boy is recovering from the injury Her gynecologist was present along with the obstetrician, Dr. David Santoyo, when another doctor, whose name she did not know, elected to proceed with the delivery through the scheduled cesarean section. 'With three cell phones pointed at my belly, they begin to perform a cesarean section. I told him no, I don't want to die. In reality, I scared me a lot,' Urizandi said in a TikTok video. Urizandi said she 'was very scared' as Santoyo performed the surgical procedure before Solis' left ear was cut as they attempted to remove an hemangioma - a vascular birthmark - which caused the baby's head to swell up. 'After a few minutes I hear my baby cry,' Urizandi said as she looked back on the frightening delivery. 'I think that they are going to put him aside, no. More time passes and I ask him, 'And the baby?' Juan Adriel Solis is home with his parents and recovering from the frightening accident A video recorded by one of the physician's showed a doctor holding the baby and placing him over a blanket as he cried aloud. Urizandi said she did not learn of her son's injuries until her husband, Juan Solis, walked into her and gave her the terrible news. 'I was really waiting for a doctor or someone to come in and give me an explanation, but it wasn't like that. At no time did they arrive or explain anything to me,' she said. Urizandi and her husband filed an incident report with Baja California Attorney General's Office, accusing the medical facility and doctors of malpractice. The family is home with their child, who is recovering from the frightening accident. Shocking surveillance video shows the moment a Michigan man pulled a weapon on a father holding his sleeping baby at gas station in one the most crime-ridden cities in America. The father quickly reacts, waving his arms in front of the gunman in an attempt to grab the weapon during the altercation at a Detroit gas station Sunday evening. The suspect then steps out of the store and is seen fiddling with the firearm in the parking lot. Investigators believe the gun may have jammed when the father attempted to grab it. The wild video is now part of an aggravated assault investigation and police have taken a person of interest into custody. Investigators believe the suspect targeted the father after an argument ensued between the pair, although it's unclear what the argument was about, and if they knew one another prior to the tiff. Shocking surveillance video shows the moment a gun-yielding suspect pulled a weapon on a man holding a baby in a Michigan gas station The unidentified suspect walked into the gas station store at the corner of Hubbell and Tireman Avenues in broad daylight on Sunday around 5.50pm The unidentified suspect walked into the gas station store at the corner of Hubbell and Tireman Avenues in broad daylight on Sunday around 5.50pm. Video taken from outside the store shows the suspect, with both hands visible, walking through the parking lot before entering the shop. With an unthreatening demeanor that gives no hint of what's about to come, he walks passed a customer who had just finished pumping gas and heads toward to store. The suspect pulled out his gun as he opened the shop door and pointed it at the father. Police believe he followed the father into the store following an argument. The father, carrying his sleeping seven-month-old baby, was standing about three feet away from the suspect when he pulled out his weapon. It is unclear exactly when the alleged argument broke out or what the pair were fighting about. Detroit police released video of the incident early Monday morning and asked the public for help identifying the suspect. As of early Monday evening, police confirmed to WXYZ that a person of interest has been taken into custody. Officials did not reveal any further information about the detainee. Video taken from outside the store shows the suspect, with both hands visible, walking through the parking lot before entering the shop The suspect pulled out his gun as he opened the shop door and pointed it at the father The father quickly reacts, waving his arms in front of the gunman in an attempt to grab the weapon Police believe the gun jammed after the father attempted to grab it from the suspect The incident comes just weeks after Detroit leaders launched an initiative to tackle gun violence in the crime-ridden city. Federal and local law enforcement officials are focusing their crackdown efforts on Detroit communities with the highest numbers of fatal and non-fatal shootings, robberies and aggravated assaults with guns. During the summertime crackdown, which lasts through labor day, felons arrested and charged with gun crimes in any of the targeted communities will be prosecuted in federal court. Felons convicted of illegally possessing firearms would face stiffer penalties, up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, by being tried in federal court instead of state court. Federal prosecutors said they will also consider filing charges against individuals accused of using guns to commit violent or drug crimes in the targeted areas. 'This strategy is designed to significantly reduce violence by narrowly focusing on those who are committing it and to give these neighborhoods back to the majority of the residents who want to live in peace,' U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison told The Detroit News earlier this month. 'We are going for the most violent people, the most violent groups and the most violent places.' Last year the FBI revealed Detroit is among one of the most violent cities in America amid a rise in assaults, shootings and homicides. Two years ago the city reported a rate of 2,248.4 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. The city also saw a 10.25 percent rise in violent crimes from 2019 to 2020. President Biden insisted he was 'feeling great' after taking a tumble on his bicycle over the long weekend in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. 'I'm feeling great. I'm feeling great. What happened was, do any of you guys ride bikes? Well, they have some that have this thing you put your toe in holds your foot so it doesn't slip out. I was getting off the bike, and it got stuck on the right side,' the president told reporters Monday. 'I'm fine,' he insisted. 'I fell in case you didn't notice,' he whispered to one reporter. Upon trying to dismount the bike on Saturday, his shoes caught and he fell over sideways, causing a mad scramble of Secret Service and press trying to help him up. Gasps rang out after the fall, which saw Biden, 79, stay on the ground for roughly 10 seconds, before being helped up by several Secret Service Agents, who immediately swarmed the downed Democrat. President Biden insisted he was 'feeling great' after taking a tumble on his bicycle over the long weekend in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware Biden poses with a girl who came to him and shook his hands as he walks on the beach with granddaughter Natalie Biden and daughter Ashley Biden, in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Monday, June 20 BIden chats with bystanders during a beach walk on Monday Moments later, Biden was glad-handing the crowd - even bringing one woman out to meet first dog Commander, who was being walked nearby. Despite the tumble, the president - who donned shorts and a T-shirt for the excursion - did not appear to suffer any abrasions or cuts from the spill. First Lady Jill Biden, who joined her husband after his initial loop by reporters, missed the fall, after zooming on ahead of the head of state. Biden hopped out of church Saturday evening to prove he wasn't injured after the fall. He's in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with Jill to mark their 45th wedding anniversary, Father's Day and Juneteenth weekend. The president exited St. Edmond in downtown Rehoboth after attending mass, with reporters yelling questions at him asking how he was doing. Biden walks with daughter Ashley, right and granddaughter Natalie, left 'I'm feeling great. I'm feeling great. What happened was, do any of you guys ride bikes? Well, they have some that have this thing you put your toe in holds your foot so it doesn't slip out. I was getting off the bike, and it got stuck on the right side,' the president told reporters Monday Biden didn't yell back, instead taking three hops forward and making jump-rope motions with his hands, before waving to a crowd that had gathered outside and getting in his black SUV. Earlier he had told press, 'I'm good,' after falling over and taking his bike with him. The president didn't need to see a doctor after the incident, the White House said. Former President Trump speaking at the American Freedom Tour in Memphis, Tennessee brought up the fall to a crowd of supporters and said he wished Biden well. 'We do hope that Biden's okay, because that was a hard fall, that was scary,' he said. 'I make this pledge to you today - I will never, ever ride a bicycle.' On Monday Biden's daughter Ashley and granddaughter Natalie tried to pull the president away from reporters Monday after he started gabbing to the press mid-Rehoboth Beach walk. 'Nope, like no more - No more questions,' Ashley Biden said in a sing-song voice behind her dad, putting up her hands. But then Biden was asked about the forthcoming G7 meeting and couldn't resist giving an answer about his agenda there. Biden falls to the ground after getting his foot caught on the pedal Gasps rang out after the fall, which saw Biden, 79, stay on the ground for roughly 10 seconds, before being helped up by several Secret Service Agents, who immediately swarmed the downed Democrat A Secret Service member helps the president up after his fall 'Yes, one of the things that you may recall that I initiated was the international flat tax. We got 140-some nations to sign on,' he began. 'I'm coming,' he told Natalie who was hovering alongside his left shoulder. 'This is my son Beaus oldest daughter and shes trying to tell me "dad, grandpa, pop, get going,"' the president said. DailyMail.com asked the Biden women how they spent Father's Day with the president Sunday. 'We had dinner,' Natalie replied. 'All hung out together,' Ashley answered. 'And we did puzzles,' Natalie added. The Biden clan - which also included granddaughter Naomi and her fiance Peter Neal - slowly walked down Rehoboth Beach Monday, a federal holiday thanks to Biden signing a bill last year to include Juneteenth, with the president taking photos and selfies with beachgoers, who clustered around him. During his gaggle with reporters he said a recession is not inevitable and he will make a decision on a federal gas tax holiday by the end of the week. Biden said that he talked to Larry Summers, a former economist for President Barack Obama, and rejected his suggestion that a recession is inevitable and said he will make a decision on whether to impose a federal gas tax holiday later this week. 'There is nothing inevitable about a recession,' the president told reporters. A journalist had said that people were saying a recession was more inevitable than ever. 'No the majority of them arent saying that. Dont make things up. Now you sound like a Republican politician,' Biden replied. 'Thats a joke, that was a joke,' he added. The White House has been weighing different options that can ease the pain at the pumps for Americans after the average price of a gallon rose over $5. He also suggested there was a possibility of sending out gas rebate cards, similar to those proposed in states such as California. Asked whether he was going to visit Ukraine during his trip to Europe for the G7 and NATO summits, he said it wasn't likely. The turtle dove is the fastest declining bird species in the UK and on the brink of extinction. There are now only 2,100 breeding pairs in the UK, the first national survey of the endangered birds has found. Huge numbers are shot by hunters in Europe on their annual migration flight of more than 3,000 miles to spend the winter in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are now only 2,100 breeding pairs of turtle doves in the UK as huge numbers are shot by hunters in Europe on their annual migration flight. Research shows a 98% reduction in the species in the last half-century They are thought to be in decline due to a lack of seeds they eat from crops in the spring and summer. The research shows a 98 per cent reduction in turtle dove numbers in the last half-century. The estimated 2,100 pairs in Britain last year is down from 125,000 in 1970. Andrew Stanbury, of the RSPB, said: Although these results paint a stark picture with numbers, the way forward is clear and we stand a good chance of turning around the fortunes of this bird. The turtle dove is thought to be in decline due to a lack of seeds they eat from crops in the spring and summer. A project called Operation Turtle Dove is working to restore and create new breeding habitats for the bird Almost 1,000 volunteers, farmers, study groups and county bird clubs took part in the survey. Conservationists also say they hope numbers will increase following hunting bans in France, Spain and Portugal. A project called Operation Turtle Dove, a partnership between the RSPB, conservation charity Fair to Nature, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Natural England, is also working to restore and create new breeding habitats for Europes only long-distance migratory dove species. Cars that track your every movement. Gadgets that can tell your mood from how you walk. PCs that take screenshots to show your boss if you're really working from home... It's all laid bare in a new book by a top British lawyer who warns of the terrifying consequences Just imagine a great bazaar: a vast marketplace teeming with shoppers, like the bustling souks of Istanbul, Dubai or Marrakech. At every turn stallholders pester visitors to inspect their wares, while the signs appeal for custom in almost every language in the world. Theres just one unusual thing about it. For instead of the pots, pans, silks and spices you might expect, the bazaar sells only one product. It sells data mine, yours, your neighbours, your familys. An Emirati woman walks in front of the Saudi Arabian pavilion at Dubai's tech Expo 2020 The market traders dont hide what they sell. Quite the reverse. As the writer Jamie Susskind puts it, they boast of knowing the innermost secrets of hundreds of millions of people. They know what they eat for breakfast, where they sleep, what they do for work, what they believe and care about, the kind of TV they watch, their ages and sexual preferences, their insecurities and fears. Some of the bazaars merchants, Susskind writes, sell filthy buckets of raw data in need of a clean. Others offer neat packages, crisply tailored to the needs of their clientele. One vendor hawks a list of rape victims 79 bucks for a thousand along with a list of victims of domestic abuse. But perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the Great Data Bazaar is the fact that, in large parts of the world, including America, its almost entirely unsupervised. In Susskinds words, there are no law enforcement officials in sight. It sounds like the stuff of a wild dystopian fantasy. Yet in reality, says Susskind, a highly respected lawyer and expert on the politics of technological change, its simply the world of todays bloated digital behemoths, from Facebook and TikTok to Apple and Amazon. Futuristic technology has potentially worrisome implications - for people and democracy too For years Susskind has been investigating the world of the tech giants, meticulously recording their erosion of personal freedom and political debate. Now, in a blistering and highly persuasive manifesto, The Digital Republic, he is calling for Western governments to fight back against these autocrats of information. As he sees it, digital technology poses a deadly threat to democracy itself, by which he means the ideal of a virtuous republic which we inherited from the Greeks and Romans. Quietly, ruthlessly, the gilded elites running firms such as Google and Facebook are stripping us of our liberty and power yet theyre doing it so subtly that we barely notice. Most of us are vaguely aware that when we type in our postcode or date of birth, were handing over our personal data. But typically we shrug and do it anyway, because its more convenient not to quibble. What few of us realise, though, is how coldly and pitilessly were being watched and recorded. Going off-grid is almost impossible. For as Susskind notes, the unique identifiers in our smartphones and payment devices telegraph our presence wherever we go. What few of us realise is how often we're being watched - but our phones, our cars and more Even our cars are keeping tabs on us. Four years ago the then-chief executive of Ford, Jim Hackett, boasted that he could harvest data on 100 million people through their cars. We already know, he bragged, what people make . . . we know where they work . . . we know if theyre married. We know how long theyve lived in their house . . . And thats the leverage weve got here with the data. Your car, in other words, isnt just a car. Its a means of spying on you and selling your information. Meanwhile, our phones record our fingerprints, our voices, even our facial characteristics. Other devices, says Susskind, can recognise us from our gait. Their algorithms can tell if we are bored or distracted from the tiny movements of our faces. They can see if were sad from the way we walk. Chillingly, they can even predict our mental state from the content of our social media posts. With the pandemic encouraging home working, many employers now use software packages such as Hubstaff, which claims that it enables teams to work more effectively. But when you look more closely, the implications could scarcely be more terrifying. Hubstaff doesnt just track the websites you visit; it records your mouse movements and keystrokes. It even takes screenshots of your desktop, so that your boss knows exactly what youre looking at. All this seems disturbingly reminiscent of the telescreens in George Orwells nightmarish novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which allow the authorities to track what the oppressed masses are doing and saying. Even a decade or two ago, it would have seemed utterly unimaginable. Yet today it has become a daily reality for thousands of workers across the Western world, the sinister implications concealed behind the websites cloying pictures of happy, grinning employees. Heres another example. When police in the U.S. wanted information about Black Lives Matter activists, reports Susskind, they didnt need to spy on them with cameras in bars. They bought what they needed in the data market. Facebook had a trove of data about users interested in Black Lives Matter, which it sold to third-party brokers, who sold it on to law-enforcement authorities. You dont have to be an enthusiast of Black Lives Matter to find all this deeply alarming. Who might be next? Environmental organisations? Countryside protesters? Religious groups? People opposed to the political fads of the day? But snooping, as Susskind calls it, is merely one symptom of a deeper issue. Whats even more worrying is the tech giants power to influence and control us, often in ways we dont even notice. Although platforms such as Twitter and Facebook boast of their commitment to free expression, they are constantly tweaking what we see and hear. Twitters former chief executive, Jack Dorsey, for example, has admitted that his platform unfairly filtered some 600,000 accounts from its Latest Results search feed, which is what many users turn to first. And though I wasnt sorry to see Donald Trump kicked off Twitter, should a mere social media platform have such power? Who decides who stays and who goes? Should it really be up to Elon Musk the billionaire who hopes to buy Twitter to decide who can talk to us? Googles search results, too, exercise a colossal influence over our daily decisions and political assumptions. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, says Susskind, the top two suggestions on Yahoo! for completing the phrase Hillary Clinton is . . . were a liar and a criminal. Yet the Google equivalents were winning and awesome. So depending which search engine you chose, you would get a very different picture of the defeated Democratic candidate. Even TikTok, which specialises in comical videos for children and teenagers, quietly tweaks its content. In 2020, reports Susskind, it emerged that the apps moderators had been ordered to block images of chubby people and those with an abnormal body shape from appearing on the For You page. Transport developments, though promising, offer new opportunities for our data to be lost All this might not sound terribly sinister. But when you look beyond the Western world, you realise how this technological power can be abused for authoritarian ends. In Thailand, Facebook removes anything critical of the royal family, just as it has censored blasphemous content in Pakistan. And TikTok, which is Chinese, regularly censors any discussion of Tibetan independence, the bloody massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or the horrific treatment of millions of Uighurs in the concentration camps in Xinjiang. The cruel irony is that in the West the social media giants boast that they are fostering democracy and bringing the world closer together. Yet even as they parade their commitment to the latest woke fads, they actively enable the authoritarian suppression of human rights on the other side of the world. In Hong Kong, reports Susskind, pro-democracy activists developed an app that would allow them to track police movements, and therefore evade tear gas and baton charges. So what did Apple do? You can probably guess. Eager to please its friends in the Chinese Communist Party, the tech giant banned the app from its platform. Meanwhile, if you go to Saudi Arabia and youre a man you can download an app that will allow you to monitor and restrict the movements of your wife. Doesnt this undermine Apples commitment to womens rights, so often proclaimed in its Western adverts? Apparently not though the women of Saudi Arabia might disagree, if only they could speak freely. TikTok quietly tweaks its content: in 2020, it was revealed the app airbrushes 'chubby' people To put it simply, whenever the choice lies between money and morality, firms such as Apple, Google and Facebook always, unerringly, choose the cash. In a saner world, as Susskind points out, firms with this sort of power would be subject to proper democratic regulation the kind that already governs doctors, lawyers, even broadcasters. But the tech giants, driven by crude self-interest and a bloated sense of their importance, have resisted regulation at every turn. They claim they are capable of regulating themselves, though the record tells a different story. Facebook hired a former CIA officer, Yael Eisenstat, to supervise their elections integrity operations. But she left after just six months, complaining that she had been intentionally sidelined. The plain fact, she said, was that Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies were ultimately interested in only one thing: making money. Yet in some cases Facebook genuinely costs lives. In Burma, the site has been used to encourage the government-backed genocide campaign against the minority Rohingya people. Moreover, despite the empty promises of Zuckerbergs corporate lickspittle, the shameless Nick Clegg, the network has often acted as a recruiting centre for extremists, even allowing people to post instructions on making a nail bomb. At Google, meanwhile, another whistle-blower, Ross LaJeunesse, tried to set up a human rights programme, but walked out in despair. As he put it, Google didnt really care about human rights; it cared only for bigger profits and an even higher stock price. Against this background, Western governments have been criminally weak. From the White House to Downing Street, our leaders have allowed the tech firms to steal our data, sell us lies and misinformation and turn us into little more than unwitting content generators all in the name of profit. Western governments have ben too weak in protecting our human rights versus corporations In his final chapters, Susskind offers a series of remedies. Tech firms should be regulated by law, he says, and forced to ban data-harvesting and take down abuse within 12 hours. Above all, they should be subject to precisely the kind of competition laws and editorial regulations that already govern other powerful industries such as the broadcast media. For they are no longer plucky outsiders; they are the new digital establishment, and if they cannot show genuine civic responsibility, they should be forced to do so. Some readers, I imagine, may find this too strong a slippery slope to state interference in the free market. But I dont agree. At the turn of the 20th century, reforming U.S. presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt moved firmly and decisively to break up the monopolistic, bullying, anti-competitive giants that were giving capitalism a bad name, most famously Standard Oil. But this didnt endanger capitalism. Quite the reverse. It reinvigorated it, encouraging competition and restoring public confidence. As Susskinds book powerfully shows, we need to rekindle the same spirit today. For the past 30 years, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have been pathetically weak, cowering before the supposed power of Facebook and Google instead of daring to stand up in the interest of the people. Technological companies are supposed to be our servants, not the other way round. Your phone shouldnt spy on you. Your social media platform shouldnt sell your secrets. So how have we allowed ourselves to get into a situation where they do? When a Western government finally summons the will to change things, there will, Susskind warns, be howls of anguish from the kleptocrats of Silicon Valley. Yet the great task that has fallen to our generation, he writes, is to be welcomed and not feared: the task of harnessing the awesome power of technology and binding it tightly to the shared hopes and aspirations of humanity. Thats worth fighting for. Who could disagree with that? Adapted from The Digital Republic: On Freedom And Democracy In The 21st Century by Jamie Susskind, published by Bloomsbury on June 23 at 25. Jamie Susskind 2022. To order a copy for 22.50 (offer valid to 02/07/22; UK P&P free on orders over 20), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. The International Space Station (ISS) had to swerve to avoid colliding with space debris from a Russian anti-satellite missile test, NASA has revealed. At 14:07 CT (20:07 BST) on Thursday, the ISS had to fire its thrusters for more than four minutes to shift itself out of the path of the moving debris. NASA said in a statement that the seven-person crew 'was never in any danger' and the manoeuvre had no impact on station operations. It's unclear how big the debris was or what would have happened had it hit the space station. Russia's debris came from its 4,410-pound Cosmos 1408 satellite, which the country obliterated in November during its 'anti-satellite missile test' (ASAT). The International Space Station (ISS, depicted here) had to swerve to avoid colliding with space debris from a Russian anti-satellite missile test WHAT WAS COSMOS 1408? Cosmos 1408, also spelt Kosmos 1408, was a Soviet ELINT (Electronic and Signals Intelligence) satellite launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on September 16, 1982. It was designed to determine the precise location, activity, and other details of radio emitters. On November 15, 2021, Cosmos 1408, no longer operational, was destroyed in a Russian kinetic anti-satellite test, generating a cloud of debris including some 1,500 pieces of trackable size. Cosmos 1408 was orbiting around 300 miles from Earth's surface at the time, and created a debris field between 270 miles and 320 miles from the surface. Source: NASA Advertisement Cosmos 1408 launched in 1982 and was deliberately destroyed by the Russians because it was no longer operational. According to experts, the space debris from November's collision over the Atlantic Ocean which included 'some 1,500 pieces of trackable size' will cause havoc for spacecraft for years, if not decades. In a statement on its website, NASA briefly explained Thursday's incident, which it called a 'pre-determined debris avoidance manoeuvre' (PDAM). 'This afternoon, the International Space Stations Progress 81 thrusters fired for 4 minutes, 34 seconds in a pre-determined debris avoidance manoeuvre (PDAM) to provide the complex and extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of a fragment of Russian Cosmos 1408 debris,' NASA said. 'The crew was never in any danger and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. 'Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within around a half mile from the station.' When Cosmos 1408 was blown up on November 15 last year, astronauts on the ISS, orbiting 260 miles from Earth, had to shelter for two hours to let the debris pass. Russia's debris came from its 4,410-pound Cosmos 1408 satellite, which the country obliterated in November during its 'anti-satellite missile test' (ASAT) Russia blew up one of its own satellites on November 15 using a missile. Cosmos 1408, a defunct spy satellite launched in 1982, was the destroyed target, which resulted in a field of 1,500 pieces of debris endangering the crew of the ISS ISS astronauts, which included American and Russian personnel, were ordered by Houston Mission Control to get to safety inside the ship's escape pods. RUSSIA AND THE ISS There now are three Russians, three Americans and one Italian on the ISS. While the war in Ukraine has caused tensions between the US and Russia, the astronauts have stood by their Russian crewmates, and vice versa. Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow also continued to cooperate as always, according to NASA officials. As he relinquished command of the ISS prior to departure in May, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn called the space station 'a place of peace' and said international cooperation would likely be its lasting legacy. In April, Russia said it will quit the ISS due to economic sanctions over war in Ukraine. Russia's space agency Roscosmos is not required to give an exact date of its withdrawal, but affirmed the Russian space programme will adhere to the stipulated year-long notice period. Advertisement Government branches and private companies track space debris using Earth-based radar, which can help satellite operators and government agencies avoid collisions. At the time, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he was 'outraged by this irresponsible and destabilizing action' from Russia. 'With its long and storied history in human spaceflight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS, but also their own cosmonauts,' Nelson said. 'All nations have a responsibility to prevent the purposeful creation of space debris from ASATs and to foster a safe, sustainable space environment.' US space firm LeoLabs also slammed Russia for endangering the crew of the ISS, calling it an 'irresponsible act that harms all spacefaring nations'. LeoLabs said there will be a potential collision risk to most satellites in low-Earth orbit due to the fragmentation of Cosmos 1408 'over the next few years to decades'. Back in January, China said Cosmos 1408 debris came within 47 feet of its Tsinghua science satellite, a university-built research payload launched into orbit in August 2020. Liu Jing, a space debris expert and deputy director of CNSA's Space Debris Monitoring and Application Center, told Global Times that actual collisions between the pair are likely in future. 'Currently, they keep a safe distance but the chance for these two getting close in the future cannot be excluded,' Jing said. Space debris from the collision over the Atlantic Ocean - which included 'some 1,500 pieces of trackable size' - will cause havoc for spacecraft for years, if not decades (concept image) Debris from Cosmos 1408 simply adds to a cloud of junk that leads to an ever-increasing risk of collision. Fragments of space debris as small as a centimetre have the potential to completely destroy satellites because of the speed at which they travel. According to NASA, there are about 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. There are half a million pieces of debris the size of a marble (up to 0.4 inches) or larger, and approximately 100 million pieces of debris about 0.04 inches and larger. In 2021, an expert at the European Commission warned that unwanted debris left by humans in low-Earth orbit have become the equivalent of a 'new drifting island of plastic'. While space debris is unlikely to affect space travel, it will lead to significant problems for spaceflight around Earth. The risk would be highest for objects orbiting at an altitude of around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), which is used for communications and Earth observation. 'We will still be able to travel to Mars because we will transit very fast through this problematic region,' Holger Krag, head of the ESA's Space Safety Programme Office, told Reuters. 'But if you want to operate and stay for years in this problematic region, that might not be possible anymore in a few decades from now.' The Army said the Agniveers will not have any right to be selected after completion of their four-year tenure. Representational image/PTI New Delhi: Amid the widespread nationwide protests over the Agnipath scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet the chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force individually on Tuesday. The PM is likely to discuss the Agnipath scheme in detail with the service chiefs. They are likely to apprise Mr Modi about the roadmap on Agnipath recruitment and the various steps being taken for its smooth implementation. There is a likelihood of another press conference on Tuesday by a senior government official along with the senior military leadership on the new scheme. The service chiefs have been at forefront of efforts to promote the Agnipath scheme. The Indian Army, meanwhile, issued a notification on Monday on the holding of recruitment rallies for the induction of soldiers under the Agnipath scheme. The online registration for recruitment rallies will be open from next month. The Army will start holding rallies by the middle of August, and some 83 rallies will be held across the country. Some 25,000 Agniveers will join in the first batch in first week of December for training, while the second batch of around 15,000 will join in February 2023 to complete 40,000 being recruited in the current year. As per the notification, the Agniveers would form a distinct rank in the Indian Army, different from any other existing ranks. The Agniveeers will be liable to be assigned any duty in the Armys interest, as decided from time to time. The release at ones own request prior to the completion of the terms of engagement of Agniveers is not permitted. However, in exceptional cases, the personnel enrolled under this scheme may be released if this is sanctioned by the competent authority, it said. The Agniveers will be eligible for 30 days leave in a year as against the 90 days given for those in regular service. Medical leave will be granted based on medical advice. The Agniveers will be barred from disclosing classified information gained in the four-year service period to any unauthorised person or source under the Official Secrets Act 1923. It said that based on the organisational requirements and policies promulgated, the Agniveers, after completing their engagement period in each batch, will be offered an opportunity to apply for enrolment in the regular cadre. These applications will be considered in a centralised manner by the Army based on an objective criteria, including performance during their engagement period, and not more than 25 per cent of each specific batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in the regular cadre, the Army said. The Army said the Agniveers will not have any right to be selected after completion of their four-year tenure. As part of the enrolment process, each Agniveer will have to formally accept all terms and conditions of the Agnipath scheme. For personnel below 18 years, the enrolment forms will have to be signed by their parents or guardians, according to the document. After discharge from service following four years of service, they will not be eligible for any kind of pension or gratuity, neither will they be eligible for the Ex-Servicemens Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), Canteen Stores Department (CSD) facilities, ex-servicemens status and various other sundry benefits. Is this Generation Z's answer to noughties magazine personality quizzes? Thousands of TikTok users from around the world are sharing the results of a new 11-question quiz that tells you what type of 'human feeling' you are. Results range from 'sincere love' to 'humility' and 'tired', and are being shared on the video-sharing app under the hashtag #humanfeelings. Videos generally involve a still image of the user with a caption announcing that they tried the test and this is their result, before a screenshot of the quiz revealing their 'feeling'. The 'what kind of human feeling are you' quiz is hosted on Russian website Uquiz, and the questions and answers are written in Russian so require translation for English speakers. The 'what kind of human feeling are you' quiz is hosted on a Russian website Uquiz, and the questions and answers are written in Russian so require translation for English speakers Thousands are sharing their results, that range from 'sincere love' to 'humility' and 'tired', on the video-sharing app TikTok using the hashtag #humanfeelings Once you have answered all 11 questions in the quiz, it will give you your result of which 'human feeling' you are, and invite you to share it on social media Some of the questions and answers appear to be phrased strangely due to translation limitations between Russian and English Where can I take the quiz? Clicking on this link will take you directly to the UQuiz website where you can try the personality quiz yourself. Your browser should prompt you to translate the page from Russian into your language to allow you to read the questions and answers. What do I have to do? The website first asks you to enter your name and press 'Start Quiz' to get to the 11 multiple-choice questions. You are not required to use your real name or input any further personal information. The developer of the quiz, who has the username arixxcn, writes that it is 'based on my personal opinion and site algorithms. I hope you will like it!' Some of the questions and answers appear to be phrased strangely due to translation limitations between Russian and English. The fifth question reads 'flower language. choose what you like the most', for example. Potential answers to this question include 'crocus - joy, fun, freshness of feelings. "You gave me unforgettable moments." and 'vicar - "will you dance with me?"'. Other questions ask you to choose a picture of a beverage out of a series of images, and question six asks 'is it okay to have feelings?'. The quiz is comprised of 11 multiple-choice questions. One asks you to choose a picture of a beverage out of a series of images, and another asks 'is it okay to have feelings?' WHAT ARE THE FOUR PERSONALITY 'CLUSTERS' RESEARCHERS CLAIM WE ALL FALL INTO? Experts from Northwestern University sifted through data from more than 1.5 million questionnaire respondents. Their research suggests that everyone falls into one of four distinct clusters of personality types. These are 1. Average: Average people are high in neuroticism and extraversion, while low in openness. 2. Reserved: The Reserved type is emotionally stable, but not open or neurotic. They are not particularly extroverted, but can be somewhat agreeable and conscientious. 3. Role Models: Role Models score low in neuroticism and high in all the other traits. They are dependable and open to new ideas 4. Self-Centred: Self-Centred people score very high in extraversion and below average in openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Read more here Advertisement What results are people getting? Once you have answered all 11 questions in the quiz, it will tell you which 'human feeling' you are, and invite you to share it on social media. MailOnline's Fiona Jackson got 'true love' after trying out the quiz. The description of 'true love' read 'you... wow. really, wow. definitely very strong and wonderful people. 'your loved ones are very lucky to have you, and you, too, you know, are huge smarties. 'probably sometime in your life something terrible happened, and you broke down, piece by piece picking yourself up. but I'm glad it's okay now.' Other social media users got results like 'sadness', 'humility' and 'sincere love'. One quiz taker tweeted: 'I took the tiktok emotion quiz and got despondency and it's upsettingly accurate'. The description for their result reads: 'Not far from humility but you still try to fight. And Im proud of you. It hurts and very often you want to quit everything. 'You have lost interest in life, you dont want it to end, but also to keep it going. I keep my fingers crossed for you! Everything will surely work out.' TikTok videos where users display their results are usually backed by a sped-up version of the song 'In My Room' by Chance Pena. The hashtag has received over 515,000 views at time of writing, and the song has been used in over 328,000 videos. Is it safe? The personality quiz only requires a user to input a name in order to start it, however there are still risks associated with accessing unfamiliar websites. MailOnline's Fiona Jackson got 'true love' as her human feeling after trying out the quiz Other social media users got results like 'sadness', 'humility', 'sincere love' and despondency Cybersecurity advisor Jake Moore said: 'Like with any website that requests data input, users should be cautious of what personal data they may give away. 'These sites may seem quite harmless and a bit of fun but they still scoop up data from the device such as browser used, device model but they could also potentially view your IP address. 'Unknown sites could also contain adverts that include spyware and other harmful content so it is best to err on the side of caution. 'Its advised to use a VPN - virtual private network - on sites you cannot verify and be mindful about what data you may give away voluntarily.' An adblocker may help against accidentally downloading a virus or malware as, according to Moore, just clicking on an advert once can cause 'device havoc'. When inputted into website reputation checker URLVoid, the UQuiz domain was registered way back in 2008, and no scams have since been reported. An adblocker may help against accidentally downloading a virus or malware while on unfamiliar websites because, according to cybersecurity expert Jake Moore (pictured), just clicking on an advert once can cause 'device havoc' Climate change is causing more frequent and intense droughts, storm, heat waves, rising sea levels and melting glaciers and to stop this destruction, MIT researchers proposes 'Space Bubbles' to shield Earth from the sun's rays to combat the devastation. This geoengineering idea would feature inflatable bubbles, organized in a circular shape the size of Brazil, which would sit between the Earth and the sun, blocking radiation from hitting our planet. 'We believe that inflating thin-film spheres directly in space from a homogeneous molten materialsuch as silicon can provide the variation in thickness that refracts a broader wave spectrum and allows us to avoid the necessity of launching large structural film elements,' the team share in a press release. Although Space Bubbles could reduce the amount of radiation hitting Earth, those involved with the work stress the innovation is designed to supplement and not replace current efforts to combat climate change. Scroll down for video MIT researchers proposes 'Space Bubbles' to shield Earth from the sun's rays to combat the devastation According to the team at MIT's Senseable City Lab, bubbles have been tested in outer space conditions that they believe could one day be used to deflect solar radiation. 'Space-based solutions would be safer for instance, if we deflect 1.8 per cent of incident solar radiation before it hits our planet, we could fully reverse today's global warming,' reads the release. 'As bubbles can be intentionally destroyed by breaking their surface equilibrium,' the announcement continues, 'this would make the solar geoengineering solution fully reversible and significantly reduce space debris.' The giant shield would sit at the Lagrange Point, the area between the Earth and sun and where the James Webb Telescope is, which the team says is the ideal spot to catch radiation before it hits our planet. This geoengineering idea would feature inflatable bubbles, organized in a circular shape the size of Brazil, which would sit between the Earth and the sun, blocking radiation from hitting our planet The team notes that if we deflect 1.8 per cent of incident solar radiation before it hits our planet, we could fully reverse today's global warming The team also notes that they have conducted a successful preliminary experiment of their futuristic Space Bubbles. This was done by inflating a spherical shell in outer space conditions, which included the temperature and pressure found in space. The Space Bubbles research project builds on ideas by scientist James Early, who first suggested deploying a deflective object at the Lagrangian Point, and astronomer Roger Angel, who proposed the bubble-raft. Although geoengineering sounds like something out of a science fiction film, it is being used in the real world. Last year, the United Arab Emirates used geoengineering to create rain in Dubai to beat sweltering temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The rain was formed using drone technology that gives clouds an electric shock to 'cajole them' into clumping together and producing precipitation. A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), also released in 2021, proposed geoengineering Earth's oceans to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to combat climate change. The ideas include adding fertilizer to increase growth of tiny photosynthetic, passing electric currents through the water to boost alkalinity and changing the seawater's chemistry. Scott Doney, chair of the committee and professor in environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, who is an author of the report, said in a statement: 'Ocean carbon dioxide removal strategies are already being discussed by scientists, non-governmental organizations, and entrepreneurs as potential climate response strategies. 'Right now, society and policymakers do not have the information they need to evaluate the impacts and trade-offs of these climate responses. 'If we want to make fully informed decisions about the future of our ocean and climate, we need to complete some very critical research in the next decade.' A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), also released in 2021, proposed geoengineering Earth's oceans to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to combat climate change But a report in 2015 says this type of 'climate engineering' which involves manipulating the natural processes after emissions have been released is only a quick and cheap fix. In the long run, such drastic geoengineering measures are 'irrational and irresponsible' and could ultimately damage the planet, a US panel of scientists has said. 'There is no substitute for dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change,' said the National Research Council in a two-part report on proposed climate-intervention techniques. 'If society ultimately decides to intervene in Earth's climate, any actions should be informed by a far more substantive body of scientific research, including ethical and social dimensions, than is presently available.' The Washington-based panel urged against 'albedo-modification technologies, which aim to increase the ability of Earth or clouds to reflect incoming sunlight,' saying they 'pose considerable risks and should not be deployed at this time.' Such techniques would only temporarily mask the warming effect caused by high CO2 concentrations, and present serious known and possible unknown environmental, social, and political risks, said the report. A local fisherman in Cambodia has captured a true river monster that scientists believe is the world's largest freshwater fish. Moul Thun, 42, hooked a massive stingray that weighs 661 pounds and measures 13-feet-long, breaking the previous record of a catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, which clocked in at 646 pounds. The stingray, nicknamed 'Boramy' or 'full moon' in the Khmer language, was snagged in the Mekong River that is famous for hosting various species of large fish. A team of scientists from the Wonders of Mekong research project helped tag, measure and weigh the ray before it was released back into the river. Scroll down for video A local fisherman in Cambodia has captured a true river monster that scientists believe is the world's largest freshwater fish The tag, which blasts out an acoustic signal, will allow experts to understand the stingray's behavior throughout the large river it runs through China, Myanmar, Laos Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The device will send tracking information for the next year. The Mekong River is home to several species of giant freshwater fish but environmental pressures are rising. In particular, scientists fear a major program of dam building in recent years may be seriously disrupting spawning grounds. Moul Thun, 42, hooked a massive stingray that weighs 661 pounds and measures 13-feet-long The stingray, nicknamed 'Boramy' or 'full moon' in the Khmer language, was snagged in the Mekong River that is famous for hosting various species of large fish Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan told AFP: 'Big fish globally are endangered. They're high-value species. They take a long time to mature. So if they're fished before they mature, they don't have a chance to reproduce. 'A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. They're impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. 'So about 70 percent of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species.' Hogan has been searching for and documenting 'megafishes' for nearly 20 years, traveling all over the globe with the hopes of seeing these elusive creatures for himself. However, much of his work has been based on stories told by local fishermen who claimed to have seen river monsters first hand - but that all changed on June 13 when the massive stingray was caught. A team of scientists from the Wonders of Mekong research project helped tag, measure and weigh the ray before it was released back into the river After Thun hooked the record-breaking fish he quickly alerted scientists who were at the river in just a few hours. The team scooped up the massive fish in a large tarp, drawing a crowd of people to the river, and began measuring it from its nose down to its tail. And the fish was placed on top of three scales to capture its weight. The stingray was found to be a female that was in good health, and was the same species of stingray that is commonly found throughout the Mekong. 'The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years,' said Hogan who is also a fish biologist at the University of Nevada. 'It's found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. We don't know about its life history. We don't know about its ecology, about its migration patterns.' In addition to the honor of having caught the record-breaker, the lucky fisherman was compensated at market rate, meaning he received a payment of around $600. Scientists have produced a new map of Earth's tectonic plates that shows the continents organized like the first supercontinent, Vaalbara, which broke up about 2.8 million years ago. The team, led by the University of Adelaide, believes the updated model will help provide a better understanding of natural hazards like earthquakes and volcanoes. Tectonic plates are the gradual drift of continents across the Earth's surface that causes earthquake and volcanoes to erupt. By reverting back millions of years ago, scientist are able to include new microplates, such as the Macquarie microplate which sits south of Tasmania and the Capricorn microplate that separates the Indian and Australian plates. This allowed them to better explain 'the spatial distribution of 90 percent of earthquakes and 80 percent of volcanoes from the past two million years whereas existing models only capture 65 percent of earthquakes,' said Dr Derrick Hasterok, Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide who led the team, in a statement. Scroll down for video Scientists have produced a new map of Earth's tectonic plates that shows the continents organized like the first supercontinent, Vaalbara, which broke up about 2.8 million years ago To achieve these statistics, Hasterok and his team also added more accurate information about the boundaries of deformation zones: previous models showed these as discrete areas rather than wide zones. 'The biggest changes to the plate model have been in western North America, which often has the boundary with the Pacific Plate drawn as the San Andreas and Queen Charlotte Faults,' said Hasterok. 'But the newly delineated boundary is much wider, approximately 1500 km [932 miles], than the previously drawn narrow zone. 'The other large change is in central Asia. The new model now includes all the deformation zones north of India as the plate bulldozes its way into Eurasia.' This allowed them to better explain 'the spatial distribution of 90 percent of earthquakes and 80 percent of volcanoes from the past two million years whereas existing models (pictured) only capture 65 percent of earthquakes' The last time the tectonic plate model was updated was back in 2003. 'The plate model can be used to improve models of risks from geohazards; the orogeny model helps understand the geodynamic systems and better model Earth's evolution and the province model can be used to improve prospecting for minerals,' Hasterok said. A separate study, published in 2019, supports the new model, as it found tectonic plates began to form around 2.5 billion years ago - shortly before Vaalbara broke up. To assess when Earth's tectonic plates kicked off, geologist Robert Holder of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues studied metamorphic rocks from 564 sites across the globe that date back as far as 3 billion years ago. Metamorphic rocks are those that form when other types of rock those made from sediments, or that cooled out of lava or magma are altered through either extreme temperatures or pressures. By reverting back millions of years ago, scientist are able to include new microplates, such as the Macquarie microplate which sits south of Tasmania and the Capricorn microplate that separates the Indian and Australian plates By analyzing these rocks, the team could determine the depths and temperatures at which they were formed, building up a picture of the changing heat flow at different places across the Earth's crust and, in turn, the plate tectonics that controls such. Paper author and Curtin University geologist Tim Johnson said in a statement: 'Some geologists consider that Earth has had plate tectonics throughout its four-and-a-half-billion-year existence. 'Whereas others consider that plate tectonics appeared abruptly some one billion years ago. 'Using a simple statistical analysis of the temperature, pressure and age of metamorphic rocks, we have revealed that plate tectonics evolved gradually over the past 2.5 billion years as our planet slowly cooled.' Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney has reportedly emerged as a surprise target for Manchester City. The Premier League champions have been in talks with the Gunners over both Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko this summer. Mikel Arteta is looking to finally get the club back in the Champions League after agonisingly missing out this past season. Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney has emerged as a surprise target for Manchester City City manager Pep Guardiola is said to be a fan of the Arsenal and Scotland left-back The Spaniard worked with both Jesus and Zinchenko during his time as Guardiola's assistant. And The Scotsman claim Guardiola also has his eyes on a member of the Arsenal squad. They report that he has been keeping tabs on Tierney, who has impressed in the top flight since he joined the Gunners in a 25million deal back in the summer of 2019. The report goes on to outline that Tierney is 'understood to feature on a list' of potential targets for City, who are desperate to land a new left-back this summer. This has led fans to believe he could be included as part of a potential swap deal. Manchester United have made initial contact with Christian Eriksen regarding a potential move this summer. Eriksen is set to be available as a free agent when his Brentford contract expires at the end of this month, and new United manager Erik ten Hag is a big admirer of the Denmark international. As reported by Sky Sports, United are keen to sign Eriksen, with Brentford and West Ham are also interested. Manchester United have made initial contact with Christian Eriksen over a potential deal New Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is a big admirer of Eriksen's ability Other clubs who are tracking Eriksen include Leicester, his old club Ajax and an unknown Spanish team. Tottenham haven't yet come back with an offer following talks that were held two weeks ago, although they have been focused on attempting to sign another striker. After a dismal campaign in which United finished in sixth place in the Premier League, it is clear that an overhaul is needed at Old Trafford. There has been a lack of transfer activity so far, but ten Hag is looking to add to his squad, with Eriksen one of his key targets along with Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong. De Jong and Eriksen both understand the way in which ten Hag wants his team to play. Eriksen made a major impact for Brentford after he joined in January on a short-term contract having recovered from the cardiac arrest that he suffered while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020 last year. Brentford are interested in re-signing Eriksen, while Tottenham are monitoring the situation Eriksen made a major impact under Thomas Frank at Brentford with some impressive displays In eleven Premier League appearances for Brentford Eriksen scored once and provided four assists, with many of his overall performances having been of a high standard. Ten Hag was impressed by Eriksen when he trained with Ajax last season to build up his fitness. The 30-year-old's Premier League experience, the bulk of which came during his time at Tottenham, could prove to be extremely useful for United. The Denmark international is set to become a free agent when his Brentford contract expires United remain in talks with Barcelona for de Jong, who played under ten Hag at Ajax and is seen as pivotal to United's rebuild. There have been a host of departures from United this summer, with Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani and Juan Mata among those departing the club. BBC Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts has said being diagnosed with stomach cancer has brought she and fiancee Kate Holderness closer together. The 43-year-old presenter revealed in October she was undergoing treatment and later had a tumour removed through surgery. She now uses a stoma bag, which attaches to her abdomen and collects her faeces, and has also been undergoing chemotherapy. Inseparable: BBC Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts has said being diagnosed with stomach cancer has brought she and fiancee Kate Holderness closer together She told HELLO! magazine: 'It sounds strange but it's brought us closer than ever. I've always loved Kate but since my diagnosis I've seen a different side to her. She's my counsellor, my mentor and the best nurse ever. 'She helped me when I could barely walk and had to shuffle into work at Radio 1. She's my absolute hero.' Holderness added: 'I've always been a timid person but Adele's illness has unleashed a strength in me I never knew I had.' High praise: 'She's my counsellor, my mentor and the best nurse ever,' the DJ told HELLO! Roberts received her diagnosis on October 1 2021. Reflecting on that day, she said: 'After a scan, the doctor broke the bad news. My first question was: "Am I going to die - and is it my fault?" 'I felt bad for putting Kate and my family through that, but now I know that getting cancer is nobody's fault, and that sadly it will happen to one in two of us.' Treatment: Adele now uses a stoma bag, which attaches to her abdomen and collects her faeces, and has also been undergoing chemotherapy Holderness recalled: 'I was devastated. But I held back the tears because I didn't want her to think that I thought she wouldn't beat it. 'So I went into practical mode, writing down everything the doctor said.' Read the full interview in Hello! magazine, out now. Zooey Deschanel shared a sweet Father's Day tribute honoring her ex-husband Jacob Pechenik and boyfriend Jonathan Scott on Sunday. The 42-year-old actress - who shares two kids with Pechenik - posted an adorable snap of Scott, 44, and Pechenik, 50, standing side by side with the couple's children Charlie Wolf, five, and Elsie Otter, six, perched atop their shoulders. 'So thankful my kids have these two awesome guys in their lives: @jonathanscott and their dad @jacobpechenik,' she captioned the photo of their blended family. Tribute: Zooey Deschanel, 42, shared a sweet Father's Day tribute honoring her ex-husband Jacob Pechenik (left) - with whom she shares two kids - and boyfriend Jonathan Scott (right) The photo shows the two men relaxing in the outdoors, with the Property Brothers star holding Elsie on his shoulders, while Pechenik holds his son Charlie. The two even sported matching outfits, with both men wearing shorts and T-shirts for the day. Pechenik appeared touched by the gesture and commented on the photo, writing, 'It's my absolute greatest privilege.' Thankful: 'So thankful my kids have these two awesome guys in their lives: @jonathanscott and their dad @jacobpechenik,' she captioned the photo of their blended family; Pictured with Scott in 2021 The 500 Days of Summer star and her boyfriend have been a couple since August 2019. They had a fateful first meeting when she met him on a sibling episode of Carpool Karaoke that also featured his brother Drew and her older sister Emily Deschanel. Deschanel gushed about her partner having similar values to her in April in another Instagram post, where she praised his love of nature. Cute couple: Deschanel recently gushed about her partner, 44, having similar values to her in April in another Instagram post, where she praised his love of nature 'Feeling lucky to have found a guy who values protecting our planet as much as I do,' she wrote underneath a photo of them with a stunning mountain view in the back. Deschanel and Pechenik welcomed their kids Elsie and Charlie in 2015 and 2017, respectively. The former couple were married for nearly four years, before finalizing their divorce two years ago in June 2020. As they were: Deschanel and Pechenik, 50, welcomed their kids Elsie Otter, six, and Charlie Wolf, five, in 2015 and 2017, respectively; Pictured 2016 'After much discussion and a long period of contemplation we have decided we are better off as friends, business partners and co-parents rather than life partners,' the former couple told Us in a statement at the time. 'We remain committed to our business, our values and most of all our children. Thank you for respecting our privacy at this time.' Deschanel was previously married to Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard, although their marriage only lasted from 2009 until 2012. An emotional Patti Newton said her late husband would be 'so happy' with the way he was honoured at Sunday night's Logie Awards. The 77-year-old presented the inaugural Bert Newtown Award for most popular presenter in the TV legend's honour. Bert, who died age 81 in October following a health battle, was a quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer who hosted the show a staggering 19 times. An 'emotional' Patti Newton (pictured), 77, said her late husband Bert would be 'so happy' with his tribute at the Logie Awards on Sunday night 'It feels very emotional,' Patty told The Herald Sun. 'Because they're doing a tribute to Bert, and because they're naming an award after him, we feel very special. Bert would just be so happy.' Patti presented the inaugural Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter to Hamish Blake for Channel Nine's Lego Masters. Patti and Bert's daughter Lauren, who also attended Sunday's Logies, gave her mother a silver 'Bert' necklace to wear on the night, while she wore one of Bert's cummerbunds over her dress. Patti attended Sunday's Logie Awards on the Gold Coast to present the inaugural Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter. Bert (pictured in a flashback on screen with Patti) was a quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer who hosted the show a staggering 19 times Back in May, Patti gave a moving tribute to her late husband during a Mother's Day concert. She joined the Aussie Pops Orchestra event, held at Melbourne's Hamer Hall, and sang a trio of songs devoted to Bert. Photos of the late TV legend Bert were projected above the stage as Patti made her tender salute in song. 'It feels very emotional,' Patty told the Herald Sun. 'Because they're doing a tribute to Bert, and because they're naming an award after him, we feel very special. Bert would just be so happy'. Patti is pictured with daughter Lauren Newton Patti and Bert's daughter Lauren gave her mother a silver 'Bert' necklace to wear on the night, while she wore one of Bert's cummerbund's over her dress Patti - who was married to Bert for 47 years - laid her husband to rest in November. Patti and Bert are pictured in 2019 One of the numbers was a special tune simply called For Bert. She also delivered a touching version of Unforgettable which, according to reports, did not leave a dry eye in the house. Patti - who was married to Bert for 47 years - laid her husband to rest in November. Bert had his leg amputated last year after a toe infection that led to another range of complications. Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury were 'kicked out' of a beach club in Dubai after the former Love Island star was caught vlogging. Television personality Molly-Mae, 23, documents highlights of her life to share with fans, with the influencer giving her followers a glimpse at her recent trip to Dubai with her boxer boyfriend Tommy, also 23, in her most recent YouTube video. Speaking about the incident in the clip, which was published on Sunday, Molly-Mae said she was confronted by a security guard at Cove Beach at the Caesars Palace hotel after she was spotted with a vlogging camera, which she insisted she was not using at the time. Incident: Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury, both 23, were 'kicked out' of a beach club in Dubai after the former Love Island star was caught vlogging, she revealed on Sunday The reality star said she and Tommy were told to leave the club after they were questioned how they got in with the camera in the first place. She said: 'We have now left Cove,' before Tommy chimed in warning her not to give the venue a bad review before they got their promised refund. Molly-Mae continued: 'That's not me, I don't throw shade, but we basically just got kicked out at the end. Fun in the sun: Molly-Mae gave her followers a glimpse at her recent trip to Dubai with her boxer boyfriend Tommy in her most recent YouTube video 'Basically, we were leaving because we want to go to this Aqua Fun because obviously we'd leave a cool, vibey beach club to go to an aqua park because that just sums us up but, as we were leaving, Tommy just signed the cheque and I had my vlogging camera in my hand. 'I wasn't even vlogging, I just had it in my hand and one of the security guards came up to me and was like, "Why have you got that camera? You need to leave. Did they not check your bag when you came in here? How did you get in here with that camera?" 'Then he tried to escort me out but because Tommy was somewhere else trying to pay the bill, I was just stood there like, "What is going on?" Speaking out: Speaking about the incident in the clip Molly-Mae said she was confronted by a security guard at Cove Beach at the Caesars Palace hotel after she was spotted with a camera 'He was really shouting in my face and then fully tried to escort me out because I had the vlogging camera but no one checked out bags when we went in, no one said I wasn't allowed a camera. 'It was so weird. He said, "You need to leave, you need to leave. Who let you in here with that camera?" Then he was trying to usher me out. 'So, that was interesting. But because we left and we didn't really use any of the money that we spent for the bed because of that situation, they did give us a full refund which is good.' MailOnline has contacted Cove Beach for comment. Shocking: 'It was so weird. He said, "You need to leave, you need to leave. Who let you in here with that camera?" Then he was trying to usher me out,' she explained It comes after Molly-Mae said she's 'blown away' that her autobiographical book has become a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller in an Instagram post on Sunday. The reality star shared a selfie in which she could be seen grinning as she expressed her excitement. Channelling her business savvy side, she rocked an oversized black blazer, posing with one hand on her face in a gesture of surprise. Excited: It comes after Molly-Mae said she's 'blown away' that her autobiographical book has become a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller in an Instagram post on Sunday 'Blown away': Sharing the post with her 6.4 million followers, she wrote: 'Little break from the Italy pics because today I found out my book is Sunday Times No.1 bestseller' The star - who has recently come out with Becoming Molly-Mae: My Story, which she in past has described as a providing a 'full BTS' - looked incredible as she tied her highlighted blonde tresses back. She left a few curled strands at the front, opting for a dewy and tanned aesthetic. The former Love Islander rocked a clean make-up look with groomed brows, light eyeshadow and a baby pink lip. Success: The star - who has recently come out with Becoming Molly-Mae, has in past has described as a providing a 'full BTS' Molly donned some flashy bracelets and some golden hoops, finishing the look off with chic white acrylic nails. Sharing the post with her 6.4 million followers, she wrote: 'Little break from the Italy pics because today I found out my book is Sunday Times No.1 bestseller. 'I can't thank you all enough for the supportI'm blown away.' Sharing: In a video message this February, Molly said she takes oversharing 'to a new extreme' in the book which features stories she has previously only told to close friends In a video message this February, Molly said she takes oversharing 'to a new extreme' in the book which features stories she has previously only told to close friends. She said: 'I have been keeping a huge project, a little secret, from you guys for well over a year now...and today is finally the day that I can finally speak about what it is... 'I can't believe I am about to show this to you guys...so I have written my very own book. This is Becoming Molly-Mae, my first ever book. Proud: The former Love Island star took to Instagram earlier this year to revealed her book is called 'Becoming Molly-Mae: My Story' 'I have spoken about things in this book that I have have only told close family members and friends. You really do get the full BTS the whole behind the scenes up until this very point. 'So my whole journey. It is just very special to me and I could just burst with the fact that I am now able to talk to you guys about it and it is now available to pre-order.' Becoming Molly-Mae is published by Penguin Books and charts 'the moments, relationships and life lessons' the influencer has dealt with. According to the Penguin website, the book follows 'the teenager holding down a job at Boots whilst building her dreams at fashion school, her journey to Love Island and how she copes with fame today.' Candid: Becoming Molly-Mae is published by Penguin Books and charts 'the moments, relationships and life lessons' the influencer has dealt with (Molly pictured in February) News Details Farnell to stock more Toshiba semiconductor products Date: 20-06-22 Global electronic component distributor Farnell to stock Toshiba made electronics and semiconductor devices in larger quantities. Farnell sells components under the name of Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America and element14 throughout Asia Pacific. Toshiba makes range of high reliable electronic components particularly for applications such as automotive, industrial automation, IIoT, motion control, telecoms, networking, consumer and white goods applications. Farnells portfolio to expand to include more of Toshibas most innovative devices, encompassing some 800 products by year end and increasing further to 1,000 items during 2023. The focus will be on Toshibas optocouplers and relays, low- and high-voltage MOSFETs, discrete IGBTs, small signal diodes and transistors, voltage regulators, logic devices and motor control solutions, says Toshiba. Commenting on the enhanced partnership, Ian Wilson, Senior Manager - Distribution Sales - at Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH said: In these times of global shortage it is important to strengthen our support to meet the product availability and support needs of the engineering community who continue to design, qualify, upgrade and repair with the latest components. We are particularly pleased to see some of our more innovative products become available via Farnell. Simon Meadmore, Vice President of Product and Supplier Management at Farnell added: Farnell has a successful long-term relationship with Toshiba, and this is the right time to grow our range with this strong, innovative and respected brand. Our customers can now enjoy enhanced availability of Toshiba products coupled with fast access to new-to-market technologies. The new agreement strengthens the overall relationship between Toshiba, Farnell and the Avnet Group. We are committed to regularly launching new devices to enhance our existing portfolio from Toshiba. Toshiba appreciates Farnell for its ability to offer broad range of design support including free access to multiple technical online resources, datasheets, application notes, videos, webinars and 24/5 technical support. The growing range of Toshiba products is now supported, stocked and available for fast delivery from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC. Actress Alice Evans is begging for cash online after claiming that her US divorce battle with Ioan Gruffudd has left her broke. Miss Evans, 53, said she had sacked her lawyers because she cannot afford any more legal fees. The star of 102 Dalmatians has set up a GoFundMe page to raise $25,000 (20,500) and is asking friends for money as her divorce fight enters its 15th month. Miss Evans announced in January 2021 that Gruffudd, 48 who found fame in the TV series Hornblower was walking out because he no longer loved her. It emerged that he had set up home in California with actress Bianca Wallace, 30 an extra on the Australian crime drama Harrow in which he played the lead. Papers filed in court in Los Angeles last week state she is representing herself in the divorce, having dispensed with the services of lawyer Leon Bennett. Gruffudd has hired Anne Kiley, who also represents Brad Pitt. During their acrimonious separation, Miss Evans made headlines for posting critical messages about Gruffudd online. Ioan Gruffudd (left) pictured with girlfriend Bianca Wallace (right) at LAX Airport on Friday Gruffudd and his ex-wife Alice Evans pictured together at the European film premiere of King Arthur at the Empire Leicester Square in 2004 But at the weekend, she put a letter from Kileys firm on Instagram reminding her she was subject to a restraining order and warning that it may be a criminal offence for her to post on social media about her husband. She has also explained her situation in an email to friends seeking money, writing: I never in a million years thought I would be doing this. 'Until recently everything appeared to be going well in my life. I had a wonderful husband and two brilliant kids who had cost us the earth in IVF but were so worth it! 'However in August 2020, just as the pandemic was really kicking in, my entire world fell apart. She said legal fees have finally drained everything savings, accounts, pension, the lot, adding: Yesterday all my accounts ran out and I couldnt buy anything. The letter ends: Im asking for help something Ive never done... and never expected to do. I have no parents or extended family to borrow from. Alice Evans made headlines for posting critical messages about Gruffudd online during their separation Gruffudd and Wallace (pictured) have set up home in California after meeting when she played an extra on the Australian crime drama Harrow in which he played the lead 'Just me, my brother and his wife in the UK. Yes, its embarrassing. Anything you can spare will help. In texts and emails filed in court by Gruffudd, she branded Miss Wallace a psychopath, succubus and bitch. He was given a restraining order in February, preventing her contacting or harassing him or his girlfriend. Last week it was extended. He and Miss Evans were together for 20 years and married for 13. But her friends fear she will now lose the house in Los Angeles she shares with their young daughters. She has asked the court to decide what will happen to it, having claimed in March that she would become homeless. Sources close to the case say Gruffudd wants to sell it because he has no savings left. He lives with Miss Wallace in Los Angeles, where they are working on a documentary about her battle with multiple sclerosis. He plays a police officer investigating two shocking murders in Sherwood. But, pictured arm-in-arm with a new woman, David Morrissey appeared a world away from the gritty BBC series. The 57-year-old, who plays detective chief superintendent Ian St Clair, was seen with Domino Pateman, 38, a director at a gender-equality charity, earlier this month. The actor wore brown shorts and a black T-shirt and trainers while Miss Pateman brightened up her navy jumpsuit with a pair of multi-coloured Crocs. The 57-year-old, who plays detective chief superintendent Ian St Clair in Sherwood, was seen with Domino Pateman, 38 The pair were pictured with their arms around each other as they browsed stalls at a fair in north London after popping to a pub. Halifax-born Miss Pateman works for the Women of the World Foundation and was previously the arts co-ordinator at London's Southbank Centre. Sherwood, which was written by James Graham, is about murder and a manhunt in a Nottinghamshire village still riven by the miners' strike of the 1980s. Morrissey stars alongside Downton Abbey actors Joanne Froggatt and Kevin Doyle, as well as Lesley Manville and Robert Glenister in the drama. Main man: He appears alongside actress Lindsay Duncan in BBC drama Sherwood David Morrissey, who is starring in Sherwood which starts on the BBC tonight, out with his new girlfriend in North London after leaving his wife Esther Freud in 2020 Low key: David was worlds away from his usual appearance in Sherwood The pictures come two months after Morrissey's former wife, writer Esther Freud, 59, confirmed to the Daily Mail that she had struck up a relationship with Gerry Simpson, a 59-year-old law professor at the London School of Economics. Morrissey and Miss Freud separated in 2019 after 26 years together. They were married for 13 years and have three children. Sherwood continues tonight at 9pm on BBC1. Matthew McConaughey took to social media on Sunday to acknowledge Father's Day. The 52-year-old actor shared a throwback photo with several older men and wrote: 'made men fathers. #fathersday.' His dad, James Donald McConaughey, passed away in 1992 when the star was just 22--years-old. New post: Matthew McConaughey took to social media on Sunday to acknowledge Father's Day The image, which was shared on both Twitter and Instagram, showed a much younger Matthew with dirty blonde hair and a beard-free face. He smiled in the outtake, showing off his signature dimples while wearing a white t-shirt that said 'Texas Student Leadership.' The post racked up over 82,000 likes from his Instagram following of 6.5 million. Grown up: Now, Matthew has a family of his own with wife Camila Alves, who he married in 2012; seen in 2019 Speaking about his father's death in his memoir Greenlights, McConaughey revealed: 'He'd always told me and my brothers, "Boys, when I go, I'm gonna be makin' love to your mother." And that's what happened. He had a heart attack when he climaxed.' Nearly three decades after his dad's death, the star recalled the moment his 'knees buckled' upon learning the devastating news from his mother. 'I couldn't believe it. He was my dad. Nobody or nothing could kill him,' he told the outlet. 'Except mom.' Now, Matthew has a family of his own with wife Camila Alves, who he married in 2012. The happy couple share Levi, 13, Vida, twelve, and Livingston, nine. Family guy: In December 2016 Matt and Camila attended the premiere of Sing with their children Earlier this month Matthew made a visit to The White House where he made a touching statement on gun control. It came after 19 children and two teachers were killed in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas. During his appearance he called on Congress to 'reach a higher ground.' Shortly after the senate announced the framework of a bipartisan response to the latest mass shootings, a noteworthy breakthrough offering modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs. Katherine Schwarzenegger uploaded a post to celebrate Father's Day for two very special people in her life. The successful author is the oldest daughter to famous actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. She expressed her love for her father and also husband, Chris Pratt, who is the father to their two daughters, Lyla and Eloise. Father's Day tribute: Katherine Schwarzenegger shared an Instagram post to honor her father, Arnold, and husband, Chris Pratt who is father to their two daughters The 32-year-old shared a series of pictures to show her dad and Pratt both being amazing fathers. The first photo shows The Terminator actor, 74, and Pratt, 42, sending big smiles to the camera while each were holding a cigar in their hand. The two looked very happy and appear to have a very good father and son-in-law relationship. Happy: The Terminator actor has the biggest smile on his face as he holds his daughter, Katherine Another photo shows a much younger Arnold holding Katherine when she was just a toddler. The actor has a total of four children with Shriver, including Katherine, Patrick, Christina, and Christopher. He has another child, a son named Joseph Baena, with a past household employee, Mildred Baena. Great father and granddad: The actor appears to not only be an amazing dad, but also a loving grandfather Another cute snap showed the former governor of California holding his granddaughter, Lyla, in his arms. She appears to be very comfortable and lays her head in the crook of his neck as he holds her securely. In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the star talked about how much he enjoyed being a grandfather and that it is actually very, 'easy.' 'They come over to the house, you play with Lyla for around an hour or two, put her on the horse, put her with the dog. And after two hours, they leave,' he stated. 'It's fantastic! I have a great time when they come over to the house.' Devoted father: Chris Pratt is seeing holding his baby daughter and sending a sincere and loving look down to her Fun times: The actor has his daughter, Lyla, perched on his shoulders as they take a stroll along the beach Katherine and the Jurassic World star began dating back in 2018, when his divorce from ex-wife Anna Faris was in the process of being finalized. Chris has a son, Jack Pratt, from his marriage with Faris. The two tied the knot in 2019, and have two daughters, Lyla, and newborn baby, Eloise. Another picture show a snap taken from behind Pratt as he carries his daughter, Lyla, on his shoulders. The beach and glistening blue water is stretched out before them as they take a peaceful stroll. The couple recently shared first photos of their second daughter, Eloise. So adorable: Katherine shared a small glimpse of their newest addition to the family in first look photos that she posted on her Instagram In an interview with USA Today, the Guardians Of The Galaxy star opened up about fatherhood. 'To see life in its first moment, to see the very first breath, is just for me very moving,' the actor said. Chris's birthday happens to be two days after Father's Day on June 21st, and made a joke about their closeness. 'Really, I can't imagine a better scenario than that right there, because everyone has to make it about me. The importance of Father's Day is that it's not about your children. It's about you,' he stated. Robert Irwin has paid tribute to his late father Steve Irwin for World Crocodile Day. The 18-year-old took to Instagram on June 18 - the day after World Crocodile Day - to reveal it's the 'greatest honour' to follow in his dad's footsteps. Robert shared a photo of himself feeding crocodiles at Australia Zoo, which he contrasted with a throwback snap of his dad doing the same many years ago. Robert Irwin, 18, paid tribute to his late father Steve Irwin on World Crocodile Day. Robert shared this side-by-side to his Instagram of the pair both feeding crocodiles at Australia Zoo 'It is the greatest honour of my life to get to follow in my dad's footsteps and help keep his legacy and mission alive. Especially when it comes to crocodiles,' Robert said. 'I feel closest to him being one-on-one with the animal he loved so much - a beautiful, powerful, prehistoric, misunderstood animal that commands a huge amount of respect.' Robert concluded by encouraging his fans to 'love, respect and coexist with these remarkable modern-day dinosaurs'. 'It is the greatest honour of my life to get to follow in my dad's footsteps and help keep his legacy and mission alive. Especially when it comes to crocodiles,' Robert said 'I feel closest to him being one-on-one with the animal he loved so much - a beautiful, powerful, prehistoric, misunderstood animal that commands a huge amount of respect,' he continued Steve, known to millions around the world as 'the Crocodile Hunter', died on September 4, 2006, at the age of 44 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray while filming a documentary in Batt Reef, Queensland. Following his death, Steve's family, including his children Robert and Bindi, widow Terri, and son-in-law Chandler Powell, have continued his conservation work at Australia Zoo. Just last week, Robert unveiled Australia Zoo's latest venture that will help modernise the family business and aid conservation efforts. Robert announced last Tuesday the zoo had launched its first NFT artwork series. 'This is the way of the world now and for us to be part of it, we feel very cool, very hip,' he said on breakfast show Sunrise. Last week, Robert (pictured with an NFT artist) announced on Sunrise that Australia Zoo had launched its first NFT artwork series 'We're entering the future. I never thought we would be at the forefront of NFTs but here we are, it's an exciting time,' he added. Robert said his mother Terri, 57, struggled to understand the idea of a non-fungible token at first. 'I can't say she totally understood NFTs going into this, but we've definitely learnt quite a lot,' he laughed. 'This is the way of the world now and for us to be part of it we feel very cool, very hip,' he said on the breakfast show. (Pictured: one of the NFTs by Australia Zoo) People can buy the NFTs, including pictures of Australia Zoo crocodiles, and collect them as part of a special series. An NFT is a digital asset that is rare, valuable and stored on a blockchain. Robert's sister Bindi revealed in April that Steve's dream of opening luxury accommodation at Australia Zoo had finally come true. Robert said his mother Terri (second from right) struggled to understand the idea of a non-fungible token at first. Pictured with Chandler Powell (left) and Bindi Irwin (second from left) Robert's sister Bindi revealed in April that Steve's dream of opening luxury accommodation at Australia Zoo had finally come true The Crocodile Hunter Lodge will be open to guests at the popular Sunshine Coast tourist attraction from June. Bindi, 23, shared the news on Instagram, saying it had been a long-held dream of her father's to combine wildlife conservation with a five-star holiday experience. 'The Crocodile Hunter Lodge. This luxury conservation accommodation for the whole family will start taking bookings in June,' she told her 4.9 million followers. 'Enjoy wildlife, fine dining and admission to Australia Zoo all included in your stay. Dad had dreamed about this for years and opening day is almost here.' By LILLIAN GISSEN FOR DAILMAIL.COM TV star Nick Cannon is preparing to expand his family once more, revealing that he is expecting his ninth child with baby mama Abby De La Rosa - just five months after he announced that he and his girlfriend Bre Tiesi were also having another child. As he prepares to welcome two new babies, here's a look at the former America's Got Talent host's other children. Daughter Monroe and son Moroccan Scott, 11, with ex wife Mariah Carey Nick and Mariah Carey tied the knot in 2008, and they welcomed the rapper's first kids on April 30, 2011 - a set of twins named Monroe and Moroccan Scott. The family is pictured in 2018 Nick and Mariah Carey tied the knot on in the Bahamas in 2008, and they welcomed the rapper's first kids on April 30, 2011 - a set of twins named Monroe and Moroccan Scott. According to People, Monroe was named after late actress Marilyn Monroe, who was said to be an inspiration to Mariah. They decided not to give her a middle name since Mariah doesn't have one. As for Moroccan, the idea for his name came from the Moroccan decor in Mariah's apartment, which is where Nick proposed to her. His middle name, Scott, is also Nick's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name. Back in December, in the wake of Zen's death, Nick spoke out about how hard it was for him to tell the twins, who are now 11 years old, about Zen's passing - but credited their support, especially Monroe, with helping him get through the tragedy. He said Monroe is so 'so pure and so honest,' and called the 11-year-old his 'best therapist.' 'Having to explain that to [then]-10-year-olds ... is pretty intense,' he admitted to People. 'But their understanding and them being there for me probably helped me keep it together as well as really deal with it. Specifically, Roc and Roe. They were there for the entire journey. 'My daughter, really, she's so in tune and in line and wise beyond her years. I got a lot of therapists, but she's probably my best therapist. 'She keeps me in check. She's so pure and so honest. To be 10, she asks some really strong and powerful questions. 'Really, just it's all out of love. She's my oldest child. Even though they're twins, she came out first and she lets everybody know it. She's helped me keep it strong.' Back in 2016, after the birth of his second son, Golden, Nick opened up about the twins' relationship with their younger sibling, and he revealed that they really enjoyed having a little brother. 'They love hanging out with him, and it is almost like they are more concerned about him having fun than them having fun,' he gushed to Entertainment Tonight. 'They are always trying to make them laugh, and he is walking now, so they are trying to get him all the toys. 'Watching that whole older sibling thing take place, they understand the responsibility of it. They understand that they can teach him things, so it is really cool.' He also called them 'geniuses,' and admitted that he was not happy with how fast they were growing up. 'I'm fine with my son growing up. It's my daughter that I have a problem with,' he joked. 'I mean, shotgun's loaded.' As for how he his ex Mariah were co-parenting the twins, he explained in 2016 that they had come to a place of 'understanding and unconditional love.' 'When you come from a place of understanding and unconditional love for so many things, you can't really go wrong,' he said. 'It would be very easy to throw our egos in - what we believe we want to do with our time and effort - but then you step back. 'When it comes to my kids, it is whatever they want at whatever time, and I build my schedule around it. 'Those children are the most important thing to both of us. It kind of turned her into this wonderful mother, that I feel like the world started to connect with her on that level. 'There will always be unconditional love and a great relationship. That is one of my best friends in life, so it is always going to be that. 'The fact that there is no bad blood and we can still coexist, I think that is the best place for it.' Son Golden, five, and daughter Powerful Queen, one, with Brittany Bell Nick and Phoenix Suns dancer Brittany Bell have son Golden, five, and daughter Powerful Queen, one, together. They are pictured here in 2021 After his split from Mariah, Nick dated Phoenix Suns dancer Brittany Bell on-and-off for years. They welcomed a son together, named Golden Sagon, on February 21, 2017. At the time, Nick gushed on Instagram, 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning! 'No matter how hard the world may hit you, God always reminds us of our purpose! Welcome to Earth, son. #TrueHappiness #Awakened.' Reports came out that the couple had split after that, but in November 2020, they were seen walking hand-in-hand at his 33rd birthday celebration - with Brittany sporting a growing baby bump. They then welcomed their second child, Powerful Queen, in December 2020. 'The best gift ever,' Brittany, who is also a model, shared on Instagram at the time. 'We have been surprised with A GIRL! Powerful Queen Cannon came this week, perfect timing for Christmas. 'So much more to share. All I can say is that Nick was my rock through the most intense yet empowering natural water birth. 'It was nothing but POWERFUL. Merry Christmas! THANK YOU GOD.' One month later, Nick was asked by Power 106 radio hosts if her pregnancy had been an 'accident,' and he insisted that it was not. 'I'm having these kids on purpose,' he said. 'I didn't have no accident. [There were] a lot of people that I could've gotten pregnant that I didn't. You only live once.' In December 2021, just after Powerful Queen's first birthday, the Masked Singer host couldn't stop raving over how smart she was on Instagram. He shared a clip of her saying words like 'nose, cat, dog, and tree' while he held up flashcards for her. 'Wow! Look at this brilliant baby!' he captioned it. 'They got mad when we named her POWERFUL QUEEN! Y'all lucky I didn't go with my other choice GENIUS EMPRESS! 'LOL. I can't take any of the credit here though! That's all her amazing mommy.' Sons Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, 11 months, with Abby De La Rosa Nick and Abby De La Rosa, who is a DJ and broadcast professional, kept their relationship a secret until they announced that they were expecting twin boys together in April 2021 The boys - who they named named Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir - were born on June 14, 2021. They are pictured in December 2021 Nick and Abby, who is a DJ and broadcast professional, kept their relationship a secret until they announced that they were expecting twin boys together in April 2021. 'Our dearest sons - my miracle babies, thank you for choosing me to be your mommy,' Abby wrote on Instagram at the time, in a now-deleted post. 'I know the Lord has destined me and prepared me for the gift of not one but two little angels. 'I pray that God gives you both the strength to walk brave and boldly in your individual truth just like your daddy... That God bless you and your brother and guide you into living out your full purpose. 'Your dad and I will always be here for you both; in complete unison and support. 'No matter what this world may throw your way, know that forgiveness is key and what is for you - is for YOU! You both are already so loved and we can't wait to meet you both.' The boys - who they named named Zion and Zillion - were born on June 14, 2021. In an Instagram Q&A, Abby later revealed that she and Nick accidentally got pregnant in April 2020, but sadly, they lost that baby. Then, they became focused on getting pregnant again. 'First pregnancy, April 2020, was definitely not planned, but Nick was such a great friend to me and just so good to me, and then our focus became to have a baby,' she explained. 'Little did we know we would end up having twins. 'Let me just add that this planning wasn't like us sitting down with a calendar and being like, 'You gotta be pregnant by this date.' It had already been a thought and it happened. 'It had already been out there, it was something we were manifesting and we were just letting it flow.' Now, they are gearing up to welcome their third child together, whose gender is unknown. Son Zen with Alyssa Scott Nick met Alyssa Scott when they both starred in MTV's Wild 'N Out. Years later - in January 2021 - they announced that they were having a baby together Nick met Alyssa Scott when they both starred in MTV's Wild 'N Out. Years later - in January 2021 - they announced that they were having a baby together. Their son, Zen, was born on June 23, 2021, with Alyssa writing at the time, 'I will love you for eternity.' But when the baby was two months old, they noticed he had come down with a cough that wouldn't go away, and decided to have it checked out by doctors. 'I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out,' Nick later said on The Nick Cannon Show. 'He had this interesting breathing and by the time he was two months, I noticed he had this nice sized head too, we called it a Cannon head. 'We didn't think anything of it, but I wanted to take him to the doctor for his sinus and breathing.' After taking the newborn in for a 'routine' checkup, they were told he had a malignant tumor and needed emergency surgery immediately. He had also developed hydrocephalus - a condition where fluid builds up in the cavities of the brain causing the head to increase in size and ultimately putting pressure on the brain. He unfortunately passed away on December 5, 2021 - spending his last moments by the ocean. He unfortunately passed away on December 5, 2021 - spending his last moments by the ocean 'He was the most loving. We called him Z Chilling. He was always smiling. He had the most beautiful spirit,' Nick said after his death. On the Today show, Nick praised Alyssa - 'who carried a beautiful child for nine months and nurtured and cared for him every single day through this process' - for her 'strength.' '[Alyssa] is strong,' he said. 'She is definitely one of the strongest individuals I've known. 'I couldn't imagine - I mean, as a father, it's painful, but for a mother who carried a beautiful child for nine months and nurtured and cared for him every single day through this process. 'There were so many medicines and so many trips to the hospital and the doctor, and also she's a mother-of-two so to watch her go through this...' At the time, he said he was using his faith and therapy to get through the immense loss. 'I'm taking it - as my therapist says - five minutes at a time, but I'm optimistic in finding the purpose through all of the pain, so I'm attempting to smile, I'm attempting to be the high-frequency individual that I've set out to be, but along the way there's definitely some curves in the journey, so I'm taking it five minutes at a time. 'Honestly [there] was a lot of fear involved [in telling people about Zen's death]. I'm so used to being upbeat and outspoken and even vulnerable at times, where I'll talk about anything. 'But this was probably the most delicate and the most precious thing I've ever had to talk about. 'And I didn't know how to talk about it, I never imagined having to be in this scenario, so as much as it was such an outpouring of love, there was a lot of fear, there was obviously some hurt. 'I wanted to be the protector as well for all of the rest of my family, Alyssa and [everyone], so I wanted... It's a very delicate thing, even when talking about this. At the time, he said he was using his faith and therapy to get through the immense loss In January 2022, the star admitted that he was 'still missing his little dude' Zen, while sharing a throwback photo of Moroccan, Zion, Zillion, and Monroe sitting with him, as he held Zen 'And that's coming from a person who is used to talking to people each and every day live here on television. It's scary.' After the tragic passing, Nick opened up about the 'guilt' he felt about having to divide his time between working and being a dad. 'I'm a father, first and foremost. There's a lot of guilt that I feel and I talk about this in therapy all the time,' he admitted. 'It's rooted in not having enough time to spend with my loved ones, specifically my children, because I have a lot of children. 'I'm also spread so thin in my work because that's how I cope. That's how I deal with things. 'I have several jobs and several shows and movies and music, all that stuff. And I call myself a provider for many, but one thing no matter how much money I generate, one thing I can't generate is time. 'It's not about quantity, it's about quality. And it's really just having quality moments with my children, quality moments with my family. 'Had a lot of quality moments with Zen in his short time here. I always say time is a manmade thing, but love and energy is a godsend.' In January 2022, just days before his and Bre's gender reveal party, the star admitted that he was 'still missing his little dude' Zen in an emotional Instagram post. 'Still missing my little dude His spirit and brightness were so strong #ZensLight,' he captioned a throwback snap that showed Moroccan, Zion, Zillion, and Monroe sitting with him, as he held Zen. He added: 'The whole family, we ALL miss you young King! Forever Our Angel!' Love Island's Remi Lambert was made to rap again during very awkward interview with Laura Whitmore after being dumped from the villa on Sunday. The now ex-Islander, who entered as a bombshell last week, previously performed an on-the-spot rap for his fellow contestants upon his arrival. Remi was asked by the presenter for an 'exclusive rap' for the audience which saw him fumble over his words, leaving guests Chloe Burrows and Toby Aromolaran as well as Afia Tonkmor feeling rather awkward. Oh no! Remi Lambert was made to rap AGAIN during a very awkward interview with Laura Whitmore... after being dumped from the villa on Sunday The interview quickly became a talking point as fans flocked to Twitter to comment on the 'awkward farewell' adding that the producers had 'no respect' for making him sit outside the villa's front door. One fan penned: 'Please tell me you guys are watching Aftersun... Laura Whitmore made Remi do a farewell rap and the awkwardness killed me. The wind and the silence...' Another added: 'Why did they make Remi freestyle on live TV? As if the man hasn't suffered enough!' Nightmare: Remi was asked by the presenter for an 'exclusive rap' for the audience which saw him fumble over his words Oops: The interview quickly became a talking point as fans flocked to Twitter to comment on the 'awkward farewell' adding that the producers had 'no respect' A third viewer remarked on the situation: 'So rude making Remi do his interview outside the villa front door, not even in his hotel room. No respect.' After his rap the camera panned around to show the shocked faces of series seven couple Chloe and Toby as well as last weeks evictee Afia. Remi made an impression with his rapping in the villa as viewers took a trip down memory lane to series three in 2017, comparing Remi to the iconic Chris Hughes, who, alongside his best friend Kem Cetinay, was partial to a rap in the villa. Poor Remi: One fan penned: 'Why did they make Remi freestyle on live TV? As if the man hasn't suffered enough!' The pair, who have gone on to build successful careers off the back of the show, even released their debut single Little Bit Leave It three months after their series wrapped up. Oh dear: The situation left guests Toby Aromolaran and Chloe Burrows as well as Afia Tonkmor (L-R) feeling rather awkward The moment many tweeters alluded to, however, was when 29-year-old Chris asked: 'Do you want me to rap anyone, lift the mood a little?' when Georgia Harrison ruffled feathers after coupling up with Kem, who was already in a pairing with Amber Davies. Accompanying a photo of the ITV racing presenter during this unforgettable moment, someone tweeted: 'Remi sorry you are not this guy'. A night motion camera picture of Chris on the show lying in bed looking pensive quickly became a meme, and has remained in circulation over the last few years. Attaching the said meme to their tweet, a second Love Island fan penned: 'Chris resting peacefully knowing his love island rap crown is safe from Remi'. 'Remi that rap was awful. Leave it these boys,' a further tweet read, with a photo of Chris and Kem in the beach hut. Fumble: The now former Islander, who entered as a bombshell, previously performed an on-the-spot rap for his fellow contestants upon his arrival on Wednesday Throwback: Viewers took a trip down memory lane to series three in 2017, comparing Remi to the iconic Chris, who, alongside his best friend Kem Cetinay, was partial to a rap in the villa Memorable duo: The pair, who have gone on to build successful careers off the back of the show, released their debut single Little Bit Leave It three months after their series wrapped up Earlier in the evening, viewers saw the latest bombshell Danica Taylor coupled up with Luca Bish in the dramatic show opening that saw Remi dumped from the villa. Danica certainly ruffled feathers during the recoupling as she chose to pair up with the 'gutted' fish monger, sending his relationship with Gemma Owen to the rocks. The shock decision saw Gemma forced to take back her day one partner, Davide Sanclimenti as single Remi was forced to pack his suitcase after all the other couples were confirmed. Kate Hudson took to Instagram Sunday with a Father's Day message for Kurt Russell, her mother Goldie Hawn's partner of nearly 40 years. The Los Angeles native, 43, posted an older image of herself cuddling with the 71-year-old actor, praising his qualities in the caption. The Oscar-nominated actress wrote, 'Fun, adventurous, passionate, determined, honest, devoted, amazing father and the best head of hair in Los Angeles! Lucky us! Love you Pa! Happy Fathers Day.' The latest: Kate Hudson, 43, took to Instagram Sunday with a Father's Day message for Kurt Russell, 71, her mother Goldie Hawn's partner of nearly 40 years In a response in the comment thread, Hawn, 76, posted a response from Russell, who doesn't have an official account on the social media site. Hawn said: 'Honey this picture speaks volumes ... Honey I showed this to daddy. Here's his message' In a message from Russell to Hudson, he said, 'Birdie, mommy just showed me this picture, this perfect Father's Day present. I've never seen it before. Wowit's a killer. Lotta water under the bridgeit's kinda hard to see it though cause all that water seems to somehow have found its way into my eyesthanks for making me the luckiest father in the world sweetheart. I love you, Pa.' On her own page, Hawn shared a shot as she embraced Russell, writing, 'How can I explain the gratitude and love I feel for the greatest father who has given us all so much in this life.' Hawn passed on an emotional message from Russell to Hudson on the social media site. The celeb couple was snapped in LA in 2020 Russell responded to Hudson, 'Thanks for making me the luckiest father in the world sweetheart' Hawn is mother to the Almost Famous star as well as son Oliver Hudson, 45, with musical artist Bill Hudson - who helped raise them each - as well as son Wyatt Russell, 35, with the Tango & Cash actor. Russell is also father to son Boston Russell, 42, from his previous relationship with actress Season Hubley, 71. Kate Hudson spoke with the TODAY show last year about her estranged relationship with Bill Hudson, saying, 'Estrangement is unfortunately quite common. 'I think its important for people to talk about that. If they cant reconnect or if its too challenging, that its OK, right? Its a 41-year-old issue. I have a great family. I have a beautiful mother,' she said. Hudson was seen at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in LA earlier this year 'I have a stepfather who stepped in and played a huge, huge part in sharing what it is to have a dependable father figure in our life. But it doesnt take away from the fact that we didnt know our dad.' She continued: 'I think as Ive sort of gone through that process ... I kind of look at my dad and Im, like, "You know, the love has never ever gone anywhere." Its always been there, no matter what those complications have been. And healing is ... personal, and I think people sometimes just need to hear that theyre not alone in that.' The Truth Be Told actress on Sunday also wished a happy Father's Day to partner Danny Fujikawa, including a montage GIF of him and their daughter Rani, three. Hudson - who is also mother to sons Ryder, 18, with ex-husband Chris Robinson and Bingham, 10, with former fiance Matt Bellamy - captioned the post: 'Happy Fathers Day to one amazing Daddy. We love you so much!' Pete Davidson enjoyed a casual stroll in Far North Queensland on Saturday after jetting into Australia without his girlfriend Kim Kardashian. The former Saturday Night Live comedian, 28, who is Down Under filming the movie Wizards!, dressed casually and posed for selfies with fans on the Cairns Esplanade. The sighting comes after the manager of the Botanica cafe falsely claimed to local media that Davidson and Kardashian, 41, had dined at his restaurant. Kim Kardashian's boyfriend Pete Davidson (pictured) enjoyed a casual stroll in Cairns, in Far North Queensland, on Saturday. He is in Australia filming the new movie Wizards! Davidson covered up his heavily tattooed chest in a blue T-shirt and hooded sweater, which he teamed with purple workout shorts and white sneakers. He added a blue New York Yankees cap and carried just his iPhone on the solo stroll. The New York-born funnyman sported a neutral expression he posed for selfies with fans. The New York-born funnyman sported a neutral expression he posed for selfies with fans Davidson covered up his heavily tattooed chest in a blue T-shirt and hooded sweater, which he teamed with purple workout shorts and white sneakers He is set to join Orlando Bloom, Naomi Scott, Franz Rogowski and Sean Harris in Wizards!, a new film by Australian writer-director David Michod. Wizards! will follow two hapless pothead beach-bar operators, played by Davidson and Rogowski, who run into trouble when they stumble across stolen loot that they really should have just left alone, reports Deadline. The sighting comes after the manager of the Botanica cafe in Cairns falsely claimed to local media that Davidson and Kardashian had dined at his restaurant last week. The American comedian is set to join Orlando Bloom, Naomi Scott, Franz Rogowski and Sean Harris in Wizards!, a new film by Australian writer-director David Michod Wizards! will follow two hapless pothead beach-bar operators, played by Davidson and Rogowski, who run into trouble when they stumble across stolen loot that they really should have just left alone, reports Deadline ABC Far North was the first outlet to report on the couple visiting Queensland. The website claimed to have spoken to manager Matt Black about his alleged encounter with the pair last Wednesday, but later deleted its article after Daily Mail Australia debunked the story. However, the ABC was far from the only publication to report on the sighting that never occurred, as most of the Australian media did the same. The sighting comes after the manager of the Botanica cafe in Cairns falsely claimed to local media that Davidson and Kardashian had dined at his restaurant last week ABC Far North was the first outlet to report on the couple visiting Far North Queensland While Davidson is in Australia filming Wizards!, his A-list girlfriend has not joined him. Kardashian is still in Los Angeles with her children. After a flurry of local press coverage, the alarm was first sounded when it emerged Kardashian had been pictured in LA last Tuesday - just hours before she was supposedly seen brunching 11,000km away in Far North Queensland. Mr Black spun an elaborate yarn about Kardashian and Davidson's security team allegedly asking cafe staff to place their phones on the counter for the duration of the pair's date so no one could take photos of them while they were dining. The ABC claimed to have spoken to manager Matt Black about his alleged encounter with the pair last Wednesday, but later deleted its article after Daily Mail Australia debunked the story.(Pictured: Kardashian on holiday in Tahiti with Davidson recently) After a flurry of local press coverage, the alarm was first sounded when it emerged Kardashian had been pictured in LA last Tuesday - just hours before she was supposedly seen brunching in Far North Queensland. (Pictured: Botanica cafe manager Matt Black) Mr Black spun an elaborate yarn about Kardashian and Davidson's security team allegedly asking cafe staff to place their phones on the counter for the duration of the pair's date so no one could take photos of them while they were dining Mr Black did stress, however, that the couple and their entourage were 'super cool and respectful' to all staff members. However, a representative for Davidson shot down this fake account, saying: 'Pete is currently in production in Australia without Kim.' A source close to Kardashian also confirmed she hadn't been in Australia in years. Mr Black later broke his silence to insist he was simply a 'larrikin' and that it was all 'a joke that backfired'. Michael B. Jordan went out for a night of partying at a West Hollywood nightclub on Sunday. The 35-year-old actor arrived at the venue in his silver car with a beautifully done red interior. He wore a white tank top to the club that showed off his huge biceps. Enjoying a night out: Michael B. Jordan went out for a night of partying at a West Hollywood nightclub on Sunday Despite being newly single, Jordan reportedly left the L.A. hot spot alone. The Creed star split with his girlfriend of almost two years Lori Harvey earlier this month. A source close to the exes told People that they were 'completely heartbroken' about the split and they 'still love' each other. Gorgeous vehicle: The 35-year-old actor arrived at the venue in his silver car with beautifully done red interior Split: The Creed star split with his girlfriend of almost two years Lori Harvey earlier this month 'Michael matured a lot over the course of their relationship and was ready to commit for the long term,' the insider added. 'He let down his guard with her, opening up emotionally in a romantic relationship for the first time.' 'They had great times together and brought out the best in each other.' The end: Michael B. Jordan, 35, and Lori Harvey, 25, have ended their relationship after a year and a half together, People reported on Saturday; seen March 27 in Beverly Hills Sad: A source close to the exes told the publication that they were 'completely heartbroken' about the split and they 'still love' each other Neither Michael nor Lori have publicly commented on their split. The former couple made their red carpet debut when they attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in Beverly Hills on March 27. Michael was noticeably absent from the influencer's side when she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala on May 2. However, the Black Panther actor shared photos of her red carpet appearance on his Instagram Stories. He gushed over one aerial image, writing, 'Probably my fav pic. The composition says so much. 'Birds eye view of a moment you've dreamed about for so long finally manifested & you didn't disappoint! Way to shine babygirl. I love you.' Happier times: The former couple made their red carpet debut when they attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in Beverly Hills on March 27 Anniversary: The two went Instagram-official with their romance in January 2021 and celebrated their one-year anniversary last November The stepdaughter of Steve Harvey once again went solo when she attended a screening of the French zombie comedy Final Cut (Coupez!) at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17. Per People, rumors of trouble between the pair have swirled in the weeks following Lori's return from France. The two went Instagram-official with their romance in January 2021 and celebrated their one-year anniversary last November. Michael shared a sweet tribute to his then-girlfriend, posting several snaps of himself and the runway star to Instagram and writing, 'It been a year crazy!!!'. Alessandra Ambrosio set off a flash frenzy when she stepped out on a dinner date with her boyfriend Richard Lee. Admiring photographer started snapping photo after photo when the couple arrived outside Lavo Ristorante along Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood Saturday night. The longtime supermodel cut a chic figure in a leggy orange minidress that helped showcase her statuesque 5ft9.5in figure with its short cut design, which fell to around the middle of her thighs. Couple's night: Alessandra Ambrosio and beau Richard Lee enjoyed a romantic dinner for two at a restaurant in West Hollywood on Saturday night Lee led the way when they arrived out front of the restaurant, with Ambrosio lovingly holding on to his right arm. Her bright number hugged her womanly curves in all the right ways, all while keeping an emphasis on her endless gams. She also donned a pair of low heels, and had her dark brown tresses styled long, straight and flowing to about the middle of her back with a center part. Statuesque: The longtime supermodel cut a chic figure in a leggy orange minidress that helped showcase her statuesque 5ft9.5in figure with its short cut design Saturday night is alright; After dinner, the couple met up with several friends, including YouTube sensation Matheus Mazzafera, for a night of dancing Glowing: Lee and Ambrosio beamed with excitement before hitting the dance floor In keeping with the bright color scheme, the Brazilian beauty also carried a yellow purse over her right shoulder. Lee, who's also made his living in the modeling industry, opted for casual-cool in dark blue jeans with a black long-sleeve shirt and matching sneakers. With plans to head out to a club afterwards to do some dancing with friends, he styled his short salt-and-pepper hair spiked up off his face. After dinner, the couple met up with several friends, including YouTube sensation Matheus Mazzafera, and then made their way to a local club. The group of friends then proceeded to work up a sweat while dancing the night away. Bust a move: The Brazilian beauty showed off her dance moves alongside Mazzafera Do a little dance: Decked out in black leather pants and a white tank top, Mazzafera could't hold back his enthusiasm while out movin' to the groovin' Say cheese: Lee and Ambrosio snuggled up for a group photo at the LA club The mother of two stepped out with Lee for the first time publicly during a dinner date at the celebrity hot spot, Nobu, in February 2021. About a week later they were seen shopping together, which was followed up with another dinner date a few days later, where they put on another show of PDA. From there, the couple have seemed to be a committed item, who are regularly spotted out on dates or vacationing together in a number of tropical paradises, including her native Brazil during the holidays. Jordana Brewster put on a leggy display when she headed to a Father's Day lunch on Sunday in Santa Monica. The 42-year-old actress stepped out in a pair of tiny black shorts and a matching shirt with a plunging neckline. She walked in pink sandals and a black purse was slung over her shoulder. The strap cut across the middle of her body. Out to lunch: Jordana Brewster put on a leggy display when she headed to a Father's Day lunch on Sunday in Santa Monica Brewster protected her eyes from the harsh California sun with a pair of dark, white-framed sunglasses. She held hands with her fiance Mason Morfit while they walked up to the table. The executive wore a light blue, long sleeve button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He added a pair of beige khakis and black sneakers to his casual ensemble. Black ensemble: The 42-year-old actress stepped out in a pair of tiny black shorts and a matching shirt with a plunging neckline With the parents: The pair reportedly enjoyed the company of Brewster's parents during their afternoon lunch Morfit donned a pair of black sunglasses, and his thinning brown hair was combed off to the right. The pair reportedly enjoyed the company of Brewster's parents during their afternoon lunch. Morfit and Brewster got engaged in September of last year after first starting to date back in 2020. Ex-husband: The Fast and the Furious star was previously married to film producer Andrew Form from 2007 to 2021 (pictured 2021) Lots of work on the way: She has two movies, Charlie in the Pandemic and Hello Stranger in post-production, and she's in the process of filming Fast X (pictured June 2022) The Fast and the Furious star was previously married to film producer Andrew Form from 2007 to 2021. The couple have two children together: an eight-year-old son named Julian and a six-year-old son named Rowan. While they will soon be busy as a newlywed couple, that hasn't slowed down Brewster's career one bit. She has two movies, Charlie in the Pandemic and Hello Stranger in post-production, and she's in the process of filming Fast X. Paul Rudd, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton have held a stake in Samuel's Sweet Shop, a Rhinebeck, New York candy store, for more than seven years. Morgan, 56, Burton, 39, Rudd, 53, and his wife Julie Yaeger, invested in the establishment in December of 2014 following the unexpected death of the shop's original owner Ira Gutner eight months earlier, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal. Rudd said that he was inspired to invest based off of his ties to the area. The latest: Actors Paul Rudd, 53, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, 56, have held a stake in Samuel's Sweet Shop, a Rhinebeck, New York candy store for more than seven years 'One of the most important things any human can experience is to be a part of a community and feel connected to where you live and to other people who live there, especially in a job like mine,' Rudd told the publication. The shop's John Traver told the Poughkeepsie Journal that amid a time of peril in the wake of Gutner's passing, he was contacted by Morgan who told him that he, Burton and Rudd would invest to help keep the establishment's doors open. He said that Burton advised him, 'Whatever you do, dont close the shop - hang in there.' Traver said of the celebrity investment: 'There was triumph out of tragedy ... I had lost my friend. But these really great people came forward and helped me and saved the local candy store and now I have this incredible opportunity to make this place as successful as I can, which is awesome. Its great.' Morgan opened up about the investment and how it came to be in a 2016 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Rudd said that he was inspired to invest based off of his ties to the community Morgan and Hilarie Burton posed outside of a Valentine's Day display at the shop 'We moved to upstate New York; the first guy I met in this town called Rhinebeck was this Ira, and he owned this candy store,' Morgan said. 'He passed away a couple years ago, and Paul [Rudd] and I had been friends for a while and we just didnt want it to turn into a smoothie stand or something. 'It had been there since the early 90s, so we were like, "Yeah, lets pool our money together and get a candy store," so now were the proud owners of Samuels Sweet Shop.' Morgan said that coming to the aid of the establishment 'is one of the coolest things' he and his spouse have done. 'When Hilarie and I came to the area and started getting coffee at Samuels,' Morgan said, 'Ira made it clear that we were home. We just got each other.' Rudd said that 'the best thing about being an owner of a candy shop is getting my favorite holiday candy in June.' Burton said that the establishment 'strives to be the trophy case for all the talented people we have in our community.' Chris Evans described rescuing his beloved boxer-mix Dodger as the 'best decision' of his life in a new interview with with BuzzFeed Celeb. While playing with a bunch of puppies as he answered questions about his new movie and past work, the Lightyear star, 41, reflected on how much joy adopting his pooch, back in April 2017, has brought him. 'I always thought when I adopted a dog, or rescued a dog, it would be a little puppy,' he told the outlet. Furry BFF: Chris Evans described rescuing his boxer-mix Dodger as the 'best decision' of his life in a new interview with with BuzzFeed Celeb The Knives Out actor continued: 'Dodger was a full-grown dog. It wasn't the story I had in my mind but it ended up being the best decision of my life. I just think a lot of adult dogs and older dogs get overlooked, and that's a shame.' Over the years, Evans has made his love known for his canine known to the world by regularly posting him on his Instagram and even tattooing his name to his chest. The Boston native originally adopted Dodger after filming a scene for his movie Gifted five years ago. Dog dad: While playing with a bunch of pups as he answered questions about his new movie and past work, the Lightyear star, 41, reflected on how much joy adopting his pooch, back in April 2017, has brought him 'I always thought when I adopted a dog, or rescued a dog, it would be a little puppy,' he told the outlet Sweet: The Knives Out actor continued: 'Dodger was a full-grown dog. It wasn't the story I had in my mind but it ended up being the best decision of my life. I just think a lot of adult dogs and older dogs get overlooked, and that's a shame' 'One of the last scenes we were filming was in a pound, a kennel,' the actor told People during an interview shortly after adopting Dodger. 'I foolishly walked in and I thought, "Are these actor dogs or are these real up for adoption dogs." And sure enough they were, so I was walking up and down the aisles and saw this one dude and he didn't belong there.' He continued, 'I snagged him and he's such a good dog. They aged him at about one, he acts like a puppy, he's got the energy of a puppy, he's just such a sweetheart, he's such a good boy. He loves dogs, he loves kids, he's full of love.' Dodger has since become a mainstay on the Captain America: The First Avenger star's social media accounts. Cuddling: Over the years, Evans has made his love known for his canine known to the world by regularly posting him on his Instagram and even tattooing his name to his chest Commitment: Over the years, Evans has made his love known for his canine known to the world by regularly posting him on his Instagram and even tattooing his name to his chest He shared a post on National Rescue Dog Day last year where he showed a video from when he first adopted Dodger. As Evans approached the fence separating him and Dodger, the dog started wagging its tail wildly before sniffing and licking at the movie star's hand. 'I had no intention of rescuing a dog that day, but the minute I saw him I knew he was coming home w me,' the star wrote in the caption. Adopt don't shop: The Boston native originally adopted Dodger after filming a scene for his movie Gifted five years ago Tegan Kynaston is preparing to welcome her first child with fiance Kyle Sandilands. And the 36-year-old looked positively glowing as she returned to their Sydney home on Sunday after a trip to the shops. Tegan covered up her bump in a chic black sweater dress, which she accessorised with black platform boots and a $2,550 Louis Vuitton handbag. Kyle Sandilands' pregnant fiancee Tegan Kynaston (pictured) covered up her bump in a chic black sweater dress as she returned to their Sydney home on Sunday after a trip to the shops The expectant mum carried several shopping bags, including one from Zara. Her blonde hair fell loosely around her face and shoulders, and she opted for minimal makeup, drawing attention to her natural beauty. The communications executive got engaged to the KIIS FM radio host, 51, in Port Douglas, Queensland, over the Christmas holidays. The expectant mum, 36, carried several shopping bags, including one from chain store Zara Tegan accessorised with black platform boots and a $2,550 Louis Vuitton handbag The high-profile couple announced Tegan was expecting in February. Their baby boy, named Otto, is due in August. 'We're having a baby! We are having a friggin' baby. I couldn't be happier,' Kyle said on his KIIS FM breakfast show at the time. Tegan said on air that Kyle had been 'very emotional' since finding out he was going to be a first-time father. Tegan got engaged to radio host Kyle (left) in Port Douglas over the Christmas holidays. The couple announced Tegan was expecting in February. Their baby boy, Otto, is due in August Tegan and Kyle found out the sex of their baby at an elaborate gender reveal party held on Sydney Harbour later in February. They hired a superyacht for the occasion and arranged for planes flying overhead to release blue smoke, revealing they're having a baby boy. Before dating Tegan, Kyle was with ex-girlfriend Imogen Anthony for eight years until they called it quits in 2019. Tensions seem to be running high between former Today co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic in the wake of her explosive tell-all memoir. The breakfast TV colleagues-turned-rivals had to be seated far apart from one another at the Logie Awards on Sunday night, reports The Australian. 'Care was taken with the seating arrangements to ensure Wilkinson was given plenty of distance from Stefanovic,' according to the newspaper's Media Diary. Tensions seem to be running high between former Today co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson (left) and Karl Stefanovic (right) in the wake of her explosive tell-all memoir. The colleagues-turned-rivals had to be seated far apart from one another at the Logies on Sunday, reports The Australian Wilkinson was seated at the Channel 10 table in the second row, while Stefanovic was at the front of the room at Nine's table. Tensions escalated between the pair late last year when Wilkinson released her memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This. Her book included a chapter dedicated to her sacking from Channel Nine and falling out with Stefanovic over a pay dispute. 'Care was taken with the seating arrangements to ensure Wilkinson was given plenty of distance from Stefanovic,' according to the newspaper's Media Diary Tensions escalated between the pair late last year when Wilkinson released her memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This She claims her co-host played rival networks Nine and Seven off against each other in order to secure a better deal for himself, while she was left in the dust. 'Weeks later... the media became awash with stories that Stefanovic was restless at Today and looking for greener pastures and more civilised working hours at Channel Seven,' she wrote. Stefanovic was soon at the centre of a bidding war between Nine and Seven that resulted in him re-signing a five-year deal with Nine worth at least $2million per year. Wilkinson left the Today show in October 2017 after a reported gender pay gap dispute. Nine was 'unable to meet her expectations' after she demanded equal pay with Stefanovic, according to reports at the time. (Pictured together on the Today show) Wilkinson's deal was worth significantly less, about $780,000 a year, and was only for two years. She was reportedly pushed out the door by Nine executives in 2017. In January 2018, she joined Channel 10 in a rumoured multimillion-dollar deal to host The Sunday Project. Since joining The Sunday Project, Wilkinson has landed sit-down interviews with the likes of Kim Kardashian, Kylie Minogue and Bradley Cooper. Despite working for rival networks, Wilkinson and Stefanovic appeared to be on friendly terms when they attended an event announcing the Logie nominees on the Gold Coast last month Despite working for rival networks, Wilkinson and Stefanovic appeared to be on friendly terms when they attended an event announcing the 2022 Logie nominees on the Gold Coast last month. They looked amicable as they were seen in public together for the first time since the release of her memoir. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph at the time, Wilkinson said: 'It was lovely to see Karl, and a reminder to both of us of the many great years we spent together.' A handful of Australian stars were spotted arriving back in Sydney the morning after attending the 2022 Logie Awards on the Gold Coast. The likes of Ada Nicodemou, Emma Watkins, Dr Chris Brown and Miguel Maestre were all seen strolling through Sydney Airport on Monday. While many of them looked sprightly and fresh-faced, there's no doubt a few were nursing sore heads after partying a little too hard the night before. Australian stars, including Lynne McGranger (left) and Ada Nicodemou (right), were spotted arriving back in Sydney the morning after attending the 2022 Logie Awards on the Gold Coast Ada looked stylish in a long black dress and brown coat as she chatted to her co-star Lynne Ada looked stylish in a long black dress and brown coat as she chatted to her Home and Away co-star Lynne McGranger. Ray Meagher was also seen pushing a small suitcase and holding a cup of coffee. Celebrity chef Miguel looked Mediterranean chic in an all-white ensemble consisting of shorts and a loose shirt. He joined I'm a Celebrity host Dr Chris Brown, who dressed casually in black jeans, sneakers and a checkered shirt. Home and Away's Patrick O'Connor (left) also joined his co-stars at the airport. He seemingly couldn't wait for a Hungry Jacks breakfast after a big night out Ray Meagher was also seen pushing a small suitcase after jetting back to Sydney The Home and Away actor held a cup of coffee in one hand Former Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins was also spotted pushing her suitcase as she landed back in Sydney. The children's entertainer, 32, looked stylish in a long floral dress and comfortable white sneakers. Meanwhile, Home and Away's Patrick O'Connor seemingly couldn't wait for Hungry Jack's breakfast after a big night out. Celebrity chef Miguel Maestre (right, with Dr Chris Brown) looked Mediterranean chic in an all-white ensemble consisting of shorts and a loose shirt Dr Chris Brown dressed casually in black jeans, sneakers and a checkered shirt Lego Masters host Hamish Blake won the Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television at TV's night of nights on the Gold Coast. In his acceptance speech, the Nine Network star acknowledged the industry had been through some tough times of late. 'We're so grateful to get to do what we do... we're super lucky to get to keep working,' he said. Hamish also took home the Logie for most popular presenter, newly named for the late television superstar Bert Newton and presented by Newton's wife Patti. Former Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins was seen with a suitcase after landing back in Sydney Calvin Klein was spotted out on a rare lunch date with his longtime boyfriend Kevin Baker at Mauro's Cafe in West Hollywood, ahead of Father's Day. Though he's known for his incredible silhouettes and standout red carpet fashion, the iconic designer, 79, was casual cool for the Saturday afternoon outing, wearing a long-sleeve grey top, blue jeans, and grey sneakers. Meanwhile his younger beau, 34, looked handsome as ever in a form-fitting dark green shirt and khaki pants. Lunch date: Calvin Klein, 79, was spotted out on a rare lunch date with his longtime boyfriend Kevin Baker, 34, at Mauro's Cafe in West Hollywood, ahead of Father's Day The acclaimed style expert - whose fashion empire net worth is estimated to be a staggering $700 million - shielded his eyes from the sun with a pair of trendy aviator sunglasses. The Calvin Klein Inc. founder rocked his grey hair in a spiky updo, with the help of gel, while his other half had his chestnut tresses combed to the side to achieve a dashing tousled look. The couple made their way through the parking lot after enjoying the upscale Italian eatery. Casual: The iconic fashion designer was casual cool for the Saturday afternoon outing, wearing a long-sleeve grey top, blue jeans, and grey sneakers Calvin and Kevin have never publicly addressed their relationship, but they have been spotted out together for years. The last time the couple was publicly seen together was at the same restaurant in December of 2021. The two made their first public appearance together in 2016 on the red carpet at the American Ballet Theatres Fall Gala. Aside from their first public outing at the American Ballet, the pair were also pictured at the ACRIA holiday dinner at the 69th Regiment Armory in December 2016. Going strong: The couple, who made their first public appearance at the American Ballet Theatres Fall Gala, were also pictured at the ACRIA holiday dinner in NY that same year Calvin previously broke things off with former beau porn star Nick Gruber in January 2012 after two years together. Around the time of their split, Gruber candidly spoke out about his relationship with the designer in December 2012, but later pulled the plug on a tell-all book and reality show after having moved to Los Angeles. The model was checked into to an Arizona rehabilitation following the breakup, after he was arrested for cocaine possession. Rumors persisted at the time that Calvin was paying for the rehab, and had flown him there via private jet. 'Calvin feels very protective over him. Despite all that has happened, and everything hes done, he still loves Nick,' a source told Page Six at the time. Former parter: Klein - whose net worth is estimated to be $700 million - previously broke things off with porn star Nick Gruber in January 2012 after two years together; Pictured in 2011 After their breakup, the blond-haired, blue-eyed model announced he was working on a book titled Obsession: My Life With Calvin Klein, where he claimed that the designer once made him take a lie-detector test. Recalling the incident, he told Page Six: 'I passed it. And then, you know, things were much better. But I mean, what kind of partner would make you take a lie detector test?' Prior to that, Klein was married to his assistant and photographer Kelly Rector from 1986 until 2006. The fashion guru was also wed to textile designer Jane Centre from 1964 to 1974, and the two are parents to TV producer Marci Klein. Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gina Liano is selling her apartment in Brighton. The big-haired barrister, 56, has listed the one-bedroom home with a price guide of between $600,000 and $650,000, reports the Herald Sun. Gina, who was born in Brighton and moved to the Mornington Peninsula five years ago, described the modern flat as her 'little hotel room' in the city. Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gina Liano is selling her apartment in Brighton 'Brighton people love Brighton. I was born and bred here, and Brighton was perfect for me as a Melbourne base between the city and the Peninsula,' she said. The apartment occupies one level, with its standout feature being the courtyard. Interiors take on a very modern feel with black marble splashbacks in the kitchen, plus marble benchtops and a black, white and silver colour scheme. The big-haired barrister, 56, has listed the one-bedroom home with a price guide of between $600,000 and $650,000, reports the Herald Sun. (Pictured: the bedroom) Gina, who was born in Brighton and moved to the Mornington Peninsula five years ago, described the modern flat as her 'little hotel room' in the city The apartment occupies one level with its standout feature being the courtyard (pictured) Hardwood timber flooring and floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors complement the open-plan living and dining area. Gina left Real Housewives of Melbourne viewers disappointed when she decided not to return to the show for season five. She told the Shine It Up podcast in October she could come back for season six, but it would only be under one condition. 'Put it this way, if the show needed saving, I would feel like, "Oh, God, I've gotta go in and fix this." I'm a fixer,' she said. The bathroom features a spacious shower, along with timber, black and marble accents Gina left Real Housewives of Melbourne viewers disappointed when she decided not to return to the show for season five She told the Shine It Up podcast in October she could come back for season six, but it would only be under one condition. 'Put it this way, if the show needed saving, I would feel like, "Oh, God, I've gotta go in and fix this." I'm a fixer,' she said Both Gina and fellow original Housewife Lydia Schiavello opted not to return for season five, leaving the door open for four new cast members to join. Season five saw the return of OGs Janet Roach and Jackie Gillies, as well as longtime cast member Gamble Breaux. They also added newbies Kyla Kirkpatrick, Cherry Dipietrantonio, Simone Elliott, and Anjali Rao. Anjali has since quit the show. Lori Harvey sported a casual yet sultry look while making her way to a grocery store in West Hollywood on Father's Day. The 25-year-old model went bra-free for the day, donning a simple cropped black T-shirt that displayed her flawlessly sculpted abs. The stepdaughter of American television host Steve Harvey, 65, coordinated the look with comfortable black sweatpants and matching sneakers. Casual: Lori Harvey sported a casual yet sultry look while making her way to a grocery store in West Hollywood on Father's Day The SKN founder accessorized her laid-back style with a chic black shoulder bag and sophisticated black shades. Adding a bit of extra sparkle to her look, the fashionista wore sizable gold hoop earrings. Lori gathered her black tresses into a sleeked back bun, and gelled down her baby hair in the front. Flawless: The 25-year-old model went bra-free for the day, donning a simple cropped black T-shirt that displayed her flawlessly sculpted abs The former competitive equestrian appeared to go fresh-faced for the day, letting her natural beauty shine through. The socialite carried the latest edition of Harper's Bazaar fashion magazine in her hand, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on the cover. The outing comes on the heels of her breakup from 35-year-old actor Michael B. Jordan, after the two dated for nearly two years. A source told PEOPLE that Lori wasn't 'ready to commit' to Michael and is 'moving on' following the split. Cool gal: The stepdaughter of American television host Steve Harvey, 65, coordinated the look with comfortable black sweatpants and matching sneakers The insider revealed that Lori 'realized that they weren't on the same page' while she and the Creed actor 'were making plans for their future.' 'She is very focused on her career, She still wants to have fun and be free,' the source went on, adding, 'Michael is a great guy. She is sad that their relationship didn't work out, but she is moving on.' After news of their split broke on June 4, a source told PEOPLE: 'Michael and Lori are both completely heartbroken. They still love each other.' Recent split: The outing comes on the heels of her breakup from actor Michael B. Jordan, 35, after nearly two years together; The former couple pictured at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party 'Michael matured a lot over the course of their relationship and was ready to commit for the long term. He let down his guard with her, opening up emotionally in a romantic relationship for the first time. They had great times together and brought out the best in each other,' the source stated. Neither Michael nor Lori have publicly commented on their split. The two went Instagram-official with their romance in January 2021 and celebrated their one-year anniversary last November. The former couple made their red carpet debut when they attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in Beverly Hills on March 27. However, Michael was noticeably absent from the influencer's side when she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala on May 2. 20 June 2022 The World Health Organization (WHO) dispatched an urgent consignment of medicines and medical supplies to Sulaymaniyah governorate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to support the regional Ministry of Health step up its response to the sudden cholera outbreak in the Region. The consignment comprised 4 pallets of medicines and medical supplies, including infusion sets, antibiotics, and intravenous fluid (ringer lactate) to cover the needs of a population of approximately 5000 people for a duration of 3 months. The Minister of Health in the Kurdistan Region Dr Saman Hussain Barzangy attended the handover and expressed concern over the sudden increase in acute diarrhoeal cases in Sulaymaniyah and several other governorates. 13 cholera cases were confirmed by the laboratory, 10 of which are in Sulaymaniyah. We are following the situation closely and have scaled up surveillance, preparedness and response activities, and hope to be able to contain the outbreak in the coming weeks in close collaboration with WHO and other partners, Dr Barzangy said. The Ministry of Health in Kurdistan is working with the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) and have requested support to test 56 additional samples taken from Sulaymaniyah. As of 20 June 2022, 13 cholera cases from Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk and Muthanna, were confirmed by the CPHL. The increase in new cases in Sulaymaniyah and other governorates is a reason for concern for WHO and the Ministry of Health, as it is coming on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and other epidemic-prone outbreaks that the country is still battling. However, WHO is committed to supporting the Ministry of Health both in Baghdad and in Kurdistan, to respond to, this outbreak and lower the impact on the population, including on the vulnerable groups of women, children and the low-income communities, said Dr Ahmed Zouiten, WHO Representative and Head of Mission in Iraq. We are also calling upon our funding partners, stakeholders, WASH sector, and Health Cluster members to enhance collaboration with the local health authorities to ensure a proactive and coordinated approach to cholera response across Iraq, Dr Zouiten added. Cholera is a waterborne bacterial infection that can spread quickly through a population. The disease is primarily contracted by consuming water or food contaminated with the cholera bacteria Vibrio cholerae. It causes uncontrollable diarrhoea that, if left untreated, can result in dehydration or death. Jaime King dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans while out and about in Beverly Hills. The 43-year-old actress puffed on a cigarette and went makeup-free while running an errand by herself on Father's Day. It comes as the star endures a custody battle with her ex-husband Kyle Newman. Laidback look: Jaime King dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans while out and about in Beverly Hills The mother-of-two's short, two-toned blonde and brunette hair was styled in a deep side part. One side of the glossy locks were tucked behind her ear and the other was neatly combed to the side. The entertainer was clad in a faded, vintage The Stone Roses t-shirt that she partially tucked into her denim. On her bottom half she sported a charcoal-colored pair of straight-leg jeans with blue and white socks and white sneakers with a red detail. Casual: The 43-year-old actress puffed on a cigarette and went makeup-free while running an errand by herself on Father's Day The loose-fitting ensemble hung off the Out of Death star's slender frame as she made her way to her car. The bright Southern California sun shined on her bare visage as she skipped sunglasses and other accessories. King is currently fighting for custody of her sons Leo Thames Newman and James Knight Newman, six and eight. Custody war: It comes as the star endures a custody battle with her ex-husband Kyle Newman According to court docs in the case, earlier this month Newman put in paperwork for an emergency Ex Parte application in an effort to have their custody arrangement altered for him to receive 'sole legal and physical custody.' King also put in her an emergency Ex Parte application, which said that her attorney was dealing with a 'serious family matter' on the day a hearing in the case was scheduled. Newman's initial application was denied but is set to be presented to the court during a June 24 hearing. King, who's worked on shows such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Hart of Dixie and Black Summer, is required to submit to the court a Responsive Declaration by June 20, according to People. Happier times: The family-of-four attended California Christmas at The Grove in 2017 'I have been the children's primary caretaker since their birth and the children have spent the large majority of 2020 in my sole custody,' Newman said in court docs. The filing came six months after King filed to divorce the director after a twelve-year marriage, requesting a temporary restraining order and domestic violence prevention petition, according to court docs. King told the court that Newman had been keeping their sons away from her, and subsequently denied accusations that her behavior put their children in danger. Family outing: Jamie, Kyle, and their sons grabbed food and drinks in LA in May 2018 In April the actress was ordered to provide Newman with child and spousal support in the amount of $429 monthly, as well as 16 percent of any money she made more than $175,344 annually, according to court docs People reviewed. King was also ordered by the court to provide Newman with $1,000 monthly in spousal support as well as 10 percent of money she made above $175,344 in quarterly installments, per court docs. Additionally, the court stipulated that King and Newman 'meet and confer' on an annual basis each January 15 to 'adjust any overpayments or underpayments' from the year before. Actress and producer Carol Raye has died at the age of 99. The British-born star, who was best known for her roles in The Young Doctors, Number 96 and SeaChange, passed away on Sunday night. She was a fan-favourite in the 1970s thanks to her appearances on Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks and The Mike Walsh Show. Actress and producer Carol Raye (pictured) has died at the age of 99 The star was a standout on racy soap opera Number 96, in which she played Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg. Born in London, England, and beginning her career as a dancer at age 16, Carol was well-known in the UK as a film and theatre star when she emigrated to Australia with her husband, veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith, in 1964. Forging a career Down Under as an actress and producer, in 1964 she created and starred in the television series The Mavis Bramston Show. The British-born star, who was best known for her roles in The Young Doctors, Number 96 and SeaChange, passed away on Sunday night. Carol is pictured in 1941 making her debut in Fun and Games at the Prince's Theatre She was a fan-favourite in the 1970s thanks to her appearances on Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks and The Mike Walsh Show. Carol is pictured in 1944 during the production of the film Strawberry Roan 'I had just arrived in Australia and I joined Channel Seven as a producer and was told to come up with some ideas for a late night show,' she told TV Tonight. 'Seven's ratings weren't very good and they wanted to knock off Graham Kennedy. In Melbourne Tonight was a huge success. 'I'd just come from England and was very influenced by a show that was a huge success in London, That Was The Week That Was with David Frost. Born in London, England, and beginning her career as a dancer at age 16, Carol was well-known in the UK as a film and theatre star when she emigrated to Australia with her husband, veterinarian Robert Ayre Smith, in 1964. Pictured together The star was a standout on racy soap opera Number 96 (pictured), in which she played Baroness Amanda von Pappenburg Forging a career Down Under as an actress and producer, in 1964 she created and starred in the television series The Mavis Bramston Show 'It was really a journalistic satire. It wasn't just lots of funny ha-ha jokes. It was political comedy,' she added. Carol was awarded an Order of Australia just a week prior to her death. She had three children, including daughters Sally Ayre Smith, who was a producer on SeaChange, and Harriet, who works with the Sydney Theatre Company. She had three children, including daughters Sally Ayre Smith, who was a producer on SeaChange, and Harriet, who works with the Sydney Theatre Company. Pictured with her daughter Sally as a baby Tributes from fans and colleagues flowed onto Twitter on Monday, with many remembering the one-time household name. TV citric Andrew Mercado wrote: 'After that beautiful #Logies In Memorian, a sad addition Carol Raye, star of The Mavis Brampton Show and Blankety Blanks, and Aussie TV's first female executive, died late last night. 'She was as delightful and luminous in real life as she was here in 1974 on Number 96'. Tributes from fans and colleagues flowed onto Twitter on Monday, with many remembering the one-time household name Another fan wrote: 'Remember Carol Raye. So popular in 60's and 70's. She was 6 months off 100.' One more person said: 'RIP Carol Raye! A one-off, and an Australian TV legend'. Someone else chimed in: 'Oh what times we had. What joy and laughter you gave us. Farewell to the beautiful and talented Carol Raye. I hope it's a meal flight, darling.' John Travolta has snapped a sweet photo with his children as he celebrated Father's Day on Sunday. The actor, 68, penned a heartfelt post to his daughter Ella Bleu, 22, and son Benjamin, 11. He shared the photos with 3.9 million Instagram followers, writing: 'It's privilege to be a father. I love you my babies. Happy Father's Day to everyone.' Adorable: John Travolta has snapped a sweet photo with his children Ella Bleu, 22, and son Benjamin, 11. as he celebrated Father's Day on Sunday The first picture featured the Grease actor, looking dapper in a simple black shirt, cuddling up to Benjamin. A second showed Ella join in as the trio smiled for the camera. Earlier in April, the Pulp Fiction star also wished his late son Jett Travolta a happy birthday in an Instagram tribute. Candid: The actor, 68, penned a heartfelt post to his daughter Ella Bleu, 22, and son Benjamin, 11 'Privilege': He shared the photos with 3.9 million Instagram followers, writing: 'It's privilege to be a father. I love you my babies. Happy Father's Day to everyone' 'My dearest Jetty, I miss you more than words can say. I think about you everyday. Happy Birthday. Love, your Dad,' he wrote in the caption. Jett was just 16-years-old when he passed away after suffering a seizure during a family holiday in The Bahamas. The teenager had been diagnosed with Kawasaki disease as an infant and had a history of seizures. John shares the children with his late wife Kelly Preston. A successful actress in her own right, she passed away in July 2020 after being diagnosed with breast cancer two years earlier. Tribute: Earlier in April, the Pulp Fiction star also wished his late son Jett Travolta a happy birthday on Instagram Heartbreaking: 'My dearest Jetty, I miss you more than words can say. I think about you everyday. Happy Birthday. Love, your Dad,' he wrote in the caption Last month John took to social media to honour Kelly during Mother's Day. 'We love and miss you Kelly. Happy Mothers Day,' the Oscar-nominated star captioned the clip, which was set to Barbara Streisand's That Face. The Grease icon began video tribute began with the inscription 'From me, To you,' and ended in writing, 'Happy Mother's Day ... With all my love, Johnny.' Family: The video from the New Jersey-born actor consisted of a series of images of the couple as well as their three children The video from the New Jersey-born actor consisted of a series of images of the couple as well as their children. The clip included shots of Travolta and Preston's nuptials in 1987 in Paris, as they were married for 28 years after meeting on the set of the comedy film The Experts, which was released in 1989. The couple went on to appear in multiple films with one another, including the 2018 crime drama Gotti, the 2010 thriller From Paris with Love, the 2009 comedy Old Dogs and the 2000 sci-fi film Battlefield Earth. Memories: Kelly, who died in 2020 following a two-year cancer battle, was seen cradling her child in the clip Sweet: Last month John took to social media to honour Kelly during Mother's Day, less than two years after her death at 57 following a brave battle with breast cancer It comes as in April, John spent Easter with Ella, Benjamin and the newest four-legged member of their family. The two-time Oscar-nominated actor took to his Instagram page to post a video of the family together. 'Happy Easter everyone!' he wrote in the caption of the clip, showing him and Ella holding on to a giant stuffed Easter Bunny as Benjamin snuggled with their new pet pooch Mac N Cheese, who they had adopted in March. Holiday cheer: It comes as in April, John spent Easter with Ella, Benjamin and the newest four-legged member of their family Family fun: 'Happy Easter everyone!' he wrote in the caption of the clip showing him and Ella holding on to a giant stuffed Easter Bunny John's longtime friend and co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, who helped organise the rescue pup's adoption, was among the people to comment on the post. 'OH MAC 'N CHEESE IS SO HAPPY!' she gushed, in a reference to the family's seemingly loving interaction with the golden-colored pooch. Just a few weeks earlier, Mac N Cheese was featured during the 94th Academy Awards tribute to Betty White to honor the late Hollywood star's dedication to animal rights and charities. New dog: The two-time Oscar-nominated actor announced his son had adopted the rescue pup Mac N Cheese that was featured on Academy Awards ceremony with Jamie Lee Curtis Grateful: 'Ben adopted this dog from last nights Oscar tribute to Betty White. Thank you @curtisleejamie & @pawworks,' the appreciative actor announced in an Instagram post After Mac N Cheese had her moment in the spotlight with Jamie Lee, John got to meet the puppy backstage, and proceeded to bond with her for about a half an hour. The very next day Benjamin put adoption proceedings in motion with the animal rescue organisation Paw Works. Within that 24 hours, the Travoltas had a new four-legged family member. 'Ben adopted this dog from last nights Oscar tribute to Betty White. Thank you @curtisleejamie & @pawworks,' the appreciative actor announced in an Instagram post that included a photo of himself with Ben and Mac N Cheese. When it comes to on-screen chemistry, the spark between Nathalie Morris and Carlos Sanson Jnr is one that directors can only dream of. The breakout stars of Stan original series Bump are just magic to watch together, and the unlikely love story of Oly and Santi has captivated audiences. And on Sunday, the pair addressed rumours about a potential real-life relationship between them while attending the Logie Awards on the Gold Coast. Bump stars Nathalie Morris and Carlos Sanson set the record straight on rumours they are dating in real life at the Logie Awards on Sunday Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the Logie Awards on Sunday, the pair played down reports that they were dating in real life. 'I've heard that before,' said Nathalie, while Carlos appeared bemused by the rumours. 'I'm flattered that you think I can get someone like Nat, (but) no.... we're best friends,' he replied. 'That's lovely,' remarked Nathalie. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Sunday, the pair played down reports they were dating 'I've heard that before,' Nathalie laughed before Carlos quipped: 'I'm flattered that you think I can get someone like Nat, (but) no.... we're best friends' It comes after a source close to Carlos told Daily Mail Australia that the pair, who met last year, were dating in real life. 'It's always great when you put people together, then hope it works out. We suspected from the first moment this would... and it just kept getting better,' the show's producer John Edwards previously said of the pair's electric dynamic. Fans of the show can't get enough of Carlos and Nathalie's real-life friendship with the pair often documenting their fun escapades on social media. Fans of the show can't get enough of Carlos and Nathalie's real-life friendship with the pair often documenting their fun escapades on social media It comes after the pair shared photos of them ringing in New Year's Eve together in Byron Bay It comes after the pair shared photos of them ringing in New Year's Eve together in Byron Bay and selfies going for bush walks with their Bump co-star Claudia Karvan. A third season of Bump just wrapped and will air in 2023. Bump is exclusive to Stan. Wedding bells are in the air as Coronation Street characters got dolled up for Phill Whittaker and Fiz Stape's highly anticipated wedding in set shots from Tuesday. While Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) looked every inch the blushing bride in a gorgeous wedding gown, drama may yet brew with her ex Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) in attendance. Also present was her friend Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), who looked stunning in a dusky pink dress as she sidled up to the wife-to-be. Trouble: While Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) looked every inch the blushing bride in a gorgeous wedding gown, drama may yet brew with her ex Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) in attendance Groom: Elsewhere Phill (Jamie Kenna) was the perfect contrast to a gloomy, black-suit-clad Tyrone in a light grey ensemble Fiz's daughter Hope (Isabella Flanagan) was also captured in an adorable sparkly dress, alongside Ruby Dobbs (Macy Alabi). An elegant Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) was also pictured as a guest in a pastel green blazer and matching skirt. Gemma Winter (Dolly Rose Campbell) also wowed in a sunny yellow shift dress and lace cardigan, teamed with chunky platform sandals as she stood next to a bedazzled Beth Tinker (Lisa George). Drama: Tyrone's presence at Fiz's wedding may spell trouble as her ex appeared wistful in behind the scenes filming shots Mysterious: Meanwhile a mysterious Tyrone appeared to lurk in the shadows, wearing dark tinted shades as he stared longingly at Fiz Elsewhere Phill (Jamie Kenna) was the perfect contrast to a gloomy, black-suit-clad Tyrone in a light grey ensemble. The groom was the picture of chic in a waistcoat and blazer, accessorised with a romantic flower pin. Meanwhile a mysterious Tyrone appeared to lurk in the shadows, wearing dark tinted shades as he stared longingly at Fiz. Blushing bride: Fiz donned an elegant white wedding dress and veil, pinning her auburn locks in a curled updo Awkward: Tyrone's presence at Phill's wedding may yet cause drama as the groom sets to wed Fiz Speaking to the Daily Star, a show insider revealed: 'Tyrone still has feelings for Fiz and he would love to win her back. 'Him turning up to the wedding could mean trouble.' Meanwhile last month Margot Leicester was reportedly set to return to the soap as Mimi to stir up trouble for the couple's wedding. Family fun: Fiz's daughter Hope (Isabella Flanagan) was also captured in an adorable bridal-style dress, alongside Ruby Dobbs (Macy Alabi) Longing glances: Tyrone looked wistful in scenes shot on Tuesday as Fiz got ready for her big day The veteran actress, 72, first appeared on the popular soap last year for a short stint as Phill's snobby mother. The character made an explosive impact on the residents of Weatherfield and was not shy about making her opinions known. Mimi was then forced out of town after she publicly humiliated Fiz during a meal at the Bistro. Classy: An elegant Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) was also pictured as a guest in a pastel green blazer and matching skirt Guests: Gemma Winter (Dolly Rose Campbell) also wowed in a sunny yellow shift dress and lace cardigan, teamed with chunky platform sandals as she stood next to a bedazzled Beth Tinker (Lisa George) But she will allegedly be returning to the cobbles, spelling even more trouble for Fiz according to The Sun. An insider told the publication: 'Mimi's return will really set the cat among the pigeons and put a spanner in the works on Fiz's big day. 'Who knows if the wedding will end up going ahead or not?' Margot was seen having a drink with her on screen son Jamie Kenna who plays Phill, Jenny McAlpine (Fiz Stape), Dame Maureen Lipman (Evelyn Plummer) and Bill Fellows (Stu Carpenter) after a busy day of filming in May. Pals: Also present was her friend Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), who looked stunning in a dusky pink dress as she sidled up to the wife-to-be Bridal style: Fiz looked incredible in a shoulder less wedding gown teamed with a bridal veil and cream stilettos Here comes the bride: Snaps showed Fiz and Maria carrying flower bouquets while a mysterious Tyrone loitered Jamie took to his Instagram to share a string of photos of the group in a pub, captioning it: 'Beautiful night with beautiful people @thealchemist @coronationstreet @fellows9690 @maureenlipman #margotleicester #jenniemcalpine'. In May Tyrone's rivalry with Fiz's new beau was seemingly set to come to a head as the pair were spotted filming an intense scene. With Tyrone and Phill clearly at loggerheads, the pair were seen looking rather unpleased after Tyrone confronted Phil. Drama: Tyrone appeared to throw intense gazes at Fiz as the bride got ready for her wedding celebrations Tensions: Phill and Tyrone contrasted each other as Fiz's ex showed up in a dark suit while her groom sported a light grey ensemble It is unknown whether Tyrone was trying to win Fizz back as he clearly attempted to have a word with Phill, causing him to clap back. While Phil looked unimpressed wearing leather brown boots, a navy jumper and a brown jacket. Fiz has made the decision to bid farewell to Weatherfield for a new start with Phil, taking her daughters Ruby and Hope with her. Wedding day: The bride was snapped with a colorful bouquet of flowers as she prepared for her big day Stunning: Fiz teamed her look with simple white heels, sporting a stunning A-line wedding gown While Tyrone gets to grips with the fact they're leaving, he can't quite manage to keep things amicable with Phil. He has moved back to his old house with Evelyn Plummer, but has not found love since Alina Pop moved back to Romania with their baby. Fiz previously kicked Tyrone to the curb after he embarked on his relationship with Alina, with many fans expecting them to reconcile. Beautiful: Fiz's pal Maria, who looked incredible in a figure-hugging pink dress - was also snapped next to Ruby In April it was reported that Fiz could say goodbye to Coronation Street for good as she prepares for a fresh start with boyfriend Phill. Portrayed by the cobbles long-timer Jennie, 38, Fiz made her first appearance in the soap 21 years ago as Roy and Hayley Cropper's foster daughter. And the most recent character development has seen Fiz move on from cheating Tyrone and find love again with Phill, whom she hopes to move into a posh new pad with. Jodie Comer was greeted by hundreds of fans as she departed the Harold Pinter Theatre in London on Sunday. The Killing Eve star, 29, took her final bow in the West End after performing in her one-person play Prima Facie which will head over to Broadway, New York. The award winning actress cut a stylish figure in a black and white spotted midi dress as she signed autographs outside the stage door. Incredible: Jodie Comer was greeted by hundreds of fans as she departed the Harold Pinter Theatre in London on Sunday Jodie seemed in high spirits as she kept warm under a blue denim jacket and a black face mask. She opted for a pair of black slip on shoes as she carried her personal belongings in a chic tote bag. Jodie completed her look after taking to the stage by styling her blonde tresses in waves as they cascaded down to her shoulders. Wow! The Killing Eve star, 29, took her final bow in the West End after performing in her one-person play Prima Facie which will head over to Broadway, New York The star's security were close by as fans attempted to get as close as possible to Jodie for a picture of an autograph. Jodie is swapping the theatre boards of the West End for the bright lights of Broadway as she heads to the US with her play. She has received critical acclaim for her West End debut in the role as Tessa in Prima Facie, a one-person play by Suzie Miller, The production sees Comer portraying a brilliant barrister who has progressed from her working class origins to the top of the profession, when an unexpected event forces her to 'confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge'. Amazing: Jodie seemed in high spirits as she kept warm under a blue denim jacket and a black face mask Sharing the news on Instagram, alongside a picture of her with tears in her yes, Comer wrote: 'I am so honoured to play a part in the telling of this story and beyond thrilled that next week isn't the end. 'It means so much to see and hear so many of your positive responses. 'Thank you to all of you who have supported the show and a special shout out to those who have travelled thousands of miles, now it's our turn. I love you Tess, we're going to BROADWAY!'. Incredible: The award winning actress cut a stylish figure in a black and white spotted midi dress as she signed autographs outside the stage door It comes after she reportedly found herself at the centre of a security scare last month, after an overzealous fan allegedly tried to get under a shutter to the stage door at the theatre of her play. Her popularity has no doubt soared after picking up the Leading Actress gong for her role in Channel 4 's Help at this year's BAFTA Television Awards held at London 's Royal Festival Hall earlier this month. The star who won the category in 2019 for Killing Eve, admitted she was 'very nervous' as she took to the stage to receive her award for her outstanding performance in the pandemic drama. Fan support: The star's security were close by as fans attempted to get as close as possible to Jodie for a picture of an autograph Chic: Jodie completed her look after taking to the stage by styling her blonde tresses in waves as they cascaded down to her shoulders The Liverpool-born actress has been lauded for her role in BBC spy thriller Killing Eve in which she stars as Russian assassin Villanelle alongside Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri. She has also starred alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names appearing in Sir Ridley Scott's historical epic The Last Duel alongside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and sci-fi comedy Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds. At this year's Bafta ceremony, Comer claimed the leading actress award for her role in Channel 4's Help - a fictional drama set in a Liverpool care home during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Prima Facie will arrive on Broadway in 2023, Comer confirmed. Exciting! Jodie Comer will be swapping the theatre boards of the West End for the bright lights of Broadway as she heads to the US with her one-person play (pictured crying as she delivered the news to fans) Byron Baes star Jessica Johansen Bell is engaged. The Australian fashion designer shared the good news to Instagram on Monday, revealing her longtime boyfriend recently Adam popped the question. 'Oh I forgot to mention how special my 27th birthday was last month,' she wrote alongside a close up of her diamond sparkler. Byron Baes star Jessica Johansen Bell, 27, (left) has announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Adam on Monday The post was quickly inundated with comments from her friends and followers. 'Congratulations guys!!! How sweet, and my gosh that ring is stunning,' one commented. A second commented: 'This will be the most stylish wedding fucking ever'. 'Oh I forgot to mention how special my 27th birthday was last month,' she wrote alongside a close up of her diamond sparkler Previously speaking to the Herald Sun, Jessica revealed that her and her sister Lauren refused to pay any attention to the criticism surrounding the Netflix show. 'My partner said to me multiple times, "The town's going to lose it over this", but they often protest a lot of things so I wasn't too concerned,' Jessica said back in March. 'I felt like the town would move on from it,' she added. Ignore: Glamorous sisters Jessica and Lauren Johansen Bell said they don't pay attention to criticism ahead of their appearance on Netflix's controversial reality series Byron Baes 'It wasn't going to be a life-threatening situation. People might be angry about it and then see it, and maybe not be angry.' The show follows the lives of 14 influencers who help each other grow their businesses, connections and social followings in the idyllic Australian beach town. Last year, the series received backlash for not consulting local Indigenous groups or the Byron Council before filming. 'My partner said to me multiple times, "The town's going to lose it over this", but they often protest a lot of things so I wasn't too concerned,' Jessica told the Herald Sun According to the Echo, the Byron Council 'passed an urgency motion' that would require producers to get permission before any further filming. Independent Councillor Cate Coorey said: 'We need to stand up for our community.' Filming was eventually moved to the Sunshine Coast. The Block host Scott Cam has come out swinging against two contestants who quit the show after just two days. Influencer Elle Ferguson and her footy star fiance Joel Patfull left the renovation competition 48 hours into filming. 'We had a 48 hour challenge to choose the house that you get and they scarpered after 48 hours. It's something that's never happened before,' Scott told TV Tonight during his appearance at a Logies brunch on Monday. The Block host Scott Cam has come out swinging against two contestants who quit the show after just two days. Pictured with his The Block co-star Shelley Craft at the Logies on Sunday '45,000 people applied to be on The Block and win life-changing money. These guys got on and they just couldn't handle the pace after 48 hours. 'Which to me is a bit unAustralian! Have a go! It's p**s poor,' the 59-year-old added. According to The Daily Telegraph, the couple made the difficult decision to leave after Joel's mother Trish fractured her neck during a fall at her home in Adelaide. Influencer Elle Ferguson (left) and her footy star fiance Joel Patfull (right) left the renovation competition two days in. 'These guys got on and they just couldn't handle the pace after 48 hours. Which to me is a bit unAustralian! Have a go! It's p**s poor,' Scott said on Monday The publication reported she potentially had broken her coccyx and fractured her wrist. Following their exit, Elle, 36, shared a telling picture of the pair's suitcases at Melbourne Airport, captioned: 'Wherever you are in the world, whatever you are doing, family always comes first.' She also shared a black-and-white image of her partner Joel, 37, sitting with their luggage, as they prepared to catch a flight to Adelaide. A Channel Nine spokesperson confirmed the pair's exit to Daily Mail Australia, saying: 'Over the weekend, we were surprised to have one of our new contestant teams depart The Block a few days into filming for the upcoming season. Cryptic: Elle, 36, shared a picture of the pair's suitcases at Melbourne Airport captioned: 'Wherever you are in the world, whatever you are doing, family always comes first' Telling sign: She also shared a black-and-white image of her partner Joel sitting with their luggage as they prepared to catch a flight to Adelaide 'We wish them all the best for the future and we're excited to cast two new Aussies for the opportunity of a lifetime on The Block. The Block Tree Change will air as scheduled later this year.' The couple were seen arriving at the show's building site in Gisborne, in the Macedon Ranges, on day one of filming. Joel retired from AFL in 2016 after 220 games for the Brisbane Lions and GWS Giants. Meanwhile, Elle is the creator of the now-defunct fashion blog They All Hate Us, and recently launched her own spray tan label, the ELLE EFFECT. Jamie Foxx is living it up in the celebrity hotspot of St Tropez. The actor, 54, showed off his impressive physique as he enjoyed a day on board a friend's luxury yacht on Sunday. Jamie made the most of the balmy temperatures in a white vest and shorts combo, displaying his muscles as he disembarked the yacht. Muscles: Jamie Foxx is living it up in the celebrity hotspot of St Tropez. The actor, 54, showed off his impressive physique as he enjoyed a day on board a friend's luxury yacht on Sunday Jamie teamed his white vest with fire-print board shorts and a bucket hat for the day at sea. He added diamond embellished 'A' and 'C' pendants, in honour of his teenage daughters Annalise and Corinne, alongside a designer watch and sunglasses. The actor was see happily greeting a large group of male friends during his latest day in paradise. Summer fun: Jamie made the most of the balmy temperatures in a white vest and shorts combo, displaying his muscles as he disembarked the yacht Jamie took to Instagram on Friday and Saturday to tout his spirit Brown Sugar Bourbon, aka BSB during the St Tropez trip. In video content shared on the photo-sharing app he partied the night away in a short-sleeved white shirt. He was seen pouring up beverages for attendees at an elegant event complete with servers and dancers. Day at sea: Jamie teamed his white vest with fire-print board shorts and a bucket hat for the day at sea Good to see you: The actor was see happily greeting a large group of male friends during his latest day in paradise Bling: He added diamond embellished 'A' and 'C' pendants, in honour of his teenage daughters Annalise and Corinne, alongside a designer watch and sunglasses. The entrepreneur made mention of his hometown as he wrote in the caption, 'From the southside of #terrelltx to the #southoffrance.' He then tagged his business page and added the tagline '#makeslifesweet.' Taking to his Stories he shared even more footage with his 14.6 million followers, including a photo of two B2B bottles. They were set up in front of a gorgeous sunset backdrop and a filled champagne flute. Week two in the Love Island villa saw a host of drama, topped off with a tumultuous recoupling and dumping. But while Dami Hope has been a solid mediator in the villa alongside partner Amber Beckford so far, it seems his head could be turning towards Indiyah Polack. In an exclusive look at Monday evening's episode on Aftersun, the Irish native, 26, was seen telling Andrew Le Page that it 'feels right' when he is chatting to Indiyah, and he feels something is missing with Amber. 'It just feels right': Love Island's Dami Hope admits that he feels 'fireworks' with Indiyah Polack during Monday evening's episode - explaining something is 'missing' with partner Amber Taking Andrew aside for a chat, Dami explained that he felt 'buzzed up' talking to Indiyah, admitting he feels 'little fireworks' during their conversations. 'We were chatting in the den and stuff and I asked her if she's ever felt like a spark between us but when I was saying it I swear to god it was like little fireworks were going off, it was weird,' he explained. Andrew chimed in: 'It just feels right?' while Dami agreed, sharing that he wasn't sure about things with Amber at the moment. Sparks flying? Dami shared that he feels 'fireworks' when talking to Indiyah, explaining it as 'comfortable' Opening up: 'We were chatting in the den and stuff and I asked her if she's ever felt like a spark between us but when I was saying it I swear to god it was like little fireworks were going off, it was weird,' he explained to Andrew Sunday's episode saw Dami confess that he's always been attracted to Indiyah during a private chat with Jay Younger, as the latter exclaimed 'I f**king knew it!'. As the boys relaxed in the bedroom, Indiyah walked past and joked to Dami, with the pair sharing a laugh across the room. This prompted Jay to question: 'What about you two?', to which Dami responded: 'Yeah I would definitely do that'. Unsure: Andrew chimed in: 'It just feels right?' while Dami agreed, sharing that he wasn't sure about things with Amber at the moment Head turned? Sunday's episode saw Dami confess that he's always been attracted to Indiyah during a private chat with Jay Younger, as the latter exclaimed ' I f**king knew it!' But when probed as to why he wouldn't make a move, Dami explained 'I'm taken', admitting that on the outside world he would chat to both Amber and Indiyah. Jay then recruited Ekin-Su Culculoglu to give Dami a push in Indiyah's direction, as she jested the pair go up to the terrace to make a move, to which Dami disapprovingly denied. And it seems Indiyah could be having the same feelings, as she told the girls that something felt missing in her relationship with Ikenna Ekwonna, noting that it felt 'easier' to chat with Dami. Stirring the pot: This prompted Jay to question: 'what about you two?', to which Dami responded: 'Yeah I would definitely do that' Missing? It seems Indiyah could be having the same feelings, as she told the girls that something felt missing in her relationship with Ikenna Ekwonna, noting that it felt 'easier' to chat with Dami South Africa: Home Affairs clarifies Limpopo border patrol The Department of Home Affairs wishes to clarify misconception created about the patrolling of the border, in particular along the Limpopo River. This comes after the Department became aware of the video which has been circulating on social media and other news platforms alleging that AfriForum has taken over the responsibility of patrolling the border line. This is blatantly untrue. Members of AfriForum in Musina are patrolling their own farms which are neighbouring the border line. They are certainly not patrolling the general border line outside their farms. If they were doing so, it would have been illegal, the Department of Home Affairs said in a statement. The responsibility of patrolling the border line is that of statutory law enforcement agencies and they have not handed it over to any citizen or group of citizens. The Department wishes to also state that in line with the commitments made by Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in his Budget Vote Speech for 2022/23, the Border Management Authority is proceeding with speed and has finalised the appointment of the first cohort of Border Guards who will be deployed along the vulnerable segments of the border line, the department said. The appointment of the Border Guards is another significant milestone in the implementation of the Border Management Authority. In executing its duties, the Border Management Authority will rely on lawful partnerships with other stakeholders that include the SA National Defence Force, SA Police Service and border communities, the department said. The department said it will communicate the progress it is making in securing the border line. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2022-06-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Historic century-old Beijing Fengtai Railway Station put into service again after reconstruction People's Daily Online) 09:59, June 20, 2022 After four years of reconstruction, the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station in the Fengtai district of Beijing was put into service on June 20, according to the China State Railway Group. Photo shows the waiting hall of the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station. (Photo/Gao Wei) Dating back to the year 1895, the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station used to be a railway station incorporating passenger train and freight train services. The reconstruction of the station began in September 2018. After undergoing further expansion, it now covers an area of about 400,000 square meters and has 32 rail lines in all, making it Asias largest railway passenger hub. Photo shows a platform at the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station. (Photo/Gao Wei) The new railway station is Chinas first large railway station to adopt an overlapping rail design, which allows regular and high-speed trains to pass through the station at the same time. The Beijing Fengtai Railway Station will contribute to improvements to Beijings comprehensive transportation system. Photo shows service windows at the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station. (Photo/Gao Wei) Photo shows a view of Beijing Fengtai Railway Station. (Photo/Gao Wei) Photo shows escalators inside the Beijing Fengtai Railway Station. (Photo/Gao Wei) (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) On the 155th anniversary of Canadian Confederation the case against current-day Canada (Part Two) By Mark Wegierski web posted June 20, 2022 Examining the arrival of soft-totalitarianism on the 155th anniversary of Canadian Confederation Small-c conservatives had had enough, and in November 1987, Preston Manning co-founded the Reform Party. Preston Manning was the son of Ernest C. Manning, a longtime Social Credit Alberta Premier. With a Bachelors degree in Economics, he had worked as a management and political consultant. Although initially a Western Canadian regionalist party, the Reform Party became a country-wide party in 1991. In the 1993 federal election, while the Liberals under Jean Chretien (a lawyer who was a protege of Pierre Trudeau, with the reputation of a street-fighter) won a comfortable majority, the Reform Party won 52 seats (51 in Western Canada, 1 in Ontario), while the separatist Bloc Quebecois won 54. The Progressive Conservatives (under the leadership of academic and lawyer Kim Campbell, Canadas first female Prime Minister) were reduced to two seats! One of these seats was won by Jean Charest, a fluently bilingual, Quebec-born lawyer who had been a young Minister in Mulroneys Cabinet and became leader of the federal P.C.s until 1998. He was adamantly opposed to any co-operation with the Reform Party. He left the federal P.C.s in 1998 and entered Quebec provincial politics as leader of the Liberal Party, eventually becoming Premier of Quebec (2003-2012). In the 1997 federal election, the Reform Party won 60 seats (all of them in Western Canada). As a result of the usual operation of the first-past-the-post electoral system, the Liberals under Jean Chretien won a working majority with 38 percent of the popular vote, while Reform won 19 percent, and the Progressive Conservatives, also 19 percent (winning only 20 seats). The Progressive Conservatives refused to fold, when Preston Manning launched the United Alternative movement, which culminated in the creation of the Canadian Alliance. (The full name of that party was the Canadian Reform-Conservative Alliance.) Joe Clark, who was P.C. party leader between 1998-2003, stubbornly spurned any notion of an alliance with the Reformers. Thus, he continued to play the role of a bungler or spoiler. In 2000, Preston Manning lost the leadership of the Canadian Alliance to Stockwell Day, a former Treasurer of Alberta, who mobilized social conservatives. However, in the 2000 federal election, Stockwell Day was pilloried pejoratively as a fundamentalist Christian extremist and Liberal Jean Chretien handily won another majority. The Canadian Alliance, with 25 percent of the countrywide popular vote, won 66 seats, 64 in Western Canada, and 2 in Ontario. The P.C. party won 12 seats (9 of them in Atlantic Canada) with 12 percent of the countrywide vote. As a result of a caucus revolt against Stockwell Day, which at one point attracted as many as thirteen MPs (who styled themselves as the Democratic Representative Caucus) a leadership race ensued, which was won in 2002 by Stephen Harper. Harper had been a Reform M.P. in 1993-1997, but he did not seek re-election in 1997, and become head of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), a right-wing lobby group. With a Masters in Economics, he was also passably bilingual. Joe Clark resigned from the P.C. party leadership in 2003, thus clearing the way for a leadership selection process, that brought in as leader Nova Scotian Peter MacKay, a corporate lawyer and longtime politician, as leader. Finally, in December 2003, a merger was at last effected between the Canadian Alliance (under the leadership of Stephen Harper) and the federal Progressive Conservative party (under the leadership of Peter MacKay). Over 90 percent of the respective memberships of both parties voted in favour of the merger. The new party was called the Conservative Party, significantly dropping the Progressive adjective. Harper won the leadership of the new party in March 2004. In the June 2004 federal election, the Liberals under Paul Martin, Jr. (a patrician shipping magnate) were reduced to a minority government (a plurality of seats in the House of Commons). Harper was able to win minority governments in 2006 and 2008, and finally the long-awaited Conservative majority in 2011. However, the combination of an unexpected timidity, and a brutally hostile social, academic, media, and elite context in Canada, meant that Harper wasnt able to achieve much. Certainly, there was no whiff of massive, transformational change in a different direction. Harper could have substantially helped small-c conservatives and social conservatives, without touching abortion and same-sex marriage. In the October 2015 federal election, the Liberals came roaring back with a strong majority, under the leadership of Justin Trudeau (Pierres son). About the most meaningful job he held before he won the leadership of the Liberal Party was part-time high school drama teacher. Despite his weak resume, he had one priceless asset his surname. The coming to power of another Trudeau presages another era of massive, transformational change in Canada. Indeed, immigration was raised to 300,000 persons a year, and subsequently to over 400,000 persons a year. Abortion rights and same-sex marriage have also been tightly entrenched. Also, doctor assisted suicide is now legal, and complete marijuana legalization has been enacted. As a result of the 2017 Conservative Party leadership selection process, Andrew Scheer narrowly defeated Maxime Bernier, a corporate lawyer and corporate executive who had held a number of Cabinet posts in the Harper government, including Minister of Foreign Affairs. Scheer had never held a meaningful job outside of political office, his most prominent achievement being Speaker of the House of Commons. Andrew Scheer managed to alienate Maxime Bernier to the point that Bernier founded his own breakaway party, the Peoples Party of Canada. In the October 2019 federal election, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government (a plurality of seats in the House of Commons). However, the Conservative Party leader, Andrew Scheer, proved ineffectual, and he had to resign. In the 2020 Conservative Party leadership contest, Erin OToole prevailed against Peter MacKay, by portraying himself as a true blue conservative. MacKay, who had held a number of important Cabinet posts in the Harper government, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence, and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, had famously said that social conservatism was a stinking albatross around the neck of the Conservative Party. Erin OToole had served in the military, as well as becoming a successful corporate lawyer, before running for office. He had served as Minister of Veterans Affairs in the Harper Cabinet. In the federal election of September 2021, OToole pivoted towards the centre, hoping to win more seats in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. He was especially hoping for some kind of breakthrough in the 905 region (the suburbs around Toronto). However, his strategy seemed to backfire, and the Conservatives won two less seats in 2021 (119), than 2019 (121). The Liberals once again won a slightly strengthened minority government, with 32 percent of the popular vote. It should be noted, though, that the Conservatives won a majority of the popular vote (34 percent), but much of it was concentrated in the huge margins of victory in Alberta. Based on strong anti-vaxxer and anti-lockdown sentiments, Maxime Berniers PPC was able to win about 5 percent of the popular vote in 2021, with about 800,000 votes. (He had won only 1.64 percent in 2019). However, he was unable to win a single seat in the House of Commons, mainly because of the typical dynamics of the first-past-the-post electoral system. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home Ranvir Singh replaced Susanna Reid, on Good Morning Britain on Monday, alongside co-host Richard Madeley. And the switch-up didn't go unnoticed by fans, who were worried about 51-year-old Susanna's whereabouts. Taking to social media, viewers tweeted GMB to question where Susanna was, asking if she was ok and explaining 'the fans miss her'. Day off: Susanna Reid was noticeably absent from Good Morning Britain on Monday, with fans admitting their worry on social media, (stock image) One asked: 'Where is Susanna? Feels weird that neither Richard, 66, or Ranvir, 44, explained where she is', while another questioned: 'Is she ok'. The absence went unexplained by the breakfast show as they seemingly brushed it under the carpet, with neither Ranvir nor Richard explaining where Susanna was. It comes following suggestions of a feud between Richard and Susanna from fans, as they suggested this could even be the reason for Ranvir stepping in. Switch up: Ranvir Singh - pictured on Monday - stepped in to replace Susanna on the breakfast show for the episode No comment? The absence went unexplained by the breakfast show as they seemingly brushed it under the carpet, with neither Ranvir nor Richard explaining where Susanna was One Twitter user jested: 'I bet Susanna called in sick because she couldn't face anymore tiffs with Richard lol'. ITV told The Sun: 'Susanna has a pre-planned week off this week, she is due back on Monday, June 27.' The pair usually host GMB every morning from Monday to Wednesday, after Richard took over the job from Piers Morgan. Just last week, Susanna took a cheeky swipe at Richard's age, after he did the same to presenter Charlotte Hawkins. 'Is she ok?': Taking to social media, viewers tweeted GMB to question where Susanna was, asking if she was ok and explaining 'the fans miss her' As Charlotte spoke about the Queen's birthday celebrations, Richard jibed: 'Thank you birthday girl, not quite platinum!' 'No not yet, thanks very much Richard. A little way off I'd like to think!' replied Charlotte. Getting him back, Susanna added in: 'What about your birthday Richard? On Friday? Not quite platinum.' She has been in Manchester for the past few weeks, shooting for a new ITV drama. And Helena Bonham Carter donned an auburn wig as she transformed into Crossroads icon Noele Gordon to continue filming Nolly in Manchester on Monday. The actress, 56, slipped into a beige longline coat covering up an eye catching blue and black dress. Filming: Helena Bonham Carter, (left) donned an auburn wig as she transformed into Crossroads icon Noele Gordon to continue filming Nolly in Manchester on Monday She seemed in high spirits as she was spotted getting into a vintage Ford car and driving away. Helena elevated her frame wearing a towering pair of red and black heels while carrying a large tan handbag. Three part drama Nolly, penned by Russell T Davies, will explore the all-powerful reign and fall from grace of the inimitable Noele Gordon, who died in 1985. Transformation: The actress, 56, slipped into a beige longline coat covering up an eye catching blue and black dress While filming scenes in character outside a theatre, the star wore a bold red lipstick as she hid the rest of her face under a pair of round sunglasses. Between takes she was spotted holding onto a coffee while speaking to the production team. Last week, while filming as Noele she arrived at the theatre too watch her friend Larry Grayson. Noele was declared the 'Queen of the Midlands' thanks to iconic role as Meg Mortimer in Crossroads and was the darling of the establishment until it turned on her. In character: While filming scenes in character outside a theatre, the star wore a bold red lipstick as she hid the rest of her face under a pair of round sunglasses As flame-haired widow Meg in the long-running soap opera Crossroads, Noele became one of the most famous people in Britain. Then in 1981, at the height of the show's success and the peak of her fame, she was axed without ceremony, without warning and with no explanation, with the soap eventually ending two years later. With the boss's words 'all good things must come to an end' ringing in her ears, Noele found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years. Chic: Between takes she was spotted holding onto a coffee while speaking to the production team A love letter to a legend of television, and to the madcap soap she starred in, Nolly will be an entertaining ride through Noele's most tumultuous years, and a sharp, affectionate and heart-breaking portrait of a forgotten icon. Of the role, Helena said: 'Noele Gordon was a fascinating, complex, brilliant and gutsy woman none of which I knew before I read Russell T Davies' script. 'I'm so thrilled to help tell Nolly's long overdue and largely forgotten story. 'Russell's screenplay is a work of brilliance and I hope I'll do him and Nolly justice. I can't wait to start.' Nolly has been commissioned for ITV by Head of Drama, Polly Hill, who commented: 'Russell's scripts are magnificent and a great tribute to Noele Gordon, but also to our national love of soaps and a celebration of the incredible women they create. Wow: Helena elevated her frame wearing a towering pair of red and black heels while carrying a large tan handbag 'Helena Bonham Carter is going to be amazing as Nolly and we can't wait for her to step into those shoes.' Russell said: 'One of my very first jobs in TV was a trial script for Crossroads, and I've wanted to write the story of behind the scenes on that show for 40 years. At last, the truth can be told!' Noele, who had previously had multiple roles in the theatre before landing her part in Crossroads, played Meg from 1964 to 1981, and later returned for a two-episode stint in 1983. Old fashioned: She seemed in high spirits as she was spotted getting into a vintage Ford car and driving away After she was dropped from the show, Noele's ill health prevented her from accepting many more roles, and she died in 1985 at the age of 66. However the casting of Helena in the titular role hasn't gone down well with everyone. Angela Webb, 64, who played Iris Scott in the drama from 1980 to 1985, told The Express: 'This is really bizarre. Someone writing a biopic of her who didn't know or experience her I do worry.' 'She wouldn't be my first choice. Nolly was statuesque and strong, Celticlike, with piercing blue eyes. Helena is tiny, dark-haired, dark-eyed. I hope she's met people who knew Noele and gets advice about the presence that she had. I'd be hugely up for that.' Charlotte Crosby's transition from carefree clubber to responsible mother will be documented in a new ten part BBC series titled Charlotte In Sunderland. The TV personality has secured a new show based around the birth of her first child, just two months after announcing her pregnancy. Charlotte, 32, confirmed she is expecting a baby - understood to be a girl - with boyfriend Jake Ankers in April, and has been trailed by a BBC camera crew ever since. Big news: Charlotte Crosby's transition from carefree clubber to responsible mother will be documented in a new ten part BBC series Taking to Instagram on Monday, she wrote: 'I've been bursting at the seams to tell you all about this! I can't believe LITTLE OLD ME is gunna be on the BBC! 'What a journey we have been on so far in the show lots of ups and downs! This show really gunna be a rollercoaster for both us and viewers and I'm really excited to share an even deeper side of my life with you all.' The new show, Charlotte's first with the broadcasting giant, documents her 'busy lifestyle' as she juggles pregnancy with work commitments. Well done: The TV personality has secured a new show based around the birth of her first child, just two months after announcing her pregnancy She added: ''I am beyond excited to be bringing my crazy life, my business ventures, much loved family, future hubby and my precious bump to the BBC. Her previous TV work, almost exclusively with MTV, includes Just Tattoo Of Us, Ex On The Beach and appearances on long-running reality shows Celebrity Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! She became something of a household name as one of the original cast-members on rowdy TV series Geordie Shore, featuring as a series regular for five years before leaving in 2016. Her new show is expected to launch on BBCThree and BBCiPlayer later this year. Reveal: Charlotte and Jake confirmed the gender of their first child during a gender reveal party at Vermont's Hotel in Newcastle on Sunday Screen star: Charlotte was seen addressing her friends while being filmed by a camera crew at the event for her new BBCThree and BBCiPlayer show Charlotte and Jake confirmed the gender of their first child during a gender reveal party at Vermont's Hotel in Newcastle on Sunday. The moment was captured for Charlotte's upcoming BBC Three and iPlayer series, Charlotte in Sunderland. She also took to Instagram to share a clip of the moment the gender of her unborn baby was revealed. She's expecting: Charlotte will welcome her first child with boyfriend Jake later this year In the video, a plane could be circling in the sky above the rooftop bar, first drawing a heart. It later flew back round to draw the letter 'G' in water vapour in the clear blue sky. As the letter became clear, pink confetti was launched from a cannon above Charlotte, Jake and their friends. Love Island fans are in for a treat during Monday evening's episode as a new challenge amps up the ante. Following Sunday's dramatic recoupling, the new couples are forced to get a touch closer in a food challenge dubbed Lip Service. New arrival Danika Taylor finally gets her way as she shares a mouth to mouth moment with Luca Bish, while old flames are reignited as Gemma Owen and Davide Sanclimenti pucker up. Steamy: Love Island turns up the heat in Monday's episode as Danica and Luca go mouth to mouth in a Lip Service challenge Amber Beckford and Dami Hope also seemed to be getting steamy, as he wrapped both hands around her head for a kiss. The challenge will see the islanders transferring ingredients between one another, but only using their mouths. The boys will guzzle a mouthful of ingredients, before sliding across a dancefloor to transfer it to their lucky lady. Up close: And old flames are reignited as Gemma Owen and Davide Sanclimenti pucker up Heated: Amber Beckford and Dami Hope also seemed to be getting steamy, as he wrapped both hands around her head for a kiss Challenge time: The challenge will see the islanders transferring ingredients between one another, but only using their mouths Once they've got the ingredients, the girls will then have to spit the contents into a giant cocktail glass - with the winner being the couple to fill their glass first. And it won't be short of drama after Sunday's shake up recoupling, as Danika split up Gemma and Luca, with the latter ruling out any interest in the new arrival. The shock choice left Gemma to pick former flame Davide, as the four islanders will have to quickly settle in their new couples as they prepare to go mouth to mouth. In it goes: Once they've got the ingredients, the girls will then have to spit the contents into a giant cocktail glass - with the winner being the couple to fill their glass first Drama! And it won't be short of drama after Sunday's shake up recoupling, as Danika split up Gemma and Luca, with the latter ruling out any interest in the new arrival Following the recoupling, Luca refused to share a bed with Danika - keeping his sights set firmly on Gemma. After Sunday's episode, the public have been voting for their favourite boy and girl in the villa - with the fewest voted islanders set to be revealed during Monday's episode. The bottom two are at risk of being dumped from the island during the episode, as tensions continue to soar. Love Island continues on Monday evening at 9pm on ITV2. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark stood out in a coordinated outfit as she attended the Dutch-Danish business conference in the Netherlands on Monday. The Australian-born Royal, 50, accentuated her trim figure in an orange top which she tucked into a tailored Scanlan Theodore blazer and wide-leg trousers, as she arrived in The Hague. She paired the suit with a Chanel tote bag which costs roughly $3,830. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark stood out in a coordinated outfit as she attended the Dutch-Danish business conference in the Netherlands on Monday Mary styled her hair in a bouncy blow-dry and wore natural-looking foundation and black mascara. The princess also wore small hoop earrings and a gold pendant. Princess Mary gave a speech at the Seminar on Smart Hospitals and Future Health Care. The Australian-born Royal, 50, accentuated her trim figure in an orange top which she tucked into a tailored Scanlan Theodore blazer and wide-leg trousers, as she arrived in The Hague She paired the suit with a Chanel tote bag which costs roughly $3,830 Also in attendance was her husband Prince Frederik. Frederik wore a navy coloured suit with a red and blue coloured tie. Afterwards, Crown Princess Mary visited Provinciehuis Zuid-Holland and The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. During the visit, the Crown Princess met with Danish students who study sustainable textiles. Mary styled her hair in a bouncy blow-dry and wore natural-looking foundation Princess Mary gave a speech at the Seminar on Smart Hospitals and Future Health Care Also in attendance was her husband Prince Frederik who wore a navy coloured suit with a red and blue coloured tie Princess Mary famously met her husband, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, by chance at Sydney pub the Slip Inn during the 2000 Olympics. After their encounter, Frederik - who was in Australia to support Denmark's Olympic sailing team - asked Mary for her phone number and a romance blossomed. 'The first time we met we shook hands. I didn't know he was the Prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, "Do you know who these people are?"' Mary revealed in an interview about meeting the heir to the Danish throne. They maintained a long-distance relationship for a year, with Frederik making secret trips Down Under before Mary moved to Denmark to study Danish language at Copenhagen's Studieskolen in 2001. Princess Mary and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, are pictured attending a ballet gala honouring the Queen's 50th jubilee In early 2003, Frederik's mother Queen Margrethe publicly acknowledged the relationship and the couple announced their engagement at Amalienborg Castle later that year on October 8. Frederik and Mary married on May 14, 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral, with the newly minted Crown Princess opting for a beautiful gown by Danish designer Uffer Frank and a veil first used by Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden in 1905. Their first child, Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, was born October 15, 2005; Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe followed on April 21, 2007. Almost four years later Mary and Frederik welcomed twins, Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda and Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen on January 8, 2011. Beyonce has announced the upcoming release of a brand new single. The songstress, 40, will be dropping Break My Soul tonight at midnight ET. Beyonce posted news of the upcoming release to her Instagram and Twitter bios, not long after revealing she would be releasing her next album, Renaissance, on July 29. Coming soon: Beyonce has announced she will be releasing her new single, Break My Soul, tonight at midnight (pictured 2018) Listen up! The hit-maker posted news of the release to her Twitter and Instagram bios '6. BREAK MY SOUL midnight ET,' her bios on both accounts read. According to a Variety report on Thursday, Beyonce will feature both dance and country-leaning tracks on Renaissance. The insider for the publication claims that Ryan Tedder will be contributing to the album as he co-wrote her 2008 smash hit Halo. Raphael Saadiq - who has produced songs for TLC, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, and Beyonce's sister Solange Knowles - will also be involved according to Variety's sources. Very interesting: Beyonce (seen in March 2021) will be featuring dance and country songs on her upcoming multi-part album Renaissance according to a Thursday report from Variety Dropping hints: The 40-year-old music megastar shocked fans on Wednesday night by unveiling the title and release date of her highly-anticipated seventh studio album Man with the plan: The insider for the publication claims that Ryan Tedder will be contributing to the album as he co-wrote her 2008 smash hit Halo Icon: Raphael Saadiq - who has produced songs for TLC, Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, and Beyonce's sister Solange Knowles - will also be involved according to Variety's sources They report that it does remain unclear if the country songs will appear as a separate album or part of the first edition of Renaissance set for release next month. The report came just hours after Beyonce - who boasts 348.5M social media followers - changed her Instagram/Twitter bios to read: 'Act i RENAISSANCE 7.29.' It's the first album since she released Lemonade in 2016 and she even hinted at the name of the new album last year. The Be Alive songstress said in her Harper's Bazaar cover story that her new album would represent a 'renaissance' a year ago, after the world spent time in lockdown. 'We are all ready to escape, travel, love and laugh again': Beyonce surprised on Thursday and they went wild The 40-year-old R&B diva - who boasts 348.5M social media followers - changed her Instagram/Twitter bios to read: 'act i RENAISSANCE 7.29' Images to be revealed at a future date! Beyonce fans can now pre-order the four $39.99 Renaissance box sets, which come in different mystery 'poses' and includes a T-shirt, CD, 28-page booklet, and mini-poster She said: 'With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. 'I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.' 'I've been in the studio for a year and a half. Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. 'Still, there's nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!' The Be Alive songstress said in her Harper's Bazaar cover story: 'With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible' Beyonce added: 'I have paid my dues and followed every rule for decades, so now I can break the rules that need to be broken. My wish for the future is to continue to do everything everyone thinks I can't do.' Knowles-Carter's fans understandably went wild on Twitter, posting funny memes that best illustrated their excitement over Renaissance American fans can now pre-order the four $39.99 Renaissance box sets, which come in different mystery 'poses' and includes a T-shirt, CD, 28-page booklet, and mini-poster. There are going to be 16 tracks featured on the new album. On Tuesday, The Sun reported that the Houston-born Texan's team has already been 'scouting venues' in the UK for 'live experiences, intimate shows, and other pop-up performances.' 'Queen B is back!' Knowles-Carter's fans understandably went wild on Twitter, posting funny memes that best illustrated their excitement over Renaissance Fans went absolutely wild over the news. They took to Twitter in their droves and wrote: 'Beyonce with 16 songs? I better hear 1-2 songs that are at least 6 minutes.' 'Aaaaaaaaaaaah Queen B is back.' 'Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg' and 'outta my body RN.' Stranger Things' fourth season has brought with it many twists, turns, and plotline surprises - as well as the show's most sinister villain yet: terrifying hell demon, Vecna, played by British actor Jamie Campbell Bower. Now, as viewers await the final two instalments of the series' latest season, the special effects makeup artist who created Vecna's terrifying visage has opened up about how he and his team transformed 33-year-old Campbell Bower from a fresh-faced actor into a horrifying specter of evil. Celebrated makeup and visual effects artist Barrie Gower shared the inspiration behind Vecna in a new video interview with Vanity Fair, in which he also detailed the painstaking process for bringing directing duo the Duffer brothers' vision to life. Despite the show employing the very latest in CGI and digital effects, when it came to Vecna, it relied on more traditional special FX techniques - with Campbell Bower stunning fans when he revealed that he'd had to spend more than seven hours transforming into the terrifying monster every day on set. The real deal: The complicated method used to create Stranger Things' villain Vecna to life has been revealed. Jamie Campbell Bower (left) as the supernatural killer Piece by piece: There were around 25 overlapping prosthetics placed onto Campbell Bower every morning before filming Lengthy process: The costume was '90% practical' with additional animation used to create moving vines on the skin That process has now been documented in a fascinating Netflix time-lapse video revealing a sneak peek into the lengthy and arduous techniques used to transform Campbell Bower into Vecna. In the video, Campbell Bower is seen sitting in a makeup chair for hours on end, while a team of artists carefully applies the pre-made prosthetics to his face, arms, and body. But according to Gower, the arduous process of bringing Vecna to life for the small screen began long before the actor began his transformation. Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Emmy-winning prosthetic artist revealed that Stranger Things producers, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, approached him to create their season four villain after seeing the work that he and his team had done on Game of Thrones - particularly with the HBO series' evil demon, The Night King. He added that the Duffer Brothers had also been impressed by the radiation-burns Gower et al had created for HBOs Chernobyl and wanted to use those elements for their own iconic villain. Trooper: VFX artist Barrie Gower praised Campbell Bower for never complaining about the lengthy process Attention to detail: Campbell Bower took the chance to listen to music that helped inspire his character while in the makeup trailer Daily routine: Small holes were created in the ears so the actor could actually hear through the costume After concept art was drawn up by artist Michael Mayer, who also runs the VFX department, the Duffer Brothers and Gower settled on their final vision for Vecna - and the special effects artists set about turning that image into a living, breathing monster. Gower recalled: 'We were sent those designs and then we took a full body live cast of the actor Jamie Campbell Bower. 'From that point we had quite a large extensive build to actually create the character which we started with a full body live cast made out of plaster of Paris.' The team then did a process called 'floating', in which the plaster cast of Campbell Bower was submerged in a tank and painted with a soap product, before they sculpted on the Vecna detail in wax modelling clay. The next stage was to separate the sculpture from the modeling clay, which involved sinking the entire cast into water overnight. Patient: Campbell Bower required more than seven and a half hours of makeup and prosthetics to transform into the Netflix villain First draft: Concept art (seen) created by artist Michael Mayer, who also runs the VFX department, was used as the inspiration for Vecna Impactful: Gower's team was then tasked with bringing the idea to life - using a full body live cast of Campbell Bower as their base Long process: The plaster cast of Campbell Bower was painted with a soap product before they sculpted on the Vecna detail in wax modelling clay Separation: The team then did a process called 'floating' to separate the sculpture, which involved sinking the entire cast into water overnight Gower explained that the process allowed the water to reactivate the soapy product so the plasticine could float off and then be carefully removed from the cast in sections. Iconic: Stranger Things producers, Matt and Ross Duffer, had approached Gower with the aim of creating their own version Game of Thrones bad guy, The Night King There were around 25 overlapping prosthetics to create the entire character, which had been injected with materials like silicone foam latex. It was decided that they would use full body makeup rather than creating a pullover suit in order to ensure the actor's movement's while filming wouldn't creating a bulking effect as the costume bunched up. In order to do this, they used silicon medical gel to create the prosthetics because it is soft enough to allow for movement and stretch while being worn by an actor. The Vecna costume also saw Campbell Bower wearing foam latex prosthetic finger extensions on his left hand, which had been causing staff's hands to cramp after reveal minutes. Unrecognizable: Gower joked, There wasnt anything else we could get on Jamie Creepy: The team worked on several gruesome looks for the popular series Master of his craft: Gower previously worked on HBO's Game of Thrones and Chernobyl However, Gower gushed over the fact Campbell Bower never complained about the pain or the length of time it took to glue on his costume each day. The actor also wore dentures over his own teeth in order to create the rotted look seen on Vecna, as well as wearing full scleral contact lenses. There wasnt anything else we could get on Jamie, Gower joked. While the Vecna costume was '90 per cent practical', the show did utilize some animation effects in order to creating moving vines on the villain's body. Aiming high: The Duffer Brothers were set on creating their own iconic villain for the series Starring role: Campbell Bower pictured with Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things As for Vecna skin tone, the show has a special makeup pallet designed by Premier Product which used a set of colors inspired by different sea life and human bruising. The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season four debuted on May 27, and Volume 2 of the series is set to premiere on July 1 - with fans being treated to two feature-length episodes to round out the latest season. The eighth episode will run one hour and 25 minutes while the ninth episode will run nearly two and a half hours. Fans of the series will no doubt be hoping that the final episodes reveal Vecna's ultimate demise - having seen in the most recently-released Volume 1 episodes how Campbell Bower's human character transformed into the monster after being cast into the Upside Down by Millie Bobby Brown's character Eleven. Charlotte Crosby held her gender reveal party on Sunday, where she revealed she was having a baby girl. The pregnant Geordie Shore star, 32, threw a lavish party alongside her boyfriend Jake Ankers, 31 at the Vermont Hotel's rooftop bar in Newcastle. She spared no expense, with the location boasting a delicious looking doughnut wall and a board for gender predictions. It's a girl! Charlotte Crosby held her gender reveal party on Sunday, where she revealed she was having a baby girl Charlotte revealed her baby's gender by enlisting the help of a skywriter to draw a heart in the sky. It later flew back round to draw the letter 'G' in water vapour in the clear blue sky. As the letter became clear, pink confetti was launched from a cannon above Charlotte, Jake and their friends. Celebration: The pregnant Geordie Shore star, 32, threw a lavish party alongside her boyfriend Jake Ankers, 31 at the Vermont Hotel's rooftop bar in Newcastle Pals: Charlotte also invited many of her former Geordie Shore co-stars along to the bash, including newly married Holly Hagan and Sophie Kasaei Looking good: Charlotte also snapped a slew of comical pics with her boyfriend Jake, Charlotte Dawson and Matt Sarsfield Party: The party was captured for Charlotte's upcoming BBC Three and iPlayer series, Charlotte in Sunderland Charlotte also invited many of her former Geordie Shore co-stars along to the bash, including newly married Holly Hagan and Sophie Kasaei. Newlywed Holly stepped out with husband Jacob Blythe for the first time since they tied the knot in Ibiza last week. Jay Gardner, James Tindale and Ricci Guarnaccio were all also there to celebrate Charlotte's baby news. Boom! As the letter became clear, pink confetti was launched from a cannon above Charlotte, Jake and their friends Yum: She spared no expense, with the location boasting a delicious looking doughnut wall Guessing game: Charlotte had a board for gender predictions for her guests as they arrived Lavish: She also took to her Instagram Stories to share a lot of the night for her followers, showing mountains of balloons and a glittery pink wall.= The party was captured for Charlotte's upcoming BBC Three and iPlayer series, Charlotte in Sunderland. She said of her new show: 'I am beyond excited to be bringing my crazy life, my business ventures, much loved family, future hubby and my precious bump to the BBC.' She also took to her Instagram Stories to share a lot of the night for her followers, showing mountains of balloons and a glittery pink wall. Bold style: Pregnant Charlotte wore a very daring single-legged jumpsuit as she enlisted the help of a skywriter to announce she's expecting baby girl Loved-up: The former Geordie Shore star and boyfriend Jake both opted for orange ensembles for their baby's gender reveal at the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle Tensions are set to run high in Monday night's episode of Love Island as things kick off between Gemma Owen, 19, and Ekin-Su Culculoglu, 27. As Ekin-Su is accused of 'being a game-player' by Amber Beckford, Gemma agrees with her and declares the girls are 'speaking up now'. The argument appears to come to blows, as the other girls sit and watch the drama unfold. Drama: Monday's Love Island shows Gemma Owen, 19, coming to blows with Ekin-Su Culculoglu, 27, as the girls accuse her of game-playing In the preview for Monday's episode, Amber accuses Ekin-Su of game-playing, to which the latter responds: 'You're trying to create s**t right now, it's *p**sing me off now'. Gunning for Amber, the actress continued: 'Yeah, cause you're really secure in your relationship. You're attacking my personality saying I'm playing so of course I'm gonna say something back to you.' Gemma chimes in to defend Amber, quipping: 'It's unfair to just blame it completely on Amber because I think some of the other girls have seen a little bit of a difference as well.' Going off: As Ekin-Su is accused of 'being a game-player' by Amber Beckford, Gemma agrees with her and declares the girls are 'speaking up now' Game playing? In the preview for Monday's episode, Amber accuses Ekin-Su of game-playing, to which the latter responds: 'You're trying to create s**t right not, it's *p**sing me off now' Ekin-Su was unimpressed with Gemma's comments, asking: 'Why didn't you speak up then?', to which Gemma replied: 'We're speaking up now,' with a stoney-faced look. The other girls sat in silence as they watched on, with Tasha Ghouri seemingly in agreement with pal Gemma. It's not the first time Gemma and Ekin-Su have butted heads, with the pair having a frosty first impression following Ekin-Su's bombshell arrival. Gemma explained: 'It's unfair to just blame it completely on Amber because I think some of the other girls have seen a little bit of a difference as well' Not happy: Ekin-Su was unimpressed with Gemma's comments, asking: 'Why didn't you speak up then?' As Ekin-Su arrived, the two were both gunning for Davide Sanclimenti's affections, with Gemma labelling Ekin-Su 'patronising' following comments she made about being a 'big sister'. And it seems it's not all water under the bridge as tensions run high on Monday's episode, before it's topped off by a shock dumping. It could take things from bad to worse for the islanders, as the public have been voting for their favourite boy and girl in the villa. The two with the fewest votes are at risk of being dumped from the island in the episode, with the preview showing a worried Ekin-Su admitting she's scared while heading to the firepit. Love Island continues at 9pm on ITV2. Bystanders: The girls watched on as the drama unfolded between the pair Kristen Bell is up for a third Frozen film. The star, who voiced the character of Anna in the first two version of the Disney animated movies, said she is ready to sign on the dotted line when visited Good Morning America on Monday. 'I would do it in a heartbeat, I love that family,' shared the star who was promoting her new book The World Needs More Purple Schools. Bright: Kristen Bell is up for a third Frozen film. The star, who voiced the character of Anna in the first two version of the Disney animated movies, said she is ready to sign on the dotted line when visited Good Morning America on Monday This comes after her costar Idina Menzel, who voiced Anna's sister Elsa, told Today she would do Frozen 3. When asked if there is a future for Frozen 3, Menzel said, 'I hope soI hope it is but I don't knowany time I can be 80 and play a blonde animated girl whose like 15, whose got amazing arms, by the way, I love that about her.' When on GMA, Kristen looked as brilliant as a rainbow as she arrived for an early morning TV interview in New York. The 41-year-old actress donned a brightly peplum top with balloon sleeves and straight leg pants in shades of orange, yellow, blue, green and black for her chat. The star completed the look with orange pumps and a bright green handbag. That is a yes: 'I would do it in a heartbeat, I love that family,' shared the star who was promoting her new book The World Needs More Purple Schools The Bad Moms actress spoke about a variety of things during her chat with Michael Strahan, 50, Robin Roberts,61, and George Stephanopoulos, 61, but the purpose of the visit was to promote her latest children's book, The World Needs More Purple Schools. The how-to guide drops Tuesday and is a follow up to her 2020 release, The World Needs More Purple People, which she co-wrote with Benjamin Hart. He is the co-creator of an organization called Brains on Fire, which specializes in building communities and sparking social movements through the power of identity and narrative. Chat: The Bad Moms actress spoke about a variety of things during her early morning chat with Michael Strahan, 50, Robin Roberts,61, and George Stephanopoulos, 61 New book: The purpose of the visit was to promote her latest children's book, The World Needs More Purple Schools, which drops Tuesday 'We basically took our Purple Principles from the first book and applied them to a place where people come together to grow and learn and share and make better ideas and learn about each other, which is a school,' she said. She added, 'The Purple Principles include asking great questions, laughing, working hard, using your voice for yourself and others, listen and be uniquely you. 'I don't think anyone can argue about we should be asking great questions, promote critical thinking both big and small, right? Like, "how far is the moon and what's the name of your dog?"' Follow-up: The new book is a follow-up to Kristen's 2020 tome, The World Needs More Purple People, which looked at ways to communicate by listening and asking questions The author answered to some criticism she received when doing press for her first Purple book back in 2020. 'Out of, what I can identify is, during the first promotion of the book was in the middle of 2020 when we were all learning a lot of stories that were necessary to learn about, right, and I used the word "sameness" in one interview and I was talking about character, like, "we may think we're totally different, but if we both like pizza, maybe let's start there, and then you can learn my story, I can learn your story,"' she shared. 'The word "sameness" was not the right word to use at that point and that's what being a purple person is all about.' Bell added. 'I was using my voice, but I was also listening so that word was not applicable any more, and I learned from it.' Purple principles: The Veronica Mars star explained the Purple Principles as: asking questions, laughing, working hard, using your voice for yourself and others, listen and be uniquely you The multi-talented artist and her husband, Dax Shepherd, 47, are listening and learning about relationships with their new podcast, The Honey and the Hammer. 'Our favorite thing to talk about in the world is relationships. Like, how humans interact, how we can be better, how we can understand each other more,' she explained, 'and we started just taking the microphone into bed at night and recording the conversations we had because we talked about problems we were having or people were having.' The pair are now soliciting ideas from listeners to cover in their conversations. Podcast: The multi-talented artist and her husband, Dax Shepherd, 47, are listening and learning about relationships with their new podcast, The Honey and the Hammer 'It's not advice, because we're not qualified, and more like maybe we just walk you through it, maybe we say like "Oh, you're having a problem with your wife, I wonder if she might be feeling this," you know, like different perspectives,' she added. 'Maybe it's just a place for people to vent. 'I don't know, but it's been really fun, so far.' You really want federal gun control intervention? Well, heres an idea for you By Selwyn Duke web posted June 20, 2022 Word is that the Senate has the necessary votes for federal gun control legislation designed to, among other things, pressure states into instituting red flag laws. These measures are controversial because they involve suspending a persons rights (i.e., seizing his weapons) without due process. Wherever you stand on them and federal firearms laws in principle, however, a simple fact is under-emphasized in this debate: Laws mean little if not enforced. Whats more, theyre actually instruments of evil if only enforced to the degree where good people will comply. Heres another fact: Corresponding to the general unwillingness among left-wing district attorneys to punish criminals (who arent also political opponents), these officials, though claiming firearms are a plague, arent punishing most gun crimes. Odd, huh? An archetypical example is Philadelphia D.A. Larry Krasner. His office withdrew or dismissed 65 percent of gun charges last year, up from 17 percent in 2015. This, along with his characteristic reluctance to hold miscreants to account, explains why the City of Brotherly Love had 559 murders in 2021 an all time record. And, again, his misfeasance reflects that of left-wing prosecutors nationwide. Thus, if there must be federal gun-oriented intervention (which Im against), its obvious what it should be: Make localities and/or states receipt of federal funds contingent upon their adequate enforcement of violent-crime laws in particular, gun laws. There you have it. Are you listening, Mitch McConnell? Unlike whats currently being proposed, this measure actually would make a difference. Its not radical within the context of todays governmental norms, either. After all, the current bipartisan gun bill provides incentives for states to implement red-flag laws; even more to the point, the Biden administration is apparently threatening to withhold school lunch money from districts that dont effect the pseudo-elites MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka transgender) agenda. Of course, using federal-funding retention as cudgel with which to impose Washingtons will has long been status quo. Ill reiterate that I dont believe in such strong-arm tactics; in fact, the central government is meant to be a mere agent of the states and should get precious little tax money. But if the feds are going to call the tune with their pay-the-piper power, what better cause than compelling feckless localities to enforce the laws that really matter and save lives? Earlier this month, more than 170 big city mayors met in Reno, Nevada, to kvetch about how they fear sweeping gun limits are out of reach, as The New York Times put it . What misdirection. What deflection. What nerve. What phonies. Crime isnt skyrocketing nationwide because firearm laws have changed (they havent), but because the law-enforcers have changed. Enforcement of local laws makes far more sense than any one-size-fits-all policy, too, as crime is not an evenly distributed phenomenon. Consider that more than half of 2016s murders occurred in just certain parts of two percent of our lands counties, and 68 percent of the homicides were committed in only small pockets of five percent of the counties. Oh, these would be exclusively, or almost all, Democrat areas. In contrast and on average, 73 percent of counties in any given year had zero murders from 1977 to 2000, reported Fox News in 2017. (These would generally be GOP areas.) In other words, we dont have a gun problem. We have a Democrat population/governance problem. Whats so disgusting about enacting more laws but not strictly enforcing those on the books, especially the important ones, is that only good people are affected. They tend to follow laws even when enforcement is lax and punishment for violation is minimal; miscreants wont without the threat of Draconian measures. So ponder the vicious circle here: You dont enforce just laws. Crime consequently proliferates. Theres then a drumbeat for more laws, which take away good peoples freedom but also wont be enforced on evildoers. Crime then rises further leading to a call for even more laws, and, well. You get the idea. Wash, rinse, repeat and soon few freedoms remain. Of course, were you conspiracy minded (perish the thought), you might fancy this the whole point of this seemingly pointless exercise. As for you politicians, federal and otherwise, focus on enforcing existing laws or forever hold your peace. Cause with the way your pet criminals are running wild, a good citizen certainly has to hold his piece. Contact Selwyn Duke , follow him on MeWe , Gettr or Parler , or log on to SelwynDuke.com . Home Jessica Simpson celebrated Father's Day with the two dads in her life: her father Joe Simpson and her husband Eric Johnson. The blonde bombshell held a pool party at her home in Hidden Hills, California where she slipped into a bathing suit as she splashed around with her daughters Maxwell Drew, 10, and Birdie Mae, three, as well as son Ace Knute, eight. And the siren also took to Instagram on Monday to look back on what a wonderful afternoon she had with her family. Taking a dip: Jessica Simpson showed off her toned legs while in a swimsuit on Sunday Happy lady: And the siren also took to Instagram on Monday to look back on what a wonderful afternoon she had with her family by posting a make-up free selfie Jessica was barefaced for the post. 'Just woke up feeling grateful for all the Dad heroes out there. Yesterday was a beautiful Father's Day celebrating my personal favorites @ericjohnsonalrighhhht @joesimpsonphoto and @ringoindover,' wrote the fashion designer. 'Each of you have created, molded, shaped, and supported us and that makes my heart burst and my smile very real. I love y'all. The kids admire, appreciate, love and adore y'all. 'There is no greater gift in the world to our families. I value and honor the gift of Fatherhood #BLESSED.' All here: The blonde bombshell held a pool party at her home in Hidden Hills, California where she slipped into a bathing suit as she splashed around with her kids Maxwell Drew, 10, and Birdie Mae, three, as well as son Ace Knute, eight. Her husband Eric Johnson had on a cast With her dad: Simpson made the rare move of posing with her father Joe Simpson More to love: And into the photo popped Eric, far right, and their daughter Maxwell In the new images Jessica is seen in a swimsuit as she sits in the shallow end of her pool. There is also a photo of her youngest child, Birdie Mae, as she calls the little one a 'fish' for her love of being in the water. And Jessica made the rare move of posing with her dad Joe, who wore a Gucci shirt in leopard print with shorts. It also looked as if Eric's father made the cozy bash. It's been a challenging year for Simpson. His dad: I t appeared as if Eric's father also made the backyard bash. The dad wrote on Instagram, 'What a Fathers Day' In April she said she was 'on a budget' after her credit card was declined. The 41-year-old pop star had been trying to make a purchase at fast food chain Taco Bell but was unsuccessful and is now using cash as she joked that she is now having to budget while she waits for a new card. She said: 'I have no working credit card. It's OK. I will pay in cash. I went to Taco Bell the other day, and my card got denied. I'm on a budget, ladies!' The I Wanna Love You Forever hitmaker went on to explain that there is a 'fear' attached to money but 'believes in herself' when it comes to business decisions. Speaking on daytime talk show 'The Real', she said: 'With money, there's just so much fear attached to it. I'm the person that you get mad at at the blackjack table. I'll put it all out there if it's me that's driving the show because I believe in myself and I know what I can do. And I know that nothing will stop me, and if you try to stop me, I'll try harder.' It comes just days after the star announced that she will be expanding her eponymous fashion brand - the Jessica Simpson Collection - to feature men's clothing for the first time and wants her husband to model for it. She said: 'We are going into boys and men's clothing, which I've always wanted to do, because I know how a guy's butt should look in their jeans. My husband's a good model for it, but he would never do it. Maybe I could convince him Uncut Gems alum Julia Fox dined al fresco at Sant Ambroeus in Manhattan on Saturday night with controversial designer Alexander Wang, who settled a slew of sexual assault allegations last year. The Italian-born, Manhattan-raised 32-year-old wore a black high-cut leotard and grey distressed jeans tucked into black patent leather boots selected by stylist Briana Andalore. 'I think just being fearless, not giving a f***, doing what I feel like doing, and not caring about whether society thinks it's normal or not. If I think it's cool, then it's cool,' Julia told People on Thursday of her style. Kiki: Uncut Gems alum Julia Fox dined al fresco at Sant Ambroeus in Manhattan on Saturday night with controversial designer Alexander Wang (R), who settled a slew of sexual assault allegations last year 'I feel like I'm doing a service. I'm providing a service. Yeah, a visual service.' Fox also hung out with Alexander Wang FW/22 catwalker Amelia Gray Hamlin on Saturday night where they posed for a snap of themselves sharing a lollipop. The 21-year-old Women 360 Management Model famously ended her 11-month romance with the much older Kardashians star Scott Disick on September 7. Flaunting her whale tail! The Italian-born, Manhattan-raised 32-year-old wore a black high-cut leotard and grey distressed jeans tucked into black patent leather boots selected by stylist Briana Andalore Julia told People on Thursday of her style: 'I think just being fearless, not giving a f***, doing what I feel like doing, and not caring about whether society thinks it's normal or not...I feel like I'm doing a service. I'm providing a service. Yeah, a visual service' Bleached brows: Fox also hung out with Alexander Wang FW/22 catwalker Amelia Gray Hamlin (R) on Saturday night where they posed for a snap of themselves sharing a lollipop Single: The 21-year-old Women 360 Management Model ended her 11-month romance with the much older Kardashians star Scott Disick on September 7 And the former dominatrix hasn't spoken with 24-time Grammy winner Kanye 'Ye' West (who was married to The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian) since he ended their six-week fling on Valentine's Day. 'I just got so busy, and, like, I don't know. Life happens,' Julia told People. Fox also revealed that the 45-year-old rapper-designer will not appear in her upcoming memoir-style 'masterpiece' book, which is 'halfway done' and should hit shelves 'in about a year.' 'Life happens': And the former dominatrix hasn't spoken with 24-time Grammy winner Kanye 'Ye' West (who was married to The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian) since he ended their six-week fling on Valentine's Day Hitting shelves next year! Julia also revealed that the 45-year-old rapper-designer will not appear in her memoir-style 'masterpiece' book, which is 'halfway done' (pictured January 23) On Saturday, the Forbidden Fruits podcaster - who boasts 1.3M Instagram/TikTok followers - shared a rare video of her 16-month-old son Valentino on the beach after attending the 40th annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. 'He's amazing. He's my little angel. I love him so much,' Julia gushed to People. 'I would like to have more children. I think he's ready for siblings. If it happens, great, but I'm not, like, actively looking for it.' 'He's amazing. He's my little angel. I love him so much!' On Saturday, Fox - who boasts 1.3M Instagram/TikTok followers - shared a rare video of her 16-month-old son Valentino on the beach after attending the 40th annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. 'We made this baby!' The Forbidden Fruits podcaster mothered Valentino during her three-year marriage to Brooklyn private pilot Peter Artemiev (L, pictured January 25), which ended last year Fox mothered Valentino during her three-year marriage to Brooklyn private pilot Peter Artemiev, which ended last year. The No Sudden Move actress is currently the cover girl for the July edition of Vogue Czechoslovakia, which was shot by photographer Cameron Postforoosh. In a behind-the-scenes video of the spread, Julia donned a skirt made entirely of Polaroids of herself. Wigging out! Julia is currently the cover girl for the July edition of Vogue Czechoslovakia, which was shot by photographer Cameron Postforoosh Peek-a-boob! In a behind-the-scenes video of the spread, Fox donned a skirt made entirely of Polaroids of herself 'Julia wears Julia': Yael Quint styled the designer shoot and her assistant Heather Sage Blair painstakingly fastened each Polaroid to each other with metal rings Originator: Last year, RuPaul's Drag Race #13 champ Symone wore a very similar Polaroid dress designed by Katt Fox and Michael Brambila for her entrance look Yael Quint styled the designer shoot and her assistant Heather Sage Blair painstakingly fastened each Polaroid to each other with metal rings. Last year, RuPaul's Drag Race #13 champ Symone wore a very similar Polaroid dress designed by Katt Fox and Michael Brambila for her entrance look. Fox has several acting projects including Tony Kaye's dark comedy The Trainer, the Carrie White biopic Upper Cut, and she's the frontrunner to play Debi Mazar in Madonna's self-directed Universal Pictures biopic. Acclaimed keyboardist Brett Tuggle has died at the age of 70 after battling cancer. He had toured for 20 years with Fleetwood Mac and was one of the founding members of The David Lee Roth Band. Tuggle also helped Roth write his top solo 1988 hit song Just Like Paradise. Brett had worked with a wide range of artists including Rick Springfield, Jimmy Page, John Kay and Steppenwolf, Styxs Tommy Shaw, and Mitch Ryder throughout his 50 year career. 'Our sweet Brett Tuggle made it home tonight,' friend Springfield wrote on Twitter as he shared a photo with the musician. 'God bless his beautiful spirit.' Gone much too soon: Acclaimed keyboardist Brett Tuggle has died at the age of 70 after battling cancer. Seen in 2019 Tribute: 'Our sweet Brett Tuggle made it home tonight,' friend Springfield wrote on Twitter as he shared a photo with the musician. 'God bless his beautiful spirit' Brett is survived by daughter Michelle and son Matt. They shared with Rolling Stone that his family was 'with him throughout the entire time of his illness.' Matt added he had a 'lovely' father, adding, 'He gave me music in my life.' The star was born in Denver, Colorado and at a young age learned how to play the piano then the guitar. He took gigs at small venues in Denver before working in Texas. Legendary: He had toured for 20 years with Fleetwood Mac and was one of the founding members of The David Lee Roth Band. Tuggle also helped Roth write his 1988 hit song Just Like Paradise. Seen in 2019 The lead: His partnership with Fleetwood Mac lasted until 2018 when he was asked to leave the band. Lead singer Nicks seen on June 19 in Tennessee Drama: There was talk that Nicks wanted him out because he was too close to her ex Buckingham whom she had friction with A no go after 20 years: 'In the end, I think, Stevie thought I was more in Lindsey's camp,' he shared after leaving the band. (L-R) John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac in 1975 In 1970 he toured with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. And in 1971 the star played guitar on the album Detroit. In the 1980s he started working more with Springfield when his hit song Jessie's Girl took off. In the late 1980s he worked on Roth's second album Skyscraper and his biggest hit as a solo artist, Just Like Paradise. In the 1990s he collaborated with Jimmy Page and David Coverdale for their album. He seemed to find his most lasting musical bond in 1997 when he started working with Fleetwood Mac's band members Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks. Busy musician: Tuggle onstage during the Music Strong benefit concert at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in 2019 in Thousand Oaks, California He took over McVie's keyboard duties when she exited the band in 1998. Together they revisited the band's old classics Dreams, Gypsy and Go Your Own Way when on tour. His partnership with Fleetwood Mac lasted until 2018 when he was asked to leave the band. There was talk that Nicks wanted him out because he was too close to her ex Buckingham whom she had friction with. 'In the end, I think, Stevie thought I was more in Lindsey's camp,' he shared with Rolling Stone after leaving the band. 'But I tried to be Switzerland to all the principles in the Mac. I felt like that was my job.' And he also said: 'I care about them all. Theyre all a big part of my life.' Michelle Pfeiffer looked incredible as she attended the Paramount+ UK launch event in London on Monday. The actress, 64, displayed her youthful visage as she attended the event alongside her The First Lady co-stars Viola Davis and Gillian Anderson. The film star cut an elegant figure for the evening in a black midi dress with puffed sleeves and a v-neckline. Radiant: Michelle Pfeiffer displayed her youthful looks as she donned a black midi dress while attending the Paramount+ UK launch event in London on Monday Michelle added height to her frame with black sheer heels while she also sported a pair of gold earrings. Styling her blonde locks into loose waves, the actress completed her look with a light palette of makeup. Michelle, who plays Betty Ford in The First Lady, posed alongside Viola, who plays Michelle Obama, and Gillian, who plays Eleanor Roosevelt in the series. Viola looked sensational in a white blazer and matching trousers while Gillian opted for a pink and burgundy striped sleeveless dress. Sensational: The film star's garment puffed sleeves and a v-neckline Fashion: Michelle added height to her frame with black sheer heels while she also sported a pair of gold earrings Michelle recently said she was taken aback by claims she had retired from acting when she was just trying to raise a family. The First Lady actress reflected on her decision to take a break from Hollywood for around five years after the attention on her and her family made things difficult for her kids Claudia, now 29, and John, 27, when they were growing up. 'It was, "Well, I'll only shoot in the summer, and I'll only shoot here, and I'll only blah, blah, blah, blah," and finally it was just too much trouble to hire me,' she told The Hollywood Reporter. Michelle and her husband David E. Kelley moved their family away from Los Angeles, landing in Northern California's Woodside which is in the Silicon Valley area. The First Lady: Michelle, who plays Betty Ford in The First Lady, posed alongside Viola, who plays Michelle Obama, and Gillian, who plays Eleanor Roosevelt in the series Looking good: Gillian donned a burgundy and pink striped sleeveless dress for the event Show: Viola, Gillian and Michelle were joined by producer Cathy Schulman (left) and director Susanne Bier (right) And after five years she was surprised by the way others saw her career. She added: 'I would start to hear that I had retired, and I'd be like, "Wait, no."' Michelle - who has appeared in movies such as Scarface, Grease 2, The Witches of Eastwick and Batman Returns - admitted the move was down to the more challenging aspects of life in the spotlight, and it became even more of an issue with children. Lupita Nyong'o shared a fun-filled video on her Instagram of herself showcasing her proficient dancing skills. The Star Wars actress wore a number of swimsuits and bikinis as she had the time of her life doing some moves. The reel showed the siren was more than ready for the official start of the summer season as she danced on the sandy shores of a beach. Very talented: Lupita Nyong'o is not only talented in acting and writing, but she also has excellent dance skills The video started off with the Us actress placing her hand in the palm of her hands as the music began to play. Her two-piece, drawstring swimsuit was made with a pattern with colors such as purple, pink, and orange. The bikini showed off her toned abs and fit physique. She wore a pair of round sunglasses as she balanced in the sand while moving to the upbeat tune. Stunning: The actress looked beautiful in a two-piece swimsuit, showing off her toned abs and fit body Summer ready: The Us actress proved she was more than ready for summer as she danced on the sandy shores of a beach As the short reel continued, the Black Panther star held a big smile on her face as she kept up with the choreography like she was a pro. The 39-year-old also donned a vibrant green and white bikini, both with drawstrings. Lupita added a caption to the video, writing, 'Yes, I'm CUTE. #FirstDayOfSummer #MoonchildSanelly #SoundOn.' The song playing in the Instagram video was titled, Cute, by Moonchild Sanelly and Trillany Banks. Fun times: Lupita looked stunning in her variety of swimsuits as she had a blast on the beach The Academy Award winner switched things up by wearing a tan, one-piece swimsuit, showing off her toned legs. The actress showed off swimwear from a few different brands, including Tory Burch, Calzedonia Official, and Myra Swim. Lupita proved that she not only has talent for acting, but definitely carries some excellent dance moves. In a previous interview with Vogue, she opened up with the publication and explained that pole-dancing was one of her newest hobbies. 'It was incredible and sexy, and I thought, I need to learn how to do that,' she stated. It appears the star has always had an interest in dancing. The finale: The video reel ended with the star sending a huge smile to the camera, followed by laughter Nyong'o ended the video by slowly landing on her knee and sending a smile to the camera and laughing. The star takes her fitness and health very seriously, and has posted her workout routines on her social media. She has been using arm weights during sweaty workout sessions or other equipment to help her stay fit. The star is also a big motivator for her fans and followers. Motivation: The Black Panther actress shares some of her fitness routines on social media Beautiful star: The author looks happy in a gorgeous sundress as she poses for a quick photo The Oscar winner is full of talent, and has also written a children's book titled, Sulwe. The novel's plot follows a little girl named, Sulwe, who has darker skin than anyone else she knows, and overall, learns to love herself for who she is. The actress received a Daytime Emmy Award for the book, and according to Deadline, the story is being adapted by Netflix to become an animated musical. She is also starring in the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is set to premiere later this year in November. After the passing of one of the lead stars, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita reassured that the film will definitely honor him. According to People, in an interview for her Saks' Spring 2022 digital campaign, she stated, 'It'll be interesting to bring out another one of those films without Chadwick Boseman but we are holding him in close light. I think people will be excited about this one.' Alex Pettyfer and his wife of 20 months, Toni Garrn, have married again at a second ceremony on the Greek island of Paros. The couple have been holidaying with their 11-month-old daughter Luca Malaika in the European country, and Toni revealed on Monday that she and Alex, 32, said 'I do' once again at a beach-front ceremony on Sunday. The pair first said I do in an intimate ceremony in Toni's hometown of Hamburg in November 2020. Sharing a short clip of the pair on Instagram, Toni, 29, wrote: 'Yesterday felt like the most beautiful dream. Collecting all pictures.. stay tuned.' Special day: Alex Pettyfer and his wife of 20 months, Toni Garrn, have married again at a second ceremony on the Greek island of Paros Toni wore an elegant backless white wedding dress with a floor-length veil pinned on to her blonde hair. She held a bunch flowers as she stood in front of Alex on a rocky outcrop by the calm azure water. Alex wore a cream suit and a white shirt which he wore unbuttoned at the collar. Happy couple: Toni revealed on Monday that she and Alex, 32, said 'I do' once again at a beach-front ceremony on Sunday (pictured during the 75th annual Cannes film festival last month) He completed his look by opting for a pair of smart black shoes. The couple had perfect weather for their second wedding as they stood in the bright sunshine under a clear blue sky. White sailing boats could be seen gently bobbing on the water in the background. Family: The couple have been holidaying with their 11-month-old daughter Luca Malaika in the European country Alex and Toni, born Antonia, will also celebrate the first birthday of their cherubic child in mid-July. The couple originally began dating in 2018 before co-starring as Liam and Olivia in Agata Alexander's 2021 sci-fi directorial debut Warning alongside his father Richard Pettyfer. They tied the knot in her hometown of Hamburg in Germany 10 months after their Christmas engagement. Heartfelt words: Sharing a short clip of the pair on Instagram, Toni, 29, wrote: 'Yesterday felt like the most beautiful dream. Collecting all pictures.. stay tuned' Following the ceremony, the couple took to Instagram to share their first social media post as newlyweds. Alongside a snap of the pair kissing, Toni penned 'Now you really get to call me wifey ', whilst Alex wrote 'Mr & Mrs Pettyfer'. Alex asked for the beauty's hand in marriage after just 10 months of dating, marking the third time he has proposed to one of his girlfriends. While he popped the question on Christmas Eve, the lovebirds waited to announce the news on New Year's Eve. Introducing Mr and Mrs Pettyfer! The couple originally began dating in 2018 before marrying in Hamburg in Germany in 2020, 10 months after their Christmas engagement (pictured 2020) The couple shared a photo taken just after the proposal, with Toni exclaiming 'I still can't believe it', while Alex added 'Ok now for real the last throwback to 2019. Onto 2020 as wifey.' Days later, she shared a closer snap of her dazzling diamond ring. Alongside the snap she penned: 'Christmas Eve the love of my life surprised me on his knees asking me to be his forever. 'He changed my life the day we met and showed me what love really is - so yes I cannot wait to spend every day (well almost) of my life with you @alexpettyfer.' Toni and Alex were first linked in 2019 on February 24 when they attended Elton John's Oscar party together, but did not confirm their romance until later in the year. Two weeks later, the couple worked together on the film Warning, alongside Alex's father Richard Pettyfer, Rupert Everett, Thomas Jane, Alice Eve and Annabelle Wallis. This engagement is thought to have been third time Alex has popped the question, as he was reportedly engaged to Riley Keough and Marloes Horst. Alex was also rumoured to have been engaged to Dianna Agron, who he dated for less than a year in 2010, but the couple denied the claims. Toni also has a list of high profile exes, including Enrique Murciano, Alexander Skarsgard and Chandler Parsons. The Vogue cover girl famously dated Leonardo DiCaprio for 18 months between May 2013 and December 2014, and the pair sparked reconciliation rumours in 2017 when they were spotted out together on several occasions. Kourtney Kardashian's kids Penelope and Reign wished their new stepfather Travis Barker a Happy Father's Day. The 43-year-old reality star posted the cards on her stories, revealing what her kids wrote to her new husband. The card comes almost one month after Kourtney and Travis, 46, tied the knot in Portofino, Italy. Sweet: Kourtney Kardashian's kids Penelope and Reign wished their new stepfather Travis Barker a Happy Father's Day. The 43-year-old reality star posted the cards on her stories, revealing what her kids wrote to her new husband Penelope, nine, wrote in the card to Travis: 'You are so so nice and kind you are so amazing. You are the beast. You are the beast drummer ever. You make my mom happy! [sic] Happy Father's Day. Love, Penelope.' She also wrote the word 'family,' with hearts on the card. Reign, seven, wrote 'Dear Travis Happy Father's Day,' with a drawing of Kourtney and Travis with a heart. It is unknown if Mason, 12, wrote a card for Travis as well. Cute: Reign, seven, wrote 'Dear Travis Happy Father's Day,' with a drawing of Kourtney and Travis with a heart Thoughtful: Penelope, nine, wrote in the card to Travis: 'You are so so nice and kind you are so amazing. You are the beast. You are the beast drummer ever. You make my mom happy! [sic] Happy Father's Day. Love, Penelope;' seen March 27 at the Vanity Fair Oscar party For Father's Day, Travis had an outdoor movie viewing, complete with delicious food, as seen on his stories. His kids Landon, 18, and Alabama, 16, also wished him a happy father's day, as well as his stepdaughter Atiana de la Hoya, 23. He shares Landon and Alabama with ex wife Shanna Moakler; Atiana is the daughter of Shanna and Oscar de la Hoya. Wow: For Father's Day, Travis had an outdoor movie viewing, complete with delicious food, as seen on his stories Sweet: Alabama shared her love for her dad on her stories Thoughtful: Atiana also posted a cute snap and message to him Message: His kids Landon, 18, and Alabama, 16, also wished him a happy father's day, as well as his stepdaughter Atiana de la Hoya, 23 From the heart: Landon also posted a snap of Travis and his three kids When Travis proposed to Kourtney in the fall, her three children were not in attendance; she shares them with ex partner Scott Disick. Practically the entire Kardashian and Jenner family went to Santa Barbara, California, to surprise Kourtney after the 46-year-old drummer proposed on the beach... though it was matriarch Kris Jenner who decided not to include Kourtney's children. Shortly after the proposal, Kourtney FaceTimed with all of her kids, with Penelope taking it the hardest, crying on the phone before hanging up on her mother. Modern family: When Travis proposed to Kourtney in the fall, her three children were not in attendance; she shares them with ex partner Scott Disick Corey Gamble said she should do it in private, as Khloe mentioned they are 'younger than Travis' kids,' as Kourtney checks her phone and finds missed calls from Penelope. 'Look mom got a ring!' Kim exclaims, though Penelope is heard crying over the phone. 'Is that upsetting?' Kourtney asks, while Kim asks, 'P why are you sad, baby?' as Penelope only says, 'Hang up,' and disconnects the call. 'I feel bad for P,' Kourtney tells Kim, adding in confession, 'Penelope took it hard. I think it's a big change for her, and even though she loves Travis, I think she doesn't know what that means.' After the proposal, Khloe is seen at Scott's house, asking him how the kids felt about everything. 'They were upset. They didn't understand why they weren't there,' Scott said. Kourtney and Scott dated off and on from 2005 to 2015. Kourtney and Travis dated for ten months after he proposed in October 2022; they legally tied the knot in mid-May in California before having their Italian wedding on May 22 with their friends and family in attendance. Todd Carney's ex-fiancee Susie Bradley was rushed to hospital after collapsing at her Gold Coast home on Saturday night. The former Married At First Sight star, 29, was in a serious condition when emergency services arrived to her Benowa Waters home, reports the Courier Mail. The incident came just hours after Bradley, a mother of two, confirmed she had ended her engagement to the retired NRL player. Todd Carney's (left) ex-fiancee Susie Bradley (right) was rushed to hospital after collapsing at her Gold Coast home on Saturday night Earlier on Saturday, the cosmetic nurse had shared photos on Instagram of herself posing in a tight grey mini-dress with a glass of wine in hand. Looking anything but heartbroken, Bradley wrote in her caption: 'Officially a member of the Hot Single Girl's Club! What's good to do?' The newly single reality star added the hashtag #IfYouCan'tLaughYou'llCry. The former Married At First Sight star (pictured with Carney in happier times) was in a serious condition when emergency services arrived to her Benowa Waters home Bradley confirmed her break-up with Carney, 36, after dropping several hints on Instagram about her relationship status. She posted a sombre photo last Wednesday of herself sitting next to a swimming pool, alongside a broken-heart emoji. A day earlier she uploaded a cryptic post about her mental health, and also deleted all traces of Carney from her Instagram. The incident came just hours after Bradley (pictured hours before she was hospitalised) confirmed she had ended her engagement to the retired NRL player The ex-Cronulla Sharks player has also deleted his Instagram account. The former couple started dating in 2019, with Carney stepping into the role of stepfather to Bradley's eight-year-old daughter, Baby. They welcomed their first child together, a boy named Lion Daryl, in April last year. Bradley confirmed her break-up with Carney, 36, after dropping several hints on Instagram about her relationship status, including this picture of the ocean, which she captioned: 'Numb' Bradley rose to fame on the fifth season of Married At First Sight, which was filmed in late 2018 and aired the following year. She was partnered with barista Billy Vincent, but they split before their final vows. Carney infamously had his $3million contract with the Cronulla Sharks torn up in 2014 after he was pictured urinating in his own mouth at a Sydney pub. He now works as a concreter. If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 Bradley rose to fame on the fifth season of Married At First Sight in early 2019. She was partnered with barista Billy Vincent (left), but they split before their final vows Ukraine says their troops will 'hold on as long as necessary' Heavy Russian bombardment of Ukraine's battleground eastern Lugansk region and key city Severodonetsk has been "hell" for soldiers there, Kyiv said Wednesday, while insisting that defenders would hold on "as long as necessary". Moscow's troops have been pummelling eastern Ukraine for weeks and are slowly advancing, despite fierce resistance from the outgunned Ukrainian military. With President Vladimir Putin's forces tightening their grip on the strategically important city of Severodonetsk in the Donbas, its twin city of Lysychansk is now coming under heavier bombardment. "The Russian army is... just destroying everything" in Lysychansk, Sergiy Gaiday, governor of the Lugansk region, which includes both cities, wrote on Telegram. "It's just hell out there," after four months of shelling in Severodonetsk, across the Donets river, he wrote later. "Our boys are holding their positions and will continue to hold on as long as necessary," he added. Pro-Russian separatists claimed they were close to surrounding both Lysychansk and Severodonetsk. "Over the past several days enormous work has been accomplished," Andrei Marochko, an officer in the separatist army of Lugansk, told Russian state television. - 'Only grannies left' - Ukrainian women in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, have been training with firearms in urban warfare Taking the two cities would give Moscow control of the whole of Lugansk, allowing Russia to press further into the Donbas. After being pushed back from Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine following their February invasion, Moscow is seeking to seize a vast eastern swathe of the country. But daily bombardment also continues in other parts of the country. The northeastern city of Kharkiv near the Russian border was near empty on Wednesday, AFP reporters said, a day after Russian shelling killed five people there. Leyla Shoydhry, a young woman in a park near the opera house, said the situation was "very bad". "Last night the building next to mine collapsed from the bombardment while I was sleeping," she said. Roman Pohuliay, a 19-year-old in a pink sweatshirt, said most residents had fled the city. "Only the grannies are left," he said. In his daily address Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russian army of "brutal and cynical" shelling in the eastern Kharkiv region, where the governor said 15 people had been killed over the course of the day. In a briefing Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry claimed responsibility for a missile strike it said killed a number of Ukrainian troops in the southern city of Mykolaiv. Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych told Ukrainian television that the strike hit two firms and a school, sparking a blaze that authorities could not put out. Map of Ukraine showing position of military forces in Ukraine as of June 22, 0700 GMT In the central city of Zaporizhzhia, women were training to use Kalashnikov assault rifles in urban combat as Russian forces edged nearer. "When you can do something, it's not so scary to take a machine gun in your hands," said Ulyana Kiyashko, 29, after moving through an improvised combat zone in a basement. Aid group Doctors Without Borders said it had gathered accounts of an "outrageous lack of care to distinguish and protect civilians" during the war in Ukraine. Most patients it had evacuated by train blamed Russian or Russian-backed forces for a spectrum of gruesome injuries, it added. In the southern city of Mykolaiv, two grain storage facilities were hit by Russian missile attacks, their operators Bunge and Viterra said. - Ship leaves Mariupol - On the Russian side, officials said Wednesday two drones had hit an oil refinery in the Rostov region bordering Ukraine, causing an explosion and a fire but no casualties. Funerals and memorial services continue in the capital Kyiv Away from the battlefield, a senior US official in Washington said President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders holding a summit this weekend in Germany will announce new measures to punish Russia for the invasion. Moscow summoned Brussels' ambassador in a dispute with EU member Lithuania over the country's restrictions on rail traffic to the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad. The territory is around 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from Moscow, bordering Lithuania and Poland. By blocking goods arriving from Russia, Lithuania says it is simply adhering to European Union-wide sanctions on Moscow. The United States made clear its commitment to Lithuania as an ally in NATO, which considers an attack against one member an attack on all. And Germany urged Russia not to "violate international law" by retaliating against Lithuania. Also on Wednesday, a Turkish cargo ship left the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol on Ukraine's Sea of Azov coast. Moscow and Ankara have negotiated for weeks towards getting millions of tonnes of desperately needed grain out of the war zone and on to Africa and the Middle East. But it was not immediately clear whether the Azov Concord was carrying wheat. Turkey's defence ministry said four-way talks would be held "in the coming weeks" between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, with media reporting the meeting could happen next week. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in an investigation published Wednesday that a Ukrainian photojournalist, Maks Levin, had been killed and possibly tortured by Russian troops after his capture on March 13. burs-sr/ah/dw/bfm Nightstalker is a Catholic parable wrapped in horror aesthetics By Thomas M. Sipos web posted June 20, 2022 Serial killer Richard Ramirez (aka "the Night Stalker") terrorized the Los Angeles area from 1984 until his arrest a year later. He was sentenced to death in 1989, and died of natural causes in 2013 while on Death Row. Documentaries aside, four films have so far been made about Ramirez. Nightstalker (2002) is the second. "True crime" fans complain that Nightstalker veers far from facts. That's true. But this film is not about the facts of any particular case, but about the underlying moral order that gives rise to a Richard Ramirez. Nightstalker is history told as horror film. Indeed, as a religious parable. We see Ramirez's (Bret Roberts) killings through his own eyes. As he stalks and murders his victims, an albino Satan (Joseph McKelheer), with a blood-stained mouth, flashes and flickers about him. Writer/director Chris Fisher makes heavy use of such jump cuts. He also borrows a technique first used in the supernatural horror film, Jacob's Ladder: the rapidly shaking head, which has become a cinematic clich for evil and/or possession (e.g., Lost Souls). Fisher's Satan often rapidly shakes his head. As do a surprisingly large number of "normal" people throughout the film. (I wonder if Fisher's albino Satan inspired the albino Satan in The Passion of the Christ?) Why is Satan flickering about Ramirez? The real Ramirez was a Satanist and drug user. The one in the film believes Satan is ordering him to kill. ("I did it for you!" he exclaims.) And like his master, Ramirez also flashes and flickers about the rooms as he kills his victims. Are we seeing murders through the eyes of an insane drug addict? Or is Satan real? Fisher's cinematic tricks don't work for a "true crime" film. But they go far in establishing the right mood for Nightstalker. Los Angeles in 1985 is saturated by Evil. Ramirez's nemesis is LAPD Detective Gabriella Martinez (Rosalyn Sanchez). She's a devout Catholic who cares for her ailing mother in East L.A. She prays fervently every night before a crucifix, the camera hovering in extreme closeups about her quivering lips and tightly clutched rosary. She is a fortress of Faith surrounded by encroaching evil. Her black police lieutenant boss (Evan Parker) sexually harasses her. When he does so, his head, briefly, shakes rapidly. He too is possessed by Evil. Sanchez's Latino partner (Danny Trejo) snorts coke in the squad car, his head shaking rapidly. Martinez's white partner (Derek Hamilton) turns vigilante, his head shaking rapidly. The Evil is everywhere, corrupting even the police and pervading all races. All three cops behave in a mostly decent (if roughshod) manner throughout the film. None of their indiscretions are followed up plotwise. Rather, the Evil just lurks there, manifesting on occasion, but always beneath the surface of those Martinez might trust. The Evil lurks in women too. A gal reporter (Brandi Emma) convinces Martinez to give her a confidential police sketch of Ramirez, then breaks her word and exposes Martinez as her source. Martinez hoped that the newspaper publishing the sketch would save lives. But the reporter didn't care about saving lives, only making a name for herself. Exposing Martinez as the source saved no one, but made the story juicier. The reporter also snorts coke, her head shaking rapidly. Martinez has other troubles. Her elderly mother is senile, a burden on Martinez, who's turned down better job offers to stay in East L.A. and care for her mom. The mother claims that Satan visited her. Was it Ramirez, or Satan, or her dementia? These problems are additional crosses for Martinez to bear, emphasizing Satan's assaults upon her faith and character. Nightstalker is set in 1985, and TV sets throughout the film carry newscasts of crises in the Middle East, the poison plant leakage in Bhopal, India (which actually occurred in 1984), our deals with Iraq, and the Ramirez killings. Evil pervades not only Los Angeles but the world. No, this is not a "true crime" film. Displaying the aesthetic style of a horror film, Nightstalker is about a devoutly Catholic woman seeking divine help in her fight against Evil. Detective Martinez is the moral core of a darkening universe as Evil encroaches on her from all directions. I can see why "true crime" fans were disappointed. I don't think horror fans, or even the religiously inclined, will be upset. Thomas M. Sipos writes satirical novels and film criticism. His website is CommunistVampires.com . Home Tamarind leaves are available in June when people use it in curries of various combinations, treating it as good for health. VIJAYAWADA: The price of Chinta Chiguru (tender tamarind leaves) price is competing with those of chicken, fish, prawn and mutton due to a steep increase in its price to Rs 600 per kg from the earlier Rs 100 per kg. Tamarind leaves are available in June when people use it in curries of various combinations, treating it as good for health. Tamarind trees used to be found in every place, but these are disappearing due to urbanization. This increased the price of Chinta Chiguru abnormally, market-analysts said. In Andhra Pradesh, many dishes are incomplete without a spray of tamarind leaves. It is majorly used in curries, chutneys and rasam. A pickle made with tamarind leaves is popular in AP and other states. This is good for digestion as it acts as a laxative. A special chutney called chintachiguru pachadi is made by adding fresh or dried tamarind leaves with peanuts, garlic cloves, dried red chilies, and cumin seeds. Chef D Nagesh said tender tamarind leaves are an important ingredient in the Andhra cuisine as the leaves are very tasty. Chinta Chiguru is used in preparing dal, fish, chicken, mutton, prawn and other curries. Chintha Chiguru Pulihora is very famous in Andhra and a majority of the people will taste it without fail. Vendors are putting up tender tamarind leaves on the footpaths and selling them in grams of 100 for Rs 60; and a kg for Rs 600 in Vijayawada and other cities. Vendor Lakshmi recalled that tamarind trees used to exist along the road-sides in villages and towns. In several areas, they were cut for road expansions, constructions etc. We are going to hilly areas and far off villages to fetch tender tamarind leaves, she said. Lakshmi said workers were available in the past to pluck tender tamarind leaves but now there is a shortage of workers. Whoever is available to do this work are demanding huge money to pluck the leaves. This also led to the price rise, she said. Homemaker Rehana Shaheen said the tender tamarind leaves used to be available for Rs 100 per kg but it touched Rs 600 now, which is equal to two kg of chicken, nearly a kg of mutton, three kg of fish and nearly two kg of prawn. Despite the abnormal price, we are purchasing Chinta Chiguru as it is very tasty and has a lot of health benefits. Ayurvedic doctor Satyanarayana said tender tamarind leaves are good for health. Tamarind leaves are good to ease joint pain, rich with ascorbic acid, Vitamin C and tartaric acid that help in building immunity naturally. According to official sources, the government, after exploring options to resolve the issue of road connectivity to residential areas in the citys northeast, beyond the cantonment area, had put forth the proposal. (DC Image) HYDERABAD: Following the proposal by the state government seeking about 40 acres of land in the Army Ordnance Corps area in Secunderabad for road development, the defence ministry has demanded money for land as compensation. It has asked for Rs 442 crore to part with the land and the ball is now in the state governments court. According to official sources, the government, after exploring options to resolve the issue of road connectivity to residential areas in the citys northeast, beyond the cantonment area, had put forth the proposal. We had sought land for free, but they are seeking compensation to resolve the matter. This has to be settled at the highest level in New Delhi and the state government has to take a call, a source in the GHMC said. It is believed that with the political slugfest between the TRS and the BJP intensifying in recent months, this issue has only hardened, contributing to the uncompromising stance of the defence ministry. Before the Local Military Authority (LMA) started closing important roads a few years ago including Allahabad Gate, Gough Road, Wellington Road and Ordinance Road converging at AOC, it was the major connectivity for residents staying at Malkajgiri, Neredmet, RK Puram and other important localities beyond the cantonment. Following protests by residents, the state government with an objective of resolving the matter proposed handing over a section for developing road connectivity. As per the proposal, the road to be developed which connects Safilguda passes through the heart of the military area. It will also have to be secured by at least 2-metre-high walls for security reasons. Vijayawada: Given the huge demand for blood components for patients suffering from various diseases, Andhra Pradesh aims to convert its blood banks into facilities that can supply blood components. At present, AP has 173 blood banks, of which 40 are under the government and 133 in the private sector. Of the 40 BBs, 14 have the facility to provide blood components and so do the over 80 BBs in the private sector. Patients require specific components. Those who get infected with dengue require platelets and anemic pregnant women need RBC. There is a need to process stored blood into components like WBC, RBC, plasma, platelets etc for supply based on the requirements of patients. Health officials say conversion of blood banks dealing with whole blood into facilities providing components will cost about Rs 50 lakh per unit. At present, all the hospitals attached to government medical colleges and hospitals located at district headquarters are having blood banks that separate the components. Those located in area hospitals and in small towns and villages need to have such blood banks. In the private sector, all private medical college hospitals in urban areas and several other blood banks have facilities to separate components. The need for blood components arises when seasonal fevers like dengue, chikungunya, malaria, typhoid etc spread. Private hospitals often face allegations of fleecing of patients by charging them heavily to transfuse platelets etc. The state government is according top priority for the health sector by setting up as many as 16 new medical colleges and strengthening the health infrastructure. A part of this endeavour is the conversion of conventional blood banks into facilities that can offer various components also. A senior health official said, We are planning to convert some blood banks dealing with whole blood into those that can offer various components of the blood, under the National Health Mission. Moreover, it helps optimise the use of every drop of voluntarily donated blood if the components are separated and given to larger numbers of patients instead of the whole blood being given to just one patient. On the Agnipath/Agniveer issue, the government has again acted first and contemplated the consequences later. What was meant to be an experiment and affecting only a small portion of the recruitment suddenly replaced the existing process entirely. The tweaking of the scheme on the fly, first allowing those over 21 to apply this year and then announcing a reservation scheme for jobless Agniveers in the paramilitary forces, tells us that those who thought up the scheme had not thought it through. The violence was almost predictable. Earlier this year, similar incidents broke out in the same areas when the process for recruitment for the Indian Railways was messed up. This time those training to appear for recruitment in the armed forces and made to wait two years (at the risk of their becoming too old to qualify) because of the Covid-19 pandemic were now told that the scheme they trained for was over. They would not be hired as their fathers and ancestors had been in the Army, with the dignity of retirement and being referred to forever as a fauji. They would be on contract and most of them sent home in four years. This is not what they had trained for. The Narendra Modi government is now blaming the Opposition for the violence but there is no credibility in this accusation. One sign that the government knew that there was going to be a problem was that the Prime Minister did not announce or inaugurate the scheme. It was the defence minister and the service chiefs who were sent out to sell it. Narendra Modis faithful will say there is nothing wrong with it and in fact that is the way it ought to be announced. Yes, but that is not the way things have been happening since 2014. On anything of import, it is one individual who comes before the cameras to say that great and new things are in the offing. To undo a tradition of recruitment that is 225 years old and replace it overnight is the kind of masterstroke that only Mr Modi gets to announce. And so Agnipath joins the farm laws, the CAA and demonetisation and the lockdown on the list of things that the government announces first and then thinks about later. The question is will it end up as the farm laws and CAA, which were either pulled back or shelved because of the resistance. In my opinion, the Agnipath scheme will go through and that is essentially because this sort of violent protest does not last long and the young men now expressing their anger will eventually be spent and return home. We have seen violence on the issue of jobs before, for example during the Patidar Andolan in 2015. What seemed to be initially a mass movement in a few days petered out and in fact none of their demands for reservation or jobs was fully met. It has been only the peaceful, long-term mass-mobilisations such as in the case of the CAA and the farm laws that have seen victory. It would have been better for the young men angry at being short-changed by the Agnipath scheme to have approached this peacefully and with the long term in view. But they did not have organised leadership and as such are not a formal group. The thing is that unemployment and joblessness are a personally felt shame. It is not easy to mobilise a set of people who identify with others as a group that cannot get work. Even if they do come together, as they have twice this year, it tends to be to express their extreme emotion and distress at being let down instead of gritting their teeth and organising a peaceful agitation. For this reason, I think that quite soon this particular episode will be behind us and the government will be able to push the Agnipath scheme through. Others, more knowledgeable than me, have written about the pros and cons of the scheme, but for the person willing to listen to both arguments it is clear that the cons are catastrophic in nature while the pros are purely about spending less money. The last thing to note here is that while mobilisation on unemployment is not easy, the problem is deep and will not go away. Data that the government released this month from the Periodic Labour Force Survey shows that India is shedding jobs instead of adding them. A full 17 per cent of those who are employed today are in the unpaid household worker category, meaning that they are housewives. For the first time in history, India has seen people move away from manufacturing and services and into agriculture. Economists believe that this increase is a proxy for joblessness. This means those who have returned to the village from jobs in the city are claiming to be farming because they are too embarrassed to say that they are not working at all (again, the shame of joblessness). In all, there is no difference between the governments data and that of the private firm CMIE, which says that the number of Indians over 15 who are working or looking for work is around 40 crore people. The rate of participation is the lowest in South Asia and among the lowest in the world. There are no jobs in New India and the anger over the changes in the Army recruitment system is emblematic of a much larger problem. Flexible supply arrangements are replacing permanence and rigidity as in the gig economy to align with an uncertain world. The Union government is experimenting with applying these start-up human resources management principles to the military. The scheme titled Agnipath (trial by fire) requires future candidates for becoming soldiers /sepoys to go through an initial four-year period on contract and compete for permanent jobs. Only the top one-fourth would be formally recruited. Jack Welch, GEs celebrated CEO, did this first, advocating that firing the bottom 10 per cent improves performance. Understandably the Indian Army extremely competent on the job but ponderous and blinkered within its colonial legacy is privately seething at having to adapt managerially, as are large but select regions of rural areas which have for generations supplied the boots on the ground (sepoys/soldiers) to guard our frontiers. Why has the scheme gone wrong even before it has started? First, the public consultation before making these major changes was minimal. The military provides around 50,000 well-paying jobs which come with the added attraction of deep public respect and much needed life skills in an increasingly turbulent world. With the global economy sloping downwards towards recession, secure, permanent jobs with great perquisites, a life-long pension and first-rate medical care, are a big deal for a young man (women are not inducted as sepoys/soldiers yet) with thin qualifications the minimum is a high school certificate with outstanding physique, endurance, and a penchant for wild places. Second, the Narendra Modi government has a history of adopting shock and awe tactics in public policy. The problem with the breaking news announcements is that, as in allopathy, unintended side effects need to be administered to simultaneously. Be in no doubt that Agnipath, if its implemented rigorously and over a period of time, is truly transformative. More care with communications beyond the top-down press interviews would have been in order. Third, the transformative character of the scheme arises from the small but significant change made in the process of selection. This change has the deepest meaning for the infantry, within the Indian Army, and not its other segments or for the Air Force and the Navy. It is the infantry that employs the majority of sepoys men trained to challenge, confront and fight the enemy on foot, often hand to hand, in the blood-curdling savage way of yore. This way of life is not for drone warriors, safely cocooned in their air-conditioned, remote-control rooms. Hardened infantry officers and junior commissioned officers attest that what keeps the men going is officers leading from the front a characteristic deeply engrained in the Indian military and more important, the collective willingness to stand tall alongside regimental ancestors who made the supreme sacrifice and are revered as heroes. Community links count. This is why the colonial practice of recruiting from regions Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kumaon, Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Nagaland or castes Sikh, Rajput, Jat, Dogra, Maratha, Gurkha continues, in historical regiments. The Madras Regiment is the oldest, raised in 1758, followed by the Punjab Regiment (1761). The Indian military is exempt from the reservation policy for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, regiments like the Sikh Light or the Mahar were raised, which compete successfully against older, caste or region-based regiments, thereby debunking the colonial martial race theory of fighting ability being restricted to specific communities. The experience with the Rashtriya Rifles a mixed force, raised to manage terrorism in Kashmir, is similarly positive. Interestingly, as in the colonial period, when no one bothered which class a British officer belonged to, the officer cadre is recruited on an All India All Class (AIAC) basis and is none the worse for it. The Agnipath scheme seeks to follow the same AIAC principle for the recruitment of sepoys for the first time. Here lies the nub of the socio-economic problem. Given the desperate unemployment amongst the young, becoming an Agniveer is an attractive option even for those who have no family history of serving in the military. The biggest attraction lies in its impermanence, but the benefits are also significant. Selected candidates must serve for only four years. Then, one- fourth of the top ranked shall be absorbed and become regular sepoys but the rest will leave with Rs 1.17 million tax-free (both the individual and the government subscribe in equal shares to building this corpus, which also accumulates interest). The monthly composite salary increases from Rs 30,000 per month in the first year to Rs 40,000 in the terminal year. The fear amongst the traditional recruiting communities is of increased competition from non-traditional areas, making it more difficult to get it. Second, even after getting selected, the fear is of not making the grade at the end of four years an impermanence they were not used to till now. This fear of the unknown is similar to what the higher civil service feels when confronted with new management methods instituting competitive career progression, as opposed to the time-bound promotion and a pre-determined career progression. In sharp contrast, for military officers, promotion to the top depends on outstanding relative performance because the positions at the top are few, relative to those at the bottom. Four, Agnipath is a clever attempt to mask the harsh truth that the military will need fewer sepoys in future as the nature of warfare will change. This is why only 11,500 (25 per cent) of Agniveers out of the 46,000 will be retained. Agnipath is a transition mechanism dulling the immediate pain from change. It can be continued till needed, without affecting the numbers recruited every year. It is only from 2027-28, when 75 per cent of the first cohort of Agniveers are to be discharged, that the pain will be keenly felt. Here too preferential recruitment in the Central police and paramilitary services can assuage the discharged. Also, the lumpsum terminal amount is handsome for a 24-year-old with light qualifications. Private providers of security services have welcomed the scheme. They anticipate the gift of large numbers of pre-trained candidates. The government is spending far more (life cycle all-in costs) on hiring the temporary Agniveers than it would cost to hire a regular sepoy, including retirement benefits. But back-loaded benefits will flow. One such is nudging the Indian Army to upgrade technologically, which requires greater flexibility in employment practices something that the gig economy ensures for employers. Also, over a 19-year period, the Agniveer alumnus would number 0.5 million a working age, sizable, cohesive political force. France's President Emmanuel Macron waves as he leaves after casting his vote in the second stage of French parliamentary elections at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France on June 19, 2022. (Photo:AFP) Emmanuel Macron, the undisputed leader of France since 2017, has become the first sitting French President to not win a parliamentary majority since the electoral reforms of 2000. In a hard-to-explain verdict of less than half the eligible people who voted in elections to the lower but more powerful National Assembly, the swing away from the Centre was to the far right as well as the extreme left. Macrons centrist coalition won only 245 seats of 577, a drop from the 350-seat success of five years ago while the hard-left FUP, the Socialists, Greens and Communists become the biggest Opposition force with 131 seats, under the common name of Lupes and the leadership of Jean-Luc Melenchon (who, however, is not a member of the National Assembly) while the far-right National Rally, led by Ms Marine Le Pen who lost to Macron in the Presidential poll just two months ago, has leapt from eight to 89 seats. The net result is a newly elected President has failed to establish an absolute majority and will be hobbled in carrying out his domestic agenda of addressing the cost-of-living crisis, tending to his controversial proposal of raising of the retirement age, delivering a promised pro-business thrust plus an urgent environment law and handling a hospital crisis, besides promoting greater European Union integration. The swing away from Frances settled system, centred on a popular President occupying the symbolically powerful Elysee palace, might give a counter thrust in the form of the importance of Parliament. Frances Left-Right swing is, perhaps, explained by the fact that in an increasingly divided world in which people of many democracies the oldest as in the USA, the largest as in India, politically highly evolved as in UK and most industrialised as in Germany seem polarised and prone to extreme opinions and stands, such descent into ambiguity could have been expected. In any case, Macrons loss of majority was forecast just after his re-election as President. A record low turnout of 46.23 per cent is an aspect of voting that will remain a puzzling phenomenon, not quite explained by universally growing disenchantment with politics; and not only in France. The result is, however, not that extreme as to have forced Macron to work with a Prime Minister who is not his choice as incumbent Elisabeth Borne stays as a representative of Macrons Ensemble. However much domestic compulsions may reduce him to negotiating for compromises to pass legislation, he could still carry out foreign policy as it is largely left to the President in Frances scheme of things. It was from a spot on the tarmac before embarking for Romania and Ukraine that Macron had made his final emotional appeal to his people for support in the Assembly election. But it is unlikely that too much would have changed because of the election verdict as France has been in the forefront of support for Ukraine in the face of the ravages of war cynically raining down courtesy Putins Russia after transgressing into another sovereign nation. Amid protests over the remarks against Prophet Mohammed by two now-suspended BJP functionaries, a senior leader of the ruling Awami League has said that the Bangladesh government is under pressure to take "action" as events in India have consequences in this country. Khandakar Goulam Moula Naqshbandi, Chairman of the Religious Affairs Sub-Committee of the ruling Awami League and a member of the Advisory Committee, also said that disruptive forces try to take advantage of such a situation to disturb law and order in Muslim majority Bangladesh. "Many issues arise due to conspiracy at the international level and petty politics at the local level, but the situation worsens if immediate action was not taken, Naqshbandi said while talking to a group of Indian journalists here. "Bangladesh is under pressure from clerics and civil society to take action over the remarks against the Prophet," he said, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina knows how to deal with the situation. Naqshbandi said that Bangladesh has good relations with India, which is a friendly country. He said that the particular incident is prima facie an internal matter of India, but "such incidents affect the people here (in Bangladesh)." Track live updates of Prophet Remarks Row here On Friday, hundreds of people took to the streets in several major cities in Bangladesh, protesting against the controversial remarks made by two former BJP spokespersons against the Prophet. The protesters rallied after Friday prayers, chanting slogans and demanding that the Bangladesh government condemn the derogatory comments and boycott Indian products in the Muslim majority country. Naqshbandi said that such statements should be avoided as they can hurt the sentiments of anyone. Despite the expulsion of Naveen Jindal and suspension of Nupur Sharma and FIR against them by the BJP in the case, Naqshbandi said it was a late move and the step was taken after the protests from Arab countries. "The (Bangladesh) government is assessing the situation," he said. When asked whether the Committee on Religious Affairs will give any advice to the Hasina government in this matter, Naqshbandi said, "We have discussed this with the minister in-charge and after further discussion, we will issue a statement." He said that India and Bangladesh have very close relations and it is also true that many international powers are trying to spoil the relations between the two countries. On the question of continuing attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, he said Prime Minister Hasina has zero tolerance against religious fundamentalists and that is why she has acted expeditiously in such matters. When communal violence took place in Comilla and Peerganj, the government acted immediately and the accused were arrested within 12 hours, he said. Meanwhile, Professor of Persian Language and Literature in Dhaka University, Dr KM Saiful Islam Khan said that there is no need to give more importance to this matter after proper steps were taken by the Government of India. Opposition scurried for a new consensus candidate a non-party nominee for the July 18 Presidential elections after Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Monday drove them into a crisis by declining their offer to fight the electoral battle, a day before the leaders are to meet here to finalise a possible nominee. With the 77-year-old grandson of Mahatma Gandhi backing off even as the Opposition were coming around his name, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP leader who joined the Trinamool Congress last year, was back in strong contention but the deal was not clinched as Congress, CPI(M) and CPI insisted that he first resign from the party. With Gandhi becoming the third person to refuse to contest after NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah, senior Opposition leaders Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sitaram Yechury, Jairam Ramesh, D Raja and Praful Patel met here in the evening to mine for names. No Trinamool Congress leader was present in the meeting. Sources said the name of Sinha, whom the Trinamool Congress informally suggested to some leaders, came up. Sources said Pawar spoke to leaders like Mamata Banerjee, K Chandrasekhar Rao, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav and they agreed to support an Opposition candidate, including Sinha. Also read: Overseas Congress wants Sam Pitroda as Opposition candidate for Presidential polls However in the meeting of the six leaders, Congress and the Left leaders wanted Sinha to resign from the party, as the Opposition is looking for a non-party candidate for the Presidential elections in the 75th year of Independence and it wants to make the Presidential election an ideological one and wants to pit it as a Gandhi versus Godse battle. Trinamool Congress has not responded to the suggestion and if it does not agree, then the Opposition will have to look for other names, which could include legal luminaries, intellectuals and artists. The ball is in Trinamools court now, a senior leader said. The six leaders have scheduled another meeting for Tuesday morning to consult with others and arrive at a consensus before the final meeting at Parliament House Annexe where a decision on the name will be taken and announced. The ruling BJP is likely to announce its candidate on June 24 and the Opposition wants to have a head start, sources said. The last date of nomination is June 29. The 245 word statement from Gandhi was released in the afternoon, much to the disappointment of Opposition leaders, as they were making the final arrangements for the meeting at Parliament House Annexe. Some Opposition leaders tried to persuade Gandhi to reverse his decision but were unsuccessful. Several esteemed leaders of the Opposition have done me the honour of thinking of me for the Opposition's candidature in the up-coming elections for the highest office of Rashtrapati. I am most grateful to them. But having considered the matter deeply I see that the Opposition's candidate should be one who will generate a national consensus and a national atmosphere beside Opposition unity, Gandhi said in his statement. I feel there will be others who will do this far better than I. And so I have requested the leaders to give the opportunity to such a person. May India get a President worthy of the office presaged by Rajaji as the last Governor General and inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad as our first President, he added. Gandhi was the frontrunner as the Opposition candidate in 2017 Presidential elections but as the NDA announced the name of Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, the Opposition recaliberated its strategy and fielded Meira Kumar, the daughter of towering Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram and a former Lok Sabha Speaker. Gandhi was later fielded as Vice Presidential candidate but he lost to M Venkaiah Naidu, as the BJP-led NDA had a clear majority in the electoral college. Also the grandson of Indias last Governor General C Rajagopalachari, Gandhi was approached by Opposition leaders since Wednesday following a meeting of Opposition parties, expressing their support for him.Yechury and Mamata had spoken to him separately prior to the meeting. Hussein Al-Sheikh is gradually stepping into Mahmoud Abbas shoes By Yoni Ben Menachem web posted June 20, 2022 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (right) sitting with his purported successor, Hussein Al-Sheikh Israeli and U.S. officials are watching Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas affairs with concern. Senior Fatah officials report that something is happening to the 86-year-old Abbas. He has slowed his activity and cut back his meetings, participating only in the important ones while leaving the others to his confidant Hussein Al-Sheikh. On Saturday, June 11, 2022, Abbas hosted a U.S. delegation headed by Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, who came to lay the groundwork for President Bidens possible visit to the region. To Leaf, Abbas threatened to suspend ties and security coordination with Israel again. In addition, he demanded that the U.S. administration reopen the consulate in Jerusalem and the PLO office in Washington and delist the PLO as a terror organization. Senior PLO official Hussein Al-Sheikh, a confidant of Abbas and currently the leading candidate to succeed him until elections are held in the territories, is gradually assuming Abbas duties. Earlier this month Al-Sheikh, assuming the role held by the late Saeb Erekat, met with foreign consuls and U.S. envoy Hady Amr, with whom he discussed the Palestinian Authoritys demands of the U.S. administration. After Abbas June 11 meeting with the U.S. delegation led by Barbara Leaf, Al-Sheikh held a detailed discussion with the group. According to the WAFA news agency, the Palestinian official expressed a gamut of demands: I stressed the necessity of reopening the U.S consulate in East Jerusalem and removing the PLO from the lists of terrorism in accordance with the unfair congressional laws against the Palestinian people, and talked about the economic aspects and the need to resume assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA), as well as unilateral measures that would undermine the two-state solution and peace opportunities, especially in light of the global financial crisis, especially the financial crisis in the PA due to the occupations withholding of our money from taxes owed to us. Plugging the Leaks A leak to the BBCs Arabic channel over the weekend that Abbas had hastily been taken to hospital and had transferred some of his powers to Al-Sheikh, was no coincidence. Senior Fatah officials say this fake news was aimed at undermining the close ties between Abbas and his trusted ally Al-Sheikh. The report was staunchly denied by the Palestinian Authority, and the BBC channel had to delete it from its website. Hussein Al-Sheikh, for his part, is not resting on his laurels. Since Abbas authorized him two weeks ago to assume the role of secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, he has been acting energetically on several fronts to bolster his status as Abbas possible successor. Al-Sheikh is doing all he can to remain the most auspicious candidate to succeed Abbas as PA chairman and Fatah chairman. Senior Fatah officials say it was he who deferred the Eighth Fatah Conference to an unknown date, seeking to prevent the election of senior Fatah officials to key positions that would enable them to challenge him in the succession battle. Al-Sheikhs main rival is Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, who seeks the post of the organizations deputy chairman in place of Mahmoud al-Aloul. The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on June 6, 2022, that sharp disagreements between senior members of the Fatah Central Committee had begun to imperil the movements future. Most of the Fatah top brass oppose Al-Sheikh as their future leader. Other senior Fatah figures expressed chagrin over Abbas handling of the movements affairs and the performance of Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyehs government. There is intense anger over Abbas designation of Al-Sheikh as Executive Committee secretary-general without a process of internal elections as the PLO bylaws require. Senior Fatah officials say this damages the movements popularity and caused its defeat in the internal elections for several West Bank institutions, most notably the Student Council of Bir Zeit University. Al-Sheikhs reputation in the Palestinian street has been hit hard in recent years by reports on Palestinian social media and Israeli media charging him with corruption and sexual harassment. The Succession Battle Intensifies Senior Fatah officials are competing to succeed Abbas. Most prominent among them is Deputy Chairman Mahmoud al-Aloul, the oldest aspirant and part of the organizations founding generation. Also in the running is Secretary-General Rajoub. Both men would like to see a quick convening of the Eighth Fatah Conference, which, they believe, would further empower them in the succession battle. In light of these power struggles, however, Al-Sheikh convinced Abbas to postpone the conference to an unspecified later date. Al-Sheikh has been working for months to improve his ties with the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders and win their support in the succession battle. A very seasoned Palestinian politician, he is known to many as the fox of Fatah. Recently Al-Sheikh met with Egyptian and Jordanian officials and accompanied Abbas visit to Egypt and Jordan. Sources close to Al-Sheikh say that before his PLO Executive Committee appointment, Abbas consulted with Egyptian President El-Sisi and Jordans King Abdullah about the possibility of Al-Sheikh replacing Dr. Saeb Erekat. The latter, who died of COVID-19, had been the Executive Committees secretary-general and head of the negotiating team with Israel. When the two Arab leaders did not express opposition, Abbas began transferring some of Erekats powers to Al-Sheikh. Another rival to Al-Sheikh for the Fatah leadership is Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israel for the murder of Israelis. Barghouti regards himself as Abbas natural successor, and in Palestinian public opinion surveys, he is out in front as the next PA chairman. Fatah sources claim, however, that Israel promised Al-Sheikh that after Abbas death, Barghouti would not be freed from prison, thereby clearing the path for Al-Sheikh to take control of Fatah. The Israeli defense establishment fears that Barghouti, who was a leader of the Second Intifada, would reignite the armed struggle against Israel. Al-Sheikh, in any case, faces a huge challenge and is racing against time to shore up his status before Abbas leaves the political stage. Al-Sheikh is getting help from his political ally General Majid Freij, who is leading an effort to oust Prime Minister Shtayyeh and thereby boost Al-Sheikhs influence. Abbas supports Al-Sheikh, who has become his protege. In his role as head of civil affairs, Al-Sheikh is in charge of the tax revenues that Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority each month, entry permits to Israel, and VIP certificates for senior PA officials affording him great power within the PLO and the Palestinian Authority and ways to buy political loyalty. However, Al-Sheikh does not enjoy great support in the divided Fatah movement. Once Abbas leaves the political arena, Al-Sheikh will face a serious problem because the PA chairman has been the source of his power. In Gaza, Al-Sheikh is seen as responsible for the sanctions on the Strip, and all the factions oppose his becoming Abbas successor as PA chief. The Rumor Mill on Abbas Death Israeli security officials are watching with concern the efforts by senior Fatah officials to undermine the process of turning Al-Sheikh into Abbas temporary successor. Not only are Al-Sheikhs rivals building their power by distributing hundreds of weapons to their militias on the West Bank. Lately, they have also spread fake news about the 86-year-old PA chairmans state of health in the territories social media and that he has conferred some of his powers on Al-Sheikh. These Fatah officials hope to drive a wedge between Abbas and Al-Sheikh by creating the false impression that Al-Sheikh is trying to bury Abbas so that he can become his successor an inversion of the truth. A few days ago, a report emerged on social media claiming that a critically ill Abbas had been brought to a hospital in Amman and died there. Fatah spokesman Osama al-Qawasmi hastened to publish a denial in the Palestinian media: The reports in the social media about the PA chairmans death are not true, and his state of health is good. To discredit the rumors, Abbas office issued pictures of Abbas addressing by telephone a conference on the Jerusalem issue that was held in Al-Bira, as well as a short video segment in which he appears to be working in his office. This is not the first time fake news about the PA chairmans health status has been spread on social media. Two years ago, similar reports were disseminated, and PA officials claimed that Mohammed Dahlan, a bitter adversary of Abbas, was behind them. Dahlan vehemently denied the accusations. In recent months Dahlan has ceased his attacks on the PA chairman and his associates. Fatah sources say this was at the behest of the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, for whom Dahlan serves as a security adviser, to help achieve reconciliation between them and the Palestinian Authority. The Quds News Agency reported on June 6 that Abbas was having trouble conducting his work. Citing unidentified sources, the agency claimed Abbas had been exhausted by the visit to the Mukata in Ramallah last week by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and had to take a two-day absence from his office. Abbas recently had health checkups in Amman and Germany, and it was said that he was in good health. The Quds News Agency also claimed that the social-media reports about some of Abbas powers being delegated to Al-Sheikh stem from the intense power struggles in Fatah and the severe rift in its Central Committee. Senior Fatah official Abdullah Abdullah said Israel was behind the reports on Abbas deteriorating health to sow confusion in the Palestinian arena. Other Fatah officials claimed that right-wing Israeli websites had fabricated them. Israeli security sources rejected the claims as lies and said the reports were circulated by senior Fatah officials who want to create a rift between Abbas and his intended successor Al-Sheikh. It is hard to know who is planting all the rumors on social media. The Palestinian General Intelligence Service, headed by Al-Sheikhs ally General Majid Freij, is trying to identify the source of these rumors with cyber tools. According to Palestinian law, spreading rumors about the PA chairman is a criminal offense. It can reasonably be assumed, however, that the rumors are being circulated with great finesse by Al-Sheikhs bitter political adversaries. In the Palestinian Authority, the malicious rumors are ascribed to interested parties such as: Prime Minister Shtayyeh, who is infuriated by the intention to depose him. Senior Fatah officials Jibril Rajoub or Azzam al-Ahmad, who hate Al-Sheikh. Hamas. Abbas choice of Al-Sheikh as Erekats temporary replacement came as a surprise to the Fatah movement. In the next stage, he intends to promote Freij to membership of the Fatah Central Committee. The tripartite axis of Abbas, Hussein Al-Sheikh, and Majid Freij is currently leading the Palestinian Authority to the consternation of other Fatah officials such as Jibril Rajoub and Mahmoud Al-Aloul, each of whom sees himself as Abbas successor. In any case, a senior Fatah official believes that if Abbas is incapacitated or dies, the one who will temporarily replace him will be the former speaker of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, and that it will be for a period of 60 days until the presidential elections. Although Hussein Al-Sheikh will be able to run in those elections, his chances of winning are now poor in light of his blemished reputation in the Palestinian street. Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as Director General and Chief Editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Home India on Sunday proposed to work with Bangladesh for comprehensive management of the 54 common rivers, although the two nations could not yet end the more-than-a-decade-long impasse over a proposed deal on sharing of water of one of them the Teesta. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart in the Government of Bangladesh, A K Abdul Momen, co-chaired a meeting of the joint consultative commission in New Delhi to review the bilateral relations between the two nations and the ways to expand it with cooperation in newer areas, including renewable energy, Information Technology, Fintech, Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity. We share 54 rivers. Comprehensive management of our rivers and their conservation, as well as the shared environmental responsibility that we have, especially the Sundarbans (the mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh) are really areas that we need to work together as part of our commitment to climate action, Jaishankar told Momen while making opening remarks at the meeting. The two ministers agreed to work closely together to further deepen and strengthen cooperation in the areas of common rivers and water resources management, agriculture and food security, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management, according to a joint press release issued by the two governments after the meeting. New Delhi is keen to work with Dhaka to explore the possibility of inking a comprehensive agreement on the management of all common rivers, as they do not appear to be close to resolving the stalemate over the proposed deal on Teesta. Teesta is a river which originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh. Though New Delhi and Dhaka had in 2011 made a move to clinch a water-sharing deal, it had been stalled as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refrained from giving her consent, stating that such a pact would result in water scarcity in the northern region of the state and hit the farmers hard. The impasse is still continuing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind visited Bangladesh in March and December 2021. New Delhi is now preparing to host Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The meeting between Jaishankar and Momen and the seventh round of the India-Bangladesh joint consultative commission was intended to start working on the possible outcome of the neighbouring countrys prime ministers visit to New Delhi. Jaishankar and Momen also reiterated the importance of the safe, speedy and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced persons (the Rohingyas) from the Rakhine State to Myanmar, currently being sheltered by Bangladesh. Track the latest news and updates from India and across the world, only with DH. Derry Girls actress Zoe Brown has been undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at just four years old. The youngster starred as Erin Quinn's baby sister, Anna Quinn, together with her twin sister Sophie, in season one and two of the Channel 4 hit series. Zoe, who is from Belfast, was diagnosed with leukemia seven weeks ago after her mother noticed she was pale and rushed her to the hospital. It was then doctors confirmed the devastating analysis. Since then, the four-year-old has had a number of bone marrow biopsies and is currently receiving chemotherapy and steroid therapies. Zoe's mum, Leah, told Belfast Live that the youngster has spent the last several weeks undergoing gruelling procedures and treatments, which will continue until Christmas and have left the youngster too weak to walk. Leah, says her daughter is nonetheless smiling regardless of the grueling therapy and dropping her hair, which she says is the hardest part. I know thats not the main concern, but its the saddest wee bit for her, Leah said. Zoe just had the longest thickest hair and it was the first thing anyone talked about when they saw her. Derry Girls fans have rallied to support the family through the heartbreaking ordeal. A family friend has set up a fundraising page to support the family which has smashed its 500 target by raising nearly 7000. Leah, who has been forced to give up her work to care for Zoe, said that the help and kindness they have received so far from well-wishers has been unbelievable." The Playhouse played host to the screening of the premiere of a short film on The Life of Saint Columba with 85 local school children attending. The film, starring children from Fountain, Nazareth House and Long Tower Primary Schools was recorded in December last year with the children participating in a celebrating common Christian heritage project funded by Department for Foreign Affairs and The Honourable The Irish Society. The film was produced in collaboration with media students from NWRC (North West Regional College) who were participating in a The Executive Office funded project Our City Our Story. Led by The Churches Trusts youth development team, the play was recorded by the media students who then edited and produced the film The Life of Saint Columba. Pupils from Long Tower Primary School pictured at the Playhouse on Tuesday before the screening. Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography The collaboration saw the Churches Trust youth development team work with media students to develop their general skills and better understand peace building. The premiere was attended by almost 150 at the Playhouse Theatre and was part of a series of events, funded by the Community Relations Council, celebrating the work of the Churches Trust which ran in the prestigious venue until May 25. The celebration events also included an exhibition and showcased of creative outputs of the Uniting Opportunities, Community of Homes projects, a personal development Good Relations themed project where young people build positive relationships and together address barriers to community participation. Edward Montgomery, The Honourable The Irish Society chatting to members of the Churches Trust. Churches Trust youth worker Catherine Coyle said: The event has been the culmination of a lot of hard work from local students both in starring in the play and then the recording, editing and production of the film. The onus was on the students to get them to explore the diversity and commonalties within their city, challenge stereotypes and to tell the story of their city in exploring identity from multiple perspectives. Speaking at the Playhouse after the premier, Fiona Fagan, CEO, Churches Trust praised the excellent work of all who took part. It was wonderful today to see the culmination of many months work on screen and it was a great success. The children are a credit to their schools for the professionalism and dedication theyve shown throughout the project, and indeed, in such trying times. They should be very proud of what they brought to the screen today. Schoolchildren from the three schools await the screening of The Life of Saint Columba at the Playhouse. Catherine Coyle also had praise for all who took part. It was good to see so many happy faces at todays screening. They did tremendously well especially after having to adapt through Covid. I would like to make special mention of our funders, who without their help the successful conclusion would not have happened namely, The Executive Office, the Department for Foreign Affairs and The Honourable The Irish Society. The film can be viewed on The Churches Trust You Tube Channel the Churches Trust Website at WWW.thechurchestrust. org.uk Its summer (officially, if not weather wise), and that means its festival season! This summer sees the return of the Stendhal Festival in Limavady, returning for its 12th year to Ballymully Cottage Farm. The festival, taking place from the June 30-July 2, features a great mix of local and international acts, including Bronagh Gallagher, Paddy Nash and the Happy Enchiladas, Sister Sledge, Parker and Hayseed Dixie, and is now the largest weekend outdoor festival showcase...of Irish musical talent in the country. The festival, running since 2008, has, over the years, been seen as a chance for indigenous Irish acts to truly shine and this year looks to be no exception. This week Im going to take a look at some of the local talent appearing. Bronagh Gallagher Bronagh Gallagher is nothing short of a legend, even before she appeared in the last episode of Derry Girls. Star of films such as Pulp Fiction, A Bump Along the Way and, of course, The Commitments, Bronagh is one of the best live acts currently on the scene (trust me, Ive seen her God-knows-how many times in Derry, Galway, and Dublin). Over the years, Bronagh has worked with the likes of Brian Eno and Dave Stewart and continues to hold down a successful acting career, staring in shows such as Brassic and Pramface. Her concerts are some of the best Ive been seen (and Ive seen a lot) and she gives 100% commitment to every performance (sorry, couldnt resist). To date, she has released three excellent albums (all of which can be found in Cool Discs) and she puts on a show that is not to be missed. Paddy Nash and the Happy Enchiladas Another home-grown hero, Paddy Nash is one of the citys finest songwriters. Across four albums (three with the Enchiladas, one solo), Paddy can make you laugh and cry with his music, with songs like the heartbreaking Martin to the loving ode to banks and bankers, The Moneymans Dead. Prior to forming the Happy Enchiladas, Paddy was a member of The Screaming Bin Lids and The Whole Tribe Sings, before stepping away from the music business in 2001. Returning in 2006, hes been going pretty much ever since, releasing the albums When We Were Brave, Times of Transition and Laughter and Love with the Happy Enchiladas. Louise DaCosta Louise DaCosta is one of Irelands biggest DJs. A veteran of the Irish dance music scene, she learned her craft 'in the amazing venue RedRooms, supporting the likes of Calvin Harris, Claude Von Stroke and Benny Benassi whilst still finishing my A levels!' To date, she has had three consecutive No. 1s on Beatport, as well as a number of top 10 and 20 hits. Recently, shes started her own label, allowing her to control her own music. I launched my own label DaCosta Records in 2019 for dance electronic releases and then DaCosta Rocks to release indie/alternative/rock, with a major push on homegrown talent! Her most recent release was Bad Bit, released on her own label at the end of last month. Parker Parker are one of the best (and loudest) young bands on the Derry scene at the minute. Consisting of Dylan Bradley on guitar and vocals, Eoghan Donegan on bass and Michael Brown on drums, Parker came into being at the beginning of last year. Since then, theyve had supporting slots with bands such as General Fiasco and Wonk Unit and have toured Ireland and the UK to adoring crowds. Parker describe their sound as 'pop-rock...chorus-melodic focused music.' The music is 'much more pop-like than we used to do (in previous bands, including Lost Avenue)' but 'rooted in punk.' If youre a Pixies fans, Parker are a group youre going to want to see. Definitely one to watch in the future. For more information on Parker, see next weeks column. Cherym Cherym are another excellent Derry three-piece. Made up of Hannah Richardson (lead guitar/lead vocals), Nyree Porter (bass and vocals) and Alannagh Doherty (drums and vocals), they have, to date, released two EPs as well as a number of singles. The past year has seen them open for the likes of The Beths and Nova Twins as well as playing several sold out shows locally. Theres plenty more I could write about for this piece but Ive only got so much space so this will have to do. Stendhal takes place from the 30th June to the 2nd of July in Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady. For more information, see stendhalfestival.com. Minister Byrne to attend the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg Press release On 21 June, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, will travel to Luxembourg to represent Ireland at a meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC). The main item at this months General Affairs Council meeting will be preparation for the European Council meeting on 23/24 June. At that meeting, leaders will discuss the situation in Ukraine; Wider Europe and the Membership applications of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia; Economic issues; the Western Balkans; and the Conference on the Future of Europe. There will also be a be an EU-Western Balkans Leaders meeting on 23 June, in advance of the European Council meeting. At the GAC meeting, the French Presidency will provide an update on the Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising. There will be an exchange of views on the way forward as regards the proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe and Ministers are expected to approve the country-specific recommendations for the European Semester 2022. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Minister Byrne said: "This will be a busy meeting of the General Affairs Council as we prepare for the European Council later this week, where leaders will discuss a number of issues, including the ongoing appalling conflict in Ukraine. The EU continues to be united in our response to Russias illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war. Ireland supports a continued robust EU response to Russias appalling violence, including directly against civilians, in Ukraine. We will continue to stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian Government and people of Ukraine. In relation to Ukraines application for EU membership, there is very strong support across the political spectrum in Ireland and we stand ready to provide Ukraine with the necessary political and practical assistance in support of their application. This months meeting will also discuss the Conference on the Future of Europe. Over 300 recommendations have been proposed by the Conference, spanning a wide range of areas, including health, democracy, rule of law and the environment. The priority now is effective follow-up of the Conference final report. There is much which can already be done within the existing framework and policies to implement the citizens recommendations. Ireland intends to work closely with our EU Partners to ensure that this process will deliver benefits for all the Unions citizens. Vice-President Sefcovic will also update Member States on the Protocol on Northern Ireland following the publication of UK legislation. I know that my EU counterparts around the Council table will share our deep concern at the UK Governments approach on the Protocol. They will see this as a most egregious breach of an internationally binding agreement which the EU reached with the UK just two years ago. Trust between the EU and the UK has been further damaged. "The EU has made clear that it remains open to working with the UK to find solutions to the genuinely held concerns of people and business in Northern Ireland. I once again urge the UK to return to good faith talks with the EU. Only a jointly agreed solution can bring stability and certainty for people and businesses in Northern Ireland. ENDS Press Office 20 June 2022 Previous Item | Next Item Minister Coveney attends Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg Press release On 20 June May, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney T.D. will attend a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. EU Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss Russias continuing aggression against Ukraine and will assess the geopolitical impact of the conflict, including how the EU can best address the global food security crisis that the war has exacerbated. The Foreign Affairs Council will also discuss developments in the Horn of Africa, with a particular focus on the situation in Ethiopia. Ministers will also hold an informal exchange with the Foreign Minister of Egypt, which is expected to include discussions on preparations for COP27. Speaking ahead of the discussion on Russian aggression against Ukraine, Minister Coveney said: The EUs support for Ukraine remains resolute in the face of Russias continued illegal war. Our discussions at the Foreign Affairs Council will allow us to assess the ongoing attrition in Ukraine and to consider the broader geopolitical impact of the war. Ireland is gravely concerned about the worsening global food insecurity situation, which is being exacerbated by Russias actions in Ukraine. While the EU is not the cause of the global food crisis, the EU stands ready to do its utmost to address it. Ireland welcomes the publication of the Commission opinion on the EU candidacy of Ukraine and we are confident that the European Council will provide a clear signal of hope to the people and Government of Ukraine later this week about their place in the European family. The Minister commented on Ethiopia: The ongoing crisis in Ethiopia continues to have a devastating impact across northern Ethiopia, in particular in Tigray. Notwithstanding some recent progress, responding to the acute humanitarian crisis must remain our priority and unimpeded humanitarian access and the restoration of essential services continues to be a critical and urgent requirement. Ireland fully supports the ongoing mediation work of African Union Special Envoy Olusegun Obasanjo and encourages engagement by all sides in his efforts to secure a lasting negotiated settlement and durable cessation of hostilities. ENDS Press Office 20 June 2022 Previous Item | Next Item This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Armed forces to recruit 46,000 youth under 'Agnipath' scheme this year The union cabinet on Tuesday approved an attractive recruitment scheme for motivated Indian youth to serve in the armed forces for a period of four years. The scheme is called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers. Recruitment rallies will commence within 90 days, according to a defence ministry release. The Agnipath scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the armed forces. It will provide an opportunity to the youth who may be keen to don the uniform by attracting young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends while helping to plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society. As for the armed forces, it will enhance its youthful profile and provide a fresh lease of Josh and Jazba while bringing about a transformational shift towards a more tech savvy military. It is envisaged that the average age profile of Indian armed forces would come down by about 4-5 years by implementation of this scheme. The nation stands to immensely benefit by infusion of highly inspired youth with deeper understanding of self-discipline, diligence and focus who would be adequately skilled who will be able to contribute in other sectors as well, says the defence ministry release. The dividends of a short military service to the nation, society and the youth of the nation are immense. This includes inculcation of patriotism, team work, enhancement of physical fitness, ingrained loyalty for the country and availability of trained personnel to boost national security in times of external threats, internal threats and natural disasters. This is a major defence policy reform introduced by the government to usher in a new era in the human resource policy of the three Services. The policy, which comes into immediate effect, will hereafter govern the enrolment for the three services, the release stated. Agniveers will be given an attractive customised monthly package along with risk and hardship allowances as applicable in the three services. On completion of the engagement period of four years, Agniveers will be paid one time Seva Nidhi package, which shall comprise their contribution, including accrued interest thereon and matching contribution from the government. The Seva Nidhi will be exempt from income tax. There will, however, be no entitlement to gratuity and pensionary benefits. Agniveers will be provided non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian armed forces. During this period of service to the nation, the Agniveers will be imparted various military skills and experience, discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage and patriotism. After completion of the four-year stint, each Agniveer will be awarded a certificate to acknowledge the skills gained by him/her. Agniveers, completing the four-year tenure in the prime of their youth, will be mature and self-disciplined to become better version of himself/herself both professionally as also personally. The avenues and opportunities that will open up for their progress in the civil world after Agniveer tenure would certainly be a big plus towards nation building. Moreover, the Seva Nidhi of approximately Rs11.71 lakh would help the Agniveer pursue his/her future dreams without the financial pressure, which is normally the case for young people from the financially deprived strata of society. Those selected for enrolment in the armed forces as regular cadre would be required to serve for a further engagement period of a minimum 15 years and would be governed by the existing terms and conditions of service of Junior Commissioned Officers/Other Ranks in Indian Army and their equivalent in the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force and that of Non-Combatant enrolled in the Indian Air Force, as amended from time to time. The scheme will lead to a more youthful and technically adept war fighting force by ensuring a fine balance between youthful and experienced personnel in the armed forces, the release stated. Upon the completion of four years of service, based on organisational requirement and policies promulgated by the armed forces from time-to-time, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the armed forces. These applications will be considered in a centralised manner based on objective criteria, including performance during their four-year engagement period. Up to 25 per cent of each specific batch of Agniveers will be enrolled in regular cadre of the armed forces. Enrolment of Agniveers will be through an online centralised system for all three services with specialised rallies and campus interviews from recognised technical institutes such as Industrial Training Institutes and National Skills Qualifications Framework, among others. Enrolment will be based on All India All Class basis and the eligible age will be in the range of 17-1/2 to 21 years (The upper age limit has since been extended by 2 years to 23). Agniveers will meet the medical eligibility conditions laid down for enrolment in the armed forces as applicable to respective categories/trades. The educational qualification for Agniveers will remain as in vogue for enrolment in various categories. (For example: For entry into General Duty (GD) soldier, the educational qualification is Class 10). China to build first ever space-based solar power station China is embarking on an ambitious space-based solar power programme, with plans to start building the first phase of solar power generation station in 2028, two years ahead of schedule. The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the countrys leading state-owned spacecraft manufacturer, intends to set up a Space high voltage transfer and wireless power transmission experiment in low Earth orbit in 2028, the Hong-Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. CAST will be conducting solar power generation and transmission tests at various orbital altitudes over the next decade, the report added. The space station will have a solar array that transforms solar energy into electricity, which would then be transmitted to Earth using a microwave transmitter or a laser emitter. It will include a solar cell array, a microwave transmitting antenna, a low-power laser transmission payload, a transmitting array, and a test power transfer across 400 kilometres from orbit. The satellite will be able to generate 10 kilowatts of power, which will be enough to power a few households. The phase 1 test will soon be followed by phase 2 in 2030, which will be launched into geostationary orbit and will require precise energy transfer over a distance of 35,800 kilometres to Earth. The second mission could produce up to one megawatt of power. It will have much larger transmission arrays and medium-power laser power transmission and will need to be assembled in orbit. Phases 3 and 4, scheduled for 2035 and 2050, respectively, call for significant increases in energy generation and transmission (10 MW and 2 gigawatts), orbital assembly capabilities, beam steering accuracy, and transmission architecture. The proposal also calls for the construction of infrastructure on the ground to receive energy transmissions. CASTs designs have been updated in the paper Retro-directive microwave power beam steering technology of space solar power stations, which was recently published in the journal China Space Science and Technology. The four-phase project, according to the paper, could help China achieve its energy security and carbon neutrality goals. The updated strategy is apparently in response to domestic and international development trends as well as technology advancements. In 2021, CAST revealed that it is working on small-scale electricity generation experiments, with a megawatt-level power generation facility possibly being built around 2030. It is also building test facilities in Chongqing city in Southwestern China to help its research into space-based solar power. The team even used a payload aboard a small airship to test power transfer across a distance of 300 meters last year. In a related development, a senior official with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which, like CAST, is a subsidiary of Chinas main space contractor, CASC, last year introduced a proposal to construct a space-based power station in GEO using a reusable Long March 9 super-heavy launch vehicle. The proposal is far from likely to proceed or receive an official sanction. Space-based solar power has significant obstacles, including economic feasibility and manufacturing costs, low and dependable launch services, and efficient and safe energy transfer. The concept of harvesting solar power in space was popularised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1941 in a brief tale that imagined space stations using microwave beams to carry the suns energy to distant planets. In 1968, an American aerospace engineer Peter Glaser submitted the first detailed plan for a solar-powered system in space. Glaser also secured a contract with NASA to fund research after experimenting with solar power transport in the 1970s. NASA did not actively pursue the project until 1999 when it revived the solar power exploratory research and technology programme. NASA eventually gave up on the idea because of the cost and economic feasibility issues. Louth County Council says it is pleased to announce that Culture Night will take place on Friday 23 September 2022 from 4pm until late. Louth County Council Arts Service now welcomes applications from those eligible to avail of funding from their Culture Night Event Fund for 2022. The fund is open to applications from not-for-profit organizations, local community groups, arts, heritage & cultural groups, venues and societies. Applications can be made by individuals but must be in partnership with a venue, community, arts, cultural or heritage group. Assistance cannot be given in relation to commercial activities. Events should respond to the national theme of this years Culture Night, Come Together Again. See https://culturenight.ie/ for full details. The maximum award that will be given to any one application will be 1,500. A budget breakdown must be submitted with any proposal seeking support of over 500. This year the local authority are particularly interested in projects that reflect the cultural richness of Louth and the diversity within our communities. Initiatives that specifically target the 18-35 demographic and target the night time economy will also be looked on favourably, they say. Louth County Council says it is committed to projects that consider equality, inclusion, accessibility and diversity and that seek to include all voices of culture. They also encourage people to consider how they can target and engage with new / different audiences while planning their event. Eligible & Ineligible Costs: The grant can cover costs related to the running of the event such as guest speaker fees, guest artist fees, arts materials, event photographer and tech support hire. Payment of the grant will be for the specific activities outlined in the application/proposal. The grant cannot cover staffing costs on the night of the event, ongoing revenue costs, any capital costs, equipment purchase costs, charity fund raising events, cost of repaying existing debts, refreshments, publicity costs, travel or accommodation expenses. Please note that applying for this funding does not guarantee that your event will be funded. Events must take place in County Louth on Culture Night, Sept 23rd and must be free of charge. Events must take place after 4p.m. Conditions of Funding: Successful applicants will be required to: Ensure they have appropriate insurance cover for the event. Ensure that, where appropriate, child protection policies are in place. Ensure that all events comply with Health and Safety and legislative requirements. Ensure that events are compliant with the most up-to-date government guidelines on Covid 19 Ensure that Louth County Council and the Arts Council of Ireland are acknowledged in any and all publicity relating to the event. Relevant logos will be supplied to the successful grant awardees. The grant will only be paid AFTER the event and all expenditure has been processed. Vouched expenses and a short report on the event including audience numbers etc should be submitted by October 7th 2022 at the latest to ensure payment. Applications should be in the form of a short 2 page proposal outlining event details and target audience and they should be submitted to arts@louthcoco.ie by 4p.m on Friday 8th July 2022. Enquiries can also be sent to arts@louthcoco.ie Virginia authorities announced that four suspects escaped from a prison satellite camp but have not revealed details regarding the search for the inmates as of Sunday. The four prisoners were identified to be Corey Branch, Tavares Lajuane Graham, Lamonte Rashawn Willis, and Kareem Allen Shaw. The suspects were discovered missing from the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg's satellite camp located in Hopewell, Virginia, at around 1:45 a.m on Saturday. Escaped Inmates The U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other law enforcement agencies were notified, and an internal investigation was initiated. Authorities revealed some information regarding the four inmates that escaped. The 41-year-old Branch was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to more than 13 years for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and felon in possession of a firearm. On the other hand, 44-year-old Graham was sentenced in the Eastern District of North Carolina to 10 years for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 28 grams or more of cocaine base, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, as per ABC News. The 30-year-old Willis was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to 18 years for possession and concealment of a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On the other hand, 46-year-old Shaw was sentenced in the Western District of Virginia to more than 16 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a measurable quantity of heroin. Read Also: US Capitol Police Arrests Colbert Show Crew After Democrat Party Members Allegedly Allowed Entry The United States Bureau of Prisons announced that the inmates were first reported missing, saying that the suspects walked away from the minimum-security facility. The U.S. Marshals Service said it was encouraging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the inmates to call officials. According to the New York Post, another similar incident was when three inmates escaped a Missouri jail but were later captured again. The suspects allegedly cut a hole through a ceiling and were identified as Lance Justin Stephens, Matthew Crawford, and Christopher Blevins. Fatal Incidents Stephens was being held on drug charges since early May, while Crawford was charged with theft in late April, and Blevins was booked on gun and drug charges. The three men were rearrested in separate incidents. Authorities said they captured Stephens on Tuesday near San Antonio, Texas, arrested Crawford on Monday in Springfield, Missouri, and took Blevins into custody on June 8 near Casper, Wyoming. The incidents come after a Texas grandfather, and his four grandchildren were killed by an escaped inmate. Authorities identified the suspect as 46-year-old Gonzalo Lopez, who had no connection to the family. The convict was fatally shot during a Thursday shootout with police after law enforcement personnel spotted a truck that was stolen from the victims' property. The chief of staff for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Jason Clark, said that he believes the family arrived on Thursdays at the Leon County property and were killed that afternoon. The cause of death of the 66-year-old man and his four grandkids has not been released, NBC News reported. Related Article: Massachusetts Officers Discover Remains of Missing 3-Year-Old Boy in Pond Day After Disappearance in Babysitter's Yard @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Aidan OBrien has not ruled out the possibility of Tuesday taking on the colts in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Saturday. Winner of the Cazoo Oaks at Epsom on June 3, the day she actually turned three, if the daughter of Galileo runs she will be attempting to become the first filly to win Irelands premier Classic since the Frankie Dettori-ridden Balanchine in 1994. Her victory in the Oaks was the fifth run of her career, but her third Classic, having finished placed in both the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish equivalent. It's TUESDAY's day She beats favourite EMILY UPJOHN to win the @Cazoouk Oaks #CazooDerby pic.twitter.com/edG3AVJqmX Epsom Downs Racecourse (@EpsomRacecourse) June 3, 2022 OBrien, who does not appear to have a standout Irish Derby contender among his colts this season, will be looking for a 15th win in the race this weekend. Its possible we could supplement Tuesday, OBrien told the PA news agency. Ive very possible, but well decide in the morning. OBrien enjoyed another successful Royal Ascot last week, once again being crowned leading trainer at the meeting during five days which saw him land his 900th Group or Graded race. He also moved within one of Sir Michael Stoute as the leading trainer at the showpiece fixture with his 81st winner. Tuesdays Oaks form took a boost on Sunday when the Hollie Doyle-ridden Nashwa, third at Epsom, dropped down in distance to win the French Oaks at Chantilly. French voters appeared ready to deprive newly re-elected centrist President Emmanuel Macron of an absolute majority in parliament that would limit his powers during a second term. On Sunday, France's interior ministry released partial results that showed Macron's centrist alliance is likely to miss the threshold for an absolute majority, which is 289 seats in the National Assembly, France's lower house. However, the president's coalition will remain the largest parliamentary bloc. Macron's Failure To Gain Majority Based on the 90% of second-round votes that were counted, Macron's alliance came first by securing 37.6% of the votes. The partial results also showed that the leftist coalition New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES), which is led by far-left figure Jean-Luc Melenchon, is set to come in second place and is projected to win 30.34% of the votes. The leftist coalition would then become the main opposition force in France but it is expected to be divided on some issues once in parliament. Shortly after the partial results were released, Melenchon said that the situation was totally unexpected and was "absolutely unheard of," as per CNN. The official added that the collapse of the presidential party is total and noted that no majority is presented. According to Melenchon, they have achieved the political objective that they set for themselves for the elections. His coalition aimed to bring down one who they said twisted the arm of the whole country. Read Also: Emmanuel Macron Facts: Interesting Info You May Not Know About The French President The situation comes as Macron will become the first sitting French president to not win a parliamentary majority since a 2000 electoral reform. His coalition is expected to try and form alliances with other political parties, including reaching out to the traditional right which came fourth on Sunday. According to the New York Times, the results are a rebuke of Macron who appeared disengaged in the campaign and more preoccupied with France's diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. French Elections Speaking on an airport tarmac before a trip to Eastern Europe, specifically Kyiv, Macron urged voters to give him a "solid majority" for the "superior interest of the nation." Despite his words of encouragement, the French president did little campaigning himself to the people of his country. Macron's budget minister, Gabriel Attal, said that the results were not what they were hoping for while acknowledging that his party and its allies would have to "find a stability" in parliament if they want to push through legislation. Elisabeth Borne, Macron's recently-nominated prime minister, was projected to win her race, similar to Gerald Darmanin, the president's tough-talking interior minister. However, several of his subordinates appeared to have lost, including Richard Ferrand, the president of the National Assembly, and Amelie de Montchalin, Macron's minister for green transition. Marine Le Pen, who lost in the country's presidential election in May, said, "Macron adventure has reached its end." She added that the upcoming group of National Rally lawmakers will be by far the "biggest of the history of our political family." The acting president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said that his party's results were comparable to a "tsunami," Fox News reported. Related Article: Emmanuel Macron Willing To Meet Vladimir Putin in Russia Under Certain Conditions @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A key organiser of Saturday's Cork cost of living demonstration this morning said that protests will grow if the Government continues to resist demands for action. Socialist Party TD Mick Barry's comments come in the wake of Saturday's protest which was attended by more than 1,000 people. Cost of Living protest march, part of a national series of protests, at St Patrick's Street, Cork City on Saturday 18th June 2022. Pic Larry Cummins Deputy Barry said that the Cork protest was larger than the first protest in the city against the household tax more than 10 years ago. The household tax protests led to large protests against the water charges. He said: "Micheal Martin seems to be closing the door this morning on the demands voiced by the people who took to the streets at the weekend in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Sligo. "If he tries to stick to that line, I think protests are only going to go one way - they're going to grow. "This crisis isn't going away and the demand for change isn't going to go away either. I can guarantee the Taoiseach that that is the case." CITIZENS of Cork should be able to walk through the city without fear of being assaulted or even having to witness one, a Circuit Court judge declared. Judge Helen Boyle made this comment at the sentencing hearing for a man who pleaded guilty to his part in an assault on another man outside McDonalds on Daunt Square in Cork city centre. Daniel Whittington of 73 Mount Eden Road, Gurranabraher, had his case before Cork Circuit Criminal Court for sentencing a number of times but it was adjourned to consider the defence submissions in the case. Defence barrister Dermot Sheehan emphasised the absence of any previous conviction of this kind against the defendant. Mr Sheehan said the defendant was anxious about the impact that an assault conviction would have for him in relation to his career prospects. The barrister suggested that even though a kick in the head was a matter that the court would take seriously, it might be a suitable case for giving the accused the benefit of a dismissal under the Probation of Offenders Act. Mr Sheehan said that as well as pleading guilty to the crime, the accused man had engaged in mediation with the injured party. Judge Helen Boyle said, It is accepted this is not a trivial assault but it is also not believed you (the accused) will come before the court again. I accept you are a person of previous good character. However, the judge said that there were aggravating factors. The injured party was first pushed to the ground by another person not before the court and that as he was getting up he got a kick in the head from Daniel Whittington. Any assault to a persons head has to be taken seriously by the courts. It can result in catastrophic injuries for a person. Thankfully, it didnt in this case and the injuries were soft tissue. It happened on Daunt Square. The citizens of Cork should be able to walk the streets without being assaulted or witnessing assaults. I do not feel I can accede to the request for the Probation Act. I am afraid I dont think that is appropriate. It must be marked by a prison sentence. I measure it at 18 months. However, having regard to the mitigating factors I will suspend the sentence in its entirety, Judge Boyle said. The defendant previously pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of assault causing harm to man at Daunt Square on Feb 2, 2020. The Irish Government has said it is in ongoing contact with French authorities about a military exercise planned for this week that may affect a part of Irelands waters off the south coast. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is in contact with the French authorities in relation to a missile or rocket-firing exercise planned for this week, taking place in an area of the Atlantic Ocean off the French coast, but which may stretch to the extremities of Irelands southern waters. The exercise is scheduled to take place from Tuesday until Friday and Monday between 2am to 4pm each day. A small piece of the southern extremity of Irelands exclusive economic zone (EEZ), approximately 200km south west of Irelands territorial waters, is among the area where the French military exercise may take place. An EEZ is an area of the sea in which a country has special access to its marine resources. The Irish Aviation Authority was informed of the military exercises via standard procedures, and the Department of Transport has issued a marine notice on Monday in response. The notice states: Given the nature of the planned exercises, vessels and crew are advised of safety risks in the operational area. The Department said in a statement: As a close EU partner, the Department of Foreign Affairs will, as normal, maintain contact with the French authorities throughout the period of the military exercise. Criticism in Cork of plans Cork fisherman Patrick Murphy, CEO of the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation, told RTE Radios Drivetime that the exercise was wrong and the damage that could be done to biologically sensitive areas by the military exercise. We have the Celtic Explorer, the Marine Institutes vessel for monitoring and collecting data on species, that is actually working in that area at the moment, and this could play havoc with the data that theyre collecting. Mr Murphy and a number of other fishing representatives met with the Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov and his colleagues earlier this year about a Russian military exercise that had been planned off the coast of Co Cork. The exercise was later moved outside of Irelands EEZ. Asked about the French military exercise, Mr Murphy said this is a serious development. It is no different from the one that we managed to stave off and push off outside of our EEZ, which were the Russians," he said. "The only difference here is the flag. "When we met with the Russian ambassador the last time we got assurances that the trajectories of the missiles or bullets or whatever they were firing would be away from our fishing vessels that would be inside the area. "This time we dont know are these vessels firing from the French side into the Irish EEZ zone. We dont know. "We have no clue about the nature of these exercises and whether these will be left on the sea floor. This is a real concern for our industry. We fished in these waters and we will continue to fish in these waters. We dont need this type of armaments on the seafloor to be coming up in our nets. According to a recent revelation, Jeffrey Epstein's famed buddy Ghislaine Maxwell has filed more than 100 complaints during her stay in prison, citing anything from inappropriate body cavity searches to invasive shower monitoring. Maxwell, who was convicted of functioning as the late sex predator's brutal handmaiden and is awaiting punishment, spent 22 months in solitary confinement at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. Ghislaine Maxwell Repeatedly Complained on Jail Condition According to the story, new court filings reveal that Maxwell complained about an increase in "humiliating" bodily cavity and strip searches. She also alleges that she was shackled to a chair while watching television and that jail employees kept an eye on her at all times, including while she was in the shower. According to Maxwell's counsel, another inmate tried to strangle her in her sleep and she was afraid of being shot dead by a sniper. Her legal team believes that the severe conditions of her incarceration should qualify her for a more lenient sentence when she is sentenced. Maxwell, who is due to find out her fate later this month, faces up to 55 years in jail. According to the story, her attorneys are requesting a sentence of more than five years from Judge Alison Nathan. They are arguing for a sentence significantly less severe than Epstein's 20-year sentence, citing her humiliating confinement in the bleak Brooklyn jail. Her team has also emphasized her terrible upbringing under her father, late media mogul Robert Maxwell. They claim that Epstein lured Maxwell into enslaving young girls for his enjoyment and that her giving nature made it impossible for her to refuse his requests. In May, she was moved from solitary confinement to a general population cell. Security cameras tracked Maxwell's activities 24 hours a day, according to her lawyers, and an extra hand-held camera followed her while under the continuous monitoring of multiple prison officers who studied her every move, even when she was showering. Lights were remained on in her cell day and night, and light was flashed into her eyes every 15 minutes to ensure she would not suffer the same fate as Epstein, whose death was declared a suicide, according to reports, as per New York Post. Read Also: US Capitol Police Arrests Colbert Show Crew After Democrat Party Members Allegedly Allowed Entry Ghislaine Maxwell Sentence Schedule Maxwell, 60, was found guilty late last year of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual exploitation by the late US billionaire Epstein. A jury convicted her guilty on five of six counts, the most serious for juveniles involved in sex trafficking. Her punishment, which is set to be handed down on June 28 in Manhattan's federal court, maybe life in prison. The lawyers emphasized Maxwell's emotional wounds, saying she had a difficult, traumatic childhood with an overbearing, narcissistic, and demanding father. The former international jetsetter grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend of royalty, the Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell. Her entourage included Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, former US President and real estate mogul Donald Trump, and the Clintons. During her trial, prosecutors said Maxwell was the key to Epstein's operation of recruiting young females to give him massages in exchange for sexual assault. Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting his sex crimes trial in New York. In February, Prince Andrew resolved a sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, who claimed Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to the prince. Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking in connection with her association with infamous businessman and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019. According to ABC News, attorneys for the British socialite told a court on Wednesday that Maxwell should be sentenced to no more than four to five years in jail for her role in Epstein's sexual abuse of adolescent females over a decade. Maxwell's defense team argued in a plea to a Manhattan federal court that she deserved mercy, calling it a travesty of justice for her to face a term that would have been acceptable for Epstein. Epstein was facing a federal sex trafficking trial at the time of his death. Probation officers suggested that Maxwell be sentenced to 20 years in prison, but cautioned that her conviction might result in a term of 25 to 30 years. Maxwell's attorneys have contended that probation officers used the sentencing standards incorrectly, claiming that an appropriate computation would result in a half-decade or less in jail, SBS reported. Related Article: Elon Musk an "Embarrassment"? SpaceX Employees Get the Axe After Shocking Letter Criticizing Musk @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. James Cox A series of concerts will get under way at Fairview Park in Dublin this evening, with Phoebe Bridgers up first. Nine gigs will take place over the next fortnight, but some concerns have been raised among residents. There has been some anger among residents on the North Strand side of the park, as they claim they weren't consulted over how close the stage would be to their homes. Meetings took place with Dublin City Council last week over the issues, which have reportedly yet to be resolved. However, some residents are still pleased with the gigs. One told Newstalk: "It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant, I'm dying to hear it on tonight." Another added: "Wonderful... it's a great idea. We live just down the road and can hear it from the front door." A third added: "It's fine, it's a bit of life after Covid. You only get one chance at life, let's live it." Also performing over the next 12 days are Olivia Rodrigo, Foals and Stereophonics. Gates for the gigs open at 7pm this evening, with the shows themselves starting at 8pm. The climate crisis may usher in a new level of global economic catastrophe and human suffering as extreme weather worsens and coastal flooding intensifies. A new study found that extreme weather will make coastal areas dangerous places to live as more intense storms crash into coast lines and increasingly high tides encroach inland, as The New York Times reported. We are attempting to understand the magnitude of the global scale impacts of future coastal flooding, Ian Young, a professor at the University of Melbourne and an author of the study, told CNBC. Globally we need to understand that changes of this nature will occur by 2100 and we need to plan how we are going to respond, he said. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found that the economic damage from those storms and from periodic flooding may cost over trillion and threaten 20 percent of global gross domestic product, according to CNN. This is on a business as usual CO2 emissions scenario, said Ebru Kirezci from the University of Melbourne, who led the study, as CNN reported. Business as usual assumes a rise in average global temperatures at the upper end of predictions, if global emissions are allowed to continue on their current course. The study pinpointed exact hotspots around the world most vulnerable to coastal flooding, as well as the potential economic impact on infrastructure and activity in those areas. As Fortune noted, the study also maps out in great detail the impact of episodic flooding caused by strengthening storm events and tides. Those events are predicted to be more damaging than the threat of slowly rising seas and will cause roughly 69 percent of coastal flooding by 2100. Some of the regions that are particularly at risk, according to the study, are the following: The coasts of Northwest Europe, including Southeast England The East Coast of the U.S., particularly the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland India, particularly around the Bay of Bengal The study was a collaboration between researchers from the University of Melbourne, IHE Delt in the Netherlands, the University of Amsterdam, the University of East Anglia in the UK, and Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, as Fortune reported. The authors also predict that the global population exposed to coastal flooding could be up to 287 million by 2100, which is 4.1 percent of the worlds population, as USA TODAY reported. What the data and our model is saying is that compared with now, what we see as a 1-in-100-year extreme flood event will be 10 times more frequent because of climate change, Kirezci said. If the worlds nations keep emitting greenhouse gases, and sea levels rise just 1 to 2 more feet, the amount of coastal land at risk of flooding would increase by roughly one-third, the research said. Even though average sea levels rise relatively slowly, we found that these other flooding risks like high tides, storm surge and breaking waves will become much more frequent and more intense, said Kirezci, as The New York Times reported. Those are important to consider. An early June heat wave has broken records and ignited wildfires in Western Europe, leading to concerns that this could be the new normal as the climate crisis makes extreme weather events like heat waves more frequent and intense. Contents 1 France France 2 Spain Spain 3 Germany and Italy Spain experienced temperatures that it normally doesnt see until August, according to AP News, while France saw its earliest heat wave on record since 1947, as France 24 reported. The European heat wave came as much of the U.S. also sweltered under unusually warm temperatures for June. As a result of climate change, heatwaves are starting earlier, World Meteorological Organization spokeswoman Clare Nullis told The Independent of the heat wave. What were witnessing today is unfortunately a foretaste of the future. France Temperatures top 40C in parts of southern #France as the unusually early #heatwave bites 14 departments have top level Red alert 56 departments have Amber alert, says @meteofrance WMO roundup here https://t.co/29osfUjwnJ#ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/izurWg04vl World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) June 17, 2022 Temperatures in France spiked Friday and Saturday, with 11 different areas breaking June records on Friday, as France 24 reported. The coastal town of Biarritz broke an all-time record by hitting 41 degrees Celsius on Saturday. Meteo France climatologist Matthieu Sorel predicted more record-breaking temperatures and called the heat wave a marker of climate change. Almost 75 percent of Frances population sweltered under red or orange heat alerts, according to Euronews, leading some to endure sleepless nights. I get up, I go to the bathroom, I come back, I drink a glass of water, then I sit down, I watch TV, thats it. Until 2 am in the morning, 70-year-old Christian Thurillat told Euronews. The high heat also caused ozone levels to spike in many parts of the country, which can cause respiratory symptoms. Further, military training in the south of France sparked a fire that burned 495 acres and prompted the evacuation of 2,500 sheep, France 24 reported. Spain Temperatures in #Spain have topped 40C this week. Nearly all the country faces extreme fire risk Friday (below) as a result of the #heatwave and drought. #SaharanDust is also impacting air quality and health. Follow official warnings and protect yourself and the environment. pic.twitter.com/Yp2vBxIbbe World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) June 16, 2022 More than sheep had to be evacuated in Spain, where wildfires have forced hundreds from their homes, The Washington Post reported. The largest fire is in Zamora, in the northwest of the country, and has burned through 74,000 acres, AP News reported Monday. The fire was ignited by a lightning strike Wednesday and was fanned by a combination of high heat, a period of low rainfall and high wind. Around 15 villages in the region of Navarra were also evacuated as a safety precaution in response to the fires. The situation remains delicate. We have various active fires due to the extremely high temperatures and high winds, Navarra regional vice-president Javier Remirez told TVE, as AP News reported. Overall, dozens of fires ignited in eight of the countrys 17 regions, with more than 30 blazes burning in Catalonia, The Guardian reported. Temperatures in Spain broke records, including at the Valencia Airport, which recorded a June high of 39 degrees Celsius, The Washington Post reported. The State Meteorological Agency said the heat wave was the earliest in more than 40 years. Germany and Italy Look down! Yesterday the temperature records for June got broken in #Germany and #Austria! The soil got extremely hot too as highlighted by the #Copernicus #Sentinel3 LST (Land Surface Temperature). Extreme Temperatures also in #CzechRepublic and #Poland.#Hitzewelle #heatwave pic.twitter.com/k4AH919eI8 ADAM Platform (@PlatformAdam) June 20, 2022 High temperatures in Germany also sparked wildfires, including one around 31 miles southwest of Berlin, AP News reported. This forced the evacuation of around 600 people in the villages of Frohnsdorf, Tiefenbrunnen and Klausdorf. This is not a drill, town officials tweeted of the orders, as AP News reported. In Italy, meanwhile, the worry is drought. Multiple towns in the north of the country have said they will ration water, France 24 reported. The region of Lombardy may have to declare a state of emergency. The Po plain is thirsty and water reserves on the Alps are drying faster than ever. With (almost) zero snowfall in the early months of 2022, NW Italy is now facing one of the heaviest #droughts in recorded history. Here's Orco valley now vs 2021. #Copernicus via @sentinel_hub pic.twitter.com/B8gGXqMrEU Samuele Giatti (@SamueleGiatti) June 18, 2022 The heat is also causing another source of liquid to run dry: milk. Because temperatures are well above dairy cows ideal range of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius, they are drinking double their normal amount of water but producing 10 percent less milk, the Coldiretti agriculture association said. LEGO released this image with its announcement of a plan to build a new carbon-neutral factory in Chesterfield County, Virginia. LEGO The LEGO Group has announced plans to build a $1 billion dollar factory in Chesterfield County, Virginia, complete with a solar facility to power the factory. The companys goal is for its first U.S. factory in over 16 years to be completely carbon neutral. The location in Virginia allows us to build a solar park which supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy links to country-wide transportation networks, said Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group. We are also looking forward to creating fantastic employment opportunities for the people of Virginia. While the solar park plans for the factory site are impressive, the solar array will not be providing all of the energy the factory needs to operate. Instead, as a carbon-neutral facility, it will still run in part by fossil fuels, as Clean Technica explains. The plan is for the factory to minimize energy needs in order to match the output of clean energy provided by the solar park. The upcoming factory is slated to open in 2025 and will employ around 1,760 people. This is the first time LEGO has operated in the U.S. in 16 years. Its first-ever U.S. factory in Connecticut shuttered in 2006, with operations moving to Mexico at that time. According to the company, the factory in Monterrey, Mexico and the upcoming facility in Virginia are positioned to reduce travel emissions for the LEGO products. Our factories are located close to our biggest markets which shortens the distance our products have to travel, said company COO Carsten Rasmussen. This allows us to rapidly respond to changing consumer demand and helps manage our carbon footprint. The project will take over 340 acres of land, and the onsite buildings will span a total of 1.7 million square feet. Construction is expected to begin in fall of 2022, and the LEGO Group is pursuing LEED Gold certification for the factory. This will be the companys seventh factory in the world, with additional facilities in China, Hungary, Czech Republic, and an under-construction factory in Vietnam. In recent years, the LEGO Group has made sustainability a higher priority for its operations and its products, which one study found can last in ocean waters for 1,300 years before breaking down. Eco-conscious children have further pushed the LEGO Group to reduce its plastic use, including a successful petition in 2020 that led the company to begin phasing out single-use plastics in its products. Additional efforts in finding plastic alternatives and recycling more PET for LEGO bricks are also underway. Potential agreement to export Indonesia's chickens to Singapore following Malaysia's export ban Indonesia hopes to reach an agreement with Singapore to start exporting chickens within weeks, officials said, as the city-state scrambles to find alternative supply sources after Malaysia restricted sales. In a further sign of growing global food shortages and supply chain issues, Malaysia halted chicken exports this month until local production and soaring costs stabilise. The move had a knock-on impact in Singapore with restaurants and street stalls hiking prices of its de-facto national dish, chicken rice. Susiwijono Moegiarso, a senior official at Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, said authorities had conducted "technical discussions" with Singapore and hoped exports could start this month. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said in a statement it was "working closely" with Indonesian authorities over accreditation of the country as a potential source of chicken imports. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest and most populous country with more than 270 million people, currently has a surplus in chicken production. It produces 55 million to 60 million birds per week, with a surplus of around 15% to 20% after domestic consumption, Achmad Dawami, the chairman of the Indonesian Poultry Breeders' Association, told Reuters. Exports to Singapore, which has an estimated demand of 3.6 million to 4 million birds per month, could help close the gap, Dawami said. Singapore wanted to import live chickens in order to keep their domestic slaughterhouses operational, Dawami said, noting Indonesian producers preferred exporting slaughtered chicken since they lacked experience in shipping live poultry. "Hopefully, within the next two weeks, there would be realisation; if we have to wait for months, we will miss the momentum," Dawami said. Malaysia recently moved to partially lift its export ban on certain premium chickens. But a ban on exporting commercial broiler chicken - which makes up the majority of Singapore's chicken imports from Malaysia - and other types of chicken products will remain. Prices of chicken, one of Malaysia's cheapest sources of protein, have soared in recent months as a global feed shortage exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war disrupts production. - Reuters China marks first harvest of self-produced deep-sea Atlantic salmon About 15,000 Atlantic salmons in the net cage of a fully submersible deep-sea fish farming equipment were fished during the period from May 22 to June 9, marking China's first successful harvest of self-bred deep-sea Atlantic salmon, Xinhua reported on June 17. "This is China's first successful large-scale farming of Atlantic salmons in warm waters," said Guo Peng, chief agronomist of the agriculture and rural affairs department of east China's Shandong Province. Deep Blue No. 1, the first fully submersible deep-sea fish farming equipment built by China, is located at about 130 nautical miles from the coast of the Yellow Sea of the country. As the harvesting began, a thick tube was inserted into the net cage of the equipment and one Atlantic salmon after another were inhaled from the sea into the vessel. After preliminary processing in the vessel, workers packed the fish in long transparent bags and placed them in special insulated boxes, which were then covered with ice and sealed to ensure the temperature of the fish could be maintained. China chose to breed Atlantic salmon 30 meters below the water of the Yellow Sea, where the temperature, water quality, dissolved oxygen and other indicators are perfect for them to live. "There are about 100,000 Atlantic salmons in the net cage, and so far, a total of 15,000 fish have been harvested," said Li Hong, vice chairwoman of Shandong Far-sea Aquaculture Co., Ltd., adding that the quality of those salmons meets the standards for export to the European Union. Most of the Atlantic salmons will be transported to big Chinese cities such as Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai via both cold chain and airfreight, reaching primary distributors in 36 hours. - Xinhua Cattle producers in Casino, Australia surpass US$140 million in annual sales The Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange in Casino, New South Wales, Australia has surpassed AUD 200 million (~US$140 million; AUD 1 = US$0.70) in annual sales for the first time in its history, thanks to high cattle prices, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. It's an AUD 57 million (~US$39.7 million) increase over the AUD 143 million (~US$99.8 million) record set for 2020-2021, and nearly double the cattle sales for 2019-20 season. Richmond Valley Council, which owns and operates the facility, expects the final figure to be between AUD 210 million (~US$146 million) and AUD 215 million (~US$150 million) with five sales left in the year. Bradley Willis, operations manager for the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange, said this was an extraordinary result for the region, which was hit by catastrophic floods nearly four months ago. He said this was a significant economic result for the Richmond Valley agriculture sector and Richmond Valley in general Cattle numbers have increased in the yards over the last month as flood-affected producers have made the difficult decision to sell due to a lack of pasture. With record prices, Willis said it had been a remarkable year for both vendors and agents. While the year's sales record was set on March 25, the Casino facility may fall short of the 131,926 cattle throughput record. Willis said they reached 116,400 head for the year, up 30% from the previous financial year, and their numbers have consistently increased over the last five years since council re-invested in the facility. Casino is the third biggest cattle producer in New South Wales, Australia, behind Wagga Wagga and Dubbo. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation Rabobank: EU-UK pork productions dropped in February while exports down in March Pork productions of the European Union and United Kingdom need to decline to rebalance supply and demand, according to Rabobank. Piglet and carcass prices have a high supply and demand sensitivity as the market attempts to rebalance and reduce oversupply. Both EU and UK pork productions contracted by 2.5% year to date in February 2022. However, on the demand side, exports were also down by 30% year to date in March 2022 (439,000 tonnes) compared to the same period last year, with volumes to China declining by 60% year to date. China's import demand is expected to fall by over 20% in 2022. With imports for April year to date 55% below the same period in 2021, Rabobank expects that demand will pick up in the second half of 2022. Hence, supply in Europe will need to contract to restore margins. Assuming that EU-UK exports decline to 3.5 million tonnes over the next two to three years and that domestic consumption remains at 2021 levels (19.5 million tonnes), Rabobank predicts that pork production should contract by 6% (one million tonnes) compared to 2021. In the case that consumption drops by 2.5% compared to 2021, EU-UK pork productions would need to decline by 8%, Rabobank said. For 2022, Rabobank expects EU-UK pork productions to decline by at least 2% year over year, driven by a sharp contraction in Germany. - Rabobank Malaysia receives first batch of imported whole chicken Malaysia's National Farmers' Organisation (NAFAS) has begun importing whole chickens, as the first shipment of 21 metric tonnes arrived on June 17, the New Straits Times reported. In a statement, the Farmers Organisation Board (LPP) claimed the supply came from poultry farmers who had received authorisation from the Department of Veterinary Services. The statement also said the next chicken supply will arrive on June 20, consisting of three containers that will be stored in the NAFAS freezer room in Sungai Bakap, Penang, state. LPP has been tasked with conducting the chicken buffer stock programme through NAFAS and State Farmers' Organizations (PPN) in order to stabilise the country's chicken supply needs. The LPP said the scheme will be implemented in stages, in partnership with the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) and PPN, particularly in terms of cool room facility utilisation. LPP also said the chicken will be distributed through the PPN, Area Farmers' Organizations (PPK), and FAMA networks, with LPP monitoring NAFAS' import schedule. The PPNs of Selangor, Johor, and Perak have been chosen to help NAFAS in implementing the programme, and more PPNs may be included depending on current requirements. - New Straits Times According to Abdul Nafay Takor, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, at least one Taliban member was killed. One Taliban militant was found dead a day after the Karte Parwan Gurdwara attack in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. In reaction to purported insulting statements made by BJP politician Nupur Sharma, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) claimed responsibility for the incident, which featured numerous bombings near a Dharamshala in Kabul, and notified the Afghan Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). 2 Dead, 7 Injured During ISIS Attack in Kabul, Afghanistan According to Abdul Nafay Takor, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, at least one Taliban member was killed, and seven civilians were injured, according to Tolo News. He added that the assailants were also dead, but he did not specify how many attackers were engaged in the assault. An affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist organization (ISIS), claimed responsibility for the three-hour attack on the Karte Parwan Gurdwara on June 18, which killed three people and wounded many more. The ISKP claimed responsibility for the incident, alleging that 'Abu Mohammed al Tajiki' carried it out using a vehicle bomb, four IED devices, submachine guns, and hand grenades. In accordance with the Taliban, an explosive-laden truck attempted to surge into the Dharamshala grounds but was halted before entering. The incident injured two persons, who were brought to the hospital, Republic World reported. Several explosions ripped through Kabul's Bagh-e-Bala neighborhood on Saturday while Afghan security officers prevented a worse catastrophe by halting an explosive-laden car from reaching the gurdwara. It was the latest targeted attack on a Sikh site of worship in Afghanistan. The Taliban soldiers killed the three assailants. After killing the guard, one of its militants penetrated a temple for Hindu and Sikh polytheists in Kabul and started a fire on the worshipers inside with a machine gun and hand grenades. Read Also: Two American Prisoners of War Captured in Kharkov Among Foreign Fighters Aligned with Kyiv's Forces ISKP Previously Warned Attack Against Hindus in Afghanistan The gurdwara incident happened only days after the ISKP threatened in a video message of an attack on Hindus to revenge insults made against Prophet Mohammad by two former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. In the past, the ISKP has claimed responsibility for assaults against Hindu, Sikh, and Shia houses of worship in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghan officials and the United Nations have condemned the Kabul gurdwara attack. Former Afghan High Council National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah also denounced the incident. On Twitter, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated that it strongly condemns today's attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul. Afghanistan formerly had tens of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus, but decades of violence have reduced their numbers to a few handfuls. Those who have stayed have been regularly attacked by the local ISIS affiliate in recent years, as per Outlook India. Social media videos showed plumes of black smoke rising from the temple in Kabul's Bagh-e Bala area, as well as shooting. The battle with the insurgents concluded after the last assailant was killed several hours after the assault began, according to Kabul police. One Sikh was murdered, seven others were injured, and a Taliban security force member was slain during the rescue effort. It was unknown how many IS terrorists were involved or killed in the gunfight with the Taliban. For the first time since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year, Indian officials met with the Taliban in Kabul earlier this month to discuss the delivery of humanitarian goods. J.P. headed the Indian delegation. Singh is a secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. It was not immediately evident if J.P. Singh was the 'Hindu' referred to by the IS in its statement, or what statements he may have said that prompted the IS attack. It was also unclear why the extremist group would attack a Sikh temple in response to statements made by an Indian politician, according to Big News Network. Related Article: India: Violent Protesters Attack Police, Set Trains, Cars on Fire @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The former Russian president and prime minister, Dimitry Medvedev, said the EU might not be around before Kyiv becomes a member due to current circumstances. The commission recommends that Ukraine be immediately given membership after getting fast-tracked earlier. Ukraine To Join EU Dmitry Medvedev believes that Ukraine's impending entry into the European Union will occur in the 2050s and that the economic and political bloc will part ways by then, reported Sputnik News. He added that Brussels had promised their ascension to the bloc that had only been offered to them, and Georgia, including Turkey, had to wait. Ankara has applied for membership in the European Economic Community as far back as 1987, citing Tasnim News. Yet has never become part of the European Union itself. Medvedev stated that when the EU will admit Ukraine is not definite as there are too many factors to consider. It will take a long time, which will be 2050 at the most, not earlier. One suggestion is the bloc will not hold together and, like the USSR, fragmented for one reason or another. Former President Dmitry Medvedev's Policies During his term as president and premier, Medvedev strongly supported improving Russia's relations with the West by emulating Western standards in education, the judicial system, business, and industry. He is widely regarded as the leader of the ruling United Russia party's liberal wing, noted Pravda. Read Also: Vladimir Putin Children: Does Russia's President Have Kids? Later as the proxy war in Ukraine started, the former position disliked the West with hostility as well. The US visa of his son was revoked early this month, which only increased his anger; he posted on Telegram that western officials were bastards and degenerates. He promised to make them disappear. Despite such concerns about how corruption, the rule of law, governance, democracy, the outsized influence of the ultra-wealthy in the economy and politics, widespread poverty, nationalism, and the current military crisis with Russia are factors, the European Union's executive arm formally suggested that Ukraine be conferred candidate status in the bloc last Friday. According to EC President von der Leyen, Ukrainians must be admitted based on the hardships of being part of the bloc. European ambitions of Ukraine's pro-Western ruling classes are at the core of the country's eight-year-long crisis. The country's government was ousted from power in a US-backed coup in February 2014 after attempting to pull back from a European Union association agreement in pursuit of closer ties with Russia's-led Eurasian Customs Union (now the Eurasian Economic Union). Crimea disagreed with the US-backed takeover and opted to rejoin Russia, and the 8-year civil war in the Donbas started in Ukraine's eastern part with civilians getting killed. Finally, in February 2022, Russia started a special operation after dropping the Minsk agreement. The DPR and LPR were acknowledged for driving the neo-Nazis and demilitarizing the country. Medvedev expressed that the EU and the time frame it has for Kyiv to be accepted could be nothing once the bloc breaks up by that time. Related Article: Former Russian President Warns That Economic Sanctions Imposed To Punish Vladimir Putin Will Backfire on the West @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mark Shields, who famously served the "PBS NewsHour" for decades, died. He was 85. A spokesperson for the "PBS NewsHour" delivered the tragic news through The Hollywood Reporter, saying that Shields died at his Chevy Chase, Maryland home. Meanwhile, anchor and managing editor of NewsHour Judy Woodruff also confirmed his passing on Twitter. "I am heartbroken to share this..the @NewsHour's beloved long-time Friday night analyst Mark Shields, who for decades wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and mainly his big heart, has passed away at 85, with his wife Anne at his side," her announcement said. Woodruff did not reveal Mark Shields' cause of death. But the spokesperson disclosed that he died of kidney failure. The American Kidney Fund explains that kidney failure - especially end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) - cannot be reversed. It is also fatal if left untreated. Patients diagnosed with the condition can undergo dialysis or kidney transplant to lengthen their lives. His family is yet to directly address the event. But companies he once worked with, colleagues, and supporters paid tribute to him after his death. Mark Shields Receives Love From the Industry Shields worked on the "PBS NewsHour" starting in 1987 and ended his stint in December 2020. But aside from that program, he also had a regular presence on CNN shows, including the discussion program "Capital Gang" from 1988 to 2005. The former executive producer of the show, Rick Davis, issued a statement to recall Shields' contributions to the company. "We at CNN were so fortunate to work with such a kind, brilliant, funny man who was the same person to the powerful politicians as he was to the youngest staffer on our team," he said. Mark Shields was a kind, hilarious and generous human. He knew everything there was to know about American politics and could name pretty much every colleges mascot, even the most obscure. He was an original. I loved my time working with him; hell be truly missed. pic.twitter.com/i8tiSwWGNw Rachel Wellford (@rachelwellford) June 18, 2022 Before becoming a columnist, he originally worked for local and national democratic political campaigns in the country. READ ALSO: Amber Heard Trying To Get Sued Again? Experts, Johnny Depp's Fans Send Warning! He then began his career in 1979, starting as a columnist for The Washington Post. After his tenure on "PBS NewsHour," he started working with David Brooks and launched their analysis and commentary weekly segment, "Shield & Brooks." On top of these, Shields worked as a regular panelist on "Inside Washington" and wrote his 1984 account, "On the Campaign Trail." READ MORE: NASCAR Driver Clint Bowyer Killed a Pedestrian in Tragic, Deadly Crash [REPORT] The Netflix series "The Chosen One" is facing the most heartbreaking event yet after two of its actors were killed following a recent accident. Netflix detailed what happened through a statement to USA Today. According to the streaming giant, the cast and crew of the series were on their way from Santa Rosalia to the local airport on June 16. The van they were in suddenly crashed near Mulege on the Baja California Sur peninsula in Mexico, which left two actors dead and six others injured. Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the Baja California Department of Culture confirmed the actors' identities on Friday, saying that Raymundo Garduno Cruz and Juan Francisco Gonzalez Aguilar ultimately died in the crash. The remaining six other injured victims include two actors and four crew members. All of them are currently stable. "The Chosen One" production company, Redrum, paused the production of the series following the fatal crash. The series, which is based on Mark Millar and Peter Gross' comic-book series, tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who discovers that he is the return of Jesus Christ and is destined to save the world. Millar previously worked at Marvel Comics, but he famously created several hits like "American Jesus," "Kick-Ass," and "Kingsman." His company, Millarworld, was acquired by Netflix in 2017 - a year before the company shared its plans to produce a TV series based on "American Jesus." "The Chosen One" Accident Happened Due to THIS? Cruz and Aguilar's friends broke their silence following the actors' deaths, telling The Daily Beast that the accident occurred due to poor transportation and logistics. One of Aguilar's pals, Liliana Conlisk Gallegos, said, "It fills me with rage that there are reports of abuse and exploitation being shared by people involved with the production. I would like to demand that this is further investigated. If nothing wrong was going on, then there shouldn't be an issue with providing the information." In my experience, transpo guys work Ionger days than anyone. During Emergence my driver lived away from his family all week, crashing with a friend to save time so he could eek out 6, maybe 7 hours. This is a terribly sad story. https://t.co/AVy6IOS0zC Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) June 19, 2022 READ ALSO: Mark Shields Cause of Death Tragic: Famed Columnist Dead at 85 Netflix is yet to respond to Gallegos' demand. But it confirmed that a probe into the accident is currently underway. Meanwhile, actor and director Fernando Bonilla expressed his concerns about how much rest the production's driver had that he lost control of the truck. Their comments resonate with what other celebrities and series fans shared. READ MORE: Amber Heard Trying To Get Sued Again? Experts, Johnny Depp's Fans Send Warning! UVALDE Brett Cross would not talk about his nephew as he stood stoically outside Uvalde City Hall while a Texas House committee investigating the May 24 school shooting convened for a third day to hear testimony behind closed doors. Cross nephew, 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, was among 19 children and two teachers shot dead by a teenager armed with a semiautomatic rifle. But Cross said he showed up Monday not to talk about the boy but to find answers as to why police waited more than an hour before storming the classrooms at Robb Elementary where gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, was holed up. They all failed us, said Cross, 31, who wore a blue Uvalde Strong T-shirt with a button bearing a photo of a smiling Uziyah. Every single person there failed us. There were agencies fighting the parents and pushing them back. The parents werent cowards. The parents were trying to go in there. On ExpressNews.com: Top Texas lawman says Uvalde school police chief made the wrong decision, period Why didnt the police that had the training, had the equipment (enter the classroom)? Because I know every single parent would have died trying to save children, and not even just their children. Cross questions are at the heart of multiple investigations into the police response to the shooting. But he got no answers yesterday. The House committee is taking testimony in secret, and the findings of the various inquiries are not expected to be made public for weeks or months. Billy Calzada, Staff photographer / San Antonio Express-News State officials have identified Uvaldes school district police chief, Pedro Pete Arredondo, as the on-scene incident commander on May 24 and have faulted him for holding back 19 law enforcement officers for 77 minutes before six of them, including members of a Border Patrol tactical unit, entered the interconnected classrooms and killed Ramos. On ExpressNews.com: Texas officials jumbled, ever-shifting narrative on Uvalde school shooting State officials have said that Arredondo believed that after Ramos fired an initial fusillade, the incident shifted from an active-shooter event to a barricaded-suspect situation, and that police had time to await reinforcements with bullet-proof shields and other specialized equipment. During that time, children inside the classrooms repeatedly called 911 begging to be rescued. Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo made the wrong decision, period, adding: Theres no excuse for that. He said officers should have gone into the classrooms as soon you can to kill the gunman and tend to the wounded. Search for answers This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Billy Calzada, Staff photographer / San Antonio Express-News Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Billy Calzada, Staff photographer / San Antonio Express-News Show More Show Less Uziyah had recently moved from San Angelo to Uvalde to live with his uncle and aunt. Cross said he had welcomed the boy into his home to give him a better chance at life. I dont want to talk about that right now because Im not going to let yall elicit tears, Cross told reporters outside City Hall. Im fighting right now. He was fighting, he said, because police had failed his community. On ExpressNews.com: Source: Police never tried to open door in Uvalde school where gunman had kids trapped He said that by police, he meant not just Arredondo or the Uvalde Police Department but any of the officers from numerous agencies who were at Robb Elementary during the seemingly interminable wait. Who waits 77 minutes outside? Who does that? he asked. Because I guarantee you if it was their children, they would have run in. And thats just all there is to it. They failed us. They failed our kids. They failed our city. They failed our community. Ramos was holding the children and teachers captive in interconnected classrooms rooms 111 and 112. Surveillance footage shows that police never tried to open the door to the rooms during the 77 minutes they waited, possibly because they believed it was locked, the Express-News reported on Saturday. A law enforcement source told the paper that classroom doors at Robb Elementary are designed to lock automatically when they close. But the surveillance footage indicates Ramos was able to enter the rooms, possibly because the door was not working correctly, the source said. Whether it was open the whole time remains under investigation. On ExpressNews.com: Remembering the lives lost in Uvalde school shooting The special House committee, appointed by House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), is trying to piece together the facts surrounding the police response to the massacre. Todays session is its third. All three have been held behind closed doors. The panel is chaired by Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock. Its other members are state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. On Monday, the committee heard testimony from Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzalez; Chief Daniel Rodriguez of the Uvalde Police Department; Sgt. Daniel Coronado, also of Uvalde PD; and DPS Trooper Joshua Bordovsky. All four declined to comment after testifying. The Uvalde PD had initially refused to cooperate with the committee but relented last week. Uvalde police were the first to pursue Ramos into the school just two minutes after he entered on May 24. After he shot at the officers through the classroom door, grazing two of them, they fell back to wait for backup. On Monday afternoon, the committee also heard testimony from a surprise witness: Ramoss aunt, Natalie Salazar. Salazar is a daughter of Ramos grandmother, Celia Gonzales, 66. Ramos shot Gonzales in the face on the morning of the massacre before heading to Robb Elementary. In a GoFundMe account created to raise money for her mothers medical care, Salazar said Gonzales has had four major surgeries and will be undergoing several more. No sign of Arredondo Arredondo was not listed among Mondays witnesses. The law firm that represents him did not respond to an email seeking comment. Cross called for Arredondo to step down from the Uvalde City Council, to which he was elected just weeks before the massacre. We need people to be held responsible, Cross said. Pete may not have pulled the trigger, but there is definitely blood on his hands. His decision-making is completely negligent. He needs to be a man and make the right decision and step down and come to these (hearings). Arredondo has stayed out of public view since the shooting. He was sworn in as a councilman in a private ceremony on May 31 after Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. canceled a public swearing-in. Arredondo was a no-show at the next scheduled council meeting. The council meets again Tuesday, and the agenda calls for council members to decide whether to grant Arredondo a leave of absence from future council meetings. On ExpressNews.com: With heavy hearts, Uvalde Little Leaguers take the field Scared for their lives Cross made his comments after the Uvalde fire marshal ushered him and reporters out of the cramped, Spanish Revival city hall and into the summer heat to wait while witnesses testified privately before the House committee. When a reporter asked the fire marshal why the media couldnt wait inside the building, he said witnesses might be intimidated. That rubbed Cross the wrong way. Im not worried about the troopers or the cops being scared, he said. You know who was scared? All of those kids. Not just the ones who died. Not just the teachers who died. But everyone who was injured. All those babies were scared for their lives. And now we cant be in there because theyre scared? Of what? Cameras? Phones? Its ridiculous. Law enforcement officials have revised their account of the massacre several times, adding to public confusion over how police responded. Days after the shooting, DPS said the exterior door through which Ramos entered had been left propped open by a teacher. It wasnt. She had pulled the door shut behind her, as DPS later acknowledged. For some reason, it did not lock automatically as it was supposed to. Investigators are examining the door to find out why. The department also had to correct early misinformation that Uvalde school police shot at Ramos before he entered the school. In fact, no school police officers confronted him outside the school. DPS and Uvalde city officials have refused to provide further details, citing an ongoing criminal investigation by Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee. The Texas Rangers, with assistance from the FBI, are investigating the tragedy. Separately, the Justice Department is conducting a critical incident review of the police response. Burrows has said the House committee is allowing witnesses to testify in private in order to elicit candid answers about the massacre and the police response. Cross said he was determined to wait for answers. Uziyah and the other children are not here to fight for themselves, so I will, he said. Ill be here every time. Im not going away. Ill be a nuisance. bchasnoff@express-news.net Hate materializes in many forms. On June 11, hate attempted to arrive in a U-Haul full of masked men with shields and riot gear looking to spark trouble at an LGBTQ Pride event in Coeur dAlene, Idaho. Thankfully, law enforcement stopped the truck and the 31 alleged members of the Patriot Front a fascist white nationalist hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center before it made it to its destination. Eight Texans were among those arrested, according to the Houston Chronicle, including a Conroe man, 22-year-old Robert Whitted, and the Patriot Fronts founder, Thomas Rousseau. Rousseau and six others live in the North Texas area, the newspaper reported: Josiah Buster, 24; Connor Moran, 23; Kieran Morris, 27; Steven Tucker, 30; Tommy Walker Jr., 24; and Graham Whitsom, 31. The Kootenai County Sheriffs Office charged the men with criminal conspiracy and held them with a $300 bond. The arrests came less than a week after the Department of Homeland Security warned of a heightened threat after extremists praised the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde and called for at least one copycat attack. The National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin said domestic violent extremists are propagating disinformation. This group emerged after the deadly 2017 Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Va., and has a history of harassing people who disagree with them, including in several appearances in Texas. In August 2018, they marched on an Occupy ICE protest encampment in San Antonio and vandalized protesters tents and signs. Lets be clear. These are people who dress up in khaki pants, blue shirts and ballcaps. They hide behind masks and sunglasses. They are not patriots. They are cowards forced to hide behind masks because of their backward beliefs. Were thankful someone reported the group of suspicious men loading that U-Haul in Idaho. Their attentiveness spared our nation another spasm of violence. But white supremacy and other forms of hate run deep in our nation. We all must be vigilant against this disease. We must crush hate whenever it manifests itself. The Mai Wah Noodle House and the Wah Chong Mercantile on West Mercury Street in Butte. To the building's right is "China Alley," a thoroughfare for the city's Chinese population. At least one person was killed there (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan). The Mai Wah Noodles and Chop Suey sign atop the building on West Mercury Street are printed in big black-and-white letters, a visible and permanent reminder of what was once home to one of the largest Chinese communities in the intermountain West. The building stands where the people are no longer, though. The bulk of Buttes once-thriving Chinese population, which by several accounts peg it at more than 1,000, disappeared from the Mining City around the time of World War II, if not before. Several families endured into the 1950s, but as mining declined, so too did people leave to find more plentiful, less dangerous work. The Wah Chong Tai Mercantile, housed next to the Mai Wah, sits with merchandise still boxed, wrapped and ready for sale. Small signs translate the goods, which range from shark fin to tea. The store closed in 1942 suddenly, likely a victim of rationing, rising fear of foreigners and a switch to a war-time economy. The cases of items include traditional Chinese medicines, including the king flower, centipede and shark fin. The Mai Wah Society runs a museum that documents the rise of Chinese culture in the West as well as chronicles its demise. It tells of a thriving community that contributed to the mining workforce, and also ran one of the most popular restaurants in all of Butte with many Chinese dishes seeming as familiar today as they would have been 100 years ago. On the second floor of the Mai Wah sit the huge wood-fired stoves and giant woks that served hot noodles nearly around the clock. Pat Munday, a Mai Wah Board member and past president of the Society, tells about when the Mai Wah noodle press churned out food not just for the Chinese community, but also for the restaurants in the Italian neighborhoods of Butte, which also needed noodles. To visit the Mai Wah Museum: The Mai Wah Museum is located at 17 West Mercury Street in Butte. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission prices: $8 for adults; $5 for children older than 5, students and seniors. The museum is open through Sept. 10. The Mai Wah is a Blue Star museum, which means free admission to the nations active-duty military personnel, including National Guard and reserves, and their families. Also, the Mia Wah offers free admission to first responders and medical personnel as a thank you for their work during the pandemic (Please show work badges or identification cards for admission). The museum stands as a reminder to a West that was far more diverse, driven by the need for cheap labor. The museum is across the street from the home of another one of Buttes most iconic restaurants, Pork Chop Johns and its the pork chop sandwich, which is as close as anything to a state food besides a steak. And not too far away was a neighborhood where Finnish immigrants lived. Ironically, the museums remote location and being left untouched for years have conspired to make it a cultural treasure house. For example, the statue of Guan Yu is one of the oldest examples of the Chinese Buddhist god, even though it likely dates back to the 1880s. Yet in the wake of the cultural revolution in China and the eradication of religious artifacts, many of the statues and temples dedicated to him have been destroyed. People, especially tourists from China, weep to see Guan Yu, Munday said. Another exhibit showcases the different attempts, especially in the American West, to persecute Chinese immigrants, who were often criticized as being hostile toward assimilation. However, Munday explained that whether it was through exclusion acts passed by Congress that explicitly barred many Chinese immigrants from jobs or naturalization, he said that many had come to America to work to send money home to support a war-torn, impoverished nation beset by a devastating opium drug trade. Though places like Denver and Rock Springs, Wyoming, were known for bloody uprisings against Chinese immigrants, Butte often pushed back against such exclusionary measures, despite calls for boycotting Chinese businesses from different unions. However, Buttes Chinese population was also a part of the larger world affairs, and the Mai Wah Museum also chronicles that including membership in the Chinese Empire Reform Association, which sought to overthrow the Dowager Empress Cixi. The Mai Wah Society also preserves ways in which Buttes Chinese assimilated into the citys rich culture, despite the hostilities found in many Western towns. Chinese New Year was always celebrated, like many things in Butte, with a party and parade. Some laborers worked in the mines, while others worked as respected doctors, practicing both Western and Chinese medicine. For example, famous Butte doctor Huie Pock was trained in both America and China. He had two clinics, one for white residents and one for Chinese. In the red-brick building, more than 40 different vendors and merchants worked, selling wares, food and groceries to mostly Chinese customers, but others as well. Even today, hardly an inch of space is not used. While thousands of Chinese residents lived in Montana during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, few traces of their presence remain. The memory of this population, so crucial to the development of the region, is kept alive, preserved, and interpreted by the Mai Wah Society, said board member Mark Johnson. Through the efforts of the Mai Wah Society, visitors to Butte can discover the diversity of Montana at its founding and come to appreciate the contributions and experiences of Chinese Montanans. The post Mai Wah: Remembering the legacy of Chinese immigrants in Montana appeared first on Daily Montanan. Those interested in studying a topic within agriculture or the wider industry are being urged to apply for Nuffield Farming Scholarships before the 31 July deadline. With around 20 Scholarships awarded each year, successful applicants are provided a substantial bursary to fund travel to study their chosen topic. Applications tend to be from those working across the farming, food, horticulture, rural or associated industries. Mike Vacher, director of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust, explains the important role that scholars play. Nuffield Farming Scholarships provide a unique opportunity within the food and farming industry," he said. "Not only do scholars undertake an in-depth, global study about a chosen topic, but they are also in a unique position of influence to share these findings with the wider agricultural community and show the way forward." What are eligibility requirements? When applying for a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, applicants are encouraged to begin the process well ahead of the 31 July deadline. Applicants must work within the farming, food, horticulture, rural and associated industries or are in a position to influence these industries. Applicants must be aged between 22 and 45 years (the upper age limit is 45 on 31 July in the year of application). There is no requirement for academic qualifications. Applicants should be well-established in their career, demonstrate a passion for the industry they work in and be three years post-tertiary education. Candidates must be resident in the UK and hold a UK passport or be working directly for UK agriculture. The Trust seeks people with very special qualities. Scholarships are not awarded to anyone in full-time education or to further research projects. A Northamptonshire estates new education programme teaching young people the importance of sustainable farming has been boosted thanks to a new donation. Property consultancy Fisher German has donated twenty laptops to Holdenby House to bolster its newly launched Rural Education Programme. The programme takes primary schoolchildren on a tour of the farms and shows them how food is produced, as well as how wildlife can be looked after at the same time. Children taking part in the programme at Holdenby Houses Education Centre experience all outdoor activities, including seeing how crops grow. The programme aims to educate them on how nature and farming can coexist, and how the industry allows for the conservation and protection of important habitats. Jackie Evans, head of education at Holdenby House, welcomed the new donation, saying that it would boost bookings on the programme. This donation is absolutely vital to the viability of our Rural Education Programme," she said, "Without it, if the weather is bad when a school decides to visit, or if a child cannot walk around the route, the laptops enable us to bring the farm to them. Many schools would be reluctant to book if they knew bad weather would scupper the chances of an educational trip for their pupils, so the laptops have given us a bit of an insurance policy. We have taken our first bookings already, and were looking forward to welcoming many more schools to Holdenby in the future. Holdenby House dates back to the 16th century and was once the palace of King James I as well as the largest private house in England. It has been owned by the Lowther family since 1709. The estate wanted to start a new educational programme after the success of its award-winning Heritage Education Programme, which has seen more than 250,000 children learn all about various chapters of British history. Matthew Trembath, of Fisher German added: We thought it was another brilliant way for the estate to capitalise on its beautiful countryside setting and attract schools from urban areas to experience a proper taste of country life. Although a brilliant idea, we advised schools may not be as keen if there was no alternative to the outdoor activities in case of bad weather. We offered to donate 20 laptops to ensure Holdenby had the ability to give children a great educational experience even if the heavens open. Advice like this is all part of the service we provide to estates, and we are delighted bookings are starting to come in for the new programme. Chinese ambassador calls for further deepening China-New Zealand friendship Xinhua) 10:15, June 20, 2022 Dave Bromwich, president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society (NZCFS), speaks at the annual conference of NZCFS in Auckland, New Zealand, June 18, 2022. The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and New Zealand. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NZCFS, the legacy of Rewi Alley. (NZCFS/Handout via Xinhua) AUCKLAND, New Zealand, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong called here Saturday for carrying forward the spirit of Rewi Alley to further deepen the friendship between China and New Zealand and their peoples. Ambassador Wang made the call at the annual conference of the New Zealand China Friendship Society (NZCFS). The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and New Zealand. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NZCFS, the legacy of Rewi Alley. Wang said developing a strong relationship between the two countries is a long-term strategic decision both rooted in shared past and eyes on future. Both China and New Zealand believe in and advocate multilateralism, support the international system with the United Nations as its core, and both are committed to international cooperation in addressing global challenges like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese ambassador said. Broad-based support among the two peoples from the bottom up and the stewardship by the leadership of the two countries at the very top have coalesced to add increasing breadth and depth to the development of bilateral relations and to the benefit of both countries and peoples, contributing to regional and world peace and prosperity, the ambassador said. "Let's work together to build upon the progress over the past 50 years and bring about further development of China-New Zealand relationship in the next 50 years and beyond, generating even greater benefits for both sides, particularly both peoples," he added. Speaking at the same occasion, Dave Bromwich, president of the NZCFS, called for renewing and enhancing the friendship between New Zealand and China. Bromwich, also a scholar, said the mission of the NZCFS is to promote goodwill, understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. Strongly condemning some Western media for producing fake reports on China, Bromwich encouraged young Kiwis to engage with their peers in China, to study Chinese society and the Chinese language. Bromwich, who spent nearly 10 years in and paid around 50 visits to China, said, "My experience in China has given me a great understanding of where China is today, where she has come from and how she has developed." (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) The New Hampshire renter who lives in an apartment that used to belong to Harmony Montgomery's father and stepmother has revealed some of the items searched earlier this week by an FBI-led search team. As part of the ongoing hunt for Harmony, investigators paid a visit to the 644 Union Street residence in Manchester on Tuesday. A Hillsborough County District Attorney's Office representative cautioned against speculation regarding the relevance of the evidence officers were observed taking out of the property. Authorities Reveal Further Details in Harmony Montgomery's Case He said detectives will not provide any further information after they left the scene on Wednesday, citing the continuing investigation. In photos and videos, detectives are seen removing a refrigerator and other evidence and peering through a manhole cover outdoors. The current renter, known only as Ginger, informed Boston 25 News that detectives replaced the refrigerator, doorknobs, and faucets with new ones. They also examined attentively in the bedroom closet and broke out bathroom drywall to investigate the pipes, according to her. When Fox News Digital called the address's phone number, the individual who answered the phone hung up after the reporter introduced himself. Ginger told Boston 25 that she thought the refrigerator had been replaced since Harmony's father and stepmother moved out. Harmony, now eight, went missing from her father's care in 2019, according to officials, but no missing person report was made until late last year when her noncustodial mother discovered she had never been enrolled to attend school in her father's hometown, Fox News reported. According to a veteran FBI agent, processing and analyzing the evidence - including a refrigerator - seized from the former house of a missing girl's father will take a while, meaning weeks. Earlier this week, it appeared like the world might finally get answers about what happened to Harmony Montgomery, an eight-year-old girl who vanished in 2019. Read Also: Attorney Michael Avenatti Pleads Guilty to 5 Criminal Charges, Stealing Millions From Clients Investigators Intrigued with Small Closet in Adam Montgomery's Old Apartment No one reported her missing until December 2021, allegedly due to a series of purported blunders. The time of her disappearance has been narrowed down by police to November 28 to December 10, 2019, but the months-long search has been futile and stressful. That was until Tuesday when an unsettling development in the case appeared. Local, state, and federal law officers surrounded the Manchester, New Hampshire house where Harmony's father Adam Montgomery, and his estranged wife Kayla had lived. For almost 24 hours, police were stationed outside the house. "We needed answers, and now we're terrified," Blair Miller, who adopted Harmony's younger brother Jamison, told The Sun last week. Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent with over three decades of expertise, estimates that it will take "a while, meaning weeks." She told The Sun on Friday that she had never seen a full refrigerator stolen from a house. There were also closet parts removed, as per The Sun. Ginger suspected it was a modern item that was not present when the Montgomery family lived there. The statement has not been confirmed or rejected by the police. The kitchenette and hallway had tiles removed, but Ginger claims that investigators were mainly interested in a small closet in the bedroom. According to court records revealed earlier this year, on November 18, 2021, police got a phone from Harmony's birth mother, Crystal Sorey, who reported her daughter was missing. Sorey informed police that Harmony's father had physical custody of her and that she couldn't contact him. Sorey went on to say that she lost custody of Harmony in 2018 due to drug problems. According to Sorey, Adam Montgomery barred her calls and social media and refused to let her talk to Harmony after Easter 2019, according to Crime Online. Related Article: Massachusetts Officers Discover Remains of Missing 3-Year-Old Boy in Pond Day After Disappearance in Babysitter's Yard @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Farmers and landowners have helped Scotland achieve nearly 80% of the yearly woodland creation target despite the main planting season being badly affected by winter storms. Despite the unexpected challenge, a total of 10,480 ha of new woodland was created in Scotland, with 42% being native species, according to new figures. Across other parts of the UK, England created 2,260 ha of new woodland, Wales 580 ha and Northern Ireland 540 ha. This means that the Bute House Agreement, which set a target to create over 4,000 ha of native woodland in Scotland, was met with 4,360 ha being achieved. The overall woodland creation target, part of Scotlands climate change plans, was increased to 13,500 ha for 2021-2022. Scottish Forestry had approved woodland creation schemes to hit the new target, however parts of the sector had to divert resources from planting to recovering the millions of trees brought down in the storms. Welcoming the new figures, Rural Minister Mairi McAllan said: Over the last four years Scotland has consistently created over 10,000 ha of new woodland each year. "This has been achieved during the challenges caused by Brexit, the global Covid pandemic, and the worst winter storms for over 10 years. Whilst it is disappointing that we have not met this years target, mother nature dealt us a salutary lesson of the power of the weather and reminded us of the challenges of climate change." Storm Arwen damaged 8,000 ha of woodland this winter, the equivalent of around 16 million trees, requiring millions of tonnes of timber to be recovered. Data shows that the majority of the shortfall from the yearly target was located in the Grampian, South Scotland and Perthshire areas, which were most badly affected by the storms. Ms McAllan added: "Even now, clear up operations from the storms are continuing so it is no surprise that they had an effect on tree planting operations. It is good news that we have comfortably met our native woodland target and Scotland is punching above its weight in creating over three quarters of all the UKs new woodlands. The future is also looking very encouraging as there is a very healthy demand for woodland creation projects in the pipeline." NFU President Minette Batters heard from the UK's largest organic dairy brand on its optimism for a sustainable farming future. The meeting was part of a whistle stop tour of Yeo Valley Organic's regenerative organic farming practices in Somerset. Owned by the Mead Family and consisting of two organic farms, it is Britains largest organic dairy brand, established in 1994. Minette Batters started her visit at Yeo Valleys Blagdon farm, meeting co-founder Mary Mead OBE and the regenerative agricultural team. She visited the company's trials on the Mendip Hills with mob grazing cattle, which is a planned grazing system that seeks to emulate nature. The farm also hosts the UK's largest agroforestry project, where livestock are introduced to woodland pasture to increase soil carbon and enhance biodiversity. Discussions between Mrs Batters and the Yeo Valley team included domestic food production and opportunities and challenges around food manufacturing. Talks touched upon methane measurement and approaches for soil carbon sequestration, particularly how they are accounted for in future agricultural policy. The meeting also discussed the future of farming careers and opportunities for the next generation. Yeo Valleys Karl Tucker said: It was great to see Minette here in person, seeing first-hand what were doing. "We believe its important that we all continue working together and sharing best practice and the opportunities and challenges of UK food production. "It's vital that we share our views on farming, particularly the sustainability of livestock farming in regenerative organic systems. "We believe provides potential solutions to our climate, nature, health and cost of living crisis. The UK's four farming unions have marked 50 years of the British Agriculture Bureau (BAB) which was established to help farmers navigate major policy changes. The NFU, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) have hailed the work of the BAB office and its continued support for UK farmers. The unions first established an office in Brussels in 1972 to represent the interests of farmers and growers as the UK joined the then European Economic Community (EEC). Officially known as the British Agriculture Bureau, 50 years later this permanent base in Brussels continues to represent the 70,000 members of the four unions. Over the years the office has helped farmers to adapt to huge changes; from the introduction of direct payments to the end of quotas, embracing new technology as it came along, adjusting to the introduction of the WTO, and striving to meet new climate targets. To this day, the BAB office continues to advocate on behalf of its farming members to the European institutions, other European partners and Brussels stakeholders. Today, guests joined the four unions to celebrate this work, including MEPs, members of the EU Agriculture Commissioners cabinet, the UK ambassadors to the EU and Belgium, and members of the European farming group Copa-Cogeca. In a joint statement, the four union presidents said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had shone a light on the fragility of food systems. There are many countries now confronting the reality of how farmers can continue to feed the world when supply chains are pushed to their limits, input costs are soaring, and climate change is wreaking havoc on harvests. Even though the UK has left the EU, it has never been more important for farmers across Europe to work together to tackle the challenges we face on a global scale." The war had also demonstrated the importance of international unity, the presidents said. "Ultimately, if we are to feed 10 billion people by 2050, global food security must be a priority and this means working together across borders to find solutions. The approaches taken by our policy makers may differ, but the ambitions and needs of UK and EU farmers remain aligned to run efficient, profitable business that produce world-leading, climate-friendly, affordable food for people at home and abroad." They added: We will continue to support members by working with our European colleagues and ensuring that the voice of British farming is heard internationally. A major UK research consortium has convened to battle bird flu following unprecedented outbreaks, which have led to more than 100 UK cases this year alone. The group is comprised of eight of the country's top scientific organisations, including the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), APHA, the Pirbright Institute and the Roslin Institute. The consortium has been awarded 1.5 million of government funding to bolster research projects and develop new strategies to effectively tackle future outbreaks. In England alone, there has been 101 cases of bird flu since the start of October 2021, while Scotland and Wales have recorded eight and five cases respectively. A mandatory housing order, which was discontinued in May, was introduced in November 2021 to help stem the UK's outbreak, labelled the 'worst ever' by Defra Secretary George Eustice. The new project, which is being undertaken by the UKs world-leading animal health research institutions, will share findings with international counterparts to enhance global risk mitigation and better inform current efforts to tackle the disease. Advancing the UKs world-leading research reputation in studying bird flu, the project brings together expertise from microbiologists, epidemiologists, virologists, genomics specialists and mathematical modelers. Microbiologists, epidemiologists, virologists, genomics specialists and mathematical modelers will focus on several key areas aimed at containing future outbreaks and supporting the UKs poultry sector and rural economy. Research areas include understanding why some strains form larger and longer outbreaks, the difference in transmission and infection in different bird populations, and the spread of infection over time and across species. The project will also look at resistance in some species, predicting how the virus will evolve and spread in the future and protecting against zoonotic transmission occurring from animals to humans. The UKs chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss welcomed the new consortium: "[It] will allow us to combine our expertise at a national level to increase the speed and quality of our research, ensuring we can develop new strategies to aid our efforts against this insidious disease." Dr Guillaume Fournie, senior research fellow at the RVC, said the scale of the incursion in the UK made it necessary to review gaps in scientists' understanding of the virus's dynamics, especially the role of wild birds in spreading it. As part of this project, the RVC will contribute to improve our understanding of high path avian influenza virus dynamics in wild bird populations, at the interface between wild birds and domestic poultry, and its potential to cause large outbreaks among farms. "This information will allow us to inform the design of more targeted surveillance activities and risk mitigation interventions better tailored to the UK poultry sector. The RVCs involvement will include establishing a UK-focused dataset of wild bird distribution and movements, and combining it with available genome sequence data to reconstruct viral diffusion patterns. Additionally, the college's work will include an investigation of farmers perceptions of biosecurity measures. Other consortium members include APHA, the Pirbright Institute, Roslin Institute, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Leeds and University of Nottingham. The UK's most recent case of highly-pathogenic bird flu was confirmed on 15 June, on a commercial poultry farm in in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. Concerns are also growing over the spread of avian influenza in wild birds, following reports of the disease causing the death of thousands of seabirds in Scotland alone. Earlier this month, RSPB Scotland said the outbreak had had an 'unprecedented impact' on wild birds, causing the loss of a third of the Solway barnacle geese population. The Sphinx International Airport in Egypt will open next month close to the tourism attraction of the pyramids of Giza A new international airport is set to open in the middle of next month near the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. Located on the desert road between Cairo and Alexandria, the new airport is also sited at a convenient distance from the Giza pyramids - just 45 kilometres away. Operating both domestic and international flights, the airport has the welcome potential to reduce pressure on the Cairo International Airport. It will also encourage one-day exploration among travellers and allow the movement of export goods, Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar has said. Its location will also help connections with the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. The airport will serve the residents of the 6 October and Sheikh Zayed districts of Greater Cairo as well as the locals of the Fayoum and Beni Surf governorates. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has also highlighted the significance of the new Sphinx International Airport in conjunction with the upcoming official opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which overlooks the Giza Plateau. Officially inaugurated in January 2020, the airport has been upgraded to comfortably receive tourists coming to visit the pyramids and the GEM. The Civil Aviation Minister revealed that the size of the new airport has increased to 24,000 square metres and it can now accommodate 900 passengers per hour across two terminals, up from the earlier 300. The runway is 3,650 metres long and sixty metres wide, with a tarmac that can accommodate eight aircraft. There are also plans to start a new airline, Air Sphinx, a subsidiary of Egypt Air, which will serve Aswan, Hurghada, Luxor and Sharm el-Sheikh. Air Sphinx will offer 15 weekly flights to bring visitors from across Egypt to the tourist sites of Giza. Sphinx International Airport is Egypts 33rd air terminal, and will be the fifth of the countrys international airports, joining Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh and Alexandria (Borg El Arab). Images: Shutterstock | For representational purposes only Also see: Always Wanted To Be A Mermaid? Train To Be One In Florida Springs Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category In her first interview since losing her defamation case on June 1, Amber Heard stated that Johnny Depp's ex-wives are too afraid to openly accuse him of violence. Amber Heard, 36, told Savannah Guthrie on NBC's Dateline that she was terrified of sharing her side of the tale in an interview that aired in full for the first time on Friday. Guthrie stated in the interview that Heard is the only woman who has come out with claims of abuse against Johnny Depp. Amber Heard's Tell-All Interview She wondered why no one else had spoken up if they had been subjected to the same brutal abuse she had. Kate Moss took the stand during the slander trial to defend her ex-boyfriend, whom she dated from 1994 to 1998. She dealt a stunning blow to his ex-wife Amber Heard by dismissing her accusation that Johnny Depp had shoved his supermodel ex down a flight of stairs. During her evidence, Heard mentioned hearing rumors that Depp had thrown Moss down a flight of stairs; however, according to testimony Moss provided in favor of Depp, the actor rescued her after she stumbled. Amber Heard made the accusation while detailing an alleged confrontation with Johnny Depp at the top of a staircase, during which she claimed her sister, Whitney Heard, stepped in between them. Heard's interview raised eyebrows, as she repeated the slanderous charges that he hit her. Nonetheless, Heard's team emphasized on Friday, just before the interview aired, that they were unapologetic. Heard also provided a binder full of notes from her therapist, which she claims is new proof supporting her allegations of physical and sexual abuse against Depp, even though the materials were previously disregarded by the judge, Daily Mail reported. Read Also: Jordan Poole Salary: Warriors Rising Star Could Get $38 Million Per Year After Breakout Season, NBA Title Johnny Depp's Team Warns Amber Heard Meanwhile, Johnny Depp's team has pushed back following Amber Heard's tell-all interview, accusing her of re-litigating issues. Depp won his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard on June 1. The jury unanimously ruled in Johnny Depp's favor, ruling that what Amber Heard wrote in her op-ed piece for The Washington Post was defamatory and awarding him $15 million in damages. The jury awarded Amber Heard $2 million in compensatory damages, concluding that Heard failed to show all elements of slander in her countersuit. Judge Penny Azcarate eventually limited the charges at $10.35 million, as per Lad Bible. On Thursday, the 'Aquaman' star was spotted shopping at TJ Maxx, a bargain department store in the Hamptons. According to sources, the 36-year-old actress is poor due to high legal bills related to her and Depp's bombshell trial - and this was before she was sentenced to pay millions for defamatory claims. When questioned if the actress could afford to pay the jury's verdict, her lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, answered, "Oh no, certainly not." Still, Heard was seen shopping at TJ Maxx in Bridgehampton, New York - where the typical property costs roughly $3.8 million, according to Zillow - so she's surely not maxing out her credit cards at the big box retailer. A snooping shopper captured Amber Heard wearing jeans and an oversized white button-down t-shirt while looking at items. She was joined by her sister, Whitney Henriquez, who has been at her side throughout the trial and testified in her favor. It's unclear what Heard purchased at TJ Maxx if anything. According to many reports, Heard's homeowner's insurance coverage will pay the expense of her attorneys. Depp sued Heard for $50 million after she wrote in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she had become a "public figure symbolizing domestic abuse," and he won all three of his defamation claims against her. Meanwhile, in a $100 million countersuit, Heard won just one of three defamation allegations she filed against the "Pirates of the Caribbean." Heard was paid $1 million for the 2018 film 'Aquaman,' and another $2 million for the sequel, which will be released next year. Her part in the film has been drastically reduced, according to the New York post. Related Article: Will Britney Spears' Conservatorship Return? Father Jamie Files in Court, Accuses Daughter of Social Media Smear Campaign @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra) New mama on the block, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been juggling motherhood and her acting career and excelling at both. The actress recently wrapped up shooting for her upcoming OTT series Citadel. She then took to her social media handle to share a video that gives us a sneak peek of her experience shooting the series.The actress was in Atlanta in the US to shoot for her upcoming web series Citadel. She has now shared a video that gives us a glimpse of her experience on set.Videos show Priyanka donning a red dress and receiving a warm welcome with a bouquet of flowers. It also gives us a glimpse of her beloved pet Diana as she accompanies Priyanka who drives her customized car. According to reports, the car was a gift from her husband Nick Jonas. The video also takes us through the studio where Citadel was filmed.Sharing the video on Instagram, she wrote, "And its finally a wrap! Thank you to everyone who made this mammoth task possible and fun. Thx Atlanta. See you next time. #Citadel."Other than Citadel, Priyanka Chopra Jonas will also be seen in Ending Things and Its All Coming Back To Me, both Hollywood movies. She will also be returning to Bollywood in Farhan Akhtars upcoming film Jee Le Zaraa. BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - New Zealand will on Monday see May results for the Performance of Services Index from BusinessNZ, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In April, the index score was 51.4. Taiwan will provide May numbers for export orders, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on year after slipping 5.5 percent in April. China will release prime loan rates for one year and five years; currently, the rates sit at 3.7 percent and 4.45 percent, respectively. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. HANOI, Vietnam, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the government's support as well as recent incentive policies, Vietnam's industrial real estate market is becoming an ideal destination for investors. Among the industrial real estate projects, Aurora IP is becoming a phenomenon attracting international media because of its core values for the green and sustainable textile industry. Pursuing the goal "Aurora IP, all for greens", the industrial park is leading the trend in building and developing a green textile industrial park along with the sustainable growth in textile industry. Green textile is a hot topic that global media always care about. Recently, Aurora IP was bold in Bloomberg, the global business and financial news leader, and Market Insider, a prominent breaking news platform in the region. Developed by one of Vietnam's leading real estate developers Cat Tuong Group, Aurora IP is considered the most preferable and potential destination among industrial parks in Vietnam. Located in the northern Nam Dinh province, the cradle of Vietnam's textile industry, Aurora is one of the very few IPs in Vietnam that meets the legal and utility infrastructure requirements qualified to accommodate fabric-dyeing establishment. Aurora IP is actively implementing land leveling for the whole area of 519.6 hectares. This shall aim to immediate hand-over clean land to the tenants upon the signing of land leasing agreement, minimize any waiting time for the secondary investors. Well-designed with the country's largest capacity of water supply and wastewater treatment system as well as the development of complex social infrastructure, Aurora IP commits to bring the most optimal facilities for textile and dyeing production. Aurora's wastewater treatment system is well designed with a large capacity of 110,000 m3/day night, divided into modules with advanced and synchronous technology, shall ensure the receipt and treatment of all investors' wastewater before discharging into the environment. "Our core value is bringing green and sustainable investment environment for investors coming to Vietnam as an ideal destination. I believe that the support from international media will bring us closer to investors who share the same vision with Cat Tuong Group in building a global's green textile industry," said Mr. Tran Quoc Viet, Chairman & CEO of Cat Tuong Group. Aurora IP attracting the attention of international media also because it has been launched amidst Vietnam's textile and garment export is leading the world, just behind China. Figures from the General Department of Customs showed that in the first quarter of 2022, the country's export value of textiles and garments reached $8.68 billion, up 20.3% year-on-year, marking the highest increase in the past 10 years. Vietnam's industrial real estate market is hotter than ever with large capital injections from foreign investors. According to statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in 2021, Vietnam has 575 industrial zones established in 61 provinces and cities and is the destination of thousands of businesses from 122 countries and territories around the world. Email: info@auroraip.vn LONDON and PARIS, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mauritius-listed African investment company CIEL Limited (CIEL.N0000) delivered its best year-to-date results since the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassing its previous performance just as it celebrates its 110th anniversary. In the nine months to 31 March 2022, CIEL's revenue grew 51% to USD 475 million, with an EBITDA margin increasing to 16.8% from 12.2% in the prior-year period. CIEL, listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius and the SEM Sustainability Index, has investments in over 25 companies across six clusters (TEXTILE, FINANCE, HEALTHCARE, HOTELS & RESORTS, PROPERTIES, and AGRO-BUSINESS). "Our diversified portfolio has proven its strength through the most uncertain times, and now, CIEL is ready to undertake future challenges successfully," remarks Jean-Pierre Dalais, Group Chief Executive, who has led the company since 2017. CIEL is headquartered in Mauritius and operates across 10 markets in Africa and Asia, earning 60% of its revenue in USD and EUR, generating strong cash reserves in foreign currencies. CIEL has leveraged its market position by crafting and executing robust business plans and nurturing and developing companies in its chosen sectors. Founded in 1912 as a sugar business, the conglomerate has evolved and expanded through specific and diversified investments to emerge as a rising star in multiple industries, including HEALTHCARE, TEXTILE, FINANCE, HOTELS & RESORTS, PROPERTIES and AGRO. This ensures a well-balanced portfolio, positioning the company to tackle future growth. With 19 different production units, CIEL's TEXTILE business has emerged as a powerhouse, providing a strong alternative to China for the global fashion industry. Through this cluster, CIEL ships 42 million garments every year to global brands such as Lacoste, Asos, (LON: ASC), and Puma (ETR: PUM), among others. The TEXTILE cluster is the largest in CIEL's portfolio in terms of the number of employees, with some 20,000 talents in four nations, across two continents. CIEL's FINANCE cluster has stakes in two banks and partners with international organisations such as Kenya's I&M Bank and Africa's AXIAN. The cluster further offers financial services and employs 1,600 finance professionals. CIEL's HEALTHCARE cluster, C-Care, is the leader in private hospitals on the island as well as laboratories through an extensive network under the C-Lab brand. C-Care employs more than 2,000 medical and support professionals and includes the most recognised network of doctors in Mauritius. C-Care has a considerable presence in Uganda and is now expanding into East Africa. The company's HOTELS & RESORTS cluster is the strategic partner in Mauritius for the Four Seasons and Shangri-La chains and owns several long-standing local hotels under the SUN Resorts brand. The PROPERTIES arm of the business was created in June 2020 and leverages the land and buildings owned by CIEL. It also has a sustainable property development offering with a strong focus on biodiversity and agri-hub opportunities. CIEL maintains its original sugar-producing roots through its investment in the Alteo Group (AGRO-BUSINESS), which employs more than 5,800 people. It is the largest sugar producer in Mauritius and has a strategic presence in East Africa, creating a competitive advantage throughout the sugarcane value chain with the production of raw sugars, special granulated sugars, bagasse, molasses, and energy. As a country, Mauritius has delivered outstanding economic performance. Its GDP rebounded in 2021, growing by about 4% for the year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast growth of 6% for 2022. CIEL has been acting as one of the cornerstones of the country's growth and development for more than a century. CIEL was listed in 2014 on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, an internationally recognised exchange, a member of the World Federation of Exchanges, and winner of the 2017 title of Most Innovative African Stock Exchange. With a population of 1.2 million people, the country has a growing economy that has consistently delivered solid results. This has led to significant foreign direct investment and a rapidly growing financial, IT, and digital services sector to complement the traditional maritime and tourism strengths. Its main export partners are the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. "We are proud to be an international company committed to the development of Mauritius as an economy, and we plan to continue on this journey of investing, growing, and innovating in all our sectors and in our chosen emerging markets", added Jean-Pierre Dalais. All Seas Capital Fund I ("All Seas Capital"), a pan-European private capital fund that provides flexible long-term financing solutions to leading mid cap companies, announces a growth investment in SoMeD Sante ("SoMeD" or the "Company"), a private medical centre group in France. SoMeD provides a multidisciplinary service, including GP, radiography and dental services, from its nine sites across France. Expert clinicians benefit from best in class medical equipment and centralised administrative infrastructure. The investment from All Seas Capital will enable SoMeD's ambitious management team, led by Yehoram Houri and Benedicte Gautreau, to accelerate its expansion strategy. The Company plans to quadruple the number of medical centres it operates in France over the next four years, capitalising on the increasing and more complex needs of the population across the territory and the shift of care out of hospitals due to the pandemic towards proximity healthcare facilities. France faces an under-invested state healthcare infrastructure creating a real need for private medical provision and a centuries-old tradition for liberal individual medical practice which does not fit anymore with the needs and aspirations of the new generation of MD's and their patients. SoMeD medical centres are situated in high footfall locations, ensuring they are easy-to-access for patients and enhancing their utilisation. With its extensive investment experience, All Seas Capital is already working closely with Yehoram, Benedicte and their team to support further institutionalisation of the business at Board and operational management levels, as well as identifying potential M&A opportunities to supplement the businesses organic growth plan. All Seas Capital was recently launched by Marc Ciancimino and Cristobal Cuart who co-founded and led KKR's European mezzanine and preferred equity business. All Seas Capital provides transformational capital solutions and board level expertise to entrepreneurs who need strategic capital, but do not want to sell a majority stake. SoMeD is All Seas Capital's third transaction, following investments in Hakim Opticians Group, a rapidly growing portfolio of independent opticians across the UK, and Attivo Group, a fully independent UK-based Chartered Financial Planning business. Emmanuel Logan-Moll, Managing Director of All Seas Capital, said: "We are thrilled to be making our third investment, partnering with SoMeD and its ambitious management team. They have established a quality group of medical practices across France, built on strong underlying demand driven by an ageing demographic and need for ever more complex medical treatment. The team have been smart in where they have located their medical centres, and with All Seas Capital's investment, they can accelerate their expansion plan of SoMeD over the coming years." Yehoram Houri, CEO of SoMeD, commented: "In All Seas Capital, we have not only secured a financial investor to enable us to accelerate our expansion plans, but also a highly experienced and hands-on partner to help us structure and grow our business. It was highly appealing to take on an investor that adds so much value and from day one we have been impressed by the out of the box mindset and collaborative approach of the All Seas team." Marc Ciancimino, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of All Seas Capital, commented: "We are finding that our hybrid investment strategy is highly appealing to entrepreneur and family-owned mid-market businesses across Western Europe; businesses that already have a certain amount of scale but are in need of support and capital as the catalyst for real business growth, but do not want to sell a majority stake. We are the ideal partner for SoMeD, so are thrilled that they are our third investment from All Seas Capital's maiden fund." All Seas Capital was advised by Sabbag Advisor, Alvarez&Marsal, PwC, Lamartine Conseil and Loyens Loeff, and SoMeD was advised by Cambon Partners, Exelmans, Argos Avocats and Moncey. -Ends- About All Seas Capital All Seas Capital is a pan-European private capital fund that provides flexible long-term financing solutions to leading mid cap companies. The team is led by Marc Ciancimino and Cristobal Cuart who co-founded and led KKR's European mezzanine and preferred equity business, and have an extensive career track record with 3.4bn invested across 45 businesses. We partner with and provide transformational capital solutions and board level expertise to Western European entrepreneur- and family-owned mid-market businesses who need strategic capital, but do not want to sell majority stakes. We identify businesses that already have a certain amount of scale but are in need of support and capital as the catalyst for real business growth. All Seas Capital's hybrid strategy, investing a combination of debt and equity, integrates ESG considerations throughout its investment process to help position its portfolio for long term, sustained growth. www.allseascapital.com Marc Ciancimino, Co-Founder Prior to starting All Seas, Marc was a partner ("Member") of KKR Co where he spent a decade and started the European dimension of the firm's private credit activities with a special emphasis on hybrid transactions. He sat on the Global Private Credit Committee and was a Portfolio Management Committee member. He started his career in 1995 at Citibank and also worked at Bankers Trust before moving to the buyside in 1999. He has invested over $1.9Bn since he started his career. Cristobal Cuart, Co-Founder Prior to All Seas, Cristobal was a Director at KKR which he joined in 2010 where he was a senior member of the European private credit and preferred equity platform, working closely with Marc Ciancimino to launch and grow the firm's European private credit and preferred equity activities. He has invested over $2.2 billion into privately held businesses throughout his career. About SoMeD SoMeD Sante is a private French health centre and management facilities group, providing dental, medical and radiology care. Originally based in Paris, SoMeD centres are to be found in locations across France (shopping malls, railways stations and city centres), including Nantes, Marseille, Claye-Souilly, Strasbourg, Lille, Amiens and Rouen, as well as Orleans, Pau and Bayonne by the end of the year. www.somedsante.fr View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220619005013/en/ Contacts: All Seas Capital Charlotte Balbirnie +44 7989 528421 CBalbirnie@keplercomms.com Regulatory News: Latecoere (Paris:LAT) (the "Company" or the "Group"), an international "Tier 1" partner of the world's major aircraft manufacturers, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Figeac Aero to acquire its Hermosillo industrial site in Mexico and Boeing 787-related inventory on site at closing. The acquisition would strengthen the competitiveness of Latecoere's Mexican operations, in order to better serve the North and South American aerostructures market. This acquisition is conditional to finalizing other related additional agreements and closing would be anticipated to occur in the 4th quarter 2022, provided IMMEX* clearance is obtained. *IMMEX authorization is an instrument that allows the temporary importation of goods that are used in an industrial process or service, to produce, process or repair foreign goods temporarily imported for subsequent export, without paying VAT and countervailing duties, and defer or not pay import tax. _____________________________________________________ About Latecoere As an international "Tier 1" partner of the world's major aircraft manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Mitsubishi Aircraft), Latecoere serves aerospace with innovative solutions for a sustainable world. The Group is active in all segments of the aeronautics industry (commercial, regional, business and military aircraft), in two areas of activity: Aerostructures (46% of turnover): fuselage sections and doors, Interconnection Systems (54% of turnover): wiring, electrical furniture and on-board equipment. As of December 31, 2021, the Group employed 4,764 people in 14 different countries. Latecoere, a French limited company capitalised at 133,912,589.25 divided into 535,650,357 shares with a par value of 0.25, is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B, ISIN Codes: FR0000032278 Reuters: LAEP.PA Bloomberg: LAT.FP. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220619005034/en/ Contacts: Taddeo Antoine Denry Investor Relations +33 (0)6 18 07 83 27 Laurine Quil Media Relations +33 (0)6 59 70 88 39 teamlatecoere@taddeo.fr LONDON, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Tin, a tin development company with advanced, low capex projects in Germany and Australia, is pleased to announce that high grade mineralisation has been confirmed at its Gottesberg tin project in Germany with an initial intercept of 6.5m @ 0.98% Sn from 124.7m downhole. Between 24 November 2021 and 30 March 2022, 16 drillholes were drilled for a total length of 2080.5m from 7 drill sites in the project area. Eleven holes (1597.5m) of this 16 hole programme were designed to test for an interpreted higher grade core to the large but moderate grade Gottesberg tin deposit (42.1Mt @ 0.27% Sn containing 114,000t tin in Indicated plus Inferred resources). This is of particular interest as a potential source of high-grade mineralisation that may be able to be pre-concentrated and transported to the Tellerhauser project for additional processing. Results have now been received for the first three drillholes at Gottesberg - SaxGB003-01, SaxGB003-02 and SaxGB003-03. Drillhole SaxGB003-03 intersected the large, moderate grade mineralisation zone as expected, returning an overall downhole intercept of 90.8m @ 0.15% Sn from 75.8m downhole. Within this zone and close to the area of underground workings previously opened up during the 1960s, a high-grade intercept of 6.5m (downhole) @ 0.98% Sn from 124.7m was encountered beneath medieval surface workings. This is an excellent outcome and supports the validity of the conceptual high grade target zone. Drillhole SaxGB003-02 failed to reach the intended target, suggesting the mineralisation is steeper than anticipated in this area. Drillhole SaxGB003-01 targeted an IP anomaly outside the known mineralisation area, interpreted as a possible extension of the interpreted higher grade mineralisation. This returned low grade tin mineralisation with a best intercept of 17.8m @ 0.05% Sn from 109.2m - possibly the source of the IP anomaly. More drill core samples are currently being analyzed at ALS in Romania and First Tin is eagerly awaiting confirmation of interpreted additional high grade mineralisation from drilling along strike of that identified in drillhole SaxGB003-03. First Tin CEO Thomas Buenger said, "We are pleased to confirm the presence of high grade mineralisation at the Gottesberg tin project in Germany, which is in close proximity to our Tellerhauser project. Mineralisation from this area is intended to deliver additional ore for processing at a central processing facility, building our presence as a supplier of conflict free, local tin for the German and European technology market. We look forward to announcing additional results in the coming weeks and months." Enquiries: First Tin Via SEC Newgate below Thomas Buenger - Chief Executive Officer Arlington Group Asset Management Limited (Financial Advisor and Joint Broker) Simon Catt 020 7389 5016 WH Ireland Limited (Joint Broker) Harry Ansell 020 7220 1670 SEC Newgate (Financial PR) Elisabeth Cowell / Molly Gretton 07900 248 213 Notes to Editors First Tin is an ethical, reliable, and sustainable tin production company led by a team of renowned tin specialists. The Company is focused on becoming a tin supplier in conflict-free, low political risk jurisdictions through the rapid development of high value, low capex tin assets in Germany and Australia. Tin is a critical metal, vital in any plan to decarbonise and electrify the world, yet Europe has very little supply. Rising demand, together with shortages, is expected to lead tin to experience sustained deficit markets for the foreseeable future. Its assets have been de-risked significantly, with extensive work undertaken to date. First Tin's goal is to use best-in-class environmental standards to bring two tin mines into production in three years, providing provenance of supply to support the current global clean energy and technological revolutions. This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com) or visit www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/). Venissieux, June 20, 2022 BOOSTHEAT (FR0011814938/ALBOO), a French energy efficiency manufacturer , is exhibiting its thermal compression technology in Wuppertal as part of the Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) 2021/2022, which aims to advance the energy transition in urban quarters and thus to create livable and futureproof cities collectively. This is the first phase of the partnership already signed between BOOSTHEAT S.A., the University of Wuppertal and WSW Energie & Wasser AG, energy provider in Wuppertal, around the project "Living Lab.NRW"[1]. Eighteen university teams from eleven countries have qualified for the 2021/2022 edition of the SDE to present technically, architecturally, and socially appropriate solutions for the European cities of tomorrow. The teams have built their demonstration houses and the SOLAR DECATHLON EUROPE final, which is currently running until June 26, 2022, allows the public to see their achievements at the event site on Nordbahnstrasse in Wuppertal. Eight of these houses will remain on site after the competition and will be integrated into the follow-up project "Living Lab. NRW", the central research and educational institution of North Rhine-Westphalia for climate-neutral building and sustainable urban living. Most of them will be connected to a heating network, which will be the only source of heating. I A THREE-PHASE PROGRAM WITH BOOSTHEAT THERMALLY DRIVE HEAT PUMP (TDHP) COMBINED WITH HYDROGEN FOR SPACE HEATING PURPOSES At the cutting edge of renewable energy innovation, the BOOSTHEAT Thermally Driven Heat Pump will generate heat from the ambient air by means of the patented thermal compression, invented and manufactured by BOOSTHEAT. This central heating unit will supply up to 20kW to the local heat network which will be sufficient for the space heating of the eight highly insulated demonstration houses. After this first phase of presenting the technology to the public, the second phase will begin this autumn as soon as the heat pump will be moved to the nearby place of installation and all the solutions are activated. The BOOSTHEAT Heat Pump will be powered by propane and combined with the renewable heat from the ambient air to heat the buildings. The third phase foresees the use of hydrogen as the main fuel from 2023. In this context, BOOSTHEAT has partnered with Promeos, designer and manufacturer of innovative burners, which, after having studied and confirmed the technical feasibility, is currently developing a specific burner adapted to BOOSTHEAT technology. https://sde21.eu/sde21 * * * For more information on BOOSTHEAT, visit www.boostheat-group.com ABOUT BOOSTHEAT Founded in 2011, BOOSTHEAT operates in the energy efficiency sector. The company's mission is to accelerate energy transition by integrating its technology into energy-intensive applications. BOOSTHEAT has designed and developed a thermal compressor protected by 7 patent families that significantly improves energy consumption in order to promote the reasonable and appropriate use of resources. BOOSTHEAT has its head office, research center and manufacturing plant in Venissieux, near Lyon (historically an HVAC* industrial zone). The company holds the Entreprise Innovante (Bpifrance) and French Fab labels. The BOOSTHEAT share is listed on Euronext Growth Paris (ISIN: FR0011814938). * Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning I CONTACTS ACTUS finance & communication - Anne-Pauline Petureaux Investor Relations Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 36 72 / boostheat@actus.fr ACTUS finance & communication - Serena Boni Press Relations Tel: +33 (0)4 72 18 04 92 / sboni@actus.fr BOOSTHEAT - Sabrina Ferre Tel: 09 82 99 16 13 / sabrina.ferre@boostheat.com [1] See press release of November 15, 2021 ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: lWdyZ8dnZ5eUnJ9ul8mYbpRra5pokmmZbWqZx2RtY8qUmp1hl2hia5SaZnBmlWpo - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-75052-pr_boostheat_wuppertal_juin22_def.pdf Former guerilla fighter Gustavo Petro has made history in Colombia after winning the votes in the country's election and is set to become the first leftist leader of the region. The longtime senator has pledged to transform the country's economic system and has set the third largest nation in Latin America on a radically new path. The 62-year-old received more than 50% of the vote, with more than 99% counted on Sunday evening. Colombia's First Leftist President Petro's presidential rival, Hernandez, a construction magnate who had energized the country with a scorched-earth anti-corruption platform, received just over 47%. Shortly after the vote, Hernandez announced that he was conceding to Petro, saying that Colombians have chosen his rival candidate. Just a little bit more than 58% of Colombia's 39 million registered voters turned out to cast a ballot in the most recent elections. Petro's victory reflects widespread discontent in the country, which is home to roughly 50 million people. There is the issue of poverty and inequality that are on the rise and widespread dissatisfaction with a lack of opportunity. There are also issues that sent hundreds of thousands of people to demonstrate in the streets last year, as per the New York Times. A Colombia political scientist, Fernando Posada, said that the entire country was already begging for a change, noting that it was "absolutely clear." Petro's presidential win is all the more significant because of the country's history. Read Also: Russia's Political Pundit Brags About Capturing US Troops as Captors Claim UK "Doesn't Care" About British Soldiers on Death Row For decades, the government has fought a brutal leftist insurgency that is known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The stigma from the conflict made it much more difficult for a legitimate left-leaning politician to flourish. According to CNN, during the former guerilla fighter's victory speech on Sunday night, he said that he was open to dialogue with Hernandez. He also called for a Great National agreement to end violence in the nation. He argued that what his government was going to bring was "real change." Peace for the Future Petro said that change was what they were committing their lives to and pledged not to betray the electorate that has demanded that Colombia change for the betterment of the future. In a Twitter post, the president-elect said that they were hoping that many sufferings be cushioned in the joy that "today floods the heart of the homeland." In a statement, outgoing President Ivan Duque said that he called Petro to congratulate him on his victory. He also noted that they had "agreed to meet in the coming days to initiate a harmonious, institutional, and transparent transition" of power." Speaking beside Colombia's first Black female Vice President Francia Marquez, Petro said that peace meant a Colombia society with opportunities. He noted that it means someone like him can become president and someone like Francia can become vice president. The crowd, listening and waving Colombia flags, erupted in cheers, chanting together with the phrase, "No more war!" In a video address on social media, Hernandez said that he hoped the decision to elect Petro will become beneficial for everyone, the Washington Post reported. Related Article: US Backs Philippines Protest Over China's 'Provocative Actions' in South China Sea @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. DGAP-Ad-hoc: Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A. / Key word(s): Merger/Merger Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A.: Majorel and Sitel Group agree on key terms for a potential merger, transforming two high-profile CX groups into a global industry leader 20-Jun-2022 / 08:15 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES TO THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION THAT QUALIFIED OR MAY HAVE QUALIFIED AS INSIDE INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 7(1) OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) 596/2014. Press Release Majorel and Sitel Group agree on key terms for a potential merger, transforming two high-profile CX groups into a global industry leader Highlights A new global customer experience (CX) leader in a $300bn+ industry, with pro-forma revenues of 5.4bn [1] and pro-forma EBITDA of over 1bn [2] , over 240,000 team members across more than 55 countries, and serving over 1,000 clients [3] Setting the foundations for market leadership with a truly global platform spanning the Americas, Europe and APAC, serving vertical leaders and digital disruptors in their respective industries Deep cultural fit, and shared entrepreneurial mindset paves the way for successful integration and accelerated growth Majorel shareholders to own 43.9% of the enlarged group and to receive a 440m cash distribution, expected to be approved before the Merger Promising value creation potential for Majorel shareholders fuelled by enhanced momentum of the combined entity, the attractive financial terms of this potential transaction, and circa 100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies from the potential merger Based on today's non-binding term sheet, parties will pursue confirmatory due diligence expeditiously to enter into binding merger agreement as soon as possible Luxembourg, June 20, 2022 - Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A. ("Majorel"), a leading global provider of next-generation end-to-end customer experience ("CX") solutions for digital-native and vertical leading brands, listed on Euronext Amsterdam (Bloomberg Code: MAJ:NA / Reuters Code: MAJ.AS), today announces that it has, together with its major shareholders Bertelsmann Luxembourg S.a r.l. ("Bertelsmann"), Saham Customer Relationship Investment S.a r.l. Limited and Saham Outsourcing Luxembourg S.a r.l. (together "Saham"), agreed with Sitel Group S.A. ("Sitel") and Sitel's majority shareholder, the Mulliez family, on key terms for a potential merger of Majorel and Sitel. Sitel is a leading provider of CX products and solutions, with 165,000+ employees across 40 countries, and serving 700+ clients in 50+ languages. Whether digital or voice-based, Sitel's solutions deliver a competitive edge across all customer touchpoints. Their award-winning culture is built on more than 40 years of industry-leading experience and commitment to improving the employee experience. Sitel's success draws upon a well-executed strategic roadmap including a number of game-changing acquisitions such as SYKES, and the merger with Acticall. The group generated 3.6bn[4] of revenues and pro forma EBITDA of 637m[5] in 2021. CREATING A NEW GLOBAL LEADER IN THE CX INDUSTRY The proposed merger of Majorel and Sitel is a unique opportunity to create a new global industry leader and leverage the ever-increasing demand for advanced CX solutions. This major milestone in both companies' journeys would significantly enhance their value proposition for existing and new clients in a market worth over $300bn. Together, Majorel and Sitel would have a truly global, well-established platform across the Americas, EMEA and APAC, employing over 240,000 team members across more than 300 locations globally, serving over 1,000 clients[6] around the globe across all verticals in more than 70 languages. The group would benefit from complementary geographical presence and reach in key markets, leveraging Majorel's and Sitel's respective offshore platforms in Africa and APAC. The proposed combination would create a strong force with combined pro-forma revenues of 5.4bn[7] and pro-forma EBITDA of over 1.0bn[8] post IFRS-16 for 2021, on a pro forma basis, including circa 100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies derived from the proposed merger, and full-year contribution (including realized synergies) from the SYKES acquisition. Thomas Mackenbrock, CEO of Majorel, said: "We are very excited to announce our intention to merge with Sitel. The combination of our two successful organizations would be a quantum leap towards our strategy of becoming a global leader in CX. I am looking forward to working closely with Laurent Uberti and the entire Sitel Group team." Laurent Uberti, CEO of Sitel, said: "With Majorel, we have found the perfect partner to accelerate our strategy delivery. We realized early on that we share the same DNA as Majorel and are excited to jointly write the next chapter in our growth while delivering best-in-class customer experience solutions around the globe." POTENTIAL TRANSACTION TERMS AND GOVERNANCE The non-binding term sheet provides for a legal merger of Majorel with Sitel under Luxembourg law with Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A. ceasing to exist (the "Proposed Merger", and the surviving company the "Combined Entity"). The term sheet provides for a 3-month exclusivity agreement between the parties. As a result of the Proposed Merger, Majorel shares would automatically be exchanged against shares in the Combined Entity which would be admitted to trading on Euronext Amsterdam. The agreed upon terms of the Proposed Merger imply that the Majorel legacy shareholders would represent 43.9% and the Sitel legacy shareholders would represent 56.1% of the Combined Entity. As a result, the shareholding in the Combined Entity upon closing would be as follows: the Mulliez family (44.9%); Bertelsmann (17.3%); Saham (17.3%); Sitel management (11.2%); Majorel management (0.4%); and free float (8.8%). Furthermore, the Mulliez family, Bertelsmann and Saham have signaled their intention to increase the free float of the Combined Entity to at least 20% on a pro rata basis (to be further increased in the medium-term), by placing shares within 12 months of closing, via coordinated capital markets transactions executed in an orderly manner and subject to market conditions. It is contemplated that all shareholders in Majorel (including Bertelsmann, Saham, Majorel management and free float shareholders) would receive an aggregate 440 million cash distribution, expected to be approved before the Merger and payable around closing date. As of December 2021, the post IFRS-16 combined net debt of the group, adjusted for the 440m cash distribution to Majorel shareholders, would have been around 2.7bn. Upon the completion of the Proposed Merger, the Combined Entity would announce its new name and brand identity. It would have its operational headquarters in Luxembourg and would be listed on Euronext Amsterdam. The Combined Entity will introduce a two-tier governance structure consisting of a management board (directoire) and a supervisory board (conseil de surveillance). The management board will consist of Laurent Uberti, as CEO, and Thomas Mackenbrock, as Chief Investment Officer and CEO of EMEA. The executive committee below the management board will be composed of strong and experienced representatives of both Majorel's and Sitel's current executive bodies. The initial supervisory board of the Combined Entity will have seven (7) members, three (3) of which will be nominated by the Mulliez family and two (2) of which will be nominated by Bertelsmann and Saham (one member each). The remaining two (2) members are proposed to be independent from either party. Neither the Mulliez family, Bertelsmann and Saham nor the nominated supervisory board members are subject to any shareholders or voting rights agreements. There will also be no structural majority at the supervisory board level, but the articles of association will include certain protection rights by increasing certain majority requirements for resolutions by the shareholders' meeting of the Combined Entity. Thus, it would benefit from a balanced governance structure. The Combined Entity intends to largely comply with the 10 Principles of the Corporate Governance of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange on a voluntary basis. These terms negotiated are conditional to the signing of the final agreements. The parties intend to enter into a legally binding definitive merger agreement subject to satisfactory results of confirmatory due diligence, following which Majorel and Sitel would each invite their shareholders to an extraordinary shareholders meeting to vote on the Proposed Merger. Subject to the above, the Proposed Merger is expected to close in Q4/2022 or Q1/2023. PRO-FORMA OUTLOOK FOR COMBINED ENTITY The combined group would expect to deliver sustainable growth, and margins in line with previously announced guidance for Majorel, before the effect of potential synergies and on a pro forma basis (purely illustrative aggregation). On a pro-forma basis, the Combined Entity expects a double-digit revenue growth in 2022 (excluding Covid-19 business in 2021), and a pro-forma EBITDA margin of c.16.0%-17.0% excluding synergies derived from this potential transaction. At closing, the pro-forma net leveragepost cash distribution is expected to be below 3.0x. A HIGHLY COMPELLING TRANSACTION FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS Together with Sitel, Majorel would reinforce its ability to serve an enlarged portfolio of clients with greater scale, increased global reach, and strengthened vertical expertise and capabilities. Furthermore, it is expected that Majorel would deliver additional value to Sitel's existing clients. Majorel's team members would benefit from the greater opportunities for professional development, a shared commitment to employee experience programs and other opportunities that come from being part of a listed industry leader. The proposed combination represents a unique value-accretive opportunity for Majorel's Shareholders. Majorel shareholders would immediately benefit from the cash distribution, favorable transaction terms, exposure to circa 100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies as well as from value creation opportunities driven by the strengthened business profile and potential rerating. Based on 2021 current EV/EBITDA multiples and assumed pro-forma EBITDA of combined entity, the Majorel shareholders could benefit from a potential value appreciation of circa 20%[9]. Assuming a 2021 EV/EBITDA multiple of c.12x, derived from the consensus of equity research target prices, the potential combination could yield a potential value appreciation for Majorel shareholders of circa 91%9 relative to current share price prior to announcement. Together, the management teams of Majorel and Sitel are very excited to consider this industry defining merger and look forward to delivering superior value for clients, employees and shareholders. ADVISORS J.P. Morgan acts as exclusive financial advisor to Majorel. Sullivan & Cromwell, Arendt & Medernach and Stibbe act as legal advisors to Majorel. Lazard acts as exclusive financial advisor to Sitel. Freshfields and Elvinger Hoss Prussen act as legal advisors to Sitel. ANALYST & INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL A conference call for sell-side analysts and institutional investors will be held on Monday, June 20, 2022, at 9:00 AM (BST) / 10:00 AM (CET). To pre-register for this call, please go to the following link: https://ige.netroadshow.com/registration/jpmorgan/11187/jp-morgan-monday-20th-june-2022-webinar/ ABOUT MAJOREL We design, build and deliver next-generation end-to-end CX solutions for many of the world's most respected digital-native and vertical leading brands. Our comprehensive east-to-west global footprint in 41 countries across five continents, with more than 75,000 team members and 60 languages, allows us to deliver flexible solutions that leverage our expertise in cultural nuance, which we believe to be essential for true excellence in CX. We have deep domain expertise in tech-augmented front to-back-office CX. Additionally, we offer Digital Consumer Engagement, CX Consulting, and an innovative suite of Proprietary Digital Solutions for industry verticals. We are a global leader in Content Services, Trust & Safety. We believe the 'Majorel difference' to be our culture of entrepreneurship. Majorel: Driven to go further. www.majorel.com ABOUT SITEL GROUP As one of the largest global providers of customer experience (CX) products and solutions, Sitel Group empowers brands to build stronger relationships with their customers by creating meaningful connections that boost brand value. Inspired by each brands' unique vision and goals, we ask "what if?" applying our expertise to create innovative solutions that reduce customer effort. With 165,000+ people around the globe - working from home or from one of our CX hubs - we securely connect best-loved brands with their customers over 8 million times every day in 50+ languages. Whether digital or voice-based, our solutions deliver a competitive edge across all customer touchpoints. Our award-winning culture is built on 40+ years of industry-leading experience and commitment to improving the employee experience. www.sitel.com CONTACT Investor Relations Michele Negen SVP, Investor Relations ir@majorel.com Media Relations Andrew Slater SVP, Global Marketing & Communications media@majorel.com DISCLAIMER This announcement is released by Majorel Group Luxembourg S.A. ("Majorel") and contains information that qualified or may have qualified as inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR). This announcement is made for the purposes of MAR and pursuant to Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055. This release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale or a solicitation of an offer to purchase the securities described in such release in the United States. In particular, any securities referred to in this release have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. There will be no public offering of securities in the United States. This release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements can be identified by words like "may," "will," "likely," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "future," "plan," "believe," "intend," "goal," "seek," "estimate," "project," "continue," and variations of such words and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks related to: (i) the satisfaction of the conditions to closing the transaction in the anticipated timeframe or at all; (ii) the failure to obtain necessary regulatory and stockholder approvals; (iii) the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the transaction; (iv) the ability to successfully integrate the businesses; (v) disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; (vi) the negative effects of this announcement or the consummation of the proposed transaction on the market price of Majorel's share price; (vii) significant transaction costs and unknown liabilities; and (viii) litigation or regulatory actions related to the proposed transaction. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this release, and except as otherwise required by U.S. federal securities law, neither Majorel nor Sitel assume any obligation nor do they intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. [1] Based on illustrative aggregation of 2021 figures and pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES [2] Based on illustrative aggregation of 2021 figures and pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES, run-rate 2021 synergy impact of SYKES' acquisition, post IFRS-16, including circa EUR100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies for the combined group [3] Subject to confirmatory Due Diligence [4] Pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES [5] Pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES, and including 2021 run-rate synergy impact of SYKES' acquisition (EUR48M), post IFRS-16 [6] Subject to confirmatory Due Diligence [7] Based on illustrative aggregation of 2021 figures pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES [8] Based on illustrative aggregation of 2021 figures and pro-forma for the full-year contribution from SYKES, run-rate 2021 synergy impact of SYKES' acquisition, post IFRS-16, including circa EUR100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies for the combined group [9] Purely illustrative simulation of potential value appreciation based on pro-forma numbers, including circa EUR100m p.a. expected run-rate net synergies and run-rate 2021 synergy impact of SYKES' acquisition. 20-Jun-2022 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de PARIS, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 16, Huawei launched the Tech Arena competition at Viva Technology 2022, one of Europe's biggest tech summits. Huawei's Tech Arena competitions are sponsored and designed by Huawei's worldwide labs in partnership with top universities to give students from around the world more opportunities to experience and learn how to solve real-world problems. Xiang Zishang, Vice President of Huawei's European Research Institute, explained how the company plans to host at least 10 Tech Arena competitions for over 1,000 students during the 2022-2023 school year. These competitions will be hosted in many different countries, including France, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Israel. Huawei hopes this systematic approach to tech competitions will allow more students to participate in and benefit from this kind of program. When discussing the planned content of the competition, Xiang said, "We must broaden our horizons, communicate with talent to understand their needs, and help more outstanding talent grow and emerge from these competitions." Therefore, the themes and focuses of these competitions will cover a broad range of cutting-edge technological topics. Previous challenges have focused on topics such as optical network modeling and real-time intelligence and automotive applications. Contestants will have the opportunity to test their skills involving coding, algorithms, mathematics, and engineering to solve real-world industry problems. The competitions will each have six winners, who will receive cash rewards or Huawei consumer products, such as smart watches and laptops. Tech competitions like Tech Arena offer platforms for local talent to improve their skills and create a space between industry and academia where talented students can learn new ways to apply their academic knowledge to real world challenges. The commercial value generated by this knowledge, in turn, drives new research and breakthroughs. Dario Rossi, a laboratory director at Huawei's Paris Research Center, explained, "Today's students will be the researchers of tomorrow. Being exposed early to interesting and challenging problems can motivate them to pursue a high-profile technical career." Huawei currently operates many R&D research centers in Europe, mainly staffed with local researchers. They also currently partner with over 300 universities and 900 research institutes around the world on international talent cultivation and research. In 2021, the company's annual spending on university funding and partnerships jumped to US$400 million, an increase over previous years. For more information on 2022's French Tech Arena competition, please visit us at: xianti.fr NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2022 / Further to the news release of May 24, 2022, Gabriel Resources Ltd. (TSXV trading symbol:GBU - "Gabriel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed an initial closing of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of 33,105,117 common shares of the Company ("Common Share") at a price of $0.215 per Common Share ("Purchase Price") for gross proceeds of US$5.6 million (approximate $7.1 million), subject to stock exchange and other approvals as applicable. In connection with the initial closing of the Private Placement, the Company has issued an aggregate of 29,950,776 Common Shares for gross proceeds of US$5.07 million (approximately $6.4 million) which represents approximately 3.1% of the Common Shares currently issued and outstanding on a non-diluted basis prior to the Private Placement and are subject to a statutory 4-month hold period expiring on October 18, 2022. It is anticipated that the remainder of the Private Placement may close on or about June 24, 2022 or such earlier or later date as may be determined by the Company, subject to satisfaction or waiver by the relevant party of the conditions of closing. The Company is progressing with its arbitration case against Romania before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ("ICSID Arbitration") and intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement to finance the costs of the ongoing ICSID Arbitration and for general working capital requirements. The Private Placement was conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") on May 25, 2022. The Private Placement remains subject to final acceptance by the Exchange and the receipt of all other applicable approvals. The Company will not pay a cash finder's fee in connection with the Private Placement. The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and accordingly may not be offered or sold within the United States or to "U.S. persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act ("U.S. Persons"), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's securities to, or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons. Further detail regarding the Private Placement, including the participation of insiders, can be found in the news release issued by the Company on May 24, 2022, which is available on the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and the material change report of the same date also filed on SEDAR. For information on this press release, please contact: Dragos Tanase President & CEO Phone: +40 730 399 019 dt@gabrielresources.com Richard Brown Chief Financial Officer Mobile: +44 7748 760276 richard.brown@gabrielresources.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Further Information About Gabriel Gabriel is a Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's principal business had been the exploration and development of the Ro?ia Montana gold and silver project in Romania. The Rosia Montana Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe, is situated in the South Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, an historic and prolific mining district that since pre-Roman times has been mined intermittently for over 2,000 years. The exploitation license for the Rosia Montana Project is held by Ro?ia Montana Gold Corporation S.A., a Romanian company in which Gabriel owns an 80.69% equity interest, with the 19.31% balance held by Minvest Ro?ia Montana S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining company. Upon obtaining the License in June 1999, the Group focused substantially all of their management and financial resources on the exploration, feasibility and subsequent development of the Rosia Montana Project. Despite the Company's fulfilment of its legal obligations and its development of the Rosia Montana Project as a high-quality, sustainable and environmentally-responsible mining project, using best available techniques, Romania has unlawfully blocked and prevented implementation of the Rosia Montana Project without due process and without compensation. Accordingly, the Company's current core focus is the ICSID Arbitration. For more information please visit the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" (also referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of the Company's operating environment. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. In this press release, forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that may cause the Company's actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the uncertainties associated with: the ICSID Arbitration, actions by the Romanian Government, conditions or events impacting the Company's ability to fund its operations (including but not limited to the completion of further funding noted above) or service its debt, exploration, development and operation of mining properties and the overall impact of misjudgments made in good faith in the course of preparing forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors including those set out below, that may never materialize, prove incorrect or materialize other than as currently contemplated which could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "is of the view", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", "potential", "possible" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of fact and may be forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation: the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) may affect the Company's operations and/or the anticipated timeline for the ICSID Arbitration; the geo-political situation and the resulting economic developments arising from the unfolding conflict and humanitarian crisis as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict; the duration, costs, process and outcome of the ICSID Arbitration; Romania's actions following the inscription of the "Rosia Montana Mining Landscape" as a UNESCO World Heritage site; changes in the liquidity and capital resources of Gabriel, and/or the group of companies of which it is directly or indirectly parent; access to funding to support the Group's continued ICSID Arbitration and/or operating activities in the future; equity dilution resulting from the conversion or exercise of new or existing securities in part or in whole to Common Shares; the ability of the Company to maintain a continued listing on the TSX Venture Exchange or any regulated public market for trading securities; the impact on business strategy and its implementation in Romania of: any allegations of historic acts of corruption, uncertain fiscal investigations; uncertain legal enforcement both for and against the Group and political and social instability; regulatory, political and economic risks associated with operating in a foreign jurisdiction including changes in laws, governments and legal regimes and interpretation of existing and future fiscal and other legislation; global economic and financial market conditions; volatility of currency exchange rates; and the availability and continued participation in operational or other matters pertaining to the Group of certain key employees and consultants. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and investors should not infer that there has been no change in the Company's affairs since the date of this press release that would warrant any modification of any forward-looking statement made in this document, other documents periodically filed with or furnished to the relevant securities regulators or documents presented on the Company's website. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to the Company's disclosure obligations under applicable Canadian securities regulations. Investors are urged to read the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory agencies which can be viewed online at www.sedar.com. ENDS SOURCE: Gabriel Resources Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/705721/Initial-Closing-of-US56-Million-Private-Placement BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Eurozone construction output declined for the first time in four months in April, due to a sharp contraction in the civil engineering sector, data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday. Construction output dropped 1.1 percent in April, reversing a 0.1 percent increase in March, which was revised from a nil growth seen in the previous estimate. Civil engineering output logged a fall of 5.5 percent, while production in the building sector rose marginally by 0.1 percent. On a yearly basis, growth in construction output slowed to 3.0 percent in April from 3.4 percent in March. The rate for March was revised up from 3.3 percent. Construction output in the EU27 decreased 1.2 percent monthly in April, while it grew 3.0 percent from a year ago. Among member states, the biggest annual increases in construction output were observed in Italy, Poland and Slovenia, while the worst declines were seen in Romania, Spain and Slovakia. . Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. GDANSK, Poland, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 16, during the WorldSkills Europe General Assembly held in Krakow, the City of Gdansk was appointed the host of the EuroSkills Competition 2023. EuroSkills is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in Europe. Poland will host the event for the first time next year. More than 600 skilled young professionals from 31 countries will participate in competitions and host presentation events in 45-50 different skills at EuroSkills Gdansk 2023. EuroSkills is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in Europe, which was initiated by WorldSkills Europe in 2008. This is the first time that Poland has been appointed the organiser of this unique Competition, often referred to as the 'Olympics of professional skills competitions'. EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 will take place from 6-8 September 2023 at the AMBEREXPO Exhibition and Congress Centre (ul. Zaglowa 11, Gdansk). Gdansk will also host this year's SkillsPoland 2022 competition, which serves as a pre-selection for Polish champions to take part in the EuroSkills Competition 2023. EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 will see ca. 600 competitors and 500 distinguished experts from 31 countries participate in competitions and host presentation events in 45-50 skills, which are grouped into six industry sectors: Construction and Building Technology, Creative Arts and Fashion, Information and Communication Technology, Manufacturing and Engineering Technology, Service Industry, and Transportation and Logistics. Competitors from Poland participated in two previous editions of EuroSkills, Budapest (2018) and Graz (2021) winning in total three medals in cooking, floristry and welding skills. EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 will cover a total area of 60,000 square metres at AMBEREXPO. It is estimated that the event will attract 100,000 visitors from across Poland and abroad. The event will be accompanied by various shows, performances and conferences. Representatives of leading companies from all over the world visit the event to scout for prospective employees and managers. WorldSkills Europe is part of the global WorldSkills movement - a group of people and organisations, including WorldSkills International, that have been working collaboratively for over 70 years to advance the shared social objective of increasing the provision and development of skills. EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 will be organised in partnership by Poland's Foundation For The Development Of The Education System (FRSE), WorldSkills Poland, SkillsPoland, the City of Gdansk and AMBEREXPO. For more information go to: https://worldskillspoland.org.pl/ Image: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1843070/EuroSkills_2023.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1843071/EuroSkills_Logo.jpg New facility to serve as Evoqua's global center of excellence for UV disinfection solutions Evoqua Water Technologies (NYSE: AQUA), a leader in mission-critical water treatment solutions, recently celebrated the opening of its new facility based in Warrington, United Kingdom. The state-of-the-art facility will serve as Evoqua's global center of excellence in developing leading-edge UV disinfection solutions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005060/en/ Evoqua team cutting the ribbon at the grand opening event (L-R): Steffen Lange, VP and General Manager of Evoqua's Disinfection Division, Phil Walsh, Plant Manager, Kelly Van Marle, Senior Quality Control Technician, Ron Keating, Chief Executive Officer, Herve Fages, Executive Vice President and Applied Product Technologies Segment President, Sean Zyra, Sr. Director of Manufacturing Engineering and Quality, Frans Conradie, Operations Director, and Dave Robinson, Warehouse Supervisor. (Photo: Business Wire) The new facility will relocate Evoqua's operations from its previous site in Wigan, UK, and supports the need for expanded facilities to advance future growth plans. The 30,000 square-foot building boasts an expanded footprint to increase manufacturing and research and development capabilities, a dedicated training space, and additional meeting places to encourage employee collaboration. Operations will focus on manufacturing Evoqua's ATG UV product line environmentally friendly, chemical-free UV disinfection and water treatment systems. The facility will also serve as the Wallace Tiernan product distribution and project build site for the United Kingdom market. Evoqua's Wallace Tiernan brand encompasses premier products for gas chlorination, disinfection, and chemical dosing. "We are extremely pleased to officially open our new global center of excellence for UV disinfection solutions," said Ron Keating, Evoqua's Chief Executive Officer. "The investment in this facility underscores our commitment to growth and innovation of our disinfection treatment solutions portfolio, strengthening our ability to support our customers globally." To inaugurate the event, Mr. Keating was joined by Herve Fages, Evoqua's Executive Vice President and Applied Product Technologies Segment President, and Steffen Lange, Vice President and General Manager of Evoqua's Disinfection Division, for the ceremonial ribbon-cutting event hosted on June 8, 2022. About Evoqua Water Technologies Evoqua Water Technologies is a leading provider of mission-critical water and wastewater treatment solutions, offering a broad portfolio of products, services, and expertise to support industrial, municipal, and recreational customers who value water. Evoqua has worked to protect water, the environment, and its employees for more than 100 years, earning a reputation for quality, safety, and reliability around the world. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the company operates in more than 150 locations across nine countries. Serving more than 38,000 customers and 200,000 installations worldwide, our employees are united by a common purpose: Transforming Water. Enriching Life. To learn more, visit www.evoqua.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005060/en/ Contacts: Media Sarah Brown, 506-454-5495 (office) sarah.brown@evoqua.com Investors Dan Brailer, 724-720-1605 (office) 412-977-2605 (mobile) dan.brailer@evoqua.com Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2022) - Vanstar Mining Resources Inc. (TSXV: VSR) (OTCQX: VMNGF) (FSE: 1V8) ("Vanstar", or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional results from its drill program at Bousquet-Odyno project. The results received from seven (7) holes to date confirm continuity of mineralization at depth in the main zone of the project and also show additional mineralization outside of the main zone. Hole BO-22-76 returned a 9.0 m intercept grading 3.96 g/t Au in a zone that is SW of the main zone in a different geological setting and may indicate the beginnings of a new, higher-grade zone. Holes BO-22-64 through 67 were drilled in the main zone, between the known high-grade zones. Hole BO-22-67 returned an intercept of 18.0 m grading 1.07 g/t Au, including 6.0 m of 1.42 g/t Au and 6.6 m of 1.39 g/t Au. Results from these holes confirm the continuity of mineralization and a possible widening of the mineralized zone at depth just as it was observed in hole 63. See Figure 1 for a longitudinal section showing the location of the holes relative to previously drilled holes by other operators and Table 1 for a list of results to date from the current drill program. J.C. St-Amour, President and CEO, said, "The current drill program is progressing very well and today's results are improving our understanding of the gold zones on the property. Hole BO-22-76 is interesting as historical drilling in the area had not returned significant results and it is possible that this is a new ore shoot. We plan to follow up with additional drilling in this area. Also of note, holes BO-22-64 through 67 are in a lower-grade area which seems to connect the higher-grade gold shoots of the main zone, allowing for a bulk tonnage target to be developed. Again, more drilling is needed to confirm, but the project's proximity to infrastructure and operating gold mills would reduce future development capital expenditure." Results announced to date represent approximately 2,500 m of the planned 9,000 m program. Drilling is ongoing and further results are expected throughout the summer. The following video demonstrates the proximity of the Bousquet Odyno project to infrastructure and the Westwood mill owned by IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD"). Figure 1: Longitudinal section of the Bousquet-Odyno Project indicating locations of holes in this news release. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8185/128289_7788393b0494abd9_002full.jpg Table 1: Results from the 2022 Bousquet-Odyno Drill Program including previously released holes Hole From (m) To (m) Length*(m) Au (g/t) Metal Factor (g/t*m) BO-22-63 212.9 213.4 0.5 2.08 1 and 215.5 217.0 1.5 1.99 3 and 229.0 230.5 1.5 1.70 3 and 301.0 322.0 21.0 5.23 110 Previously reported incl. 308.5 319.0 10.5 10.14 106 Previously reported BO-22-64 104.0 110.5 6.5 2.10 14 Previously reported incl. 106.0 109.5 3.5 3.53 12 Previously reported BO-22-65 196.8 200.5 3.8 1.15 4 BO-22-67 209.5 227.5 18.0 1.07 19 incl. 209.5 215.5 6.0 1.42 9 incl. 220.9 227.5 6.6 1.39 9 BO-22-74 319.0 322.0 3.0 1.74 5 BO-22-75 16.0 17.5 1.5 1.01 2 BO-22-75 81.0 88.0 7.0 0.80 6 BO-22-76 59.5 68.5 9.0 3.96 36 *True widths are estimated at 65 to 95% of the core interval. Table 2: Drill Hole information 2022 Bousquet-Odyno Drill Program HOLE-ID EASTING NORTHING ELEVATION AZIMUTH DIP EOH BO-22-63 678417 5344358 357 350 -70 340 BO-22-64 678547 5344521 356 350 -70 377 BO-22-65 678586 5344500 352 343 -63 274 BO-22-67 678636 5344499 350 345 -55 298 BO-22-74 678051 5344412 339 180 -45 358 BO-22-75 678109 5344451 339 142 -45 325 BO-22-76 678119 5344282 339 142 -45 325 Qualified Person Mr. Gilles Laverdiere, P.Geo, consultant geologist and qualified person under NI 43-101 has read and approved this press release. About Bousquet-Odyno Bousquet-Odyno is comprised of 37 contiguous mining claims covering approximately 1,492 ha and is located directly south of highway 117 between the towns of Rouyn-Noranda and Malartic in the Province of Quebec. The Property lies within the Abitibi greenstone gold belt, along the Cadillac break, a prolific gold bearing regional structure that has produced 100 million ounces of gold since 1900. Vanstar can earn a 75% interest in the project from IAMGOLD by spending $4 million over four years. IAMGOLD will have the right to back-in to 50% of the project. About Vanstar Vanstar Mining Resources Inc. is a gold exploration company with properties located in Northern Quebec at different stages of development. The Company owns a 25% interest in the Nelligan project (3.2 million inferred ounces Au, NI 43-101 October 2019) and a 1% NSR. The Nelligan Project won the "Discovery of the Year" award at the 2019 Quebec Mineral Exploration Association Xplor Gala. Vanstar is also earning 75% into the Bousquet-Odyno project located along the Cadillac Break and owns 100% of the Felix property in the Chicobi Group (Abitibi mining camp, 65 km East of Amex Perron property), the Amanda property, a 7,306 ha property located on the Auclair formation with historic gold showings up to 12.1 g/t Au over 3 meters, and the Frida and Eva properties located in the James Bay area. Source: JC St-Amour. President and CEO +1 (647) 296-9871 jc@vanstarmining.com www.vanstarmining.com The TSX Venture Exchange and its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the TSX Venture Exchange Policies) do not accept any responsibility for the truth or accuracy of its content. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward -looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM). To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/128289 PERTH, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2022 / Tempus Resources Ltd ("Tempus" or "the Company") (ASX:TMR)(TSXV:TMRR)(OTC PINK:TMRFF) is pleased to provide a further update on the visible gold observed in Drill Hole EZ-22-03 at the Elizabeth Gold Project in Southern British Columbia, Canada. As reported on 14 June 2022, drill hole EZ-22-03, intersected two zones of quartz veining that show the presence of visible gold ("VG") at a down-hole depth of approximately 96.9 to 97.3 metres and with a second observation of visible gold around 124.0 to 124.1 metres. See Image 1. Following the cutting of the core in preparation for assay, several more grains of visible gold have been observed on the inside of the cut core at the down-hole depth of approximately 96.9 to 97.3 metres. See Image 2. Image 1. EZ-22-03. Blue Vein with visible gold in uncut core at 97m and 124m Image 2. EZ-22-03. Blue Vein with visible gold in cut core at 97m With reference to the AIG 2015 guidance for visual reporting of massive sulphide mineralisation, the Company reports it has not encountered any massive sulphide mineralisation in drill hole EZ-22-03. While it is not possible to accurately estimate the percentage of visual gold present though out the drill core, the Company suggests that the percentage would be less than the 0.01%. The Company cautions that visual observations of visible gold are not a proxy or substitute for laboratory analysis. Laboratory assays and analysis will be required to confirm the visual interpretations presented in this news release. The core from the first three drill holes is being prepared for transport to SGS Laboratories in Vancouver, Canada for assay. Assay results will be released when received and are will be received in approximately 1 to 2 months from the time the core is received by the lab. The Blue Vein was discovered in 2021 (EZ21-12 including 1.0m at 33.7g/t Au) with a total of 7 holes intersecting the vein to date (including three holes with 'bonanza' grade intersections, i.e., greater than 1oz per tonne), high-grade gold mineralisation was identified over a strike length of over 80 metres in 2021. Approximately fifteen (15) holes have been planned this year to target the expansion of the Blue Vein high-grade gold mineralisation along strike and down dip. The drilling will test the Blue Vein gold mineralisation over a total strike length of approximately 400 metres. Figure 1 - Elizabeth Plan View Showing 2022 Drill Locations Figure 2 - Elizabeth Blue Vein Long Section (looking Northwest) This announcement has been authorised by the Board of Directors of Tempus Resources Limited. Competent Persons Statement Information in this report relating to Exploration Results is based on information reviewed by Mr. Sonny Bernales, who is a Member of the Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC), which is a recognised Professional Organisation (RPO), and an employee of Tempus Resources. Mr. Bernales has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, and as a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI43-101. Mr. Bernales consents to the inclusion of the data in the form and context in which it appears. For further information: TEMPUS RESOURCES LTD Melanie Ross - Director/Company Secretary Phone: +61 8 6188 8181 About Tempus Resources Ltd Tempus Resources Ltd ("Tempus") is a growth orientated gold exploration company listed on ASX ("TMR") and TSX.V ("TMRR") and OTCQB ("TMRFF") stock exchanges. Tempus is actively exploring projects located in Canada and Ecuador. The flagship project for Tempus is the Blackdome-Elizabeth Project, a high grade gold past producing project located in Southern British Columbia. Tempus is currently midway through a drill program at Blackdome-Elizabeth that will form the basis of an updated NI43-101/JORC resource estimate. The second key group of projects for Tempus are the Rio Zarza and Valle del Tigre projects located in south east Ecuador. The Rio Zarza project is located adjacent to Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte project. The Valle del Tigre project is currently subject to a sampling program to develop anomalies identified through geophysical work. Forward-Looking Information and Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Tempus's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, the ability of Tempus to successfully achieve business objectives, and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of Tempus to control or predict, that may cause Tempus' actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein and the other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties" in the Company's Management's Discussion & Analysis for the quarter and nine months ended March 31, 2022 dated May 16, 2022 filed on SEDAR. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Tempus believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Tempus does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to Tempus or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice. Neither the ASX Exchange, the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Appendix 1 Table 1:Drill Hole Collar Table UTM UTM Hole ID Target Easting (NAD83 Northing (NAD83 Elevation (m) Length (m) Azimuth Dip Z10) Z10) EZ-22-01 Blue Vein 530953 5653772 2400 222 130 -65 EZ-22-02 Blue Vein 531203 5653772 2400 225 108 -65 EZ-22-03 Blue Vein 531203 5653772 2400 198 95 -50 Appendix 2: The followingtables are providedto ensure compliance with the JORC Code (2012) requirements for the reporting of Exploration Results for the Elizabeth - Blackdome Gold Project Section 1: SamplingTechniques and Data (Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections.) Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and qualityof sampling (eg cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gammasondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc).These examples shouldnot be taken as limiting the broad meaningof sampling. Include reference to measures taken to ensuresample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systemsused. Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Materialto the Public Report. In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple(eg 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types(eg submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. HQ(63.5 mm) sized diamond core using standardequipment. Mineralised and potentially mineralised zones, comprising veins, breccias, and alteration zoneswere sampled. Samples were half core. Typical core samples are 1m in length. Core samples sent to the lab will be crushed and pulverized to 85% passing75 microns. A 50g pulp will be fire assayedfor gold and multi-element ICP.Samples over 10 g/t gold will be reanalysed by fire assay withgravimetric finish Drilling techniques Drill type (eg core, reversecirculation, open-hole hammer,rotary air blast, auger, Bangka,sonic, etc) and details (eg core diameter, triple or standardtube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whethercore is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). Diamond Drilling from surface(HQ size) Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed. Measures taken to maximise samplerecovery and ensurerepresentative nature of the samples. Whether a relationship exists between samplerecovery and grade and whethersample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. Detailed calculation of recoverywas recorded, withmost holes achieving over 95% Norelationship has yet been noted between recovery and grade and no sample bias was noted to have occurred. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Logging Whether core and chip sampleshave been geologically and geotechnically loggedto a level of detailto support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography. The total length and percentage of the relevantintersections logged. Detailed geological and geotechnical logging was completed for each hole. All core has been photographed. Complete holes were logged. Sub- sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whethercut or sawn and whetherquarter, half or all core taken. If non-core, whetherriffled, tube sampled,rotary split, etc and whethersampled wet or dry. For all sample types, the nature, qualityand appropriateness of the samplepreparation technique. Quality control procedures adopted for all sub- sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples. Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in situ material collected, including for instance resultsfor field duplicate/second-half sampling. Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grainsize of the material being sampled. Half core was sampled, using a core saw. Duplicate samples of new and historical core are Quarter core or half core where not previously sampled Sample sizes are considered appropriate for the grain size of the material being sampled. Itis expected that bulk sampling will be utilisedas the projectadvances, to more accurately determine grade. Quality of assay data andlaboratory tests The nature, qualityand appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whetherthe technique is considered partialor total. For geophysical tools,spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, readingtimes, calibrations factorsapplied andtheir derivation, etc. Nature of qualitycontrol procedures adopted(eg standards, blanks,duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whetheracceptable levels of accuracy (ie lack of bias) and precision have been established. Core samples that have been sent to the lab for analysis includecontrol samples (standards, blanks and prep duplicates) inserted at a minimumrate of 1:5 samples. Inaddition to the minimum rate of inserted control samples, a standard or a blank is inserted following a zoneof mineralization or visible gold Further duplicate samples were analysed to assess variability Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative companypersonnel. Theuse of twinnedholes. Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. Discuss any adjustment to assay data. Re-assaying of selected intervals of historic corehave been sent for analysis. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Location of data points Accuracy and qualityof surveys used to locatedrill holes (collarand down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in MineralResource estimation. Specification of the grid system used. Quality and adequacyof topographic control. Allsampling points were surveyed using a hand held GPS. UTMgrid NAD83 Zone 10. A more accurate survey pickup will be completed at the end of the program, to ensure data is appropriate for geological modelling and Resource Estimation. Down hole surveys have been completed on all holes. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserveestimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. Whether sample compositing has been applied. Most drilling is targeting verification and extension of known mineralisation. Itis expected that the data will be utilised in a preparation of a MineralResource statement. Additional drilling is exploration beneath geochemical anomalies, and would requirefurther delineation drilling to be incorporated in a MineralResource. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering thedeposit type. If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias,this should be assessed and reported if material. Ingeneral, the aim was to drill perpendicular to the mineralised structures, to gain an estimate of the true thickness of the mineralised structures. At several locations, a series (fan) of holes was drilled to help confirm the orientation of the mineralised structures and to keep land disturbance to a minimum. Sample s Security Themeasures taken to ensure samplesecurity. Samples from Elizabeth were delivered to the laboratory by a commercial transport service. Audits or Reviews Theresults of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. Anindependent geological consultant has recently visited the site as part of preparing an updated NI43-101Technical Report for the Project. Section 2: Reportingof Exploration Results (Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.) Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement andland tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issueswith third partiessuch as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, nativetitle interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings. The security of the tenureheld at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. TheBlackdome-Elizabeth Project is comprised of 73 contiguous mineral claims underlain by 14 Crown granted mineral claims and two mining leases. TheProperty is locatedin the Clinton and Lillooet Mining Divisions approximately 230 km NNE of Vancouver Tempus has exercised the option to acquire the Elizabeth Gold Project and has completed an addendum to the original Elizabeth Option Agreement (refer to ASX announcement 15 December 2020) Anet smelter royaltyof 3% NSR (1% purchasable) applies to severalclaims on the Elizabeth Property. Noroyalties apply to the Blackdome Property or Elizabeth Regional Properties. There are currently no known impediments to developing a project in this area, and all tenure is in good standing. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. Inthe 1940s, placergold was discovered in Fairless Creek west of Blackdome Summit.Prospecting by Lawrence Frenier shortly afterward led to the discovery of gold-bearing quartzveins on the southwest slopeof the mountain that resulted in the stakingof mining claimsin 1947. EmpireValley Gold Mines Ltd and Silver Standard Resources drove two adits and completed basic surface work during the 1950s. TheBlackdome area was not workedagain until 1977 when Barrier Reef Resources Ltd. re-staked the area and performed surface work in addition to underground development. The Blackdome Mining Corp. was formed in 1978 and performed extensive surface and underground work with variousjoint venture partnersthat resulted in a positive feasibility study. A 200 ton/daymill, camp facilities and tailings pond were constructed and mining operations officially commenced in 1986. The mine ceasedoperations in 1991,having produced 225,000oz of Au and 547,000oz of Ag from 338,000tons of ore (Godard et al., 2010) After a period of inactivity, Claimstaker Resources Ltd. tookover the project, reopening the mine in late 1998. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mining operations lastedsix months and ended in May of 1999. During this period,6,547 oz of Au and 17,300 oz of Ag were producedfrom 21,268 tons of ore. Further exploration programs were continued by Claimstaker over the following years and a Japanese joint venture partnerwas brought onboardthat prompted a name changeto J-Pacific Gold Inc. This partnership was terminated by 2010, resulting in another name change to Sona Resources Corp. Gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered near Blue Creek in 1934, and in 1940-1941 the Elizabeth No. 1-4 claims were staked. Bralorne Mines Ltd. optioned the property in 1941 and during the period 1948-1949, explored the presently- named Main and West Veins by about 700 metresof cross-cutting and drifting, as well as about 110 metres of raises. After acquiring the Elizabeth Gold Project in 2002, J- Pacific (now Sona) has conducted a series of exploration programs that included diamonddrilling 66 holes totalling 8962.8 metres (up until 2009) Other exploration work by Sona at the Elizabeth Gold Project has included two soil grid, stream sediment sampling, geological mappingand sampling, underground rehabilitation, structural mapping and airborne photography and topographic base map generation. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and styleof mineralisation. TheBlackdome property is situated in a regionunderlain by rocks of Triassicto Tertiary age. Sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Triassic Pavilion Group occurring along the FraserRiver represent the oldest rocks in the region. A large, Triassic age, ultramafic complex(Shulaps Complex) was emplaced along the Yalakomfault; a regional scale structure locatedsome 30 kilometres south of the property. Sediments and volcanics of the Cretaceous Jackass Mountain Groupand Spences Bridge/Kingsvale Formations overlie the Triassic assemblages. Some of these rocks occur several kilometres south of Blackdome. Overlying the Cretaceous rocks are volcanics and minor sediments of Eocene age.These rocks underlie much of Blackdome and are correlated with the KamloopsGroup seen in the Ashcroft and Nicola regions. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Geochemical studies (Vivian,1988) have shownthese rocks to be derivedfrom a "calc-alkaline" magma in a volcanicarc type tectonicsetting. Eocene age granitic intrusions at Poison Mountain some 22 kilometres southwest of Blackdome are host to a gold bearing porphyry copper/molybdenum deposit. It is speculated that this or related intrusions could reflect the source magmas of the volcanic rocks seen at Blackdome. There is some documented evidenceof young graniticrocks several kilometres south of the mine near Lone Cabin Creek. The youngest rocks present are Oligocene to Miocene basalts of the Chilcotin Group. These are exposed on the uppermost slopes of Blackdome Mountain and Red Mountain to the south. Transecting the property in a NE-SWstrike direction are a seriesof faults that range from vertical to moderately westerly dipping. These faultsare the principal host structures for Au- Ag mineralisation. The faults anastomose, and form sygmoidal loops. Thearea in which the Elizabeth Gold Project is situated is underlain by Late Paleozoic to Mesozoic rock assemblages that are juxtaposed across a complexsystem of faultsmainly of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. These Paleozoic to Mesozoic-age rocks are intrudedby Cretaceous and Tertiary-age stocksand dykes of mainly felsicto intermediate composition, and are locallyoverlain by Paleogene volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The Elizabeth Gold Project is partly underlain by ultramafic rocksof the Shulaps Ultramafic Complex,which include harzburgite, serpentinite and theiralteration product listwanite. Thegold mineralisation foundon the Elizabeth Gold Project presentcharacteristics typical of epigenetic mesothermal gold deposits. The auriferous quartz vein mineralisation is analogous to that foundin the Bralorne- Pioneer deposits. Gold mineralisation is hosted by a seriesof northeast trending, steeply northwest dippingveins that crosscut the Blue Creek porphyry intrusion. The Main and West vein systems displaymesothermal textures, including ribboned-laminated veins and comprehensive wall rock breccias. Vein formation and gold mineralisation were associated with extensional- brittle faulting believed to be contemporaneous with mid- Eocene extensional faulting along the Marshall Creek,Mission Ridge and Quartz Mountain faults. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level- elevation abovesea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole down hole lengthand interception depth hole length. If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basisthat the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detractfrom the understanding ofthe report, the Competent Person should clearlyexplain why this isthe case. Refer to Appendix 1 for drillhole collar information Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/orminimum grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades)and cut-off gradesare usually Material and should be stated. Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengthsof high grade results and longer lengthsof low grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation shouldbe stated and some typicalexamples of such aggregations shouldbe shown in detail. The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. Intervals reported using severalsamples are calculated using a weighted average. Calculated intervals using a weighted averagedid not use a top cut on high-grade samples.High-grade samples are reported as 'including' Calculated weighted average intervals are continuous intervals of a mineralized zone and do not includeunsampled intervals or unmineralized intervals. Relationship between mineralisation widthsand intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results. If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known,its nature shouldbe reported. If it is not known and only the down hole lengthsare reported, thereshould be a clear statement to this effect(eg 'down hole length, true width not known'). Ingeneral, drilling is designed to intersect the mineralized zone at a normal angle,but this is not always possible. Forthe reported intervals, true widths are reported where mineralized core was intactand possible to measure the orientation. Otherwise the true widthis left blank Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts shouldbe included for any significant discovery being reportedThese should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. Refer to maps withinannouncement for drillhole locations. Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widthsshould be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results. Where broader low-grade intervals are reported the high-grade intercepts are reported as 'including' within the reported interval Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, shouldbe reported including (but not limitedto): geological observations; geophysical survey results;geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. Tempus recently completed an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the Elizabeth Gold Project (refer to ASX announcement 02 August 2021) by completing 97 lines for a total of 735 line-kilometres. Flight lines are oriented east-west with north-south tie lines and spaced 200 metres across the entire 115km2 Elizabeth property. Line spacing of 100 metres was flown over the Elizabeth Main and Elizabeth East Zones. The airborne magnetic survey data was reviewed and interpreted by Insight Geophysics Inc. using 3D magnetization vector inversion (MVI) modelling. The geophysical surveys identified the Blue Creek Porphyry, which is the known host of the high-grade Elizabeth gold-quartz veins, as a relative magnetic low anomaly within the Shulaps Ultramafic Complex. From this correlation of geology and geophysics it was determined that the Blue Creek Porphyry, originally explored / mapped to approximately 1.1km2 in size, is likely much larger. The airborne magnetic survey and MVI 3D modelling interpret the Blue Creek Porphyry to be at least four-times the size at approximately 4.5km2. This interpretation of the Blue Creek Porphyry is also extensive at depth extending to at least 2km deep Further work The nature and scale of planned furtherwork (eg testsfor lateral extensions or depth extensions or large- scale step-out drilling). Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drillingareas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. Tempus plans to updatehistorical NI43-101 foreignresource estimates to current NI43-101 and JORC 2012 standards Tempus is also seekingto expand the scale of the mineralisation at the projectthrough further exploration. SOURCE: Tempus Resources Ltd View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/705710/Update-to-Elizabeth-Blue-Vein-Drilling--Visible-Gold-Observed ZURICH (dpa-AFX) - Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd.(ANN.L, ABB) Monday said it is postponing the planned initial public offering of its E-mobility business in the coming weeks due to challenging market conditions. In its update, the company said it is challenging now to proceed with the planned share offering in the second quarter of 2022 due to the recent market conditions. The company said it is monitoring the conditions, and that it would proceed with a listing of the business on the SIX Swiss Exchange as and when market conditions are constructive. ABB said the listing of the business remains an important part of its strategy. 'ABB E-mobility will continue to execute its growth story, driven organically and through M&A. In addition, the Board of Directors of the business under Chairman Michael Halbherr will help govern the fast-moving entity. A new dedicated identity under the ABB brand is also being prepared for the business,' the company said. In Switzerland, ABB shares were trading at 25.72 francs, down 1.30 percent. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Innovation for a new life after the pandemic emergency makes its debut at MIND Milano Innovation District MILAN, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The path towards building a new normality after the health emergency begins today at MIND, Milan Innovation District. Elettronica Group, a world-class leader for 70 years in the electronic defense sector, and Lendlease, international real estate and urban regeneration group, asMIND developer, presented today at MIND, Milano Innovation District, E4Shield a unique technology in the world, capable of inactivating Covid 19 viruses and its variants Wuhan, Delta and Omicron and programmable in the future for new pathogens. E4Shield was conceived by the Elettronica company which, thanks to its seventy years of experience in the management of the electromagnetic spectrum, has also transferred its skills to the Biodefense sector. The further development of E4Shield was made possible thanks to the partnership with Lendlease, to contribute to the current and future pandemic threat, in line with the commitment to create built spaces that guarantee ever higher standards of well-being and health of people and the planet. This is one of the first innovation project born within the ecosystem MIND in Milan (Italy). E4Shield, completely Made in Italy, by acting inside closed environments such as schools, lifts, means of transport, is able to inactivate the virus in an aerosol within 3 minutes, helping to mitigate the pandemic threat.. E4Shield has obtained CE and SAR certification and its effectiveness has been tested through various laboratory tests confirming the inactivation of the virus by 90% in aerosol E4shield is in fact a unique "disruptive" solution in the world that puts the expertise and technology of the leader in electronic defense systems, Elettronica Group at the service of civil society and sees Lendlease as a partner for the development of the application in the built environment. The technological innovation of E4Shield is based on the scientific evidence reported in various contributions from the literature, including a study published by the journal Nature, which have amply demonstrated the ability of electromagnetic fields to inhibit the viral load of pathogens. "E4Shield is a unique system in the world through which our Group has made its skills in the military sector available to civil society", said Enzo Benigni, President and CEO of Elettronica Spa. "Elettronica has in its nature the contrast to emerging threats and, together with continuous research and development, has created the basis for the development of this innovative technology, which we hope will represent a further valid aid in the management of the post-pandemic. With E4Shield we wanted to make our contribution to one of the major challenges that the research world is called to respond to today. Collaborations with the Scientific Department of the Celio Military Polyclinic, the Sacco hospital, the Virostatics laboratories and above all with our partner Lendlease were fundamental for its development. We hope that this innovative system will be the first step towards a return to a new normality". "We are particularly proud to present one of the first innovation projects realized thanks to the ecosystem of MIND Milano Innovation District, which made possible the shared development of this pioneering technology in response to an extraordinary global challenge", declared Andrea Ruckstuhl, Head of Italy and Continental Europe of Lendlease. "As urban developers, we are committed to continuously innovating the most cutting-edge standards that certify the quality and well-being of places, in which it will be increasingly crucial to ensure integrated and cooperative technological solutions to anticipate and resolve new possible health or climate crises". Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1842799/Elettronica_Group_1.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1842802/Elettronica_Group_2.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1842800/Elettronica_Group_CEO.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1842801/Elettronica_Group_3.jpg A strange Blue swirl whirling over the skies of New Zealand Sunday evening sparked several theories from witnesses, who believed aliens caused it. However, experts claim that the cause was closer to home. Around 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, the spiraling plume of gas had lighted up the sky over Nelson, a city on New Zealand's south island, and had traveled 750 kilometers south to Stewart Island, per Unilad. People posted images and reactions to the rare Blue swirl phenomena in the sky on the country's stargazing and amateur astronomy social media groups. Strangest Happening Up in the Sky Alasdair Burns, a stargazer on Stewart Island, claimed the spiral was the strangest thing he had ever seen, which he described as "absolutely bizarre." "It was like a massive spiral. And it very, very slowly, serenely moving north across the night sky and then just sort of dissipating as it went," Burns said. After reading about a similar event in 2009, when a Russian missile launch created massive blue spirals above Norway, Burns assumed the spiral would have been most likely a rocket. He remarked that it was a startling scene, even knowing the likely culprit. "None of us had ever seen anything like that before. It was spectacular," Augustine Matthews, a Mapua resident, claimed she ran outdoors with her husband to see the spiral, which initially appeared to be "a planet or a star." She observed that the object was "only a small white dot with a spiral on it." Then, within 10 minutes, it had "spanned half of the sky, and the spiral had tripled in size," she explained. "It wasn't blinking or twinkling, and it was moving fairly fast... so fascinating," Matthews noted. However, one stargazer expressed concern about the strange phenomenon. "Premonition from our orbital black hole. Aliens at it again," he said. Read Also: Omicron Variant Found Less Likely To Cause Long COVID Than Delta Variant Experts Explain Those who witnessed the mysterious spiral have different theories on what it was: from UFOs to foreign rocket ships to commercial light displays. According to Mail Online, the rocket belonged to SpaceX, a company owned by tech mogul Elon Musk, which had just launched its third rocket voyage in 36 hours, a Falcon 9 rocket bearing a Globalstar DM15 satellite. "SpaceX hauled a Globalstar communications satellite into orbit early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, pulling off the third Falcon 9 rocket flight in 36 hours, the fastest sequence of three missions by any commercial launch company in history," the company announced on Twitter. SpaceX hauled a Globalstar communications satellite into orbit early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, pulling off the third Falcon 9 rocket flight in 36 hours, the fastest sequence of three missions by any commercial launch company in history. : @mdcainjr https://t.co/0Y5ArwZPuf pic.twitter.com/mmPSRx0pue Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) June 19, 2022 But what exactly explains the glowing spiral image in the sky? Prof Richard Easther, a physicist at Auckland University, described the occurrence as strange "but easily explained." He added that when a rocket carried a satellite into orbit, clouds such as those could form, as per a report from The Guardian. The expert explained: "When the propellant is ejected out the back, you have what's essentially water and carbon dioxide - that briefly forms a cloud in space that's illuminated by the sun. The geometry of the satellite's orbit and also the way that we're sitting relative to the sun - that combination of things was just right to produce these completely wacky-looking clouds that were visible from the South Island." Related Article: NASA's 44-Year-Old Voyager Spacecraft Set To Be Decommissioned After Power Supplies Run Out @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2022) - C3 Metals Inc. (TSXV: CCCM) ("C3 Metals" or the "Company") wishes to advise that for personal reasons, Kevin Tomlinson is stepping down from his role as President and CEO. He will also resign as a director of the Company, effective June 30, 2022. Mr. Tony Manini, current Chairman of C3 Metals will take up the role of Executive Chairman to lead the Company through to the appointment of a new CEO. Mr. Tomlinson will assist in the orderly transition of duties as required. Drilling on the Company's exciting copper-gold exploration projects in Peru and Jamaica is continuing in full swing under the leadership of VP-Exploration, Stephen Hughes. Tony Manini, Executive Chairman commented: "The C3 Metals Board would like to thank Kevin for his leadership over the past two years as the Company substantially advanced the Jasperoide Project in Peru towards an initial Resource. Importantly, the Company secured a large, highly prospective land position in the surrounding world class Andahuaylas-Yauri copper belt. Drilling has also commenced on a number of highly prospective targets on the Company's high potential copper-gold properties in Jamaica. The Board wishes Mr. Tomlinson all the best for his personal and professional endeavours going forward." Tony Manini is a geologist with +30 years of diverse experience in the resource industry. His background covers a wide range of commodities in more than 20 countries and includes technical, commercial, and senior management and executive roles in exploration, business development, strategy and operations with Rio Tinto, Oxiana-Oz Minerals, Tigers Realm and EMR Capital. ABOUT C3 METALS INC. C3 Metals Inc. is a junior minerals exploration company focused on creating substantive value for its shareholders through the discovery and development of large copper and gold deposits. The Company's flagship project is the 57km2 Jasperoide high-grade copper-gold skarn and porphyry system located in the prolific Andahuaylas-Yauri Porphyry-Skarn belt of Southern Peru. Mineralization at Jasperoide is hosted in a similar geological setting to the nearby major mining operations at Las Bambas (MMG), Constancia (Hudbay) and Antapaccay (Glencore). C3 Metals also holds a 100% interest in five licenses covering 207km2 of highly prospective copper-gold terrain in Jamaica and a 2% royalty in Tocvan's Rogers Creek project. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Tony Manini Executive Chairman C3 Metals Inc. tmanini@c3metals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. DISCLAIMER & FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, and by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on currently available information, C3 Metals Inc. provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Factors which cause results to differ materially are set out in the Company's documents filed on SEDAR. Undue reliance should not be placed on "forward looking statements". To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/128310 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2022 / Gratomic Inc. ("Gratomic", "GRAT," or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT)(OTCQX:CBULF)(FSE:CB82) announces the production of its first batch of samples expected to be representative of the commercial production from its Aukam plant in Namibia. After receiving the bulk sample from the Company's Aukam processing plant in Namibia, SGS performed a series of grinding and flotation stages with the material that replicated the Aukam flowsheet. Three different concentrate batches graded 97.8% C(t), 98.2% C(t), and 96.2% C(t). The combined concentrate grade of 97.4% C(t) meets the specifications of Gratomic's tentative Technical Data Sheets (TDS) for a 97% product. After sieving, the concentrate was separated into kg-sized sample lots, which will be forwarded to prospective end users, in order to start the product qualification process. Part of the material will be sent to specific development laboratories to proceed with testing and development of value-added processes such as micronization, spheronization, and purification to advance the integrated supply chain process for battery anode material. All metallurgical testing and chemical characterization was completed by the independent laboratories at SGS Lakefield. SGS is one of the world's leading testing, inspection and certification companies and provides a broad range of metallurgical process design and chemical characterization at the Lakefield, ON site. "These results verify that our metallurgical process is adequate for producing the desired grades required by our end-users," states Arno Brand President and CEO. Armando Farhate COO & Head of Graphite Marketing and Sales says, "Having the cooperation with a world class organization, such as SGS Lakefield, bears very good fruits to the development of our flagship Aukam project." Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis, Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact, no mineral resources let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property. The Company is working towards completing a Feasibility Study (FS) on the Aukam Processing plant. The study, its recommendations, and their subsequent implementation, will provide conclusions and recommendation at a FS level of comfort relating to the scale up of the existing processing plant to a commercial scale processing facility capable of producing the desired concentrate grades and production rates. Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite is conditional on Gratomic being able to bring the Aukam project into a production phase, and for any graphite being produced to meet certain technical and mineralization requirements. Gratomic continues to move its business towards production and as part of its business plan, expects to file a National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects resource estimate in Q3 2022. Risk Factors No mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam Property. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant until the FS (Feasibility Study) is completed. The Company advises that it has not based its production decision on even the existence of mineral resources let alone on a Preliminary Feasibility Study or FS of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that production will begin as anticipated or at all or that anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Company's cash flow and future profitability. Qualified Persons Mr. Oliver Peters, a Principal Metallurgist with Metpro Management Inc., is a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr. Peters is satisfied that the analytical and testing procedures used are standard industry operating procedures and methodologies, and he has reviewed, approved and verified the technical information disclosed in this news release, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the technical information. About Gratomic Gratomic is a multinational company with projects in Namibia, Brazil, and Canada. The Company is focused on becoming a leading global graphite supplier and aims to secure a strong position in the EV (Electric Vehicle) battery supply chain. With the continued development of its flagship Aukam project and further exploration on the Company's Capim Grosso property, Gratomic sets itself apart by seeking out unique top-quality assets around the world. True to its roots, the Company will continue to explore graphite opportunities displaying potential for development. The Company ranked third place in the top 10 preforming mining stocks on the 2022 TSX Venture 50. Large quantities of high-quality vein graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm its viability as an anode material. Gratomic is confident that the test results will provide a unique competitive advantage in its desired target markets. The Company will continue to update the public on the status of these tests and will provide results as soon as they become available. The Company has formed a collaboration agreement with Forge Nano. With its patented ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) coating, this cooperation with Forge Nano is a key element to support Gratomic's strategies towards the value-added phases of production of graphite for anode applications, namely micronization, spheronization and coating, making Gratomic graphite a preferred choice for use in lithium-ion batteries. For more information: visit the website at Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. or contact: Arno Brand at abrand@gratomic.ca or (416) 561- 4095 Subscribe at gratomic.ca/contact-us/ to be added to our email list. For Marketing and Media information, please email: info@gratomic.ca "Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." Forward Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com) SOURCE: Gratomic Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/705711/Gratomic-Announces-First-Batch-of-Production-Representative-Samples Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2022) - Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSXV: RG) (OTCQB: RMIOF) (FSE: D4R) ("Romios Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has begun the 2022 exploration field program on 3 of the Company's projects in the underexplored North Caribou Lake Greenstone Belt (NCLGB) in northwestern Ontario, Canada (Map 1). This belt is home to Newmont's giant Musselwhite gold mine (> 7 million ounces Au in past production and reserves) but has seen relatively little exploration by other companies since the 1980s. HIGHLIGHTS: NORTH CARIBOU RIVER CLAIMS: Located just 8 km from the all-weather road into the nearby community of Round Lake, these claims are dominated by the North Caribou River Fault (NCRF) with a series of small but high grade gold +/- copper showings on Romios' claims, e.g. 9.9 to 55.7 g/t Au from a 23 cm wide, sulphide-rich vein, as well as locally impressive alteration (See June 16, 2021 News Release). from a 23 cm wide, sulphide-rich vein, as well as locally impressive alteration (See June 16, 2021 News Release). Romios believes that previous explorers neglected the potential for the geologically common situation whereby much better mineralization occurs on a series of splay faults coming off the main fault. A 2020 airborne VLF-Mag survey confirmed the presence of 10 apparent splay faults and soil sampling completed over 5 of them in 2021 detected a well defined gold anomaly on one and multi-element anomalies on others. The 2022 program will complete the soil sampling and mapping over the remaining targets in an effort to define the best targets for trenching and possibly drill testing. MARKOP LAKE PROJECT: Located immediately east of the Musselwhite mine property, this project is another new look at an area based on a major recent revision of our geological understanding. The Markop Lake area is now known to host Timiskaming-age and style sedimentary-volcanic basins similar to major gold camps like Timmins-Kirkland Lake (See February 8 th , 2022 News Release). , 2022 News Release). This is one of only 3 Timiskaming settings known along the northern margin of the North Caribou terrane, the other 2 host old gold mines (Island Lake, Stull Lake) and Yamana's major gold-tungsten project at Monument Bay which hosts a measured and indicated resource of 2.1 million ounces of gold @ 1.52 g/t Au and 248,000 mtu (Metric Tonne Unit) of WO3 (Mega Precious Metals NI 43-101 report, November 2014; calculated at a gold price of USD $ 1,092). Romios' upcoming geological mapping and prospecting work will be the first concerted effort to explore this large area adjacent to a giant gold deposit for Timiskaming type mineralization. ARSENO LAKE: These claims cover 5.6 km strike length of the same banded iron formation that hosts the unusual Arseno Lake. deposit now owned by Newmont (approx. 920,000 T @ 8.7 % Pb+Zn plus 1.5 oz/t Ag). (See April 27, 2020 News Release). A cluster of untested EM conductors and VMS style alteration occurs on Romios' claims which are within 4 km of a road through the community of Round Lake. A program of basic geological mapping, lithogeochemical sampling and soil sampling is planned to evaluate the potential of this area to determine if ground geophysics and/or drilling are warranted. Map 1: Romios' Au-Cu Projects in the North Caribou Lake Greenstone Belt To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5376/128312_e6f7eb7ab4111978_002full.jpg Qualified Person The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Biczok, P. Geo., VP-Exploration for Romios Gold and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. In addition to his extensive experience with several major mining companies exploring for a wide variety of ore deposit types across Canada and India, Mr. Biczok spent 12 years conducting exploration and research at the Musselwhite gold mine in NW Ontario. About Romios Gold Resources Inc. Romios Gold Resources Inc. is a progressive Canadian mineral exploration company engaged in precious- and base-metal exploration, focused primarily on gold, copper and silver. It has a 100% interest in the Lundmark-Akow Lake Au-Cu property and 4 additional claim blocks in northwestern Ontario and extensive claim holdings covering several significant porphyry copper-gold prospects in the "Golden Triangle" of British Columbia. Additional interests include the Kinkaid Nevada claims covering numerous Au-Ag-Cu workings and two former producers: the La Corne molybdenum mine property (Quebec) and a former high-grade gold producer - the Scossa mine property in Nevada. The Company also retains an ongoing interest in several properties including a 20% carried interest in five of Honey Badger Mining's claim blocks in the Thunder Bay silver district of northwestern Ontario; a 2% NSR on McEwen Mining's Hislop gold property in Ontario; and a 2% NSR on Enduro Metals Corp.' Newmont Lake Au-Cu-Ag property in BC. For more information, visit www.romios.com This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements. TSX Venture Exchange or its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact: Stephen Burega, President - 647-515-3734 or sburega@romios.com John Biczok, P. Geo., VP of Exploration - 613-410-7877 or jbiczok@romios.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/128312 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LONDON, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Premium international schools group Nord Anglia Education today announced that seven of its colleagues around the world have been shortlisted on the 2022 Women to Watch list published by Business Women in Education (BWiE). The Women to Watch list is a non-competitive annual catalogue featuring women who are empowering, inspiring, and supporting others in the business of education globally, as nominated by their peers. Nord Anglia's colleagues featured by BWiE work in various roles across school leadership, education technology, admissions, marketing, and human resources. Dr Elise Ecoff, Group Education Director, Nord Anglia Education, said: "It's wonderful to see many of our very own at Nord Anglia Education make the list for Women to Watch this year. We're proud to be an organisation that empowers all our colleagues to develop their professional skills and it's exciting to see this resulting in an increase in women leaders in our schools and regional teams." "Our colleagues recognised have demonstrated professional expertise, creativity, resilience, compassion, and business acumen," she continued. "They serve as strong role models for colleagues and students alike." The following seven women from Nord Anglia Education were nominated by colleagues and then selected by a panel of judges for driving change, breaking glass ceilings, and supporting their peers: Carmen Johnson , Director of Admissions and Marketing, North Broward Preparatory , Director of Admissions and Marketing, North Broward Preparatory Cristina Cortez , Head of School, Colegio Menor Ecuador , Head of School, Colegio Menor Ecuador Emma Jones , EdTech Programme Lead, Nord Anglia Education , EdTech Programme Lead, Nord Anglia Education Harpreet Kaur , Primary School Coordinator, Oakridge Mohali India , Primary School Coordinator, Oakridge Mohali India Hortensia Prieto , General Director, San Roberto International School Mexico , General Director, San Roberto International School Mexico Sara Donlevy , Group Head of Reward & HR Operations, Nord Anglia Education , Group Head of Reward & HR Operations, Nord Anglia Education Sumera Fatima, Senior Sales Coordinator, Oakridge International Schools India Simone Rensch, Head of Business Women in Education, said: "The Women to Watch list captures what Business Women in Education is about - empowering, inspiring and supporting our community. It's about lifting each other up and recognising what the leaders of today and tomorrow are doing." You can view the full Women to Watch list 2022 here. For enquiries David Bates Communications Manager david.bates@nordanglia.com +44 7787 135223 About Nord Anglia Education As a leading premium international schools organisation, we're shaping a generation of creative and resilient global citizens who graduate from our schools with everything they need for success, whatever they choose to be or do in life. Our strong academic foundations combine world-class teaching and curricula with cutting-edge technology and facilities, creating learning experiences like no other. Inside and outside of the classroom, we inspire our students to achieve more than they ever thought possible. No two children learn the same way, which is why our 77 schools in 31 countries around the world personalise learning to what works best for every student. Inspired by our high-quality teachers, our students achieve outstanding academic results and go on to study at the world's top universities. To learn more or apply for a place for your child, go to nordangliaeducation.com. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1503193/Nord_Anglia_Education_Logo.jpg NEW YORK, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As per Zion Market Research study, The global ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system market was nearly USD 3,953.2 million in 2021 and is anticipated to reach around USD 6,014.21 million by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 8.4 percent over the forecast period. Key Industry Insights & Finding of the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market Reports: As per the analysis shared by our research analyst, the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market is expected to grow annually at a CAGR of around 8.4 % (2022-2028). (2022-2028). Through the primary research, it was established that the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market was valued approximately USD 3,953.2 Million in 2021 and is projected to reach to roughly USD 6,014.21 Million by 2028. Million in 2021 and is projected to reach to roughly Million by 2028. The existence of a large senior population in Europe would make it a lucrative market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. would make it a lucrative market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. The primary reasons driving market growth in this region is the presence of various ophthalmic associations, including the European Society of Ophthalmology (ESC) and the European Society of Cataract and Refracting Surgeons, which encourage the practice and research of contemporary ophthalmology. With the highest rates of glaucoma and uncorrected refractive errors in the world, Asia Pacific might be a lucrative market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems in the forthcoming years. Zion Market Research published the latest report titled as "Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market By Mobility (Portable And Standalone), By Product (Combined Scan, A-Scan, B-Scan, Ultrasound Biomicroscopy (UBM), And Pachymeter), By End-Use (Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Hospitals, Ophthalmic Clinics, And Others), And By Region - Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2022 - 2028." into their research database. Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Overview The ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system is a form of non-invasive viewing technology that is more convenient. Ophthalmic ultrasound imaging devices allow for the imaging of anatomy and disease in the eye's frontal and posterior segments. A transducer probe is put in a medium in ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems, which creates waves of a certain frequency that impact internal structures in the eye. The waves collected by the transducer, as well as the voltages that arise, are intensified and analyzed to create pictures. Different sorts of modalities are employed according to the ocular disease or disorder. Get a Free Sample Report with All Related Graphs & Charts (with COVID 19 Impact Analysis): https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/ophthalmic-ultrasound-imaging-systems-market Our Free Sample Report Includes: 2022 Updated Report Introduction, Overview, and In-depth industry analysis COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak Impact Analysis Included 155 + Pages Research Report (Inclusion of Updated Research) Provide Chapter-wise guidance on Request 2022 Updated Regional Analysis with Graphical Representation of Size, Share & Trends Includes Updated List of tables & figures Updated Report Includes Top Market Players with their Business Strategy, Sales Volume, and Revenue Analysis Zion Market Research methodology Industry Dynamics: Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Growth Drivers Growing prevalence of ocular disorders and diseases is anticipated to drive the market growth. The rising prevalence of eye diseases such as angle trauma, neoplasms, ciliary body cysts, cataract, glaucoma, and uncorrected refractive errors is propelling the growth of the global ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system market. Eye diseases have risen as a real concern to populations in many developing and developed economies. Diabetic retinopathy has been added to the priority list since the prevalence of diabetes has increased in several nations. According to recent research done by the CDC, diabetic retinopathy affects about one-third of persons over the age of 40 who have diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy affected 4.2 million individuals, with 655,000 of them having vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy. Also, due to problems in early identification and the frequent need for life-long therapies, glaucoma, a long-known eye condition, remains on the public health agenda. Such a huge burden of disease has led to the increasing use of ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems thereby boosting the growth of the market. Further, the use of portable imaging systems is also fostering the growth of the market. Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Restraints Increase in adoption of alternative diagnostic tools may hamper the market growth. The market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems is projected to be constrained by the development and use of other diagnostic technologies. Optical biometry devices that use partial coherence interferometry are preferred by ophthalmic surgeons and practitioners. Unlike ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems, which need extensive training for examiners to minimize handling mistakes, optical biometry devices (such as IOL Master 700 and Carl Zeiss Meditech's IOL Master 500) are quick and simple to use and have been shown to be more accurate. In addition to this, the cost of a high-tech ophthalmology system is projected to stifle the market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. The high price of these devices has a negative impact on the primary clients of these devices, such as hospitals and specialist clinics, stifling the growth of the market. Directly Purchase a Copy of the Report @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/ophthalmic-ultrasound-imaging-systems-market Global Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Opportunities Increase in clinical applications and advancing technologies is expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period. With the development of minimally invasive operations, new technological platforms provide better imaging reliability, precision, safety, and reduced post-operative discomfort. To meet the needs and demands of patients, numerous manufacturers are substantially investing in the development of breakthrough diagnostic and surgical platforms. As a consequence, various ophthalmology gadgets expand in popularity and acceptability, propelling the global ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system market further. Global Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Challenges Low adoption of ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems in underdeveloped countries may be a challenge for market growth. The market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems may face challenges due to a lack of knowledge and awareness in underdeveloped nations. This is mainly attributed to less-developed healthcare infrastructure, low disposable income, and less spending on healthcare. In addition to this, due to the strict rules of regulatory bodies such as the Japanese FDA, the European CE Mark, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the approval process takes a long time. This also acts as a challenge to market growth. Global Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: Segmentation The global ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system market is divided based on mobility, product, end-use, and region. Based on mobility, the global market is categorized into portable and standalone. The product segment is classified into combined scan, A-scan, B-scan, Ultrasound Biomicroscopy (UBM), and pachymeter. The end-use segment is characterized by ambulatory surgical centers, hospitals, ophthalmic clinics, and others. Get More Insight before Buying@: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/ophthalmic-ultrasound-imaging-systems-market List of Key Players of Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market : Escalon Medical Corp Optos Quantel Medical NIDEK CO. Ltd. Halma plc Carl Zeiss Meditech Ellex MicroMedical Devices Appasamy Associates Key questions answered in this report: What are the growth rate forecast and market size for Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market ? What are the key driving factors propelling the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market forward? What are the most important companies in the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market Industry? What segments does the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market cover? How can I receive a free copy of the Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market sample report and company profiles? Report Scope: Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 3953.2 Million Revenue forecast in 2028 USD 6014.21 Million Growth Rate CAGR of almost 8.4 % 2022-2028 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2016 - 2021 Forecast Years 2022 - 2028 Segments Covered By Product Type, By Application, and By End Use Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2022 to 2028 Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa, and Rest of World Countries Covered U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, GCC Countries, and South Africa, among others Companies Covered Escalon Medical Corp, Optos, Quantel Medical, NIDEK CO. Ltd., Halma plc, Carl Zeiss Meditech, Ellex, MicroMedical Devices, and Appasamy Associates Report Coverage Market growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, Porter's five forces analysis, PEST analysis, value chain analysis, regulatory landscape, market attractiveness analysis by segments and region, company market share analysis, and COVID-19 impact analysis. Customization Scope Avail customized purchase options to meet your exact research needs. https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/custom/3359 Free Brochure: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/requestbrochure/ophthalmic-ultrasound-imaging-systems-market Regional Dominance: North America is likely to lead the market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. Over the anticipated period, North America is likely to dominate the global ophthalmic ultrasound imaging system market. This is attributed to improved healthcare infrastructure and increased healthcare spending. Furthermore, the market is expected to be boosted by the existence of a significant number of key players and suppliers. The existence of a large senior population in Europe would make it a lucrative market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems. One of the primary reasons driving market growth in this region is the presence of various ophthalmic associations, including the European Society of Ophthalmology (ESC) and the European Society of Cataract and Refracting Surgeons, which encourage the practice and research of contemporary ophthalmology. With the highest rates of glaucoma and uncorrected refractive errors in the world, Asia Pacific might be a lucrative market for ophthalmic ultrasound imaging systems in the forthcoming years. Global Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market is segmented as follows: Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: By Mobility Outlook (2022-2028) Portable Standalone Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: By Drug Class Outlook (2022-2028) Antiallergy Anti-VEGF Agents Anti-inflammatory Antiglaucoma Others Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: By Product Outlook (2022-2028) Combined Scan A-Scan B-Scan Ultrasound Bio-microscopy (UBM) Pachymeter Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: By End-Use Outlook (2022-2028) Ambulatory Surgical Centers Hospitals Ophthalmic Clinics Others Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market: By Region Outlook (2022-2028) North America The U.S. Canada Europe France The UK Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Southeast Asia Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Press Release For Ophthalmic Ultrasound Imaging System Market : https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/news/global-ophthalmic-ultrasound-imaging-system-market Browse Other Related Research Reports from Zion Market Research Balloon Angioplasty Market - Global Industry Analysis : The global Balloon Angioplasty Market accrued earnings worth approximately 3.22 (USD Billion) in 2021 and is predicted to gain revenue of about 3.98 (USD Billion) by 2028, is set to record a CAGR of nearly 4.4% over the period from 2022 to 2028. The global Balloon Angioplasty Market accrued earnings worth approximately 3.22 (USD Billion) in 2021 and is predicted to gain revenue of about 3.98 (USD Billion) by 2028, is set to record a CAGR of nearly 4.4% over the period from 2022 to 2028. Digital Patient Monitoring Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis : The global Digital Patient Monitoring Devices Market accrued earnings worth approximately 63.1 (USD Billion) in 2020 and is predicted to gain revenue of about 447.3(USD Billion) by 2028, is set to record a CAGR of nearly 24.1% over the period from 2021 to 2028. The global Digital Patient Monitoring Devices Market accrued earnings worth approximately 63.1 (USD Billion) in 2020 and is predicted to gain revenue of about 447.3(USD Billion) by 2028, is set to record a CAGR of nearly 24.1% over the period from 2021 to 2028. Viscosity Reducing Agents Market - Global Industry Analysis: The global Viscosity Reducing Agents Market accrued earnings worth approximately 10.1 (USD Billion) in 2020 and is predicted to gain revenue of about 19.2 (USD Billion) by 2028, is set to record a CAGR of nearly 5.1% over the period from 2021 to 2028. Browse through Zion Market Research's coverage of the Global Medical Device Industry Follow Us on: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook About Us Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to us-after all-if you do well, a little of the light shines on us. Contact Us: Zion Market Research 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N202 New York, 10001, United States Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/ Blog - https://zmrblog.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1605489/Zion_Market_Research_Logo.jpg Western Selection Plc - Disposal of shares 20 June 2022 WESTERN SELECTION PLC (the "Company") Disposal of shares in Northbridge Industrial Services Plc ("Northbridge") The Company announces that, on 17 June 2022, it sold 35,500 ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the capital of Northbridge at an average price of 200.87 pence per share. Following this transaction, the Company now holds 1,090,500 ordinary shares in Northbridge which represents 3.86% of Northbridge's issued share capital. The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. For further information please contact: Western Selection PLC +44 (0) 20 7796 9060 Cairn Financial Advisers LLP +44 (0) 20 7213 0880 (James Caithie / Liam Murray) . Partners with existing ownership to accelerate growth Avania, the preeminent, full-service global MedTech contract research organization ("CRO"), today announced that Astorg has acquired a majority stake in the company. Astorg, together with Kester Capital ("Kester") a current investor who intends to retain a minority stake will actively support management's plans to advance Avania's development as a MedTech solution provider. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Avania was formed in March 2020 from the combination of five complementary businesses and started a successful journey to establish a fully integrated platform to serve sponsors worldwide in advancing medical technology products from early development to post-market ensuring customized, scalable solutions that optimize efficiencies and streamline the advancement of medical technology. Astorg brings an impressive global network of relationships in the MedTech space which will strengthen Avania's pipeline and broaden its customer base while the capital access will help accelerate its growth, both organically and via acquisitions. "The platform we have built has positioned us ahead of our competition in the MedTech CRO space, and this deal will bring additional investment to strengthen our infrastructure, capital for acquisitions, and added support as we continue to grow Avania into the clear market leader," said Sapna Hornyak, president and CEO of Avania. "The largest CROs do not have the specialization that we bring, and the regional niche providers do not have the scale and reach of Avania. This unique positioning, along with the continued changes to the MedTech regulatory landscape, will allow us to push ourselves to the next era of growth." We are extremely pleased to partner with Sapna and her team, as well as Kester, on this transaction," said Managing Partner of Astorg Mid-Cap Edouard Pillot. "Being one of the global leaders in a profitable and fast-growing niche market, Avania squarely fits with Astorg's investment criteria, and we are delighted to have Avania as our first Mid-Cap Healthcare deal, sitting within Astorg's broader healthcare portfolio." About Avania Avania is a leading, global full-service contract research organization focused on the management of clinical studies for medical technology, IVDs, biologics, and device-drug combination products internationally. Avania supports products from the first-in-human phase through the post-market phase with the same customized approach. When you need to advance your medical technology, it takes Avania. Avania's vision is to be your trusted global partner in the evolution of your medical technology from innovation to commercialization to improving patient health and well-being. About Astorg Astorg is a leading private equity firm with over 17 billion of assets under management. We work with entrepreneurs and management teams to acquire market-leading global companies headquartered in Europe or the US, providing them with the strategic guidance, governance, and capital they need to achieve their growth goals. Astorg enjoys a distinct entrepreneurial culture, a long-term shareholder perspective, and a lean decision-making body. We have valuable industry expertise in healthcare, software, business-to-business professional services and technology-based industrial companies. Astorg has offices in London, Paris, New York, Frankfurt, Milan and Luxembourg. About Kester Capital Kester Capital is a primary buy-out specialist. Kester focuses on the healthcare, data information and technology sectors, targeting businesses that require capital in order to unlock their potential. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005109/en/ Contacts: Lindsey Langemeier SCORR Marketing +1 402-405-4269 lindsey@scorrmarketing.com Taipei, Taiwan--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2022) - During a press conference, Chairman Steve Dryden announced the retirement of Henry Gleeson and the appointment of James Smith as the Head of Strategy Development, beginning June 19, 2022. Henry Gleeson said: "It has been an honor to serve Dryden Partners. I am tremendously proud of what the team has accomplished over the nine years I have been with the company and the twenty years prior with our dear founder the late Mr. John Dryden. We have established a solid operational and financial structure, produced considerable value for both our clients and shareholders whilst positioning the company for future developments. With the company being in such a strong position, I feel that now is the right time to retire. In announcing my retirement, I do it with complete faith in my colleagues and their unwavering commitment to achieving greatness furthermore James Smith is the perfect candidate to continue the company's path of expansion." James Smith said: "I am gratified by the Board's decision and appreciative of Mr. Gleeson's support and leadership. The manner in which our staff have come together amid the passing of Mr. John Dryden and this pandemic demonstrates the character of Dryden Partners. Our dedication to servicing our clients and communities is much more robust than our good financial position. As we continue to construct a stronger financial institution and increase our returns, I will do all in my power to make all of our stakeholders proud of our company. We will invest in our infrastructure, risk management and controls to ensure that we operate securely and provide a superior service to our clients. I am eager to collaborate with my coworkers on the next step." Steve Dryden, Chairman of the Board Of Directors, commented: "I would like to congratulate Henry on behalf of the Board of Directors for his significant contributions over the course of his nine-year tenure. Henry participated in the successful 2013 merger integration that resulted in the present Dryden Partners. Under Henry's leadership and foresight Dryden Partners has been nurtured into a culture of excellence, as a result, we have established a solid well-positioned global firm for further success. I wish him the best for a happy retirement." Steve Dryden continued to say James Smith's performance, through COVID-19, has shown strength and resilience, I am confident James will continue to be a valuable partner to our clients." ABOUT DRYDEN PARTNERS Combining financial acumen and extensive market expertise, Dryden Partners serves a worldwide clientele by managing their portfolios. Since its launch in 2013, Dryden Partners has regularly outperformed the market. They have a powerful staff with over 100 years of experience in the US financial markets. Dryden Partners' expertise, commitment, and solutions help our clients to achieve and maintain their satisfaction. For more information: www.drydenpartners.com. CONTACT Contact - Richard Lehmann Email - press@drydenpartners.com Company address - Chuang Yuan Chi Ti, 89-99 Roosevelt Road, sec. 2, Taipei,106, Taiwan. Company address- Prime Tower Hardstrasse 201 Zurich, Switzerland, 8005. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/128321 ROME, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this month, multiple US Govt security agencies including the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, warned that hackers breached major telecoms companies by exploiting software flaws in routers and other network infrastructure equipment. The US report did not name the companies that had experienced the breaches. It also said that infrastructure equipment is "often overlooked by cyber defenders, who struggle to maintain and keep pace with routine software patching of Internet-facing services and endpoint devices." Commenting on the US report, Amit Nath, co-founder and CEO of global telecom security start-up SecurityGen, said, "The advisory from the US Govt is a timely reminder of the cyber threats facing telecom operators and their networks from malefactors in today's interconnected world. It underlines the significance of telecom networks - both fixed and mobile - as critical infrastructure. "Mobile connectivity is integral to how we live and work," Nath continued. "Worldwide, operators are launching 5G networks and services that promise dramatically faster speeds, lower latency, and connectivity for billions of devices. "Attacks on telecom operators are costly, damaging, and disruptive. They can include everything from denial of service targeting groups of subscribers or particular areas: to the theft of sensitive personal data for fraudulent purposes: or a full network outage that causes serious and widespread disruption for the individuals and organisations affected," he added. Fellow SecurityGen co-founder and CTO Dmitry Kurbatov explained, "New technologies like 5G, cloud, virtualisation, and open RAN have made mobile networks more complex, dynamic and agile. But this convergence of IT and telecoms also brings significant new security concerns, which must be addressed. Current security measures aren't enough to identify vulnerabilities in networks that operators themselves might not notice but which malicious attackers can potentially exploit. "5G has been developed with improved security protocols than previous network generations. However, along with the complex 5G ecosystem, which presents several pathways for hackers to seek access, because 5G relies on widespread protocols like HTTP/2 and IP, hackers may not need specialist telco knowledge and skills to attack. They can apply their previous experience to do so, which further worsens the situation for telcos," Kurbatov continued. "Safer telecom networks depend on operators moving away from their current cybersecurity posture and adopting a more proactive approach that views the network as a whole rather than as separate components. One which effectively uses the latest insights drawn from real-time threat intelligence combined with an automated approach to help assess the strength of their network defences by continually verifying threats and testing for vulnerabilities. In this way, operators can stay ahead of attackers, and effectively defend their networks and protect their subscribers on an ongoing basis," Kurbatov concluded. Rome-based start-up SecurityGen is the company behind the ACE (Artificial Cybersecurity Expert) breach and attack simulation platform. ACE is a telecoms industry first: the first completely automated breach and attack simulation platform that is purpose-built for securing mobile networks. ACE assesses and improves the security posture of mobile operators by continuously testing the strength of their network defences against simulated attacks and techniques. ACE identifies and reports potential gaps and vulnerabilities within the operator's network. It then carries out simulations of real-world attacks on these vulnerabilities to assess their seriousness and the potential damage that an actual attack could cause. About SecurityGen Founded in 2022, SecurityGen is a global start-up focused on telecom security. We deliver a solid security foundation to drive secure telco digital transformations and ensure next-gen enterprise intelligent connectivity. Our extensive product and service portfolio provides complete protection against existing and advanced telecom security threats. Led by a group of global visionary leaders, security experts, and research analysts with a proven track record of innovation and execution, SecurityGen is headquartered in Rome and has a strong presence across Europe, Asia, LATAM, and the Middle East. www.secgen.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1843340/SecurityGen_Dmitriy_Kurbatov.jpg Telegram Premium officially debuted for a monthly subscription price of $4.99, expanding current functions and a few exclusive features. Telegram Premium As per a news story by The Verge, Telegram chief executive officer (CEO) Pavel Durov first mentioned the subscription tier idea as early as way back in 2020. In the middle of 2022, Telegram Premium formally becomes a reality, giving millions of its users a chance to experience a bulk version of the privacy-focused service. Not to mention that the paid service also gives the messaging platform new means to monetize without the help of advertising. The messaging app said in a blog post that: "Today is an important day in the history of Telegram." It further highlighted that the rollout of the all-new Premium tier is "the beginning of Telegram's sustainable monetization." The Telegram boss also teased the new Premium tier early this June, explaining why they are pushing for the new paid service. Durov disclosed that users of the privacy-focused app have been clamoring for more bandwidth and storage for massive file-sharing. But the tech exec says that expanding it is going to mess up the servers of Telegram. However, its founder has come up with a realization. He previously shared that we realized that "the only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option." So, it appears that the Premium tier is the answer to the clamor of its power users. Read Also: Is Telegram's Premium Subscription Worth Its Asking Price? Telegram Premium Exclusive Features Now that the new Telegram Premium tier has officially rolled out, here are its exclusive features. The paying subscribers of the messaging app enjoy "Doubled Limits." To be more precise, Premium allows them to upload files of up to 4GB, an upgrade from the 2GB limit for its free version. The download speed also gets twice as fast. It should be best for massive media files now that the upload limit has expanded. It also lets users join up to 1,000 channels. They could create up to 20 folders to stuff up to 200 chats. What's more, they could pin up to 10 chats and sign in a total of four accounts on the app. On top of that, the new tier is not all about the boring stuff. It also comes with exclusive stickers with full-screen animations and emoji reactions. Paying users could also play around with an animated profile picture. A new feature that turns voice messages into text also arrives in Premium, and ads on public channels vanish for its users. Related Article: Telegram Premium with New Paid Features Launches Soon - How Much is it Priced? Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares For immediate release 20 June 2022 FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC (the "Company") MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES The Company announces that it has today purchased 125,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 752.61p per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company. The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 9 February 2022. Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 3,821,772; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 221,169,531. The figure of 221,169,531 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. For and on behalf of Frostrow Capital LLP Company Secretary For further information, please contact: Victoria Hale Frostrow Capital LLP Tel: 020 3 170 8732 500 MILLION WITH A 7-YEAR MATURITY AND AN ANNUAL COUPON OF 3.750% Not to publish, distribute or release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States of America, Canada, Australia, South Africa or Japan and in any other jurisdiction in which it is unlawful to release, publish or distribute this press release. Regulatory News: Teleperformance SE (Paris:TEP)(the "Company"), the global leader in outsourced customer and citizen experience management and related digital services, successfully placed its first Sustainability-Linked Notes (the "New Notes") for an amount of 500 million, with an annual coupon of 3.750%, due June 2029. The proceeds of the New Notes will be allocated to the repurchase of notes targeted under a tender offer launched by the Company, and the balance (if any) of the proceeds of the New Notes will be used for the Company's general corporate purposes. With this issue under its 4,000,000,000 EMTN programme pursuant to its base prospectus as supplemented, the Company is optimizing its debt profile and further aligning its financing strategy with its CSR ambitions. The final terms of the New Notes together with the Company's base prospectus and supplements thereto will be available on Teleperformance's website at the following address: https://fr.www.teleperformance.com/en-us/investors/publications-and-events/debt-and-bond-investors/. About Teleperformance Group Teleperformance (TEP ISIN: FR0000051807 Reuters: TEPRF.PA Bloomberg: TEP FP), the global leader in outsourced customer and citizen experience management and related digital services, serves as a strategic partner to the world's largest companies in many industries. It offers a One Office support services model including end-to-end digital solutions, which guarantee successful customer interaction and optimized business processes, anchored in a unique, comprehensive high touch, high tech approach. Nearly 420,000 employees, based in 88 countries, support billions of connections every year in over 265 languages and around 170 markets, in a shared commitment to excellence as part of the "Simpler, Faster, Safer" process.This mission is supported by the use of reliable, flexible, intelligent technological solutions and compliance with the industry's highest security and quality standards, based on Corporate Social Responsibility excellence. In 2021, Teleperformance reported consolidated revenue of 7,115 million (US$8.4 billion, based on 1 $1.18) and net profit of 557 million. Teleperformance shares are traded on the Euronext Paris market, Compartment A, and are eligible for the deferred settlement service. They are included in the following indices: CAC 40, STOXX 600, S&P Europe 350 and MSCI Global Standard. In the area of corporate social responsibility, Teleperformance shares are included in the Euronext Vigeo Euro 120 index since 2015, the EURO STOXX 50 ESG index since 2020, the MSCI Europe ESG Leaders index since 2019, the FTSE4Good index since 2018 and the S&P Global 1200 ESG index since 2017. For more information: www.teleperformance.com Follow us on Twitter: @teleperformance Disclaimer This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for or to sell securities and the issue of the New Notes will not be an offer to the public (other than to qualified investors) in any jurisdiction, including France. Important Information This press release may not be published, distributed or released, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America, Australia, Canada, South Africa or Japan or in any jurisdiction in which the offer of the New Notes is unlawful. The distribution of this press release may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein comes, should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No communication or information relating to the offering of the New Notes may be transmitted to the public in a country where there is a registration obligation or where an approval is required. No action has been or will be taken in any country in which such registration or approval would be required. The issuance or the subscription of the New Notes may be subject to legal and regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions; the Company assumes no liability in connection with the breach by any person of such restrictions. The New Notes will be offered only by way of a placement in France and/or outside France (excluding the United States of America, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Japan), solely to qualified investors (investisseurs qualifies) as defined in Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation (as defined below). There will be no public offering in any country (including France) in connection with the New Notes, other than to qualified investors. This press release does not constitute a recommendation concerning the issue of the New Notes. The value of the New Notes can decrease as well as increase. Potential investors should consult a professional adviser as to the suitability of the investment in the New Notes for the person concerned. Prohibition of sales to European Economic Area retail investors The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, the expression "retail investor" means a person who is one (or more) of the following: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive 2016/97/EU, as amended, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a "qualified investor" as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017, as amended (the "Prospectus Regulation"). Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. Prohibition of sales to UK retail investors The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the United Kingdom ("UK"). For these purposes, the expression "retail investor" means a person who is one (or more) of the following: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("EUWA"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the FSMA and any rules or regulations made under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (the "FSMA") to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the EUWA; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the EUWA. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation. France The New Notes will only be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in France, and this press release, the Company's base prospectus, the final terms of the New Notes or any other offering material relating to the New Notes will only be distributed or caused to be distributed in France, to qualified investors as defined in Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation pursuant to Article L.411-2 1 of the French Code monetaire et financier United States of America The New Notes have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or with any securities regulatory authority of any State or other jurisdiction in the United States of America, and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act or such state securities laws. The New Notes are being offered and sold outside of the United States of America to non-U.S. persons pursuant to and in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act ("Regulation S"). Terms used in this paragraph and not otherwise defined have the meanings given to them in Regulation S. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005506/en/ Contacts: Teleperformance SE Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2022) - West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. (CSE: RLG) (OTCQB: RLGMF) (FSE: HYK) ("West Red Lake Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a program of closely spaced surface channel sampling has commenced on the Rowan Gold Deposit at the West Red Lake Gold Project located in the prolific Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The current sampling program is being performed on Zone 104D in the area of the Rowan Mine Shaft to follow up on high grade gold results from surface sampling reported on December 2, 2021. The closely spaced surface samples are being taken from the gold zone with the purpose to further define the potential for extraction of high-grade gold mineralized material from surface. The sampling area along a 125 metre ("m") portion of Zone 104D is situated on the top of a hill approximately 35m above the water table. The recent initial set of results from a wider spaced sampling program reported on December 2, 2021 included 149.64 grams per tonne ("gpt") over 1.0m, 45.68 gpt over 2.0m, 60.41gpt over 1.2m and 49.32 gpt over 1.3m. The Rowan Mine Gold Deposit consists of several, near vertical, gold zones within a 1,800 m portion of the east-west trending Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone ("PBS Zone") and hosts a gold resource (NI 43-101 Rowan Mine Mineral Resource: 4,468,900 tonnes graded 7.57 gpt Au for 1,087,700 inferred oz of Au from the Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the West Red Lake Project dated February 16, 2016 authored by John C. Archibald, B.Sc., P.Geo., Peter Bevan, P.Eng., and John Kita, P.Eng.). Mr. John Kontak, President of West Red Lake Gold stated, "We are pleased to be following up on the high grade results from surface at the Rowan Gold Deposit with additional work designed to enhance the prospect for surface mineable high grade gold mineralization." The Rowan Mine property is situated in the Red Lake Archean Greenstone Belt which hosts the high-grade gold mines of the Red Lake Gold District. Fifteen kms to the east of the Company property are the world class Red Lake Mine and Campbell Mine, which have a geologically similar setting illustrating the exploration potential for high-grade gold zones on the Company's West Red Lake Project - which hosts three former gold mines. Technical Information The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Kenneth Guy, P.Geo., a consultant to West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for exploration at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" ("NI 43-101"). The Company also announces 1,700,000 options have been issued to consultants for the Company to replace the same number of options that recently expired. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.10 per share for a term of 2 years. About West Red Lake Gold Mines West Red Lake Gold Mines is a Toronto-based minerals exploration company focused on gold exploration and development in the prolific Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada. The Red Lake Gold District is host to some of the richest gold deposits in the world and has produced 30 million ounces of gold from high grade zones. The Company has assembled a significant property position totalling 3,100 hectares in west Red Lake (the "West Red Lake Project") which contains three former gold mines located 15 km west of the Red Lake mine complex. The Mount Jamie Mine and Red Summit Mine properties are 100% owned by the Company and the Rowan Mine property is held in a 69% - 31% joint venture with Evolution Mining Limited. The West Red Lake Project property covers a 12 km strike length along the Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone and the Company is continuing to explore the property both along strike and to depth. About Evolution Mining Evolution Mining is a leading, globally relevant gold miner. Evolution operates five wholly-owned mines - Cowal in New South Wales, Ernest Henry and Mt Rawdon in Queensland, Mungari in Western Australia, and Red Lake in Ontario, Canada. Financial Year 2022 production guidance is approximately 650,000 ounces of gold at a sector leading All-in Sustaining Cost of A$1,135 - A$1,195 (C$1,020 - C$1,075) per ounce. For more information, please contact: John Kontak, President Phone: 416-203-9181 Email: jkontak@rlgold.ca or visit our website at https://www.westredlakegold.com. Twitter: @WestRedLakeGold LinkedIn: west-red-lake-gold/ The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements." When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. West Red Lake Gold Mines does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof, except as required by securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/128348 OTTAWA, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2022 / Stria Lithium Inc. (TSXV:SRA) ("Stria" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update to the proposed purchase of the Romer Property (the "Property") from Braille Energy Systems Inc. previously announced in news releases dated March 4, 2022, April 5, 2022, and April 7, 2022 (the "Proposed Transaction"). IOS Services Geoscientifiques continues preparing the independent Geological Report. The report is expected to be delivered this week. About Stria Lithium Inc. Stria Lithium is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with an expanding technology focus and has a 100% interest in the Pontax spodumene lithium project in Northern Quebec. Lithium is a critical metal in the universal fight against global warming. It is a core component of Lithium-ion batteries used for powering electric vehicles and for industrial scale energy storage. For more information about Stria Lithium, please visit http://strialithium.com. Forward-Looking Statement This News Release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to, receipt of required regulatory approvals, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information has been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business and operations and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is made as of the date of this News Release, and the Company does not undertake to update such forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the accuracy of this release. For more information on Stria Lithium Inc., please contact: Kimberly Darlington Communications, Stria Lithium Inc. kimberly@refinedsubstance.com 514-771-3398 Judith T. Mazvihwa-MacLean CFO, Stria Lithium Inc. Jmazvihwa@grafoid.com 613 581 4040 SOURCE: Stria Lithium, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/705818/Stria-Lithium-Provides-Further-Update-on-Proposed-Purchase-of-Romer-Property WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - JetBlue (JBLU) Monday announced that it has submitted a decisively superior proposal of $33.50 per share to the Board of Directors of Spirit (SAVE) to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Spirit. JetBlue's proposal continues to offer Spirit stockholders a superior, all-cash premium. The increased price of $33.50 per Spirit share represents an improvement of $2.00 per share or 6.3% compared to JetBlue's June 6 proposal, and a 67.6%1 premium to the implied value of the Frontier transaction as of June 17, 2022. JetBlue would continue to offer a reverse break-up fee of $350 million, or $3.20 per Spirit share, payable to Spirit in the unlikely event the transaction is not consummated for antitrust reasons. This represents an increase of $100 million, or $0.91 per Spirit share, compared to the reverse break-up fee Frontier agreed to on June 2. Further, JetBlue would prepay $1.50 per share in cash to Spirit stockholders promptly following the Spirit stockholder vote approving the combination between Spirit and JetBlue. As a result, Spirit stockholders would receive total aggregate consideration of $33.50 per share in cash, comprised of $32.00 per share in cash at the closing of the transaction and the prepayment of $1.50 per share in cash. 'After discussions with the Spirit team last week and further due diligence review, we are more convinced than ever that a JetBlue-Spirit transaction would create a true national competitor to the Big Four and deliver value to all of our stakeholders,' said Robin Hayes, chief executive officer, JetBlue. 'Together, we will deliver lower fares and a better experience to more customers. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX JETBLUE AIRWAYS-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de 3Z, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based drug discovery company, closed a $2m funding round. The backers were not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the finalization of preclinical studies on its lead therapeutic candidates in ADHD and insomnia. Using its zebrafish screening platform, 3Z has identified both novel and repurposed therapeutics for ADHD and insomnia and the platform allows for cost-effective high-volume screens in vivo. Currently, the lead therapeutics are being re-assayed in mammalian models, replicating, extending and validating the therapeutic potential of the compounds. 3Zs CEO Karl Karlsson is a PhD in behavioral neuroscience and professor in Biomedical Engineering at ReykjavikUniversity. FinSMEs 20/06/2022 DPVR new product poster DPVR, a Shanghai, China-based company specializing in virtual reality (VR) device design and manufacturing, raised a multimillion dollar funding round. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The round was led by Huaqiang Equity and previous investors Qianyi Equity and Lianxin Funds Management company, which was funded by Union Optech (300691.SZ). The company intends to use the funds to advance its core technology, new product development and hiring more tech talents. Founded by Sunny (Chaoyang) Chen, DPVR has focused on designing and manufacturing VR headsets for seven years. In June 2022, the company announced that it would enter the mass market with the launch of a new generation 6DoF gaming VR headset based on machine vision technology, bringing users a superior metaverse interactive experience. DPVR 6DoF gaming headset will be available shortly for elite gamers worldwide. FinSMEs 20/06/2022 HipHops, a London, UK-based company that automates the complex business of releasing code, raised $650K in Pre-Seed funding round. The round was led by Capital & Seedcamp with participation from Tiny VC, RLC Ventures, Matt Robinson, Will Neale, and Jack Kleeman. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and expand operations. Led by CEO Tom Manterfield, Yang Li and Michelle Arnold, Hiphops provides engineering teams with SaaS software to automate the complex processes of releasing code, saving time and money. It automatically tracks, analyses, categorises and automates all software releases with out of the box automations, ML pipeline and ability to operate with metadata access only. First users include a US Fintech Unicorn and a multinational insurer. FinSMEs 20/06/2022 Rohlik Group, a Prague, Czech Republic-based e-grocer, raised 220m in Series D funding round. The round was led by new investor Sofina with participation from existing investors Index Ventures and the founder Tomas Cupr. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate tech innovations, including automation of fulfilment centres, electric mobility, and further expansion in existing countries. Founded in 2014 in the Czech Republic, Rohlik Group is an e-grocery company active in the Czech Republic (Rohlik.cz), Hungary (Kifli.hu), Austria (Gurkerl.at) and Germany (Knuspr.de). it is also launching in Romania, Italy and Spain in 2022 under the Sezamo brand. The offering combines well-priced private brands, locally sourced goods from small farmers and producers and top international brands. Fresh produce represents about 40% of sales, more than most competitors. The company had revenues of EUR 500m already serving more than 1 million active customers. FinSMEs 20/06/2022 Webio, a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of a Conversational AI in the credit, collections and payments industry, raised $4M in Series A funding. The round was led by Finch Capital. The company intends to use the funds to deepen their capabilities in conversational AI and additional digital offerings. They plan to triple the R&D team, expand the sales and marketing teams, and expand its customer success teams to address the market demand in the UK and European markets. Led by CEO Cormac ONeill, Webio provides Credit, Collections and Payment businesses with a no-code platform that allows customers and partners to get up and running with conversational AI over SMS, WhatsApp, Webchat and other channels in hours. Customers can ask questions, change payment dates, or organise a new repayment schedule, all tailored to their circumstances, all done through Conversational AI and automation. It is used by Irish brands like The Very Group, Studio Retail, Hoist Finance, DCBL, NCO Europe, Anglian Water, among others. FinSMEs 20/06/2022 Audi sues a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker, Nio, over what it alleges to be similar nameplates for two of their automobiles. The German automaker brought one of the largest EV brands in China to the Munich court after filing a lawsuit against Nio. Audi Sues Chinese EV Maker Nio The legal battle between Audi and Nio exclusively involves the nameplates of the vehicles of the latter, as per a news story by Inside EVs. That said, aside from naming, the luxury carmaker finds no other problems, as far as the lawsuit is concerned. The German luxury vehicle brand finds the name of two Nio vehicles to be closely similar to its offerings, which have been in the market for a few decades now. The two Nio vehicles in question flaunt the nameplates ES6 and ES8, which Audi believes to sound unnecessarily alike to two of its iconic offerings, namely the S6 and S8. As such, Audi accuses the giant EV maker for infringing the trademark rights of the German automaker. The European luxury car brand has confirmed the recent suit through its spokesperson. But the subsidiary of Nio in the region refused to comment regarding the legal battle, the German news outlet Handelsblatt reports. While Audi thinks that these vehicles have similar naming to its lineup, they are two contrasting vehicles beyond their nameplates. Audi S8, S6 and Nio ES6, ES8 Inside EVs notes that the ES6 and ES8 vehicles of Nio are actually luxury electric SUVs. According to a recent report by Pandaily, the Chinese automaker introduced its ES6 model way back in 2018, whereas the ES8 debuted last 2017, making these vehicles in circulation for roughly four years already. On the other hand, Audi S8 and S6 are two performance sedans from the luxury carmaker. And the nameplate of these two models have been in the market since long ago in the 90s. It is worth noting that Nio names its whole lineup of EVs in the same patterns. The Chinese carmaker currently retails vehicles such as the ES7, ES8, ES6. Other name plates include ET5, EC6, and ET7. Meanwhile, Audi prefers a single letter and number naming style. Its current models in the markets carry the monikers A7, A8, A4, as well as Q5, R8, Q8, to name a few. Read Also: Audi Q4 E-Tron Boasts Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display That Tracks Cars Ahead--Here Are Its Other Specs! Nio EV Maker Although Nio is a carmaker based in China, it has begun its expansion in Europe. It initially started selling its vehicles in Norway. But it also plans to sell its EVs in other nations like Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Related Article: 2022 Audi S5 Sportback: 3 Things You Should Know About This Powerful Car On June 1, Ambassador Qin Gang met with Austin Mayor Steve Adler in Austin, Texas. Mr. Adler welcomed Ambassador Qin for his first visit to the city, and said that he had visited China twice as mayor to promote a sound cooperative relationship between Austin and Chinese cities, including Beijing, Changsha and Chengdu. In the past few years, Austin has jumped from the 44th largest city in the United States to the 11th, becoming an ideal place for American and foreign companies to make investment and do business. Austin is committed to increasing economic, trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges with cities in different countries, and continuously exploring the opportunities to make inter-city relations more substantial. Ambassador Qin spoke highly of Austin's development and said that Austin is a well-known high-tech center in the United States with thriving cultural and creative industries, which showcases the vigor of the American economy. He emphasized that his visit was aimed at renewing the bond between China and the United States at the subnational level and reinforcing local ties. He hoped that Austin would deepen its pragmatic exchanges and cooperation with Chinese cities in the fields of economy, trade, people-to-people exchanges, culture, aviation, and city governance, so as to inject more positive energy into China-US relations. In this file photo taken on October 16, 2015 Canadian film director Paul Haggis poses on the red carpet during the Rome Film Festival in Rome. - Oscar-winning Canadian director Paul Haggis was arrested in southern Italy on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault, Italian news agencies reported on June 19, 2022, citing local prosecutors. AFP-Yonhap Film director Paul Haggis was being held in a hotel room in southern Italy on Monday pending a court hearing while prosecutors press their investigation of a woman's allegations he had sex with her without her consent over the course of two days. Prosecutors in Brindisi, a port town in Puglia, the region that forms the ''heel'' of southeastern Italy, announced on Sunday that police had detained the 69-year-old Canadian-born director, screenwriter and producer for investigation of alleged aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries. They described the alleged victim as a ''young foreign woman.'' State TV and other Italian media said she is a 30-year-old Englishwoman who had known Haggis before he came to the tourist town of Ostuni to participate in an arts festival that begins on Tuesday. They said he is being detained in a hotel room in that town. Haggis' Italian lawyer was in court Monday morning on other matters and couldn't be reached for comment. On Sunday, Haggis' U.S.-based attorney, Priya Chaudhry, told the AP that although she could not discuss the evidence under Italian law, ''I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent, and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly.'' Brindisi Prosecutor Antonio Negro said on Monday that the exact date of the hearing this week is still to be decided. Under Italian law a judge, after hearing arguments from both prosecutors and defense lawyers, will rule on whether Haggis can be set free pending possible additional investigation. A judge can also decide if there is a flight risk, or the possibility of tampering with evidence or committing the same alleged crime and order him to be jailed or stay under house arrest. In a written statement on Sunday announcing that Haggis had been detained, prosecutors said that ''according to (investigative) elements gathered, Haggis allegedly ''forced the young woman, known by him from some time ago, to submit to sexual relations.'' The statement also said that the woman was ''forced to seek medical care,'' The prosecutors added that after a couple of days of non-consensual relations, the woman was accompanied'' by Haggis to Brindisi airport and ''was left there at dawn despite (her) precarious physical and psychological conditions.'' Airport staff and police noticed her ''obvious confused state'' and took her to Brindisi's police headquarters, where officers accompanied her to a local hospital for examination, the prosecutors said. Haggis is a director, producer and screenwriter. He won an Oscar in 2006 for best original screenplay for ''Crash.'' In recent years, Haggis has had legal problems stemming from sexual misconduct accusations by four women in the United States. After a civil lawsuit, filed in New York in late 2017, alleging that he had raped a publicist, three other women came forward with their own sexual misconduct accusations, including another publicist who said he forced her to perform oral sex, then raped her. Haggis denied the original rape allegations in a counter-complaint to the lawsuit, and said that the accuser and her lawyer had demanded a payment of $9 million to avoid legal action. Haggis described that as extortion. Brindisi prosecutors in their statement said that the woman ''formalized her complaint and cited circumstances which were subsequently looked into for confirmation by investigators.'' With his cinema work, Haggis has depicted himself as an advocate for the underdog in his films, addressing racism, euthanasia and war. Themes of the Ostuni festival included equality, gender parity and solidarity. (AP) The Corvallis School District will provide free summer meals at various locations in Corvallis and Philomath beginning Thursday, June 23. All children under 18 can participate regardless of household income, and students with disabilities can participate if they are under 21. The United States Department of Agriculture funded free summer meals throughout the pandemic and waived many of the program requirements. Those waivers, however, are soon set to expire, meaning the program will return to pre-COVID guidelines meals must be consumed on-site. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to provide healthy and nutritious meals for children in our community, Tara Sanders, director of the CSD food & nutrition services department, said in a news release. While the impact of this change may affect each participant and their families differently, we remain committed to serving healthy meals in a safe and friendly environment. Each location will serve meals June 23 - Aug. 26, Monday - Friday. Here are the locations and hours: Garfield Elementary School: Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Lincoln Elementary School: Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Letitia Carson Elementary School: Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Breakfast 8:30 - 9 a.m., Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Clemens Primary School: Lunch 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. Lunch 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. Osborn Aquatic Center: Breakfast 8:30 - 9:45 a.m., Lunch 12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Breakfast 8:30 - 9:45 a.m., Lunch 12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Orchard Court Apartments: Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Lancaster Bridge: Lunch 12 - 12:30 p.m. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 New COVID-19 cases fell to their lowest level in more than five months Sunday, partly due to fewer tests over the weekend, but also providing a clear indication that the spread of the Omicron variant is slowing. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) added 3,538 new infections, including 96 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,280,090. Sunday's figure marks the lowest since the 3,094 reported for Jan. 10. Daily infection numbers tend to drop over weekends due to fewer tests. The KDCA reported 10 more deaths from COVID-19, putting the toll at 24,451 for a fatality rate of 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 72, up from 70 the previous day. The slowing Omicron trend has brought down the daily infection numbers, mostly to the four-digit range, since earlier this month, after the country came out of the worst wave that sent cases to peak at over 620,000 in mid-March. But the government last Friday decided to retain the seven-day self-isolation mandate for COVID-19 patients for four more weeks until July 17, citing the risks of yet another virus resurgence. Lifting the self-isolation mandate would mean a significant step in efforts toward the return of pre-pandemic normalcy as South Korea removed most social distancing restrictions, except a mask mandate, in mid-April. Officials said weekly deaths should stay under 100 and the fatality rate needs to fall below 0.1 percent for the isolation rule to be lifted. (Yonhap) U.S. President Joe Biden, center, visits the Combat Operations Floor and receives an overview of operations at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, May 22. At left is South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. AP-Yonhap South Korea and the United States have tentatively agreed to hold their regular defense talks in Washington D.C. next month, informed sources said Monday, with joint deterrence against North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile threats likely to top the agenda. The biannual Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) will be held as the allies are striving to reinforce security coordination following a series of North Korean ballistic missile launches and speculation that Pyongyang has completed preparations for a nuclear weapon test. The exact date for the KIDD session has yet to be finalized, but it is expected to be held before or around mid-July, according to the sources. High on the agenda is expected to be Seoul's push to strengthen the enforceability of America's extended deterrence and its stated commitment to mobilizing a full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend its Asian ally. The two sides could also discuss the expansion of combined military exercises and the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets to Korea in a "timely and coordinated" manner in line with last month's summit agreement between Presidents Yoon Suk-yeol and Joe Biden. Other likely issues include joint efforts to normalize the operation of a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here, which has been in the status of "temporary installation" pending an environmental impact assessment. Launched in 2011, KIDD is a comprehensive defense meeting between the allies covering a wide range of issues, including Washington's extended deterrence. (Yonhap) Pune, India, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global cheese market size was USD 120.63 billion in 2020. The market is projected to grow from USD 123.87 billion in 2021 to USD 161.23 billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.84% during the forecast period (2021-2028). This information is presented by Fortune Business Insights, in its report, titled, Cheese Market, 2021-2028. As per our expert analysts, the market is observing advanced growth, owing to the growing demand for varied types of cheese in several food products. The upsurge in the ingestion of fast foods, such as pizza, pasta, and burgers, has contributed to the surging demand for assortments such as mozzarella, parmesan, as well as cheddar. Get a Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/cheese-market-104293 COVID-19 Impact Global Demand & Supply Disparity of Cheese Products during COVID-19 to Obstruct Growth The industry for this product has confronted an abrupt commotion amidst the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the prime modification in demand dynamics. Lockdowns across the world have resulted in the shutdown of the food service industry, which has substantially deteriorated the demand for all processed food products. The declining demand for greater-value products is anticipated to reduce costs. List of Key Players Covered in the Cheese Market Report Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (Auckland, New Zealand) Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. (Amersfoort, Netherlands) Saputo, Inc. (Montreal, Canada) Winsleydale Creamery (Yokshire, U.K.) Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (Kansas, U.S.) Lactalis International (Laval, France) Arla Foods Group (Viby, Denmark) The Kraft Heinz Company (Illinois, U.S.) The Ilchester Cheese Company (Ilchester, U.K.) Glanbia Plc (Kilkenny, Ireland ) Chicago Mercantile Exchange (Illinois, U.S.) Report Scope & Segmentation: Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2020 USD 120.63 Billion Revenue forecast in 2028 USD 161.23 Billion Growth Rate CAGR of almost 3.84% during 2021-2028 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2017 - 2019 Forecast Years 2021- 2028 Segments Covered By Source, By Type, By Distribution Channel and By Geography Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2021 to 2028 Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa, and Rest of World Countries Covered Unites States, Canada, Mexico, Unites Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, GCC Countries, and South Africa, among others Number of Companies Covered Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (Auckland, New Zealand), Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. (Amersfoort, Netherlands), Saputo, Inc. (Montreal, Canada), Winsleydale Creamery (Yokshire, U.K.), Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (Kansas, U.S.), Lactalis International (Laval, France), Arla Foods Group (Viby, Denmark), The Kraft Heinz Company (Illinois, U.S.), The Ilchester Cheese Company (Ilchester, U.K.), Glanbia Plc (Kilkenny, Ireland ), Chicago Mercantile Exchange (Illinois, U.S.) and Other Report Coverage Market growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, Porter's five forces analysis, PEST analysis, value chain analysis, regulatory landscape, market attractiveness analysis by segments and region, company market share analysis, and COVID-19 impact analysis. Customization Scope Avail customized purchase options to meet your exact research needs. Report Coverage The report offers valuable insights obtained through the study done by our researchers. Extensive research was conducted to provide the estimated size of the market. The data used to project the shares for multiple segments at the country, regional, and global levels are obtained from in-depth interviews with numerous stakeholders. Furthermore, we have gained access to several global and regional paid databases to deliver precise information to make business investment decisions easy. Ask for Customization: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/cheese-market-104293 Segmentation On the basis of source, the market is bifurcated into plant-based and animal-based. On the basis of product type, the market is segmented into feta, parmesan, mozzarella, cheddar, and others. On the basis of type, the market is fragmented into hard & soft cheese, spreadable, block, natural, processed, and others. On the basis of distribution channel, the market is categorized into online retail, specialty stores, convenience stores, and supermarkets/hypermarkets. Geographically, the market is classified into North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Drivers and Restraints Rising Admiration of Flavor Blends to Thrust Market Growth In the past few years, consumer inclination for trying novel striking flavors and cuisines has augmented significantly. The surging popularity of cheese flavor amalgamations in numerous cuisines, such as Italian as well as Mexican, has fast-tracked the usage of diverse assortments in these cuisines. Moreover, the speedy extension of the food service industry has demanded foremost product processors to create inventive products, such as powder and creamers, which acts as a driver and fuels the cheese market growth. However, the rising awareness for health risks due to fat consumption may hinder market growth. Regional Insights Europe to Dominate Global Market Europe holds the maximum cheese market shares and maintains its dominance in the market, owing to the existence of giant milk-producing nations. The region's thriving food and foodservice industry has contributed to the rising demand for several product diversities across these sectors. North America is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR, owing to the increasing demand for clean-label and sustainable dairy products. Asia Pacific is projected to demonstrate a drastic change in the ingestion inclinations of dairy products. The growing disposable income levels of consumers in the region and comparatively steady milk prices have substantially contributed to the amplifying sales of cheese assortments. Competitive Landscape Procurements Instigated by Crucial Companies Set to Endorse Market Growth The foremost players in the market incessantly determine for proficient tactics to reinforce their brand value as well as promote the global cheese market growth with experiencing the least latent hurdles. One such operative strategy in procuring competitive companies and further safeguarding a profit for all involved companies. Inquire Before Buying This Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/cheese-market-104293 Detailed Table of Content: TOC Continued! Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions Executive Summary Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Key Insights Overview of the Parent/Related Markets Industry SWOT Analysis Supply Chain and Regulatory Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Partnerships, New Product Launches, and Mergers & Acquisitions Qualitative Analysis Related to COVID-19 Impact of COVID-19 on the Market Supply Chain Challenges amidst Pandemic Potential Opportunities due to this Global Crisis TOC Continued...! Speak to Our Expert: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/cheese-market-104293 Industry Development July 2020: Brownes Dairy, an Australian dairy giant, declared the unveiling of conservative cheddar cheese on the retail platform to take advantage of the rising demand for product among families. Read Related Insights: Cheese Analogue Market Size, Share & Growth | Report [2027] Cheese Powder Market Size, Share, Industry Forecast 2029 Cheese Ingredients Market Size, Industry Share | Forecast 2029 About Us: Fortune Business Insights delivers accurate data and innovative corporate analysis, helping organizations of all sizes make appropriate decisions. We tailor novel solutions for our clients, assisting them to address various challenges distinct to their businesses. Our aim is to empower them with holistic market intelligence, providing a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Address: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. 9th Floor, Icon Tower, Baner Mahalunge Road, Baner, Pune-411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US: +1 424 253 0390 UK: +44 2071 939123 APAC: +91 744 740 1245 Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com Members of civic groups supporting refugees hold a rally in central Seoul, May 4, calling on the new government to come up with better measures for asylum seekers. Newsis Refugee acceptance rate stands at 1 percent By Lee Hyo-jin Koita Boh Saran, a 26-year-old woman from Guinea, West Africa, was just 17 years old when she was forced to marry a 45-year-old man, becoming his fourth wife in the process. She is among the many underage girls who are coerced into early marriages in the country where child marriage is quite a common phenomenon. She had no choice but to marry the man as her family threatened to assault her if she refused. A few months into the unhappy marriage, Koita fled to Korea and applied for refugee status in December 2015. "My friend's father told me that Korea is a safe country for women and that I would be able to begin a new life here," she told The Korea Times, speaking in fluent Korean. However, entering Korea was just the beginning of her hardship. She was not aware that Korea is one of the strictest countries for asylum seekers. Over the past six years, her application to gain refugee status has been rejected by the Ministry of Justice several times. With the help of a local civic group, Koita took her case to an appellate court last year and is currently awaiting the results anxiously. "I have nowhere else to go. Going back to my home country is the last thing I would do. Some of my friends were killed after they refused to get married," she said, adding that she would rather stay as an undocumented resident in Korea. However, her chances of being granted refugee status are very slim. According to data from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), between 2010 and 2020, Korea's refugee acceptance rate was a mere 1.3 percent, the second-lowest among G20 countries. Korea's figure is lower than that of its neighboring countries such as China and Russia, which stood at 15.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Kim Yeon-joo, a lawyer at Nancen, a Seoul-based refugee support center, attributed the low acceptance rate to the government's lack of willingness to protect asylum seekers and the strong anti-refugee sentiment of Koreans. "If you look at how they interview the asylum seekers, it seems like the officials focus on screening them out. In most cases, the applicants are deprived of opportunities to seek legal aid and are left on their own to prove the persecutions they would potentially face back in their home countries," she said. "Korea has been proudly representing itself since 2013 as the first country in East Asia to enact the Refugee Act, but in reality, the system has been operated poorly throughout the past eight years." Pointing out the absence of a humanitarian approach and standardized guidelines in the screening procedures, Kim urged the government to examine asylum seekers better based on objective data to measure the risk of persecution in each applicant's home country. On the other hand, Kim Hyung-oh, head of Refugee Out, a civic group opposing the acceptance of refugees, believed that the 1 percent refugee acceptance rate is attributable to loopholes in the screening system. "There are so many 'fake refugees' who are abusing the system, which shows that the government's refugee system is not working properly. It has failed," he said. "The government should find other ways to support the displaced population in the world, through fundraising, for instance." Dublin, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Generic Pharmaceuticals Global Market Report 2022: By Therapy, By Distribution, By Type, By Drug" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global generic pharmaceuticals market is expected to grow from $302.39 billion in 2021 to $332.43 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9%. The market is expected to reach $426.30 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 6.4%. The generic pharmaceuticals market consists of sales of generic pharmaceuticals. A generic medicine is a medication designed to be identical as branded drugs marketed by private companies in dosage form, strength, safety, route of administration, performance characteristics, quality, and intended use. Generic drugs work in the same way as branded drugs in terms of clinical benefits. Generic drugs are manufactured after the expiration of the exclusive rights or patent of the branded drugs. For example, some of the generic drugs in the generic pharmaceuticals market include metformin, metoprolol, acarbose, acebutolol, aztreonam and many more. The main types of generic pharmaceuticals are biosimilar; simple generic and super generic. A biosimilar is a biological product that is very similar to a reference biologic and has no clinically significant differences in terms of safety, purity, or potency. The drugs are delivered through oral, injectables, dermal/topical and inhaler that are used for various therapies such as CNS, cardiovascular, dermatology, genitourinary/hormonal, respiratory, rheumatology, diabetes and oncology. The various distribution channel involved are hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies and online pharmacies. North America was the largest region in the generic pharmaceuticals market in 2021. Middle East is expected to be the largest growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. The rising incidence of chronic diseases is one of the major drivers of the generic pharmaceuticals market. As more individuals are diagnosed with chronic diseases, they look for more medicines for the treatment. Branded drugs come at a premium price, while generic drugs are available at a lower cost having the same chemical composition of branded drugs. The low cost and same chemical composition and strength of generic drugs make a patient buy generic drugs instead of branded drugs. If it is a chronic disease, the treatment goes for a longer period of time and hence, the sales of generic drugs also increase. For instance, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), over the next 10 years, the deaths due to chronic disease is projected to increase by 17%. Also, in 2020, almost 3-quarters of all deaths in the world is due to chronic diseases. The lack of awareness about generic drugs is one of the restraints on the generic pharmaceuticals market. The high marketing and advertisement of branded drugs overshadow the availability of generic drugs which are substitute for expensive branded drugs. Thus, consumers opt branded drugs despite the fact that the generic drugs carry the same chemical formulation as their counter branded drugs. According to an article published on CVS HEALTH, many doctors and pharmacists preferred to offer branded drugs to their patients over generic drugs. This prevents the patients to go for generic drugs as they develop a preconceived notion of generic drugs not being at par with branded drugs. For example, according to a research conducted by Sahana K Hebbar, on International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, out of 100 patients and 50 non-medical staff, 95% of the patients and 60% of the non-medical staff didn't know about generic drugs. Thus, lack of awareness about the availability of generic drugs hamper the generic pharmaceuticals market. 3D printing technology has the ability to transform the manufacturing of drugs in the generic pharmaceuticals market. 3D printed pharmaceuticals help in improve R&D productivity and deliver new benefits to patients. 3D printing allows the manufacturer to produce drugs with customized size, shape, and texture which is not possible in traditional manufacturing of generic drugs. 3D printing can help the manufacturer to make generic drugs that have different release dates, appearances and taste. For example, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) completed a study where ultraviolet (UV) and 3D printing were used to manufacture tablets to treat Parkinson's disease. Martin Wallace, director of GSK Technology, said that GSK is investing in 3D printing advantages to manufacture pills and tablets. Also, Aprecia pharmaceutical company launched 'ZipDose' technology which manufactures 3D printed drugs. The drug manufacturers must comply with the CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) regulations that come under the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which includes generic pharmaceuticals. The CGMP regulations require manufacturers to maintain a minimum quality standard for the methods, controls, and facilities used in manufacturing, packaging, and processing of drug product. The part- 99 of chapter 1 under title 21-Food And Drugs of CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) contains subparts from A to H. The whole part-99 describes the guidelines that need to be followed by drug manufacturers regarding the dissemination of information on human drugs, including biologics, and devices. The guidelines concern with the safety, effectiveness, or benefit of use that is not included in the approved labelling for a drug or device approved by the Food and Drug Administration for marketing. The guidelines regulate the information regarding the drugs that should be delivered to the health care practitioner, pharmacy benefit manager, health insurance issuer, group health plan, or federal or state government agency. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles Teva Pharmaceuticals Mylan NV Sandoz International GmbH Hospira (Pfizer inc.) Sun Pharmaceutical Lupin Limited Endo International plc. Dr Reddy's Laboratories Apotex Holdings Fresenius Kabi Ag Aurbindo Pharma Aspen Pharmacare Sanofi Cipla Hikma Pharmaceuticals Stada Arzneimittel Krka Group Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Valeant Zydus Cadila Merck & Co. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Momenta Pharmaceuticals Nexus Pharmaceuticals Novo Nordisk Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Sawai Pharmaceuticals Novartis AG Pfizer Johnson & Johnson Services Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Characteristics 3. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Trends And Strategies 4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Generic Pharmaceuticals 5. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Size And Growth 5.1. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion 5.1.1. Drivers Of The Market 5.1.2. Restraints On The Market 5.2. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion 5.2.1. Drivers Of The Market 5.2.2. Restraints On the Market 6. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Segmentation 6.1. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Segmentation By Therapy, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion CNS Cardiovascular Dermatology Genitourinary/Hormonal Respiratory Rheumatology Diabetes Oncology 6.2. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Segmentation By Distribution Channel, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Hospital Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies Online Pharmacies 6.3. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Segmentation By Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Biosimilar Simple Generic Super Generic 6.4. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Segmentation By Drug Delivery, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion Oral Injectables Dermal/Topical Inhaler 7. Generic Pharmaceuticals Market Regional And Country Analysis 7.1. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion 7.2. Global Generic Pharmaceuticals Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lkwdx6 Attachment New York, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "United States Arts and Crafts Toys Market, By Type (Design Kits-Reusable, Painting & Drawing Kits, Boards, Clay & Dough and Others, By Distribution Channel, By Region, By Top Leading States, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2017-2027" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06287476/?utm_source=GNW }), By Distribution Channel (Toy Shops, Supermarkets/Hypermarkets, Online, and Others {Stationery Stores, Gift Shops, Kiosks, etc.}), By Region (South, West, Mid-West, North-East), By Top Leading States, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2017-2027 United States arts and crafts toys market was valued at USD1.26 billion in 2021, which is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 7.38% during the forecast years to achieve the market value of USD1.91 billion by 2027F. Rapidly increasing demand for educationally advanced toys for the better development of the children is driving the growth of the United States arts and crafts toys market in the upcoming five years. Demand for education toys has multiplied in the last two years amidst COVID-19 since the demand for home education and educational games increased. The parents are highly inclined toward better child development for their kids and are lavishly spending on it. Rising disposable income among the population is also anticipated to further support the growth of the United States arts and crafts toys market in the next five years. Moreover, the industry experts have mentioned that the market players in the industry are actively invested and bringing innovations and advancements in these toys to enhance the demand and sales of the products.Increasing online shopping and the e-commerce sector also support market growth. The younger population is also inclined toward online-based educational games that substantiate the United States arts and crafts toys market growth in the future five years. The United States arts and crafts toys market segmentation is based on type, distribution channel, region, top leading states, and competitive landscape. Based on type, the market is further fragmented into categories like design kits-reusable, painting & drawing kits, boards, clay & dough, and others ({building & construction toys, molding & sculpture toys, etc.}. Design kits-reusable are anticipated to hold the largest revenue shares of the market and dominate the market segment in the upcoming five years on the grounds of rising demand for creative toys for the kids. Demand for the educational and development supportive toys that aid the youngsters in developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, boosting visual learning, creativity and focus, and helping them to envision new ideas, further facilitates the segmental growth as well as the growth of the United States arts and crafts toys market in the future five years. The market is segmented into toy shops, supermarkets/hypermarkets, online, and others {stationery stores, gift shops, kiosks, etc.}, based on the distribution channel. The market analysis also studies the regions of the United States, such as the South, North-West, West, and Mid-West. The major market players in the United States arts and crafts toys market are Crayola LLC, Hasbro, Inc., Spin Master Inc., Mattel, Inc., U.S. Toy Co., Inc., Tomy International, Inc., Channel Craft, VTech Holdings Limited, Fat Brain Toys, LLC, Faber-Castell USA, Inc., etc. Years considered for this report: Historical Years: 2017-2020 Base Year: 2021 Estimated Year: 2022E Forecast Period: 2023F-2027F Objective of the Study: To analyze the market size of United States arts and crafts toys market from 2017 to 2021. To estimate and forecast the market size of United States arts and crafts toys market from 2022E to 2027F and growth rate until 2027F. To classify and forecast United States arts and crafts toys market based on type, distribution channel, region, top leading states, and competitive landscape. To identify dominant region or segment in the United States arts and crafts toys market. To identify drivers and challenges for United States arts and crafts toys market. To examine competitive developments such as expansions, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, etc., in United States arts and crafts toys market. To identify and analyze the profile of leading players operating in United States arts and crafts toys market. To identify key sustainable strategies adopted by market players in United States arts and crafts toys market. The analyst performed both primary as well as exhaustive secondary research for this study.Initially, the analyst sourced a list of manufacturers across the country. Subsequently, the analyst conducted primary research surveys with the identified companies.While interviewing, the respondents were also enquired about their competitors. Through this technique, the analyst could include the manufacturers which could not be identified due to the limitations of secondary research. The analyst examined the manufacturers, distribution channels and presence of all major players across the country. The analyst calculated the market size of United States arts and crafts toys market using a bottom-up approach, wherein data for various end-user segments was recorded and forecast for the future years. The analyst sourced these values from the industry experts and company representatives and externally validated through analyzing historical data of these products and applications for getting an appropriate, overall market size. Various secondary sources such as company websites, news articles, press releases, company annual reports, investor presentations and financial reports were also studied by the analyst. Key Target Audience: Manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and other stakeholders Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers Organizations, forums and alliances related to arts and crafts toys Market research and consulting firms The study is useful in providing answers to several critical questions that are important for the industry stakeholders such as manufacturers, suppliers, partners, end users, etc., besides allowing them in strategizing investments and capitalizing on market opportunities. Click here to download the sample Report Scope: In this report, United States arts and crafts toys market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below: United States Arts and Crafts Toys Market, By Type: o Design Kits-Reusable o Painting & Drawing Kits o Boards o Clay & Dough o Others United States Arts and Crafts Toys Market, By Distribution Channel: o Toy Shops o Supermarkets/Hypermarkets o Online o Others United States Arts and Crafts Toys Market, By Region: o South o West o Mid-West o North-East Competitive Landscape Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in United States Arts and Crafts Toys market. Available Customizations: With the given market data, we offers customizations according to a companys specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report: Company Information Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five). Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06287476/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ TORONTO, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX:AGI; NYSE:AGI) (Alamos or the Company) is pleased to announce initial gold production from the La Yaqui Grande mine, following the completion of construction this month, ahead of schedule. Stacking rates continue to ramp up with leaching activities beginning earlier in June. To mark the occasion, the Company held a ceremony at site with President and Chief Executive Officer John A. McCluskey, members of the Alamos Gold Board of Directors, and employees from the La Yaqui Grande mine. This represents a significant achievement with construction of La Yaqui Grande having been completed ahead of schedule while navigating a challenging environment over the past few years with COVID-19. On behalf of Alamos, I would like to congratulate our entire team at Mulatos. La Yaqui Grande represents another in a long line of discoveries that have continued to extend the mine life of the overall Mulatos Complex since it began producing in 2005. Given its higher grades and recoveries, La Yaqui Grande underpins a strong outlook for Mulatos with higher production and lower costs driving growing free cash flow in the second half of this year and beyond, said Mr. McCluskey. A total of 991 ounces of gold were produced from the initial pour. La Yaqui Grande is expected to produce approximately 3,000 ounces in June which is already factored into second quarter consolidated production guidance of between 100,000 and 110,000 ounces of gold. Consistent with full year 2022 guidance, stacking rates at La Yaqui Grande are expected to ramp up through the second half of the year driving production higher and costs lower at Mulatos and company-wide starting in the third quarter. Combined with lower capital spending with construction of La Yaqui Grande completed, Mulatos is expected to generate strong mine-site free cash flow starting in the second half of the year. Costs are expected to continue to improve into 2023 reflecting a full year of production from La Yaqui Grande. First announced in July 2020 as Alamos Golds next low-cost, high-return project in the Mulatos District, this large-scale construction project will extend the life of mine for at least five years thus sustaining the Companys presence and importance in the production of gold in the state of Sonora, Mexico. La Yaqui Grande was completed ahead of schedule generating more than 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and will continue to sustain 450 direct jobs. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/14bcb23f-ab0c-4e1d-83fa-2d656cfe80e2 A ribbon cutting marked the launch of operations at La Yaqui Grande. From left to right: Construction Administrator Monica Rodriguez, Mexico Projects Director Marcelo Martinez, Alamos Gold President and CEO John McCluskey, Safety Supervisor Monica Suarez, Sahuaripa Mayor Luis Carlos Galindo, and Mine Trainer Vianney Barragan. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3dc02b51-dc99-48ca-a362-24cfbe7c1015 La Yaqui Grandes first bar of gold. About Alamos Alamos is a Canadian-based intermediate gold producer with diversified production from three operating mines in North America. This includes the Young-Davidson and Island Gold mines in northern Ontario, Canada and the Mulatos mine in Sonora State, Mexico. Additionally, the Company has a significant portfolio of development stage projects in Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the United States. Alamos employs more than 1,700 people and is committed to the highest standards of sustainable development. The Companys shares are traded on the TSX and NYSE under the symbol AGI. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Scott K. Parsons Vice President, Investor Relations (416) 368-9932 x 5439 All amounts are in United States dollars, unless otherwise stated. The TSX and NYSE have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note This news release contains or incorporates by reference forward-looking statements and forward-looking information as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expect", is expected, "will", plan, planned, outlook or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results may", could, would, "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved or the negative connotation of such terms. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but may not be limited to, information as to strategy, plans, expectations or future financial or operating performance such as: expectations pertaining to the continued ramp up of stacking rates at the La Yaqui Grande mine; expected mine life at the overall Mulatos Complex; expectations pertaining to production amounts and timing of production from the La Yaqui Grande mine; the expected reduction in costs at Mulatos and company-wide; expectations around free cash flow, mine-site free cash flow and capital spending; expectations around grades and recovery rates; expected sustainability of the Companys presence and importance in the production of gold in the state of Sonora, Mexico; expected number of jobs that the project will continue to sustain and other statements that express managements expectations or estimates of future plans and performance. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at the time of making such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, technical, legal, political and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this news release, include, but are not limited to: changes to current estimates of Mineral Reserves and Resources; changes to production estimates (which assume accuracy of projected ore grade, mining rates, recovery timing and recovery rate estimates and may be impacted by unscheduled maintenance, weather issues, labour and contractor availability and other operating or technical difficulties); operations may be exposed to new diseases, epidemics and pandemics, including the continued and potential effects of COVID-19 and its impact on the broader market and the trading price of the Companys shares; provincial, state and federal orders or mandates (including with respect to mining operations generally or auxiliary businesses or services required for the Companys operations) in Canada, Mexico, the United States and Turkey; the duration of regulatory responses to COVID-19 and government and the Companys attempts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 which may affect many aspects of the Companys operations including the ability to transport personnel to and from site, contractor and supply availability and the ability to sell or deliver gold dore bars; fluctuations in the price of gold or certain other commodities such as, diesel fuel, natural gas and electricity; changes in foreign exchange rates (particularly the Canadian dollar, U.S. dollar, Mexican peso and Turkish Lira); the impact of inflation; changes in the Companys credit rating; any decision to declare a dividend; employee and community relations; labour and contractor availability (and being able to secure the same on favourable terms); litigation and administrative proceedings; disruptions affecting operations; availability of and increased costs associated with mining inputs and labour; inherent risks and hazards associated with mining and mineral processing including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures and cave-ins; the risk that the Companys mines may not perform as planned; uncertainty with the Company's ability to secure additional capital to execute its business plans; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations, contests over title to properties; expropriation or nationalization of property; political or economic developments in Canada, Mexico, the United States, Turkey and other jurisdictions in which the Company may carry on business in the future; increased costs and risks related to the potential impact of climate change; changes in national and local government legislation, controls or regulations (including tax and employment legislation) in jurisdictions in which the Company does or may carry on business in the future; the costs and timing of construction and development of new deposits; risk of loss due to sabotage, protests and other civil disturbances; disruptions in the maintenance or provision of required infrastructure and information technology systems, the impact of global liquidity and credit availability and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future cash flows; risks arising from holding derivative instruments; and business opportunities that may be pursued by the Company. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that may affect the Company's ability to achieve the expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, see the Companys latest 40-F/Annual Information Form and Managements Discussion and Analysis, each under the heading Risk Factors available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The foregoing should be reviewed in conjunction with the information and risk factors and assumptions found in this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Alamos prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates included in this document have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the CIM) - CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended (the CIM Standards). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators, which established standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Mining disclosure in the United States was previously required to comply with SEC Industry Guide 7 (SEC Industry Guide 7) under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has adopted final rules, to replace SEC Industry Guide 7 with new mining disclosure rules under sub-part 1300 of Regulation S-K of the U.S. Securities Act (Regulation S-K 1300) which became mandatory for U.S. reporting companies beginning with the first fiscal year commencing on or after January 1, 2021. Under Regulation S-K 1300, the SEC now recognizes estimates of Measured Mineral Resources, Indicated Mineral Resources and Inferred Mineral Resources. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of Proven Mineral Reserves and Probable Mineral Reserves to be substantially similar to international standards. Investors are cautioned that while the above terms are substantially similar to CIM Definitions, there are differences in the definitions under Regulation S-K 1300 and the CIM Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any mineral reserves or mineral resources that the Company may report as proven mineral reserves, probable mineral reserves, measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the mineral reserve or mineral resource estimates under the standards adopted under Regulation S-K 1300. U.S. investors are also cautioned that while the SEC recognizes measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources under Regulation S-K 1300, investors should not assume that any part or all of the mineralization in these categories will ever be converted into a higher category of mineral resources or into mineral reserves. Mineralization described using these terms has a greater degree of uncertainty as to its existence and feasibility than mineralization that has been characterized as reserves. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to assume that any measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources, or inferred mineral resources that the Company reports are or will be economically or legally mineable. Cautionary non-GAAP Measures and Additional GAAP Measures Note that for purposes of this section, GAAP refers to IFRS. The Company believes that investors use certain non-GAAP and additional GAAP measures as indicators to assess gold mining companies. They are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared with GAAP. Cash flow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital is a non-GAAP performance measure that could provide an indication of the Companys ability to generate cash flows from operations, and is calculated by adding back the change in non-cash working capital to Cash provided by (used in) operating activities as presented on the Companys consolidated statements of cash flows. Free cash flow is a non-GAAP performance measure that is calculated as cash flows from operations net of cash flows invested in mineral property, plant and equipment and exploration and evaluation assets as presented on the Companys consolidated statements of cash flows and that would provide an indication of the Companys ability to generate cash flows from its mineral projects. Mine site free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure which includes cash flow from operating activities at, less capital expenditures at each mine site. Return on Equity is defined as Earnings from Continuing Operations divided by the average Total Equity for the current and previous year. Mining cost per tonne of ore and Cost per tonne of ore are non-GAAP performance measures that could provide an indication of the mining and processing efficiency and effectiveness of the mine. These measures are calculated by dividing the relevant mining and processing costs and total costs by the tonnes of ore processed in the period. Cost per tonne of ore is usually affected by operating efficiencies and waste-to-ore ratios in the period. Total cash costs per ounce, all-in sustaining costs per ounce, and mine-site all-in sustaining costs as used in this analysis are non-GAAP terms typically used by gold mining companies to assess the level of gross margin available to the Company by subtracting these costs from the unit price realized during the period. These non-GAAP terms are also used to assess the ability of a mining company to generate cash flow from operations. There may be some variation in the method of computation of these metrics as determined by the Company compared with other mining companies. In this context, total cash costs reflects mining and processing costs allocated from in-process and dore inventory associated and associated royalties with ounces of gold sold in the period. Total cash costs per ounce are exclusive of exploration costs. All-in sustaining costs per ounce include total cash costs, exploration, corporate and administrative, share based compensation and sustaining capital costs. Mine-site all-in sustaining costs include total cash costs, exploration, and sustaining capital costs for the mine-site, but exclude an allocation of corporate and administrative and share based compensation. Additional GAAP measures that are presented on the face of the Companys consolidated statements of comprehensive income and are not meant to be a substitute for other subtotals or totals presented in accordance with IFRS, but rather should be evaluated in conjunction with such IFRS measures. This includes Earnings from operations, which is intended to provide an indication of the Companys operating performance, and represents the amount of earnings before net finance income/expense, foreign exchange gain/loss, other income/loss, and income tax expense. Non-GAAP and additional GAAP measures do not have a standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation of historical non-GAAP and additional GAAP measures are available in the Companys latest Managements Discussion and Analysis available online on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and at www.alamosgold.com. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProStar Holdings Inc. ("ProStar" or "the Company") (TSXV: MAPS) (OTCQX: MAPPF) (FSE: 5D00), a world leader in Precision Mapping Solutions, is pleased to announce that Utility Mapping (Aust) Pty Ltd in Australia has adopted ProStars PointMan cloud and mobile mapping solution. We have tried other solutions, but after months of testing, PointMan has proven to be the solution that best fits our needs in order to provide superior and consistent underground mapping services, stated Chris Bower, Co-Founder & Director of Utility Mapping. PointMan is enhancing our data collection workflows and business practices so we can provide better deliverables to our clients. Utility Mapping is recognized as a leader in providing underground utility location and mapping solutions in Australia that achieve zero harm to utilities, people, and the environment. Utility Mapping delivers innovative utility locating and mapping, non-destructive digging, and survey services for the civil, design, environmental, geotechnical, utilities, infrastructure, and facilities management sectors. "I am very pleased that we are now realizing the adoption of our solution in other parts of the world," stated Page Tucker, CEO and Founder of ProStar. "Especially by such a premium underground mapping company with operations covering all of Australia, Europe, and Papua New Guinea." About Utility Mapping: Utility Mapping (Aust) Pty Ltd provides utility locating, mapping, non-destructive digging, and survey solutions to a wide range of markets across the civil, environmental, geotechnical, design, utilities, infrastructure, and facilities management sectors. They provide their clients the confidence to plan, design, and manage their projects. About ProStar: ProStar is a world leader in Precision Mapping Solutions and is creating a digital world by leveraging the most modern GPS, cloud, and mobile technologies. ProStar is a software development company specializing in developing patented cloud and mobile precision mapping solutions focused on the critical infrastructure industry. ProStars flagship product, PointMan, is designed to significantly improve the workflow processes and business practices associated with the lifecycle management of critical infrastructure assets both above and below the Earths surface. ProStars PointMan is offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and seamlessly connects the field with the office and provides the ability to precisely capture, record, display, and manage critical infrastructure, including roads, railways, pipelines, and utilities. Some of the largest entities in North America have adopted ProStars solutions, including Fortune 500 construction firms, Subsurface Utilities Engineering (SUE) firms, utility owners, and government agencies. ProStar has strategic business partnerships with the worlds leading geospatial technology providers, data collection equipment manufacturers, and dealer networks. The Company has made a significant investment in creating a vast intellectual property portfolio that includes 21 issued patents in the United States and Canada. The patents protect the methods and systems required to digitally capture, record, organize, manage, distribute, and display the precise location of critical infrastructure, including buried utilities and pipelines. ProStars Executive management team has extensive experience in the management of both early-stage and Fortune 500 technology companies in the private and public sectors. For more information about ProStar, please visit www.prostarcorp.com . On behalf of the Company, Page Tucker on sales / corporate news releases, CEO and Director Contact: Joel Sutherland Investor Relations 970-822-4792 Investorrelations@prostarcorp.com Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the terms and conditions of the Companys future plans. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Companys securities; the state of the technology sector; recent market volatility; the COVID-19 pandemic; the Companys ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Companys recent Managements Discussion & Analysis filed on SEDAR on April 14, 2022, for a more complete discussion of applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Companys issuer page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . ATLANTA, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monarch Private Capital, a nationally recognized ESG investment firm that develops, finances and manages a diversified portfolio of projects that generate both federal and state tax credits, is pleased to announce the financial closing of an investment in a 450 MW wind project portfolio consisting of nearly 200 repowered wind turbines located in west Texas. The projects are expected to generate production tax credits (PTCs) based on the ongoing energy production of the wind turbines. Monarch has supported investment in renewable energy projects totaling $2 billion in development costs through tax equity financing. The Texas wind energy projects are fully operational, bringing the firms total clean power generation capacity to 1.4 GWdc with 220 facilities across 23 states. With this closing, Monarch extends its renewable energy footprint into the state of Texas while expanding our depth of tax equity expertise into wind energy and production tax credits, said Jonathan Gross, Director of Renewable Energy Development at Monarch. Wind power is an efficient, cost-effective, sustainable energy source and critical to the success of the Nations energy transition. As the most prevalent and one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable electricity in the United States,[1] wind energy will play a pivotal role in achieving the Nations goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035.[2] Monarchs 450 MW wind portfolio investment directly supports the efforts of that movement to clean electricity. The minimum lifetime (35 years) abatement of these installations is 12.7 million MT CO 2 , equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from 2.7 million gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year or CO 2 emissions from 1.6 million homes electricity use for one year. We are excited and privileged that our partners entrusted us with the opportunity to facilitate such a meaningful investment in performing renewable energy assets, said Bryan Mills, In-House Counsel at Monarch Private Capital. As the energy transition is likely to be financed largely by the private sector, these projects are prime examples of the value clean energy tax incentives have on driving significant investment in renewable energy generation. As the firm broadens its breadth of impact in the renewables space via wind energy, it not only diversifies its own clean energy portfolio but, more importantly, that of the Nation. Adding wind power to the U.S. energy mix helps reduce reliance on energy imports, creates jobs, improves public health, and promotes economic development while mitigating costs and risks from climate change. For more information on Monarchs programs and services, please contact Jonathan Gross by emailing jgross@monarchprivate.com. About Monarch Private Capital Monarch Private Capital manages ESG funds that positively impact communities by creating clean power, jobs and homes. The funds provide predictable returns through the generation of federal and state tax credits. The Company offers innovative tax credit equity investments for affordable housing, historic rehabilitations, renewable energy, film and other qualified projects. Monarch Private Capital has long-term relationships with institutional and individual investors, developers and lenders that participate in these types of federal and state programs. Headquartered in Atlanta, Monarch has offices and professionals located throughout the U.S. [1] Renewables Became the Second-Most Prevalent U.S. Electricity Source in 2020. Homepage - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 8 July 2021, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=48896. [2] Fact Sheet: President Biden Signs Executive Order Catalyzing America's Clean Energy Economy through Federal Sustainability. The White House, The United States Government, 13 Dec. 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/08/fact-sheet-president-biden-signs-executive-order-catalyzing-americas-clean-energy-economy-through-federal-sustainability/. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FIREWEED ZINC LTD. (Fireweed or the Company) (TSXV: FWZ; OTCQB: FWEDF) is pleased to announce that the first field crews have been mobilized to the Macmillan Pass Property, in Yukon, Canada to prepare for a large 2022 drill program. Significant improvements are being made to the camp to support the four-rig 2022 program. Diamond drilling, core scanning, and a muon tomography survey will begin in the coming weeks after the access road opens. Highlights This will be Fireweeds largest drill program to date with 8,000 m of diamond drilling planned. Two-thirds of the metres will be step-out and infill at Boundary Zone and Boundary West with the remaining metres split between Tom and Jason targeting high-grade step-out and infill holes. All 2022 core plus core from previous programs and historical core will be scanned using advanced hyperspectral scanning technology. Muon detectors will be deployed at Boundary West to effectively target step-outs and help define the geometry of the recently discovered zones of massive and high-grade laminated sulphide. Field crews will also be conducting due diligence and validation work at the adjacent Mactung Tungsten Project in the coming months in preparation for the planned Mineral Resource update and PEA economic study V.P. Exploration Statement Gilles Dessureau, V.P. Exploration, stated, We are very excited to start our 2022 season. It will be the largest and most ambitious program ever carried out by Fireweed at the Macmillan Pass Project. We are also excited to use innovative new technologies, such as muon tomography and hyperspectral imaging to guide exploration. The main objectives of the 2022 field program will be to define and expand the known mineralized zones toward an updated mineral resource study this winter followed by an updated preliminary economic study. 2022 Diamond Drill Program The 2022 drill program will consist of 4 diamond drill-rigs, targeting approximately 8,000 m of drilling divided between the zones. Boundary Zone is open in every direction, and the 2022 program has been designed to test step-outs around the peripheries of Boundary Main and Boundary West, in addition to testing a potential connection between the two zones. The step-outs will include testing potential down-dip continuation of the recently discovered high-grade stratiform mineralization at Boundary West (see Fireweed news release dated March 10, 2022), and testing for additional massive sulphide mineralization in the near-surface. Three of the rigs will remain at Boundary Zone where Fireweed anticipates drilling approximately 5,800 m. The fourth rig will drill Tom West, Tom North, Jason Main, and Jason South, targeting approximately 2,300 m between these four large zinc-lead-silver deposits. The holes at Tom West will focus on providing infill within high-grade zones where the current mineral resource is supported by small-diameter historic diamond drill holes with very poor recovery in the higher-grade portions of the holes. Fireweed sees potential to increase zinc, lead, and silver grades in these areas by drilling large HQ diameter holes using triple-split tubes to improve recovery, as demonstrated in previous Fireweed drill programs (see Fireweed news releases dated October 10, 2018; November 13, 2018; August 20, 2019; September 10, 2019). The drilling at Tom North will target a step-out of the near-surface mineralization that is potentially amenable to open-pit mining. The drilling at Jason Main and Jason South will target high-grade step-outs By the end of the 2022 campaign, Fireweed will have four seasons worth of new drill data that will be used to inform a new global mineral resource, including an inaugural resource for the Boundary Main, Boundary West, End Zone and Tom North zones, and an updated resource for Tom West, Tom East, Tom Southeast, Jason Main and Jason South zones. Fireweed will use the new resource to inform a new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the project. 2022 Core Scanning Program Fireweed contracted GeologicAI to scan all 2022 drill core as well as a significant portion of the core from Fireweeds past programs and some of the historic core from the previous operators. The scanning will include high resolution digital photography, LiDAR topography, shortwave, visible, and near infrared hyperspectral imagery, and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scans. Fireweed anticipates using this information to inform geometallurgical models of the deposits that have potential to deliver value by optimizing the upcoming PEA. 2022 Muon Tomography Survey Working with Ideon Technologies, Fireweed will deploy muon detectors in two drill holes at Boundary West. These detectors will be used to define the geometry of the known zinc mineralization at Boundary West and target additional mineralization in the area. Muon tomography is a down-hole geophysical technique that uses naturally occurring cosmic-ray muons to measure density contrasts and identify subsurface anomalies such as dense bodies of zinc mineralization. Qualified Person Statement Technical information in this news release has been approved by Gilles Dessureau, P.Geo., V.P. Exploration and a Qualified Person as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101. About Fireweed Zinc Ltd. (TSXV: FWZ; OTCQB: FWEDF; FSE:20F): Fireweed Zinc is a public mineral exploration company on the leading edge of Critical Minerals project development. The Company has three projects located in northern Canada: Macmillan Pass Zinc-Lead-Silver Project: Fireweed owns 100% of the district-scale 940 km 2 Macmillan Pass project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to the Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits with current Mineral Resources and a PEA economic study (see Fireweed news releases dated 10 th January 2018, and 23 rd May 2018, respectively, and reports filed on www.sedar.com for details) as well as the Boundary Zone, Boundary Zone West, Tom North Zone and End Zone which have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims with known showings and significant upside exploration potential. Plans for 2022 include a large drill program toward expanded mineral resources and an updated PEA to include large new zones of mineralization defined since 2018 including the Boundary Zones. Fireweed owns 100% of the district-scale 940 km Macmillan Pass project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to the Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits with current Mineral Resources and a PEA economic study (see Fireweed news releases dated 10 January 2018, and 23 May 2018, respectively, and reports filed on www.sedar.com for details) as well as the Boundary Zone, Boundary Zone West, Tom North Zone and End Zone which have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims with known showings and significant upside exploration potential. Plans for 2022 include a large drill program toward expanded mineral resources and an updated PEA to include large new zones of mineralization defined since 2018 including the Boundary Zones. Mactung Tungsten Project: The Company has a binding Letter of Intent to acquire 100% interest in the 37.6 km 2 Mactung Tungsten Project located adjacent to the Macmillan Pass Project. Mactung contains historic resources that make it one of the largest and highest-grade undeveloped tungsten resources in the world. Located in Canada, it is one of the rare large tungsten resources outside of China. Plans for 2022 include due diligence and validation work on historic data in order to support a new mineral resource estimate followed by a Preliminary Economic Study. The Company has a binding Letter of Intent to acquire 100% interest in the 37.6 km Mactung Tungsten Project located adjacent to the Macmillan Pass Project. Mactung contains historic resources that make it one of the largest and highest-grade undeveloped tungsten resources in the world. Located in Canada, it is one of the rare large tungsten resources outside of China. Plans for 2022 include due diligence and validation work on historic data in order to support a new mineral resource estimate followed by a Preliminary Economic Study. Gayna River Zinc-Gallium-Germanium Project: Fireweed has 100% of the 128.75 km2 Gayna River project located 180 kilometres north of the Macmillan Pass project. It is host to extensive critical minerals mineralization including zinc, gallium and germanium as well as lead and silver, outlined by 28,000 metres of historic drilling and significant upside potential. Plans for 2022 consist of an airborne LiDAR topography survey, ground geophysics survey, and historic data compilation. In Canada, Fireweed (TSXV: FWZ) trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. In the USA, Fireweed (OTCQB: FWEDF) trades on the OTCQB Venture Market for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies and is DTC eligible for enhanced electronic clearing and settlement. Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com . In Europe, Fireweed (FSE: 20F) trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Additional information about Fireweed Zinc and its projects can be found on the Companys website at www.FireweedZinc.com and at www.sedar.com . Additional information about Fireweed Zinc and its Macmillan Pass Zinc Project including maps and drill sections can be found on the Companys website at www.FireweedZinc.com and at www.sedar.com. ON BEHALF OF FIREWEED ZINC LTD. Brandon Macdonald CEO & Director Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company and its projects that are based on the beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Company management. Such statements reflect the current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including but not limited to, without limitations, exploration and development risks, expenditure and financing requirements, general economic conditions, changes in financial markets, pandemics, the ability to properly and efficiently staff the Companys operations, the sufficiency of working capital and funding for continued operations, title matters, First Nations relations, operating hazards, political and economic factors, competitive factors, metal prices, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulations and oversight, permitting, seasonality and weather, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events. Should any one or more risks or uncertainties materialize or change, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and forward-looking statements may vary materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law. Contact information: Brandon Macdonald Phone: (604) 646-8361 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/539d5060-21e0-42ed-8654-ea0ade9fc87e DUBLIN, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spring Insure, the specialist Financial and Professional Lines MGA, is excited to announce that it has received authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and Lloyd's coverholder status in Ireland, opening its doors to European business. The European operation, based in Ireland, is led by Patrick Mettler. Patrick has over 20 years of experience in the Irish insurance Industry, most recently as Head of Sales for Hiscox in Ireland and previously 16 years as Head of Financial Lines and latterly Country Manager for Chubb Insurance in Ireland. Spring offers a range of financial and professional lines products across offices in London, Guernsey and now Dublin. Established in 2020, it has secured backing from some of the biggest names in the market including Beazley, Ascot, Aspen, Atrium, Argenta, Convex, Lancashire and MS Amlin and is a part of the Howden Group. Patrick Mettler, Managing Director of Spring Europe, commented: "The CBI authorisation is an important milestone for the business. The new Dublin office will open shortly and we are ready to accept risks as of today. We are an ambitious business with the kind of risk appetite that opens exciting opportunities for brokers. I'm excited to see what we can do together." ENDS Photos: Download here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uzdw147zkqfnuiy/AAAtNGbrt-O-rGBhz58O44HEa?dl=0 Patrick Mettler, Managing Director of Spring Europe Ltd Notes to editors Spring Insure Established in 2020, Spring Insure is an innovative, reliable, and forward-thinking business that offers a broad range of financial lines products through offices in London, Dublin and Guernsey. With decades of experience handling complex risks, the team of experts sustainably develop and manage capacity and MGAs on behalf of a wide range of insurers and syndicates at Lloyd's. For more information, visit www.springinsure.eu For more information please contact: pr@freepartners.com Related Images Image 1: Spring Insure logo This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment English French MONTREAL, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today that normal rail operations continue safely as it has implemented its operational contingency plan. The plan allows the Company to maintain a normal level of safe rail operations across Canada and serve its customers for as long as required. Following the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) rejection of CNs latest offer, CN Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Reilly sent a letter to all employees represented by the union to inform them of CNs latest offer. The letter is available here. While the Company is disappointed with the current situation, CN remains committed to finding a resolution and it continues to encourage the IBEW to end its strike through an agreement or through binding arbitration. About CN CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. As the only railroad connecting Canadas Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. South through a 18,600-mile rail network, CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Contacts: Seattle, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Coherent Market Insights, the Asia Pacific wound care biologics market is estimated to be valued at US$ 296.1 million in 2022 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period (2022-2030). Key Trends and Analysis of the Asia Pacific Wound Care Biologics Market: Key trends in the market includes recent approvals for products by major companies operating in the market which is expected to drive the Asia Pacific wound care biologics market growth over the forecast period. For instance, in June 2021, MIMEDX Group, Inc., an industry leader in utilizing amniotic tissue as a platform for regenerative medicine, announced successful regulatory approval by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to market EPIFIX in Japan. EPIFIX, a bioabsorbable, human amniotic membrane allograft, is applied to affected areas for wound healing. Request Sample copy of this Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/5043 Key Market Takeaways: The Asia Pacific wound care biologics market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period due to the rising prevalence of diabetes in Asia Pacific. For instance, according to an article published in BioMed Central in February 2021, it was estimated that in Singapore, over 400,000 Singaporeans live with the disease. The lifetime risk of developing diabetes is one in three among Singaporeans, and the number of those with diabetes is projected to surpass one million by 2050. Among product type, the biologic skin substitutes segment is estimated to hold a dominant position in the Asia Pacific wound care biologics market over the forecast period, due to key market players focusing on growth strategies such as product launch. For instance, in September 2017, Amnio Technology, LLC, a leading manufacturer of advanced regenerative allografts derived from human amniotic tissues, announced the expansion of its product line with the launch of PalinGen InovoFlo. PalinGen lnovoFlo is a minimally manipulated liquid allograft derived from human amniotic fluid and intended for homologous use to supplement tissue for protection, cushioning, and lubrication. On the basis of application, the chronic wounds segment is estimated to hold a dominant position in the Asia Pacific wound care biologics market over the forecast period, due to key market players focusing on product approvals. For instance, in June 2018, MediWound Ltd., a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company bringing innovative therapies to address unmet needs in severe burn and wound management, announced the receipt of authorization from the Ministry of Health in South Korea to market and distribute NexoBrid, an enzyme-based formulation for the removal of dead or damaged tissue, known as eschar, in adults with deep partial and full-thickness thermal burns. Competitive Landscape: Key players operating in the Asia Pacific wound care biologics market are Smith & Nephew Plc, Organogenesis, Inc., Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, Skye Biologics, Alphatec Holdings, Inc., Solsys Medical LLC, Amnio Technology LLC, Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., Anika Therapeutics, Inc., Zimmer Biomet, Wright Medical Group N.V., and Kerecis. Buy-Now this Research Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/5043 Market Segmentation: Detailed Segmentation: Asia Pacific Wound Care Biologics Market, By Product Type: Biologic Skin Substitutes Enzyme Based Formulations Growth Factors Asia Pacific Wound Care Biologics Market, By Application: Chronic Wounds Diabetic Foot Ulcers Venous Leg Ulcers Pressure Ulcers Acute Wounds Surgical Wounds Burns Asia Pacific Wound Care Biologics Market, By End User: Hospitals In-patient Settings Out-patient Settings Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centers Home Care Settings Asia Pacific Wound Care Biologics Market, By Country: China India Japan Australia South Korea ASEAN Rest of APAC Related Market Intelligence Reports: Wound Care Biologics Market - by Product Type (Biologic Skin Substitutes, Enzyme Based Formulations, and Growth Factors), by Application (Chronic Wounds and Acute Wounds), by End User (Hospitals, Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and Home Care Settings), and by Region - Global Industry Insights, and Forecast to 2025 Colombia Wound Care Biologics Market , by Product Type (Biologic Skin Substitutes, Enzyme Based Formulations, and Growth Factors), by Application (Chronic Wounds (Diabetic Foot Ulcer, Venous Leg Ulcer, and Pressure Ulcer) and Acute Wounds (Surgical Wounds and Burns)), by End User (Hospitals, Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and Home Care Settings) - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2022 2028 Biologics Market , by Drug Class (Monoclonal Antibody, Vaccine, Recombinant Insulin, Human Growth Hormone, Blood Factor, Fusion Protein, Erythropoietin, Recombinant Enzyme, Interferon, Colony-stimulating Factor, Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy, Oligonucleotides and Others (Peptide, Botulinum Toxin, and Others)), by Therapeutic Application (Oncology, Metabolic Disorders, Autoimmune/Immunologic Diseases, Ophthalmic Diseases, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs), Respiratory Disorders, Neurological Disorders, Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs), Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs), Infectious Diseases, and Others), by Distribution Channel (Hospitals Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, and Online Pharmacies), and by Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2019 - 2027 About Us: Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide. We create value for clients through our highly reliable and accurate reports. We are also committed in playing a leading role in offering insights in various sectors post-COVID-19 and continue to deliver measurable, sustainable results for our clients. New York, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Wi-Fi as a Service Market Research Report by Service, Solution, Location Type, Vertical, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06287257/?utm_source=GNW The Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market size was estimated at USD 5,391.22 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 6,360.57 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 18.23% to reach USD 14,728.67 million by 2027. Market Statistics: The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2019 and 2020 are considered historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered the forecast period. Market Segmentation & Coverage: This research report categorizes the Wi-Fi as a Service to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: Based on Service, the market was studied across Managed Services and Professional Services. The Professional Services is further studied across Advisory & Implementation, Support & Maintenance, and Training. Based on Solution, the market was studied across Access Points and WLAN Controllers. Based on Location Type, the market was studied across Indoor and Outdoor. Based on Vertical, the market was studied across Banking, Financial Services, & Insurance, Education, Government & Public Sector, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Retail, Service Providers, Transportation & Logistics, and Travel & Hospitality. Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict: We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Wi-Fi as a Service market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Wi-Fi as a Service Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Market Share Analysis: The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits. Competitive Scenario: The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service. Company Usability Profiles: The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market, including 4ipnet, Inc., ADTRAN, Inc., Arista Networks, Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, CommScope Inc., Edgecore Networks Corporation, Extreme Networks, Fortinet, Fujitsu Limited, Huawei Technologies Co., iPass Inc., Mist Systems, Inc., Riverbed Technology, Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Singapore Telecommunications Limited, Superloop, Telstra Corporation Limited, Ubiquiti Inc., and Viasat Inc.. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? 6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? 7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Wi-Fi as a Service Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06287257/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ China issues highest alert for mountain torrents Xinhua) 10:17, June 20, 2022 BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Sunday issued this year's first red alert for possible mountain torrents in parts of the country. From 8 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday, northeastern parts of east China's Jiangxi Province will be highly prone to mountain torrent disasters, according to the alert jointly issued by the Ministry of Water Resources and the China Meteorological Administration. An orange alert was issued for east China's Zhejiang Province as the region's western areas are also likely to see mountain floods. Local authorities were advised to strengthen real-time monitoring and flood warnings and brace for evacuation. China has a four-tier color-coded weather-warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Seen above is the ROK Navy's Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship Marado at Jeju Naval Base, May 31, awaiting departure to participate in the biennial RIMPAC exercise. Courtesy of Navy By Nam Hyun-woo The Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy will participate in a number of multilateral joint exercises in the Indo-Pacific region in an apparent effort to strengthen trilateral security cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. News 1 reported Sunday that the ROK Navy was considering its participation in Pacific Vanguard 2022 exercise, a joint naval exercise between South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Australia. Since the exercise's commencement in 2019, the ROK Navy has been participating in the annual exercise to strengthen practical cooperation with the countries' maritime forces at sea. During last year's exercise, which took place off the coast of Australia in July, the ROK Navy sent Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class destroyer Wang Geon, as well as more than 200 sailors. The timeframe of this year's exercise is yet to be announced, but it is likely to take place in August, given the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) is scheduled for June 29 to Aug. 4. Maritime forces of Seoul and Tokyo will both participate in the world's largest maritime exercise. The South Korean fleet departed for waters off the Hawaiian Islands on Dec. 31. The fleet includes the Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship Marado, destroyers Sejong the Great and Munmu the Great. After RIMPAC, the ROK Navy is also anticipated to join the U.S. and Japan maritime forces for the biennial?Pacific Dragon exercise, which is focused on detecting, tracking and reporting ballistic missile launches and targets. An official at the Ministry of National Defense said, "The military will participate in trilateral missile tracking exercise in affiliation with RIMPAC," adding there is a growing necessity to conduct trilateral military drills regularly in order to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. South Korea's active participation in multilateral military exercises, which also involve Japan, is seen as a signal that the trilateral security cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo is strengthening. During the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, earlier this month, Seoul's defense minister Lee Jong-sup said that South Korea will seek to normalize security cooperation with Japan and also strengthen trilateral collaboration involving the U.S. to address the challenges posed by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threats, adding that the country is open to serious talks with Tokyo. ARLINGTON, Va., June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Chicks On The Right (Miriam Weaver and Amy Jo Clark), who began their enterprise in 2009 with the mission to "give conservatism a makeover", are now embarking on a makeover of their own, launching a new website (and subsequent newsletter), hiring an all-female staff, and committing to a national tour of events to meet their growing fanbase across the country. This relaunch campaign comes in response to the Chicks' exploding popularity and record engagement from fans. Their website boasts as many as 2 million views a month and they earn more than 3 million impressions per month on their popular daily program, which is distributed by podcast, Facebook Live (where they have more than 1.5 million followers), and YouTube on weekdays at 7 a.m. ET and on Wednesdays with a special deep dive episode. "Amy Jo and I started Chicks On The Right as a fun side project," said Miriam Weaver. "We were two working women who felt like our views weren't represented in national discourse and decided to speak up. We never imagined that more than a decade later, we would quit our jobs to commit to 'Chicks On The Right' full time due to the overwhelming support we've received from women (and men) across the country, especially this year." Recent studies shed light on one reason for the Chicks' success. A survey published this month suggests middle-aged women in America feel "worried, invisible, and unheard," and yet, other recent studies report that this segment of Americans will determine the outcomes of the 2022 election (source), which indicates the Chicks On The Right hold significant influence on culture and politics. "We made the decision to "relaunch" after realizing the unique opportunity we have to be a voice for Americans - especially for women - who feel underrepresented and who want a more light-hearted take on the craziness in the world today," said Amy Jo Clark. "I think humor is a big key to our success, and the fact that we are super-engaged with our fans - we hear them and talk to them daily." The Chicks have hired five female staffers to support the new, robust workload, which, in addition to comprehensive content for their website, includes trips to cities across the country to visit their loyal fans. The first event, which takes place in Tampa, Florida, in September, sold out within 90 minutes. View the website and subscribe to their newsletter by visiting www.ChicksOnTheRight.com. About Chicks On The Right: 'Chicks On the Right' is an American podcast syndicated by Radio America, as well as a website, social media presence and former radio talk-show, hosted by Amy Jo Clark and Miriam Weaver, A.K.A. "Daisy" and "Mockarena". The duo started their collaboration in 2009 from their home base in Indianapolis, Indiana, and were radio broadcasters on Indianapolis' 93WIBC for seven years together. Amy Jo left radio in late 2020 while Miriam continued for another year, and then both Chicks decided to focus 100% of their attention on the Chicks on the Right brand and business starting in February of 2022. They have been featured in national news outlets, including USA Today, TIME, Fox News, CNN, and Newsmax among others. PRESS CONTACT: Kenny Cunningham KennyCunninghamJr@gmail.com Related Images Image 1 Image 2: Chicks On The Right This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment Dallas, TX, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KISS PR is a Dallas-based SEO company that offers comprehensive audits and SEO services to businesses of all sizes. The company has a team of experienced SEO experts who have helped countless businesses improve their online visibility and organic traffic. What is Technical SEO? Technical SEO is the process of optimizing a website for search engines. It involves improving the sites architecture, code, and on-page elements to make it easier for the search engines to crawl and index the site. Technical SEO also includes optimizing the sites content and structure for the keywords you want to rank for. Why is Technical SEO Important? Technical SEO is important because it helps the search engines understand your website and index it properly. If your website is not properly optimized, the search engines may have difficulty crawling and indexing your site, which can impact your ability to rank in the search results. Examples of Technical SEO Include Javascript rendering Better site architecture Improving URL structure Structured data Competing content that cannibalizes your own content Canonical tags Benefits of Technical SEO Audits for Law Firms Lawyers and law firms can benefit greatly from technical SEO audits. Technical SEO audits can help law firms identify and fix errors on their website that are preventing them from ranking in the search results. In addition, technical SEO audits can help law firms improve their websites structure and content to better match the keywords they want to rank for. How Can KISS PR Help You with Technical SEO? KISS PRs team of experienced SEO experts can help you with all aspects of technical SEO, from auditing your website to implementing the necessary changes to improve your sites crawlability and indexation. We can also help you optimize your sites content and structure for the keywords you want to rank for. Contact us today to learn more about our technical SEO services. KISS PR also specializes in Lawyer SEO Services. ### Media Contact Agnes Zang az@kisspr.com Follow KISS PR Brand Story Press Release Service Facebook Follow KISS PR Brand Story Press Release Service Instagram Follow KISS PR Story Press Release ServiceLinkedIn Follow KISS PR Digital Marketing Google Attachment ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (GMX Toronto Stock Exchange, G1MN Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Tradegate, Lang & Schwarz, LS Exchange, TTMzero, Dusseldorf and Quotrix Dusseldorf Stock Exchanges and GLBXF OTCQX International in the US) is pleased to update shareholders on drill results announced by Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (MGM-TSXV, MGMLF-OTCQB, M3G-FSE) on the Eagle Mine property under option from Globex (see Globexs press release dated July 19, 2021). Maple has completed a Phase 1 drill program of 8 holes totaling 4,462 metres. to test potential extensions of mineralization along the past producing Eagle-Telbel Trend. Importantly, drilling has identified at least four additional styles of gold mineralization beyond the known Eagle-Telbel style mined historically. Highlights of the drill results as reported by Maple are as follows: Highlights: Drill hole EM-22-005 intersected 4.0 grams per tonne gold ("g/t Au") over 7.5 m , including 6.4 g/t Au over 3.0 m , within a semi-massive pyrite and iron carbonate horizon typical of historical Eagle-Telbel style of mineralization (see Plates 1 and 2). , including , within a semi-massive pyrite and iron carbonate horizon typical of historical Eagle-Telbel style of mineralization (see Plates 1 and 2). Drill hole EM-22-001 intersected 4.4 g/t Au over 0.9 m within quartz-carbonate veinlets containing visible gold (VG). within quartz-carbonate veinlets containing visible gold (VG). Drill hole EM-22-002 intersected 2.4 g/t Au over 4.7 m, including 3.8 g/t Au over 2.1 m, within highly altered, graphitic and pyritic Harricana Group sediments, as well as 2.1 g/t Au over 1.8 m further up hole in altered microgabbro. The detailed Maple press release may be accessed by clicking here. Annual Meeting: In light of ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Corporation is requesting that shareholders not attend the Meeting in person. The Meeting will be available by way of telephone conference call (toll-free) at 1-866-365-4406 access code 3616167, and the Corporation asks all interested shareholders to participate in that manner. Shareholders participating in the telephone conference call will not be able to vote at the Meeting but will be able to ask questions by submitting them via email to info@globexmining.com at least 48 hours prior to the Meeting. This press release was written by Jack Stoch, Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101. We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9 LEI 529900XYUKGG3LF9PY95 For further information, contact: Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir. President & CEO Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. 86, 14th Street Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec Canada J9X 2J1 Tel.: 819.797.5242 Fax: 819.797.1470 info@globexmining.com www.globexmining.com Forward Looking Statements: Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain forward looking statements. These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (Globex). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the Annual Information Form filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 55,467,917 shares issued and outstanding A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d19ebc3b-8752-4c3e-8a6f-27ac078f66ce New York, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Mammography Systems Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Product Type, By Modality, By End User, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06283446/?utm_source=GNW Breast cancer as well as other breast-related disorders can be detected more easily with mammography. Females can use these tests to detect and diagnose breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most serious health problems that women face around the world. In the United States, for example, a significant number of new instances of invasive breast cancer would be identified in women in 2022, compared to fewer new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. Throughout their life, few of American women will get invasive breast cancer. The need for mammography systems is expected to rise as a result of this. Because of an increase in the prevalence of breast cancer, the increase in the geriatric population, and proactive measures by healthcare institutions to spread awareness about early diagnosis of breast cancer, this market is likely to develop significantly over the forecast period. Breast cancer was the most common type of cancer in 2020, according to a Globocan analysis, with a prevalence incidence of 11.7 percent. As per the same research, Asia had the highest prevalence rate for both sexes, followed by Europe, and North America. The increasing frequency of breast cancer is one of the key reasons for the predicted rise in demand for mammography systems, which can be utilized for diagnostic purposes. As per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breast cancer is amongst the most common cancers among women, irrespective of race or ethnicity. In women all over the world, its also the third-leading cause of cancer death. Mammography makes it easier to diagnose breast cancer and other breast-related illnesses. Patients are only exposed to a little quantity of ionizing radiation because mammography uses x-rays to take images of the breast, as per the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). Patients are only exposed to a little quantity of ionizing radiation because mammography uses rays to take images of the breast, as per the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NBIB). COVID-19 Impact Because of social distancing measures imposed by governments around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on Mammography Companies. Hospital and healthcare services were radically reduced. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact not only on the global economy but also on the operation of general hospital treatment for non-COVID-19 patients in hospitals all over the world. Because many hospitals & screening institutions were closed owing to lockdowns, it reduced the delivery of the mammography procedures. Cancer screening, cancer management visits, and cancer operations have all decreased significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Market Growth Factors Increasing Breast Cancer Incidence The developments in female healthcare have contributed to the growth of the mammography systems market. Women are predisposed to several diseases that are unique to the female gender. This has increased the medical industrys concerns about delivering high-quality care & analysis of diseases that affect women. For more than a decade, mammography systems are being used in the healthcare industry. Their technology and systems, on the other hand, have advanced dramatically in recent years. These evident developments in the construction, operation, and configuration of mammography systems are the result of evolving demands for diagnosing disorders of the breast. As a result, the mammography systems market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Increasing demand for digital mammography They also have the benefit of soft-copy visual displays & soft-copy reading, both of which are easily transferable. Digital mammography screening is now available in many nations, including the United Kingdom, and provides greater accuracy, improved quality, and efficiency. As a result, even though digital mammography is six times more expensive than traditional methods, it is becoming the primarily preferred method of screening. When compared to analog systems, radiation exposure is drastically reduced. The most prevalent type of digital mammography is full-field digital mammography. It has the potential to lead to major improvements in breast cancer diagnostics, such as lower radiation doses, lowered breast compression pressure, and improved detection. Market Restraining Factors Risks from Radiation and Other Hazards A modest amount of radiation is used in mammography. Based on the scale & compression of the breasts, the individual dose may vary. However, due to contemporary mammography techniques, particularly full-field digital mammography, the glandular dose has reduced dramatically over the last few decades and continues to do so. The risk of radiation can also be seen in people with aging 40 or above. In nowadays, a 50-year-old womans natural lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is approximately 8.8%. A certain percentage of this risk may increase to 8.9% if a woman has biennial screening mammography between the ages of 50 and 69. Product Type Outlook Based on Product Type, the market is segmented into Analog and Digital. The Analog Mammography segment acquired highest revenue share in the mammography systems market in 2021. Analog Mammography Devices are classic mammography systems that use film to capture x-ray pictures. Before viewing these films/detectors for a precise diagnosis of breast cancer, they must first be developed. An X-ray units analogue image detector is made up of three parts: an intensifying screen, X-ray film, and a light-proof container (cassette). This imaging system includes the developing apparatus, as well as reagents for photochemical processing of X-ray films (fixing agent, developer, water) and the dryer. X-ray film is made consisting of a thin, translucent, flexible polyester film (the X-ray films base material) and a thin coating of photographic emulsion. The emulsion is coated with protective polymer layers & a dulling agent. Photosensitive elements are silver halide microcrystals. Quanta of X-ray or visible light radiation energy emitted by intensifying screens immediately transfer their energy to silver halide crystals. Modality Outlook Based on Modality, the market is segmented into Portable and Non-Portable. The Non-Portable Mammography system segment procured significant revenue share in the mammography systems in 2021. If the practice is being performed in-house and there is a lack of space, a fixed unit may be more cost-effective because they include extra features like larger detectors & better compression mechanisms. End User Outlook Based on End User, the market is segmented into In-patient Settings and Ambulatory Surgical Centers. The Inpatient settings segment acquired highest revenue share in the mammography systems market in 2021. Inpatient care is used to address conditions that necessitate the patient staying in a care facility for at least one night. Rehabilitation centres, acute care facilities, addiction treatment facilities, mental hospitals, and long-term care facilities are all included in this category. Additional facility-based fees apply to inpatient care. According to the most recent cost statistics from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Qualitys Cost and Utilization Project, median national inpatient fees vary substantially depending on the length of stay & the therapy offered. Regional Outlook Based on Regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East & Africa. In 2021, North America procured the largest revenue share of the mammography system market. Because of its well-established healthcare facilities, presence of top market players, rising focus on developed healthcare infrastructure, preventive care, aging population, and an increasing number of product launches, the mammography systems market in the United States is predicted to develop. In addition, advancements in imaging technology, rising breast cancer prevalence, and rising need for enhanced patient diagnostics in the United States & Canada are increasing the usage of mammography systems, resulting in increased demand for these goods. Hence, the regional market is flourishing. The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; General Electric (GE) Co. and Siemens AG are the forerunners in the Mammography Systems Market. Companies such as Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Canon, Inc., Hologic, Inc. are some of the key innovators in the Market. The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Siemens AG, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Canon, Inc., General Electric (GE) Co., Hologic, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Metaltronica S.p.A., Allengers Medical Systems Ltd., Planmed Oy, and Konica Minolta, Inc. Recent strategies deployed in Mammography Systems Market Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements: Jun-2021: Royal Philips teamed up with Akumin, a top provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the U.S. The collaboration aimed to incorporate Philips NEW Radiology Operations Command Center all over Akumins outpatient imaging centers & co-create clinical standards for MR and CT imaging modalities of Akumin. Oct-2020: The Fujifilm Medical Systems extended its partnership with Volpara Solutions. This partnership aimed to deliver facilities of mammography & clinicians with solutions for breast imaging created to enhance the quality of image, precise assessment of a patients breast density, and streamline workflow. Sep-2020: Candelis teamed up with General Electric Healthcare to improve the image management, mammography workflow, and storage capabilities for Senographe Pristina Mammography Systems. This collaboration aimed to improve the mammography workflow, image management, and storage capabilities for the Senographe Pristina Mammography System. Aug-2020: Hologic joined hands with RadNet, a provider of fixed-site outpatient diagnostics imaging services. This collaboration aimed to advance the use of artificial intelligence (A.I) in breast health. Aug-2020: Canon Medical Systems USA formed a partnership with Zebra Medical Vision, a computer vision startup focused on health care. This partnership aimed to deliver its AI1 automated imaging analysis solutions to assist clinicians in the U.S to deliver quicker, precise diagnoses for optimized patient care. Product Launches and Product Expansions: Apr-2021: The Fujifilm Holding Corporation unveiled the new "Harmony" version of its existing Amulet Innovality mammography system. This version makes the combination of bettered diagnostic performance and innovative design themes light up the mammography system, which makes the patient feel at home and comfortable. Mar-2021: Siemens Healthineers expanded its product line with the introduction of Mammovista B.smart, a new software solution. This solution would fasten up the whole reading workflow for breast imaging and another new tool named Teamplay Mammo Dashboard for dashboard-based visualization of key performance indicators process of breast imaging that serves to a better workflow. These new solutions would expand its digital offerings for breast care. Oct-2020: The Hologics introduced the new product 3DQuorum Imaging Technology for commercial use. The purpose behind the introduction of this product is to assist in improving mammography efficiency & workflow. In addition, this product is as critical as clinics seek to manage the backlog of women whose regular breast screening was delayed because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Acquisitions and Mergers: Jul-2021: Siemens Healthineers took over Varian Medical Systems, an American radiation oncology treatments & software maker located in Palo Alto, California. This acquisition aimed to incorporate a robust & trusted partner capable of supporting patients & customers with the whole cancer care continuum and also all major clinical pathways. May-2021: General Electric Healthcare signed an agreement to acquire ZIONEXA, a top innovator of neurology biomarkers and in-vivo oncology, that assists in more customized healthcare. This acquisition aimed to create and bring ZIONEXAs pipeline biomarkers, and even Cerianna which is FDA approved PET imaging agent to the market. This product is utilized as an adjunct to biopsy for the detection of estrogen receptor (ER) positive lesions to assist in informing the treatment selection for patients with metastatic breast cancer or recurrent breast cancer. Jan-2021: Hologic completed the acquisition of Somatex Medical Technologies, a biopsy site markers & localization technologies provider. This acquisition aimed to support the medical technology companys strategy to offer innovative solutions all over the continuum of breast health care. This acquisition deal would assist the company to expand its growing biopsy portfolio. Approvals and Trials: Nov-2021: Siemens Healthineers received approval from U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for two new mammography reading and workflow optimization solutions. This approval would widen the companys offering for breast health. Aug-2021: The Fujifilm Holding Corporation received FDA approval for ScreenPoint Medicals new, Transpara powered by Fusion AI 2D & 3D mammography in the United States. This approval shows breast screening results at the reading workstation of a doctor or PACS system. Dec-2020: Hologicss Genius AI software received approval from the U.S Food & Drug Administration. This Genius AI is software for early breast detection with tomosynthesis, and it is the sole CAD product that assists its Clarity HD & 3DQuorum imaging technology, which are its most developed packages for breast tomosynthesis. Scope of the Study Market Segments covered in the Report: By Product Type Analog Digital By Modality Portable Non-Portable By End User In-patient Settings Ambulatory Surgical Centers By Geography North America o US o Canada o Mexico o Rest of North America Europe o Germany o UK o France o Russia o Spain o Italy o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o China o Japan o India o South Korea o Singapore o Malaysia o Rest of Asia Pacific LAMEA o Brazil o Argentina o UAE o Saudi Arabia o South Africa o Nigeria o Rest of LAMEA Companies Profiled Siemens AG Fujifilm Holdings Corporation Canon, Inc. General Electric (GE) Co. Hologic, Inc. Koninklijke Philips N.V. Metaltronica S.p.A. Allengers Medical Systems Ltd. Planmed Oy Konica Minolta, Inc. Unique Offerings Exhaustive coverage Highest number of market tables and figures Subscription based model available Guaranteed best price Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06283446/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ NEW YORK and SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransPerfect, the worlds largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business, today announced that the Southern District of New York has denied a motion filed by Defendants H.I.G. and Lionbridge to recover $11.6 million in attorneys fees and costs. In denying the motion, the court cited the Defendants failure to meet the standard for fee shifting under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). A bedrock principle in United States law, the American Rule presumes that each litigant pays their own attorneys' fees, unless a statute or contract provides otherwise. In this instance, the Court flatly rejected the Defendants claim for attorneys fees for lack of credible evidence as required by law. TransPerfect sued H.I.G. and its subsidiary company Lionbridge in April 2019, alleging theft and misappropriation of company trade secrets during a controversial court ordered sale process, in which TransPerfect Founder and CEO Phil Shawe emerged victorious. This suit followed roughly 15 months after H.I.G. knowingly bid too low in the auction, and then attempted to upset the auction result with a losing effort to intervene in the Delaware Chancery Court. In one email sent at the time Shawe was declared the auction winner, an H.I.G. executive suggested to others in the firm that H.I.G. should proceed to intervene in the Delaware proceedings to agitate. As the federal judge assigned to the case recognized, this executive-level edict was evidence to support [TransPerfects] theory of interference and delay [by H.I.G]. That same day, H.I.G.s advisors at Houlihan Lokey took measures to ensure that the Defendants had as much of TransPerfects information as possible and directed staff to download the whole Data Room! even though H.I.G. had lost the auction and was no longer a viable participant. This recent defeat with respect to attorneys fees is only one of a series that the Defendants suffered related to fees in the TransPerfect case. In the first instance, Lionbridges insurer, Valley Forge, denied coverage of fees in part based on the vast amount of unnecessary duplication by two large law firms. Lionbridge sued Valley Forge in January 2020 to recover what it alleged was $7.3 million in legal expenses. In August 2021, Lionbridge lost that attempt to recover its fees, and has since appealed to the First Circuit. Oral argument occurred on April 4, 2022, and a decision is forthcoming. Martin Russo, one of TransPerfects attorneys, noted that, The motion for fees appeared to be a legal Hail Mary made by the Defendants on the heels of denied insurance coverage. Everything about it was weak and based on supposition instead of evidence. It was remarkable in many ways, but most notably because the Defendants chose to spin the arguments as if there was no evidence of their misconduct during the auction. With respect to the events giving rise to these fee disputes, TransPerfect plans to appeal its summary judgment defeat, and will file its notice of appeal this month. TransPerfect is represented by Martin P. Russo and Robert Sidorsky of Russo PLLC and Andrew J. Goodman and Malcolm Seymour of Foster Garvey. Lionbridge and H.I.G. are represented by Aaron Marks, Julia Harper, and Kristin Rose of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. About TransPerfect TransPerfect is the worlds largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 100 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 200+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 6,000 global organizations employ TransPerfects GlobalLink technology to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com. Contact: Ryan Simper +1 212.689.5555 mediainquiry@transperfect.com Los Angeles, CA, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WWP Beauty, a world-class full-service supplier to the global beauty industry, has announced it is collaborating with Oceanworks to help customers incorporate recycled ocean plastics in their products. Recycled ocean and ocean-bound plastics are those recovered from the ocean, waterways, and ocean-bound collection zones within 50 km of a coastline. With at least 8 million tons of plastic entering the worlds oceans every year, WWP Beauty is committed to doing its part through the creation of new packages that pair the Oceanworks, Ocean Plastic with its eco-friendly packaging designs. Recently, WWP Beauty also announced the launch of its first-to-market Ocean Plastic 70% tube made from ocean-bound plastic waste which promotes a more circular beauty system. This tube was created using ocean bound waste that has been recovered and recycled from Asian shores. The tube features 77% fewer CO 2 e emissions per piece and 12% less plastic, in comparison to a traditional tube of the same size. Its lightweight, mono-material design features a RIC 2 claim and ultimately helps divert plastic waste from reaching the oceans to protect the planet. Oceanworks will also provide source validation so that brands can confidently and transparently share the story and impact of these materials. "Expanding our collaboration with Oceanworks aligns closely with our sustainability commitments as a leading cosmetic supplier to the global beauty industry. We are committed to helping customers meet their sustainability goals, through new sustainable technologies and the ability to give our customers access to this exciting and highly demanded material. Through this partnership with Oceanworks we can help our customers create customized packaging solutions that divert plastic waste from entering the oceans helping to keep our oceans safe and our beaches clean, said Jennifer Adams, WWP Beauty CEO. Sea Plastic Differently About Oceanworks Oceanworks is a digital marketplace connecting local recycled plastic supply with global demand to keep plastic out of the ocean. The marketplace offers 100s of ocean and averted plastic resins, textiles, and products from trusted suppliers worldwide. Oceanworks quality standards allow customers to purchase with confidence and the capacity of the global network provides security at scale. Customers, brands and suppliers that use the Oceanworks Guarantee become part of a larger solution - a circular economy to end ocean plastic. To learn more visit oceanworks.co. About WWP Beauty WWP Beauty is committed to developing future-focused, sustainable solutions for the global beauty industry through close collaboration, exceptional agility, and unparalleled scale. The companys full-service offering of formula, packaging, and accessories, paired with their in-house manufacturing capabilities allow them to stand out as the source for everything beauty. Through a worldwide team of beauty experts that spans across North America, EMEA, and APAC, WWP Beauty offers its customers global support at the local level. To learn more, visit our website at www.wwpbeauty.com. Attachments Chicago, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Ariztons latest research report, the Latin America data center construction market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% during 2022-2027. In recent years, Latin American data center market is attracting significant investments, led by countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia, and Argentina. The growth of strong fiber connectivity, reliability in power supply, and high demand for data center services from industries such as BFSI, IT, and healthcare are the major factors that drive service providers to develop data centers in the region. Countries in Latin America have increasingly been adopting microgrids in their facilities. For instance, Peru has awarded a renewable energy tender to EDF Renewables to build and operate 100 MW of PV and over 100 MWh of battery storage. EDF Renewables microgrid offering will supply low-carbon electricity to the microgrid network of a town in Peru. Latin America Data Center Construction Market Report Scope Report Attributes Details MARKET SIZE (2027) $1.54 Billion MARKET SIZE (2021) $1 Billion MARKET SIZE -AREA (2027) 1,405 million Square Feet POWER CAPACITY (2027) 285.5 MW CAGR (2022-2027) 7% BASE YEAR 2021 FORECAST YEAR 2022-2027 MARKET SEGMENTS Infrastructure (Electrical Infrastructure, Mechanical Infrastructure, and General Construction), IT infrastructure (Server, Storage, and Network), Electrical Infrastructure (UPS Systems, Generators, Transfer Switches & Switchgear, Power Distribution Units (PDUs), and Other Electrical Infrastructure), Mechanical Infrastructure (Cooling Systems, Racks, and Other Mechanical Infrastructure), Cooling Systems ( CRAC & CRAH Units, Chiller Units, Cooling Towers, Condensers and Dry Coolers, Economizer and Evaporative Coolers, and Other Cooling Units), Cooling Technique (Air-Based Cooling Technique and Liquid-Based Cooling Technique), General Construction (Core and Shell Development, Installation and Commissioning Services, Engineering and Building Design, Physical Security, Fire Detection and Suppression, and DCIM/BMS Solutions), Tier Standards (Tier I & II, Tier III, and Tier IV) GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS Latin America COUNTRIES COVERED Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Rest of Latin America Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Key highlights The Latin America data center construction market is underdeveloped compared to major markets such as North America and Europe; however, is expected to grow rapidly, spurred by increasing digitalization, government support, and adoption of cloud and big data analytics. Data centers in Latin America are increasingly built according to major construction parameters and standards, such as Uptime Institutes Tier standards, LEED Certification, TIA 942, and ANSI/BICSI 002-2019 certifications. There are significant opportunities in the market emanating from the rapid adoption of cloud, with cloud service providers such as Google and Microsoft setting up cloud regions in Tier I countries, as well as expanding their reach via on-ramps and local zones in Tier II and Tier III countries. Within Latin America, Brazil is the leader in data center construction, with over 50% of the market investment, followed by Mexico, Chile, and Columbia. Modular data centers will lead the market in Caribbean and Paraguay. Increasing data center construction has also increased opportunities for construction contractors and sub-contractors in the market. Some major vendors involved in data center construction include Constructora Sudamericana, AECOM, Fluor Corporation, and Jacobs Engineering, among others. Competitive Overview In Latin America, the data center market has the presence of both global and local infrastructure providers. There are several infrastructure providers involved in offering specific products or complete power infrastructure solutions for data centers. Many data center operators are also adopting units from different vendors to provide efficient cooling solutions. In Latin America, the market for chilled water systems units, CRAH & CRAC units, and air chillers is high and is increasing gradually YoY, as a majority the data center facilities are adopting these cooling systems. The market for DCIM and BMS solutions is likely to grow significantly during the forecast period. The development of mega data centers with thousands of racks of infrastructure will be the major revenue generator for DCIM and BMS solution providers. Key Support Infrastructure ABB Alfa Laval Assa Abloy Axis Communications Bosch Security Systems Caterpillar Cummins Delta Electronics Daikin Applied EATON Generac Power System Honeywell International Johnson Controls Legrand Mitsubishi Electric Munters Piller Power Systems Panduit Rittal Rolls-Royce Schneider Electric STULZ Siemens Vertiv Prominent Construction Contractors AECOM Aceco TI Constructora Sudamericana Fluor Corporation Holder Construction Jacobs Engineering Quark ZFB Group Key Data Center Investors Ascenty Ava Telecom Amazon Web Services (AWS) CloudHQ EdgeConneX Equinix Google Globenet HostDime InterNexa Lumen Technologies Microsoft Nabiax ODATA Scala Data Centers Telmex Tigo (MALLICOM) Quantico Market Segmentation Analysis The electrical infrastructure segment will witness the rising adoption of redundant infrastructure among data centers. In Latin America, the demand for DRUPS systems and generators accounts for the major revenue growth in the market for electrical infrastructure. Most data centers now have on-site fuel storage that can power data center operations for at least 72 hours in the event of a power loss. It has been witnessed that the most common redundancy for UPS systems and generators in the market is N+1. Ascenty, a leading data center operator in Latin America, has adopted N+1 redundant configuration in its data center facilities. Market Segmentation: Electrical Infrastructure UPS Systems Generators Switches & Switchgears PDUs Other Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Rack Cabinets Other Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems CRAC and CRAH Units Chillers Units Cooling Towers, Condensers, and Dry Coolers Other Cooling Units Cooling Techniques Liquid-Based Air-Based General Construction Core & Shell Development Installation & commissioning Services Building & Engineering Design Fire Detection & Suppression Systems Physical Security Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Tier Standard Tier I & Tier II Tier III Tier IV Geography Brazil Mexico Colombia Chile Rest of Latin America Table of Content 1 Research Methodology 2 Research Objectives 3 Research Process 4 Scope & Coverage 4.1 Market Definition 4.2 Base Year 4.3 Scope of The Study 4.4 Market Segments 4.4.1 Market Segmentation by Infrastructure 4.4.2 Market Segmentation by Electrical Infrastructure 4.4.3 Market Segmentation by Mechanical Infrastructure 4.4.4 Market Segmentation by Cooling Systems 4.4.5 Market Segmentation by Cooling Techniques 4.4.6 Market Segmentation by General Construction 4.4.7 Market Segmentation by Tier Standards 4.4.8 Market Segmentation by Geography 5 Report Assumptions & Caveats 5.1 Key Caveats 5.2 Currency Conversion 5.3 Market Derivation 6 Market at A Glance 7 Premium Insights 7.1 Key Market Highlights 7.2 Key Trends Driving the Market 7.3 Competitive Analysis 8 Introduction 8.1 Key Considerations in Data Center Construction 8.2 Data Center Design Certifications 8.2.1 Uptime Institute Tier Standards 8.2.2 Leed Certification 8.2.3 Tia 942 Certification 8.2.4 Ansi/Bicsi 002-2019 Certification 8.3 Construction Costs in Latin America 8.3.1 Brazil 8.3.2 Mexico 8.3.3 Chile 8.3.4 Colombia 8.3.5 Argentina 8.4 Data Center Site Selection Criteria 8.4.1 Key 9 Market Opportunities & Trends 9.1 5g Deployments Fueling Edge Data Center Deployments 9.2 Growing Rack Power Density 9.3 Deployment of Microgrids in Data Centers 9.4 Implementation of Automation & AI in Data Centers 9.5 Sustainable Data Center Construction Materials 9.6 Rising Adoption of DCIM 10 Market Growth Enablers 10.1 Adoption of Cloud, IoT & Big Data 10.2 Impact of Covid-19 10.3 Construction of Modular Data Centers 10.4 Increased Deployment of Submarine Cables 10.5 Thriving Digital Economy in Latin America 10.6 Tax Incentives Enhancing Data Center Investments 11 Market Restraints 11.1 Security Challenges in Data Centers 11.2 Location Constraints on Data Center Construction 11.3 Lack of Skilled Workforce 11.4 Rising Carbon Emissions from Data Centers 11.5 Supply Chain Challenges 12 Market Landscape 12.1 Market Overview 12.2 Investment: Market Size & Forecast 12.3 Area: Market Size & Forecast 12.4 Power Capacity: Market Size & Forecast 12.5 Five Forces Analysis 12.5.1 Threat of New Entrants 12.5.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 12.5.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers 12.5.4 Threat of Substitutes 12.5.5 Competitive Rivalry 13 Infrastructures 13.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 13.2 Electrical Infrastructure 13.2.1 Market Overview 13.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 13.3 Mechanical Infrastructure 13.3.1 Market Overview 13.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 13.4 General Construction 13.4.1 Market Overview 13.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 14 Electrical Infrastructures 14.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 14.2 Ups Systems 14.2.1 Market Overview 14.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 14.3 Generators 14.3.1 Market Overview 14.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 14.4 Transfer Switches & Switchgear 14.4.1 Market Overview 14.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 14.5 Power Distribution Units 14.5.1 Market Overview 14.5.2 Market Size & Forecast 14.6 Other Electrical Infrastructure 14.6.1 Market Overview 14.6.2 Market Size & Forecast 15 Mechanical Infrastructure 15.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 15.2 Cooling Systems 15.2.1 Market Overview 15.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 15.3 Racks 15.3.1 Market Overview 15.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 15.4 Other Mechanical Infrastructure 15.4.1 Market Overview 15.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 16 Cooling Systems 16.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 16.2 CRAC & CRAH Units 16.2.1 Market Overview 16.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 16.3 Chiller Units 16.3.1 Market Overview 16.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 16.4 Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers 16.4.1 Market Overview 16.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 16.5 Economizers & Evaporative Coolers 16.5.1 Market Overview 16.5.2 Market Size & Forecast 16.6 Other Cooling Units 16.6.1 Market Overview 16.6.2 Market Size & Forecast 17 Cooling Technique 17.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 17.2 Air-Based Cooling Technique 17.2.1 Market Overview 17.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 17.3 Liquid-Based Cooling Technique 17.3.1 Market Overview 17.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 18 General Construction 18.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 18.2 Core & Shell Development 18.2.1 Market Overview 18.2.2 Market Size & Forecast 18.3 Installation & Commissioning Services 18.3.1 Market Overview 18.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 18.4 Engineering & Building Design 18.4.1 Market Overview 18.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 18.5 Fire Detection & Suppression 18.5.1 Market Overview 18.5.2 Market Size & Forecast 18.6 Physical Security 18.6.1 Market Overview 18.6.2 Market Size & Forecast 18.7 DCIM/BMS Solutions 18.7.1 Market Overview 18.7.2 Market Size & Forecast 19 Tier Standards 19.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine 19.2 Overview of Tier Standards 19.3 Tier I & II 19.3.1 Market Overview 19.3.2 Market Size & Forecast 19.4 Tier III 19.4.1 Market Overview 19.4.2 Market Size & Forecast 19.5 Tier IV 19.5.1 Market Overview 19.5.2 Market Size & Forecast Explore our data center knowledge base profile to know more about the industry. Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Read some of the top-selling reports: About Arizton: Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services. We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals, and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts. Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports. Click Here to Contact Us Call: +1-312-235-2040 +1 302 469 0707 CHERRYVALE, Kansas, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Construction is underway on a $375 million soybean crushing facility in Southeast Kansas that will provide an important source of feedstock for producing renewable fuels, food products and animal feeds. Located in Montgomery County, the plant will be owned and operated by Bartlett, a Savage Company, and capable of handling approximately 45 million bushels of soybeans annually to crush into soybean meal and refined soybean oil. The Bartlett plant will create about 50 permanent jobs when operations commence in early 2024, and support additional jobs and economic activity during construction. A June 17 groundbreaking ceremony and luncheon were hosted by the Montgomery County Action Council in partnership with the Kansas Department of Commerces Office of Rural Prosperity to commemorate the start of this significant economic development project for the region. Participants included Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, U.S. Senator for Kansas Jerry Moran, Kansas State Representative Jim Kelly, Director of the Kansas Department of Commerces Office of Rural Prosperity Trisha Purdon, Montgomery County officials, representatives of U.S. Senator Roger Marshall and U.S. Congressman Jake LaTurner, and members of Bartletts leadership team. Were excited to start construction on our soybean crushing plant in Montgomery County. The facility will be an economic driver in Southeast Kansas and expand markets for local soybean producers and agribusinesses, said Bartlett President Bob Knief. We appreciate the ongoing support from state, federal and local leaders, and look forward to serving a vital role for the food, animal feed and renewable fuel industries. Well support our nations transition to renewable fuels by sourcing up to 65 million gallons of feedstock for renewable transportation fuels annually, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 400,000 tons a year. Agriculture-based and renewable energy businesses are major economic drivers in Kansas, and I am extremely pleased to see Bartlett recognize just how ideal this location is for the future of their operations, said Governor Kelly. Powered by Kansas outstanding infrastructure and talented workforce, Im confident Bartletts new project will be a tremendous success and have a significant economic impact on the region and our state as a whole. The Congressional delegation, on behalf of all of us, we are congratulatory to Montgomery County and to Southeast Kansas for the success that this day represents in the increase in opportunities for economic benefits to farmers and agriculture, for the communities for employment, for increasing opportunities to support transportation, and just an overall growth of Southeast Kansas, said Senator Moran in his remarks. This is one more example in which people roll up their sleeves and make something good happen. With our strategic location in the middle of the country and our strong agricultural roots, Im absolutely thrilled that Bartlett chose Kansas as the place to locate this impressive new facility, said Trisha Purdon, Director of the Kansas Department of Commerces Office of Rural Prosperity. We know they had other states in the region to choose from, so I am proud but not surprised that they selected Kansas as the winning location for this project. Its proof of their visionary approach, and of the strong assets in Kansas we have to offer ag-based and renewable energy companies. The plants location in Montgomery County, near the town of Cherryvale, provides easy access to highways 160, 166, 169 and 400. The South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, owned and operated by WATCO, will provide rail services for the facility, connecting the plant to a network of Class 1 carriers. Ground preparation work is currently being performed by Crossland Construction Company for the processing plant, grain elevator and loop track system. Were pleased that Bartlett chose to construct their soybean crushing plant here. Montgomery County is an ideal location for a major infrastructure project like this with our transportation connectivity and talented workforce, said Representative Jim Kelly, Kansas State Legislature (District 11) and Interim Director of the Montgomery County Action Council. Bond incentives from Montgomery County as well as tax credits through the states High Performance Incentive Program (HPIP) helped make this investment by Bartlett possible, and our economic development programs also can benefit other businesses. Bartlett is part of Savage, a global provider of industry infrastructure and supply chain services, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company is actively working with partners in the agriculture and energy industries to lead the buildout of renewable energy assets and services across North America. For business opportunities, contact Jason Ray at jasonray@savageservices.com or (801) 944-6516. About Bartlett Established in 1907, Bartlett joined the Savage family of companies in 2018. Its diverse agribusiness is focused on the acquisition, storage, transportation, processing, and merchandising of grain, and the company is a leading U.S. exporter of grain to Mexico. Bartlett supplies all classes of wheat, feed grains, food-grade corn, and soybeans to millers and processors and produces a full line of commercial patent flours and animal feeds. For more information, visit www.bartlettco.com. Contact Jeff Hymas, Communications Director; Bartlett, a Savage Company 801-597-8201; jeffhymas@savageservices.com Event Photos and Video https://www.dropbox.com/sh/27zf3lp7h65dwoc/AAAs8BXNDMsSVyWGWR1dIBc7a?dl=0 Attachments Chicago, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Ariztons latest research report, the Indonesia data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.46% during 2022-2027. Indonesia is witnessing an increase in investment with over 45%, due to investments from colocation providers such as DCI Indonesia, GDS Services, Princeton Digital Group, Indonet, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers and Telkom Indonesia. In 2021, cloud service providers Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tencent and Oracle established the cloud region across the country. The contribution of core & shell services is around 50% to the total cost, with installation, design & engineering, project management, and commissioning services contributing around 30%35%. In core & shell development in Indonesia, greenfield construction is highly popular along with the development of on-premises modular data center construction. Indonesia Data Center Market Report Scope Report Attributes Details MARKET SIZE (2027) $2.4 Billion MARKET SIZE (AREA) 379 thousand Sq. Feet (2027) MARKET SIZE (POWER CAPACITY) 76 MW (2027) COLOCATION MARKET SIZE (REVENUE) $400 Million (2027) CAGR 5.46% (2022-2027) BASE YEAR 2021 FORECAST YEAR 2022-2027 Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Key Highlights Indonesia is a preferred data center location in Southeast Asia, owing to strong connectivity, high internet penetration, and the presence of industrial areas such as Cikarang and Karawang that offer better infrastructure, ample land, and electricity supply. The moratorium in Singapore between 2019 and 2021 also contributed to the growth of the Indonesia market. Jakarta is the primary location for data center development in Indonesia, with 10 data center facilities contributing around 45% of the existing third-party data center capacity in Indonesia. Other locations witnessing investment include Bali, Java, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, and Sumatra, among others. The Indonesian government also provides tax incentives for data center development across the country. For instance, data center developers investing $7 million to $34 million in Indonesia will receive tax exemption of up to 50% for around 5 years. In Indonesia, 5G deployments are being witnessed by telecom operators such as Telkomsel, Indosat Ooredoo and Nokia. As a result, there is activity around edge data center deployment, from Ekagrata Data Gemilang, Edge Centres, Digital Edge, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), among others. Colocation operators are also entering the Indonesia market via M&As and joint ventures. In December 2021, Pure Data Centres and LOGOS partnered to develop a data center in Jakarta. ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, GDS Services, and Data Center First are other new entrants in Indonesia. Indonesia also has the presence of major cloud service providers such as Alibaba Cloud, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS and Microsoft opened cloud regions in Indonesia in 2021, to further improve connectivity and data security services. Why Should You Buy This Research? Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and the Indonesia colocation market revenue. An assessment of the data center investment in Indonesia by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators. Data center investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across cities. A detailed study of the existing Indonesia data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about the Indonesia data center market size during the forecast period. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Indonesia Facilities Covered (Existing): 66 Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 10 Coverage: 14 Cities Existing vs. Upcoming (Data Center Area) Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity) Data center colocation market in Indonesia Market Revenue & Forecast (2021-2027) Retail Colocation Price The Indonesia data center landscape market investments are classified as IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecasting. A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry. Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry. A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspect of the market. The report segments data center investment into the following areas: IT Infrastructure Servers Storage Systems Network Infrastructure Electrical Infrastructure UPS Systems Generators Switches & Switchgears PDUs Other Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Rack Cabinets Other Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems CRAC and CRAH Units Chillers Units Cooling Towers, Condensers, and Dry Coolers Other Cooling Units General Construction Core & Shell Development Installation & commissioning Services Building & Engineering Design Fire Detection & Suppression Systems Physical Security Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) Tier Standard Tier I & Tier II Tier III Tier IV Indonesia is working toward eliminating the use of coal for electricity production. The country is likely to switch and adopt renewable energy sources by 2060. Indonesia is likely to add power capacity of around 417 MW during 20222027. Moreover, Telecom operators and internet service providers boost data center investment in Indonesia. For instance, Inet Global, an ISP, is building a data center with an investment of around $68.9 million and area of 1.7 hectare. The facility is built out in three phases, with an expected total power capacity of 17.5 MW on full built. The first phase is started operating in 2022. Major Vendors IT INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS Cisco Dell Technologies Fujitsu Hewlett Packard Enterprise IBM Inspur Lenovo DATA CENTER CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS & SUB-CONTRACTORS Asdi Swasatya AWP Architects DSCO Group NTT Facilities SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDERS ABB Caterpillar Cummins Cyber Power Systems Delta Electronics Eaton Fuji Electric HITEC Power Protection Legrand Mitsubishi Electric Piller Power Systems Rolls-Royce Schneider Electric STULZ Vertiv Group DATA CENTER INVESTORS DCI Indonesia DTP Keppel Data Centres Biznet Data Center NTT Global Data Centers Space DC Princeton Digital Group (PDG) NEW ENTRANT Data Center First Explore our data center knowledge base profile to know more about the industry. Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Read some of the top-selling reports: About Arizton: Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services. We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals, and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts. Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports. Click Here to Contact Us Call: +1-312-235-2040 +1 302 469 0707 EATONVILLE, Wash., June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wounded Warriors Family Support awarded Samuel Shockley of Eatonville, Washington, with a $30,000 Mobility is Freedom vehicle grant to assist him with the purchase of a 2022 Subaru Outback. Shockley was on a dismounted route clearance mission in Panjwai, Afghanistan, with the 38th Engineering Company on March 17, 2013, when he triggered an improvised explosive device (IED). Shockley recalls looking at where his legs should have been, but they were gone. As a fellow Army soldier started to apply tourniquets and prepared him for MEDEVAC, Shockley a naturally vibrant person cracked jokes to ease the concerns of his comrades. The blast resulted in the loss of both his legs above the knee, the amputation of part of Shockleys middle and ring fingers, the loss of part of his arm and a broken wrist. Despite these injuries, Shockley does not see this as a stopping point, but a second chance at life. Shockley received a bachelors degree in Operations Management from The Ohio State University. He is pursuing a masters degree in Business Administration at Washington State University. Shockley also hopes to obtain his pilot license. There are tremendous unmet needs and gaps in finances, basic to every family that has a wounded service member, said Martin Duarte, Wounded Warriors Family Supports program outreach coordinator. Wounded Warriors Family Support helps to close that gap and meet those needs. Wounded Warriors Family Support launched Mobility is Freedom in 2015 to provide grants and modified vehicles for combat-wounded veterans. Shockley received the third Mobility is Freedom vehicle grant in 2022. About Wounded Warriors Family Support Wounded Warriors Family Support is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured, or killed during combat operations. This organization is run by combat veterans for combat veterans. Rated a four-star nonprofit by Charity Navigator, Wounded Warriors Family Support aids veterans and their families in healing the wounds that medicine cannot. For more information about Wounded Warriors Family Support, visit www.wwfs.org . Media Contacts: Kevin Schuster, PR Counsel Martin Duarte, WWFS Program Outreach Coordinator Cell: 402.917.6001 760.405.7777 Email: kschuster@lukaspartners.com Martin.Duarte@wwfs.org A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/853da858-8350-4ba0-ab27-9193ca768122 The South Korean Air Force kicked off a biannual aerial combat exercise, involving its radar-evading F-35A fighters and dozens of other warplanes, Monday, in order to ensure a "firm" readiness posture. The five-day Soaring Eagle exercise began amid lingering tensions caused by North Korea's continued ballistic missile launches and speculation that it has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear weapon test. The training got under way at the 29th Tactical Fighter Weapons Group in Cheongju, 137 kilometers south of Seoul. It mobilized some 200 personnel and about 70 warplanes, including F-35As, F-15Ks, KF-16s, F-4Es, F-5s, E-737 early warning and control aircraft and CN-235 transport planes, according to the Air Force. "This exercise is aimed at ensuring we are equipped with the capabilities to rapidly respond to enemy provocations, and with the best operational capabilities through the verification of our strike capabilities against high-threat targets," Col. Lee Chul-woo, head of the air force unit, said. Under a scenario of large-scale enemy infiltrations, participants practiced operations to detect, identify and intercept hostile air targets from long distance, and conducted massive formation maneuvers to strike key enemy forces and origins of possible provocative actions. The practice also involved the application of the Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation system that provides real-time information required for pilots to accurately understand battle situations and thus improve their combat capabilities. Launched in 2008, the Air Force has conducted Soaring Eagle twice a year. (Yonhap) Michael Saxon, who has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of TAAT, served in various positions for over 20 years with Altria and PMI including heading Altrias Corporate Venture Fund and leading PMIs business activities as General Manager for Norway and Denmark. He has led business units with full profit and loss (P&L) responsibility ranging from USD $100 million to USD $3 billion while consistently delivering record business results. LAS VEGAS and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP) (the Company or TAAT) is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Saxon, a 20-year global veteran of the tobacco industry, as the Companys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Saxon has been on the TAAT Advisory Board since late 2020 (as announced in a press release dated October 1, 2020 ). With considerable experience in attaining profitable market penetration for tobacco products in the United States and several international markets, Mr. Saxon is expected to be instrumental to the Companys ability to scale the footprint of TAAT at a global level. Former CEO Setti Coscarella will remain available to the Company as an Advisor. Michael Saxon is an accomplished consumer products executive with over 25 years of experience growing Fortune 100 businesses in the United States, Europe, and Asia, having successfully influenced government policy and led business units with full P&L responsibility from USD $100 million to USD $3 billion while operating in different regulatory systems. His career reflects a demonstrated history of setting record income and market share results in a wide range of market conditions and succeeding in various go-to-market models, including wholesale, distributor, and DSD. He brings a strong, innovative mindset from his experience creating new products and brands and having been the catalyst for successful large-scale transformation initiatives to drive organic growth and executing M&A transactions to enter new markets. Mr. Saxon served in various positions for over 20 years with Altria Group and Philip Morris International (PMI). Most recently, he helped create Trolley Ventures , a Richmond, VA venture capital firm investing in early-stage start-ups. Mr. Saxon, who is now Chief Executive Officer of TAAT, served in various positions for over 20 years with Altria and PMI including heading Altrias Corporate Venture Fund and leading PMIs business activities as General Manager for Norway and Denmark. He has led business units with full profit and loss (P&L) responsibility ranging from USD $100 million to USD $3 billion while consistently delivering record business results. Readers using news aggregation services may be unable to view the media above. Please access SEDAR or the Investor Relations section of the Companys website for a version of this press release containing all published media. Im excited to be joining the TAAT team, said Michael Saxon. This is an exhilarating time in our industry, and TAAT is positioned to be a disruptor. With about eighteen months of actual market and consumer feedback, I believe TAAT is in an ideal position to accelerate its commercialization efforts. This will include focusing our efforts on the large and profitable USA market, while our product development team leverages their capabilities to develop other Beyond Tobacco products that can further disrupt the USA and other international markets. There is a tremendous market opportunity for the company, and I am eager to launch new initiatives to accelerate adult consumer adoption of TAAT. Former CEO and Director Setti Coscarella stated, It has been my pleasure to lead TAAT through our initial years and through the pandemic. At this point, I am satisfied the company is in an excellent position to hand direction over to Mr. Saxon, and I am pleased to be continuing my participation as an Advisor. The Company announces that it has granted an aggregate of 1,750,000 incentive stock options (Options) to directors and officers. The Options have an exercise price of $0.85 per common share (each a Share) and are valid for a five-year period from the date of grant. 1,500,000 of the Options will vest quarterly over a period of two years from issuance, starting on the 91st day of grant. The Options were granted in accordance with the Companys stock option plan. In connection with Mr. Saxons appointment to the Board of Directors and as CEO, the Company has also granted him 1,000,000 restricted share units (RSUs) under the Companys shareholder approved restricted share unit plan (the RSU Plan). The RSUs will vest quarterly over a period of two years from issuance, starting on the 91st day of grant and shall entitle Mr. Saxon the ability to acquire one Share of the Company underlying each such RSU by delivering a notice of acquisition to the Company in accordance with the RSU Plan. In accordance with the RSU Plan, the RSUs were priced at $0.85 based on the closing price of the Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) on June 17, 2022. TAAT hereby announces that Setti Coscarella has resigned from his positions as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company, effective immediately. The Company would like to thank Mr. Coscarella for his contributions in establishing the product and brand and wishes him well in his future endeavours. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company, TAAT GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES INC. Joe Deighan Joe Deighan, COO and Director For further information, please contact: TAAT Investor Relations 1-833-TAAT-USA (1-833-822-8872) investor@taatglobal.com THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (CSE) HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER. About TAAT Global Alternatives Inc. TAAT develops, manufactures, and distributes alternative products in categories to include tobacco, hemp, kratom, and other emerging segments of the CPG industry. Its flagship product is a nicotine-free, tobacco-free cigarette with a patent-pending base material formulation, sold in over 2,700 U.S. stores. With over CAD $80 million in overall net revenue in 2021, TAATs facilities include a manufacturing plant in Nevada, as well as a distribution centre and multiple convenience stores in Ohio. For more information, please visit http://taatglobal.com . Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking information and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, estimates, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the anticipated performance of TAAT in the tobacco industry, in addition to the following: Potential outcomes from the appointment of Michael Saxon as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the transition of Setti Coscarella from his former roles as Chief Executive Officer and director to being a member of the TAAT Board of Advisors effective immediately. The forward-looking information reflects managements current expectations based on information currently available and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) changes to the growth and size of the tobacco markets; (iii) changes to the regulatory landscape applicable to the Company's business; and (iv) other factors beyond the control of the Company. The Company operates in a rapidly evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is impossible for the Companys management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The statements in this news release have not been evaluated by Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As each individual is different, the benefits, if any, of taking the Companys products will vary from person to person. No claims or guarantees can be made as to the effects of the Companys products on an individuals health and well-being. The Companys products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This news release may contain trademarked names of third-party entities (or their respective offerings with trademarked names) typically in reference to (i) relationships had by the Company with such third-party entities as referred to in this release and/or (ii) client/vendor/service provider parties whose relationship with the Company is/are referred to in this release. All rights to such trademarks are reserved by their respective owners or licensees. Statement Regarding Third-Party Investor Relations Firms WASHINGTON, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The head of the Federal Air Marshal Service's Philadelphia office is tampering with performance reviews, pressuring workers to put off necessary medical care, and opening fraudulent investigations in an illegal attempt to harass and suppress his unionized workforce, the Air Marshal Association alleged on Wednesday June 8th. The complaint details how Supervisory Air Marshal in Charge Richard Altomare, the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security conspired to harass unionized employees and crush workers' speech rights. The Philadelphia field office is in crisis, and workers there have endured a series of failing managers who are devoid of experience and leadership skills, said Air Marshal Association President John Casaretti. The complaint details how Altomare began a "despicable and targeted" pattern of harassment and intimidation of unionized employees immediately after his 2021 appointment to lead the Philadelphia field office. In October 2021, over union protests, Altomare implemented a policy of pressuring Air Marshals, including one seeking cancer treatment, to forgo using sick leave or other forms of paid time off for medical appointments. Altomare also began altering employee performance evaluations, especially those of union members, to eliminate or reduce raises, bonuses, or promotions that they would have otherwise earned. Altomare further retaliated against employees who spoke out against his policies by "selectively" targeting them for misconduct reports. The harassment culminated with some employees receiving direct threats. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of the 107th Congress (2001-2002) enacted November 19, 2001 established the Transportation Security Administration, and granted the TSA Administrator broad emergency powers in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Included in these emergency provisions were blanket authorities for the TSA Administrator to create new work rules and systems of compensation. Casaretti notes, This unprecedented authority was a human capital disaster, cultivating an environment of management abuse, favoritism and discrimination which resulted in record low employee morale, sky high turnover, unjustly stratified pay, and waves of lawsuits. The Philadelphia Field Office issues are just the latest in a long list of woes for Air Marshals. The Air Marshal Association is actively educating lawmakers about the harsh reality of working for 20 years as a Federal Air Marshal under the TSA systems. When common medical issues started to surface in the workgroup around 2011, the government commissioned Harvard University to conduct a sleep study on Federal Air Marshals, but the full report was suppressed when details about the grueling shifts, constant exhaustion, inadequate rest, and cognitive impairment surfaced. The agency also uses their pay authority to reward employees via subjective scorecards, and the resulting favoritism, racism, and retaliation have caused over $30,000 pay differences between otherwise equal employees. The union also points to examples of Air Marshals being assigned to punishing shifts without rest breaks or overtime pay, such as the 18.5 hour long Newark, New Jersey and New Delhi, India nonstop mission and its 20.5 hour return flight which the TSA assigned following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. In 2015, after years of Air Marshals flying these types of arduous missions without receiving intelligence briefings or explanation, Casaretti filed a collective action lawsuit on behalf of his co-workers to recover the unpaid overtime. The court recently allowed most elements of the precedential claim to advance. The TSA recognized the Air Marshal Association in 2011 when it was forced to begin deducting payroll allotments for the fledgling group. Now the union meets regularly with TSA officials, collaborates with Congress on laws and appropriations, and over half of all flying Federal Air Marshals are dues paying members. Union members have been harassed as far back as 2009, when the Association began organizing as an offshoot of a larger labor union. Since TSA security screeners were already well underway with organizing their workgroup, the agency did not want any more employees unionizing. To help stop this movement, former President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order in late 2008 to add Air Marshals to a list of government workers forbidden to bargain collectively. This executive action did not deter Casaretti, who recalls, After the 2008 EO was signed, they launched a series of frivolous investigations on me. All were baseless, and although I was routinely harassed by investigators, I was cleared and never received any discipline. Under TSA rules, if a manager merely opens a frivolous inquiry against an Air Marshal, the employee is ineligible for raises, bonuses, transfers, and competitive job assignments. Some inquiries purposefully take years, and because there are no deadlines for investigators to meet, careers are ruined and managers are able to freeze pay increases indefinitely. Recently, a multiyear Congressional inquiry from the House Oversight and Government Reform committees majority and minority members looked into systemic management abuse and senior official misconduct at TSA. The subsequent reports made it clear that the agencys authority needed to be reexamined. Another oversight report made clear that Senior Executives within the TSA engaged in serious acts of misconduct, but escaped discipline virtually unscathed. When lawmakers reached out to the union for input, they received volumes of data about toxic management, low morale, and an agency nurtured culture of fear. The union also provided examples of manager misconduct which was investigated quickly then dismissed, versus identical misconduct charges against Air Marshals which resulted in long investigations and proposals to fire the employee. However, the 2021 assignment of Altomare to the Philadelphia Field Office has brought TSA dysfunction to another level, with one supervisor sent out to hunt for union members, and in Altomares own words during a management meeting, declaring its us against them. This targeted assault against the Air Marshal Associations members right of free association is what finally prompted the federal court filing. These deprivations occur due to the unprecedented authority granted to the TSA under the ATSA, said Casaretti. The emergency which created the TSA is over, and it is time for Congress to place the runaway TSA bureaucracy back within regular government management systems. Congress is working to remake the agency via H.R.903 the Rights for the TSA Workforce Act of 2021 which passed the House on May 12, 2022, and the companion Senate bill, S.1856 of the same name introduced on 05/26/2021. The bills seek to move the TSA from the controversial ATSA systems and place them into the established Title 5 systems enjoyed by the majority of government workers. The union has spent 5 years working closely with lawmakers on the legislation. For Air Marshals, it means fixing longstanding issues such as high suicide rates and mental health concerns, arduous duty days, intelligence based scheduling, more diverse training, and ultimately aligning the Federal Air Marshal Service to counter current threats. The 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks have come and gone, and the experienced Air Marshals hired in response to those attacks have almost all retired. Each of them has paid a high price for patriotism, battling an abusive agency that makes up its own rules. Individually they succeed, but its despite the agency and not because of it, Casaretti says. We will continue to work with lawmakers to fix this permanently, but we hope the courts will grant us some immediate relief. The union is represented by Mario Bordogna of Clark Hill PLC, and Nicholas Wieczorek of Clark Hill PLC. The case is Air Marshal Association v. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security et al., case number 2:22-cv-02254, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania The Air Marshal Association is the only labor organization exclusively representing Federal Air Marshals. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/00206efc-c114-4047-a8f8-8853171b5601 Chicago, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Arizton latest research report, the South Korea data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.71% during 2022-2027. The growing support and initiatives from the government for the development of data centers will lead to attracting new investors to the country. The high adoption of artificial intelligence by the government and other organizations is one of the major factors driving market growth. South Korea Data Center Market Report Scope Report Attributes Details MARKET SIZE (2027) $5.8 Billion MARKET SIZE (2021) $3.9 Billion CAGR (2022-2027) 6.71% MARKET SIZE (AREA) 348 thousand Sq. Feet (2027) MARKET SIZE (POWER CAPACITY) 80 MW (2027) COLOCATION MARKET SIZE (REVENUE) $1,000 Million (2027) BASE YEAR 2021 FORECAST YEAR 2022-2027 Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Key Insights South Korea is in the Northeast Asian economic zone and has strong trade connectivity with major Asian countries. Seoul is the primary location for data center development, with more than 15 data center facilities contributing around 50% of the existing third-party data center capacity in South Korea. Telecom, cloud, healthcare, BFSI, automobiles, gaming, logistics, and education are some of the industry verticals in South Korea that drive the demand for data centers in South Korea. South Korea has the presence of global cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and Tencent. Some of the local cloud service providers in the country include KT, LG CNS, and SK C&C. The South Korea data center market has witnessed several investments via joint ventures; for instance, in April 2022, Digital Edge and SK ecoplant signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a data center facility in Incheon, South Korea. The country has the presence of several free economic zones such as Incheon FEZ, Busan-Jinhae FEZ, Gwangyang Bay Area FEZ, Chungbuk FEZ, and Saemangeum-Gunsan FEZ will drive data center investment in the country in upcoming years. The South Korea Government aims to generate around 35% of energy from renewable energy sources by 2040 in the country. Data center service providers such as NAVER, Equinix, and Digital Realty are using renewable energy to power their data center operations. South Korea Data Center Market Growth Enablers The South Korean data center market is one of the quickly emerging markets in the APAC region, with growth in investments from global cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Google. Several startups in the country are using big data solutions for modifying their business operations. For instance, Coupang, an e-commerce company based in South Korea, is using big data analytics for its e-commerce platform. Growing joint ventures will bring foreign investments to the country as well as attract other investors to invest in data centers. The joint ventures will further create revenue opportunities for vendors and local operators with investments from global firms. Joint ventures are also encouraging global brands to increase their presence in the country and maintain a brand reputation, local market knowledge, and local operations. Market Segmentation Infrastructure Type IT Infrastructure Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure General Construction IT Infrastructure Server Storage Network Electrical Infrastructure Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Generators Transfer Switches and Switchgears PDUs Other Electrical Infrastructure Mechanical Infrastructure Cooling Systems Racks Other Mechanical Infrastructure General Construction Core and Shell Development Installation and Commissioning Services Building Design Physical Security DCIM Tier Segments Tier I & Tier II Tier III Tier IV Geography Seoul Other Cities Vendors Analysis IT Infrastructure Providers Arista Networks Atos Cisco Systems Dell Technologies Fujitsu Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) IBM Inspur Intel Lenovo NetApp Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors BEHIVE DPR Construction GS E&C HanmiGlobal Hyundai Engineering & Construction ISG POSCO ICT SAMOO Architects & Engineers Samsung C&T Support Infrastructure Providers ABB Caterpillar Cummins Delta Electronics Eaton Fuji Electric Legrand Mitsubishi Electric Piller Power Systems Rittal Rolls-Royce Schneider Electric STULZ Vertiv Data Center Investors Actis Digital Realty Dreammark1 Equinix Kakao Corp KT Corp LG Uplus NAVER Corp NHN Corp Princeton Digital Group (PDG) Pure Data Centers Samsung SDS SC Zeus Data Centers SK Broadband ST Telemedia Global Data Centers Explore our data center knowledge base profile to know more about the industry. Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report Read some of the top-selling reports: About Arizton: Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services. We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals, and materials, IT and media, logistics, and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts. Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports. Click Here to Contact Us Call: +1-312-235-2040 +1 302 469 0707 HOD HASHARON, Israel, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Weebit Nano Limited (ASX:WBT; Weebit or the Company), a leading developer of next-generation memory technologies for the global semiconductor industry, will today publicly demonstrate its ReRAM IP module for the first time at a leading industry event, highlighting its technologys real-world capability as a non-volatile memory (NVM) integrated into an actual subsystem. The Interactive demonstration at the Leti Innovation Days event will show Weebit ReRAM functioning as an NVM memory block, being fed live images and retaining this data while powered-off, then displaying the data separately. The demonstration will also show the speed of the ReRAM module, clearly highlighting its faster write speed compared to typical flash memory technology. The Direct Program/Erase capability and byte addressability of Weebit ReRAM contribute to its faster write throughput time compared to flash, which needs to access entire data sectors every time it erases/writes. Coby Hanoch, CEO of Weebit Nano, said: This is the first time we are publicly demonstrating our ReRAM embedded in silicon, less than a year after taping out the module. The demo of our ReRAM technology represents yet another key technical milestone as we progress toward full productization. The demo will be a great asset for use in our sales activities with potential customers. The demo is based on Weebits embedded ReRAM module that includes the ReRAM array, control logic, decoders, IOs (Input/Output communication elements) and error correcting code (ECC) as well as patent-pending analog and digital smart circuitry running smart algorithms which significantly enhance the memory arrays technical parameters. Approved for release by the Board of Weebit Nano Limited. About Weebit Nano Limited Weebit Nano Ltd. is a leading developer of next-generation semiconductor memory technology. The companys ground-breaking Resistive RAM (ReRAM) addresses the growing need for significantly higher performance and lower power memory solutions in a range of new electronic products such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, smartphones, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 5G communications and artificial intelligence. Weebits ReRAM allows semiconductor memory elements to be significantly faster, less expensive, more reliable and more energy efficient than those using existing Flash memory solutions. As it is based on fab-friendly materials, the technology can be quickly and easily integrated with existing flows and processes, without the need for special equipment or large investments. See www.weebit-nano.com and follow us on https://twitter.com/WeebitNano. Weebit Nano and the Weebit Nano logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Weebit Nano Ltd. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. For further information please contact: Investors Eric Kuret, Market Eye P: +61 417 311 335 E: eric.kuret@marketeye.com.au Media Australia Tristan Everett, Market Eye P: +61 403 789 096 E: tristan.everett@marketeye.com.au Media US Jen Bernier-Santarini, Weebit Nano P: +1 650-336-4222 E: jen@weebit-nano.com CALGARY, Alberta, June 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canacol Energy Ltd. ("Canacol" or the "Corporation") (TSX:CNE) (OTCQX:CNNEF) (BVC:CNEC) announced that it has declared a dividend of CAD$.052 per share, payable on July 15, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2022. This dividend qualifies as an 'eligible dividend' for Canadian income tax purposes. The declaration, timing, amount and payment of future dividends remain at the discretion of the Board of Directors. Dividends on shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) will be paid in Canadian Dollars (CAD) on July 15, 2022. For shareholders trading on the Colombia Stock Exchange (BVC), the Colombian peso equivalency shall be calculated based on the exchange rate as certified by the Banco de la Republica (Central Bank) on the date of monetization and will be published accordingly on the SIMEV website www.superfinanciera.gov.co Shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange Form NR301 will be mailed to Registered non-resident shareholders as at the dividend record date, by Olympia Trust Company, Canacols transfer agent. In order to receive the preferred treaty rate, you must complete and mail back the form as soon as possible. Failure to supply a completed NR301 form will result in Olympia withholding the statutory 25% withholding tax rate on any payments to Registered non-resident shareholders. If you have previously completed Form NR301, you do not need to complete a new form. Instructions on how to correctly complete the NR301 are on the back of the form. Shareholders who hold their shares through a broker should contact their broker directly. They do not need to return a form to Olympia. Shares traded on the Colombia Stock Exchange Dividend payments will be subject to withholding at the Canadian statutory rate of 25%. Shareholders who are entitled to a reduced withholding tax rate under a tax treaty should contact their broker or nominee to submit Form NR301 (English version). Brokers should submit Form NR301 on behalf of their shareholders to Deposito Centralizado de Valores (Deceval) as soon as possible. If you have previously completed Form NR301, you do not need to complete a new form. Form NR301 can be downloaded at: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/nr301/nr301-13e.pdf For information purposes, a Spanish version of Form NR301 can be downloaded at: http://canacolenergy.co/es/investors/stocks-dividends/dividend-forms/ The content contained herein is not tax advice. Do not use or otherwise rely upon any of the content without first seeking independent tax advice. About Canacol Canacol is a natural gas exploration and production company with operations focused in Colombia. The Corporation's common stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the OTCQX in the United States of America, and the Colombia Stock Exchange under ticker symbol CNE, CNNEF, and CNE.C, respectively. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, including without limitation statements relating to estimated production rates from the Corporation's properties and intended work programs and associated timelines. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. They are made as of the date hereof and are subject to change and the Corporation assumes no obligation to revise or update them to reflect new circumstances, except as required by law. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration for and development of crude oil and natural gas properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological and geophysical data, fluctuating energy prices, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated costs or delays and other uncertainties associated with the oil and gas industry. Other risk factors could include risks associated with negotiating with foreign governments as well as country risk associated with conducting international activities, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. For more information please contact: Investor Relations South America: +571.621.1747 IR-SA@canacolenergy.com Global: +1.403.561.1648 IR-GLOBAL@canacolenergy.com http://www.canacolenergy.com President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden pose alongside senior military officers from both countries during their visit to the Korean Air and Space Operations Center at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, May 22. By Kang Seung-woo South Korea and the United States are discussing holding senior-level defense talks, next month, according to the defense ministry, Monday, during which the allies are expected to discuss how to strengthen extended deterrence against North Korea's growing threats. "The two countries are in talks over holding the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Washington, D.C.," Army Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, said during a press conference without elaborating on the meeting's date or specific agenda. KIDD is an umbrella framework encompassing various defense dialogue mechanisms between the two countries. It was launched in 2011 out of the Security Consultative Meeting and since then, the meeting has been held twice a year. It was supposed to take place in May, but the absence of a South Korean official to be in charge of the meeting has pushed it back to July. The envisaged meeting comes as tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula due to concerns over North Korea's possible nuclear test, according to South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities. In addition, if fixed, the meeting will be held on the heels of the May 21 summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, in which the two heads of state agreed on extended deterrence so as to deter North Korea's escalating missile and nuclear threats. The defense ministry did not give details about the KIDD meeting or how to improve extended deterrence, however, the combined defense posture is likely to be high on the agenda. Foreign Minister Park Jin and U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken have agreed to reactivate regular meetings of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG), a high-level consultative mechanism to achieve North Korea's denuclearization through steadfast deterrence. The defense ministers of the two countries have also agreed to dispatch strategic assets to the peninsula in the event of a nuclear test by Pyongyang. Strategic assets refer to long-range bombers, nuclear-powered submarines or aircraft carriers. The allies are also expected to discuss expanding combined military drills, which had been scaled back under the administrations of President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump. Additionally, how to normalize the operation of the U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here, which has had the status of a "temporary installation," pending an environmental impact assessment, is likely to be discussed. Peter Windsor is impressed with both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz after the Canadian Grand Prix. One managed to defend flawlessly, while the other kept up flawlessly during the last fifteen laps. The Brit saw an unusual difference in top speed between the two drivers. Article continues under ad Sainz and Verstappen fifteen laps clear F1 expert Windsor says the battle for victory in Canada actually came down to the final fifteen-lap stint, with Verstappen and Carlos Sainz competing against each other on the same compound tire with only a six-lap difference in the "age" of that tire. Verstappen entering the pit lane just a little earlier than the Spaniard therefore had an almost objectionable disadvantage, but on the restart after the safety car Verstappen did not drive away. Windsor explains in a YouTube video: "Ferrari didn't have a big, but significant advantage over Red Bull in terms of top speed. They also had a 'grip advantage' for Sainz because his tires were six laps newer." The Drivers were very evenly matched and Verstappen went to great lengths to defend his P1. Windsor saw Verstappen take a lot of risk at the final chicane. Ferrari has unusual advantage Windsor "It was a very good win by Max; on a day, as I just said, when he had no advantage in top speed. Very unusual. It's the first time this year that we see that he couldn't play with that advantage in top speed. Ferrari had that this time." On Sainz, the Briton has little else to say. He does wonder why the team did not opt for the medium tire for the final stint. Sainz came out for the last relatively short stint on the hard tire. Although Sainz only had used medium tires available, Windsor thinks that with this 'scrubbed' medium tire the Spaniard could have still prepared a slightly more aggressive attack on Verstappen. "With the yellow tire, he would have finished second as well, so why didn't they look at using a little more grip to put the pressure on Verstappen." Human rights activists demonstrate the inhuman treatment that detainees of foreign nationality have suffered at Korea's immigration detention centers during a press conference with the Moroccan former detainee who endured them in front of the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, Monday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin Activists, former detainee calls for better treatment in front of presidential office By Lee Hae-rin For the Moroccan asylum seeker who was detained in the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center for months beginning in March of last year and suffered a variety of types of inhuman treatment there, the wounds are still fresh. "I remember everything. 'Hwaseong-tanamo' is for life. I will never forget what happened," said the Moroccan national, who identified himself only by the initial of "M" for privacy reasons, on Monday. The detainee used the word, "Hwaseong-tanamo," to refer to the detention center, inspired by the infamous detention center, Guantanamo Bay, which is operated by the U.S. military in Cuba and is embroiled in systemic human rights violations such as torture, arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The former detainee and a group of human rights lawyers and activists gathered in front of the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, Monday, and held a press conference to condemn the Justice Ministry's revised legislation on detaining undocumented immigrants in custody from last month. The event was held to mark World Refugee Day on June 20, which the United Nations designated in 2001 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention and to recognize the dignity and human rights of people who fled their home countries due to conflict, natural disaster or persecution based on their religion, race, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinions. The video footage of the Moroccan man hogtied and lying face down in solitary confinement, with his head in protective headgear bound with box tape and cable ties drew fierce criticism last year. The ministry acknowledged the human rights violations by the immigration authorities and announced the revised human rights measures last month, which are to take effect from July. According to the protestors, the ministry's improved measures are not only insufficient to protect detainees' human rights but will only allow immigration authorities to commit more inhuman treatment under the pretext of "controlling detainees." Kang Seong-joon, an activist of the archdiocese's Catholic Human Rights Committee, said that the "protective gear" that the ministry plans to authorize at immigration detention centers is in actuality "torture gear," according to several detainees. Recalling his traumatic experience of being detained at Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center, the former detainee, in his 30s, said that he is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and physical problems with his hands and teeth from the violence. He said that he has also been bombarded with hate speech since the video footage was revealed during the legal proceedings. Some of the racial and religious slurs he has received include, "This Moroccan Muslim talks about human rights, should we protect the human rights of such a vicious criminal?" and "Can we just shoot and kill him?" The Moroccan former detainee of the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center, whose face has been blurred, and human rights activists and lawyers hold a press conference to condemn the Justice Ministry's revised legislation for immigrant detentions, Monday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin Newly created Basquevolt, the Basque solid-state battery initiative, will begin production of battery cells in 2027 with the aim of reaching 10GWh capacity. Basquevolt founding shareholders include the Basque Government, through the venture capital fund Ezten, Iberdrola, CIE Automotive, Enagas, EIT InnoEnergy and CIC energiGUNE. Basquevolt is supported by an investment of more than 700 million. The first phase of Basquevolt will be based at the Alava Technology Park, in the Marie Curie Building , located just a few meters from CIC energiGUNE. Basquevolts technology is based on the use of a composite electrolyte patented by the Basque center. The companys initial targets are the development of prototype cells and a pilot production line in 2025, with the ambition to start production in 2027. Basquevolt aims to become the European leader in solid-state batteries. Specifically, Basquevolt aims to developin a sustainable waythe best materials and battery cells to enable the mass deployment of electric transport, stationary energy storageincluding hybridization with hydrogen-gas systemsand advanced portable devices. President Yoon Suk-yeol answers reporters' questions at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, June 20. Yonhap President Yoon Suk-yeol suggested Monday his administration could disclose more information on a fisheries official killed at sea by North Korea in 2020, days after his government overturned the previous administration's finding that the official had attempted to defect to the North. The comment came as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has been refusing to cooperate on the disclosure of confidential information on the fisheries official shot and killed by North Korea's military near the western sea border, Sept. 22, 2020, after going missing while on duty onboard a fisheries inspection boat. The then-government of President Moon Jae-in tentatively concluded that the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North, but the bereaved family has strongly questioned the announcement, arguing he had no reason to do so. Last week, the Coast Guard and the defense ministry announced that they had not found any evidence backing the investigation results from two years ago, reversing their previous stance and apologizing to the bereaved family. On Monday, Yoon said the government should do all it can to address any suspicions the people have. "I've always believed ever since I was the chief of the Central District Prosecutors Office or the prosecutor general under the previous administration, that the government should set an example and do what it can under the constitutional spirit of a liberal democracy and the rule of law," Yoon told reporters as he arrived for work. "That thought hasn't changed, and as the state's duty first and foremost is to protect the people, if the people have questions about that, I think it's a bit problematic if the government responds passively, so I will look into it carefully," he said. The opposition DPK has accused the Yoon government of trying to frame it and the Moon administration as being pro-North Korea. When asked to comment on the case, Yoon said simply, "I will handle it fairly in accordance with the law and principles." (Yonhap) GREENWICH Seven seniors from Greenwich High School have spent the last few weeks of their high school careers at SoundWaters and teaching science classes to younger students who visit the Stamford-based environmental education organization. The Greenwich interns Lily Ornstein, Teddy Stedem, Sophie Jaeger, Jordan Bowbeer, Kyle Goeller, Saskia Phillips and Jonathan Buckingham were part of the organizations Coastal Education Center at Cove Island Park in Stamford for the past five weeks as part of the schools spring internship program. The Greenwich contingent was part of a larger group of spring interns from several area high schools who, instead of attending classes for the final weeks of their high school years, worked in internships to experience a real-world business environment. At SoundWaters, the interns from Greenwich worked alongside and under the guidance of SoundWaters professional educators, teaching the science of Long Island Sound to preschool, elementary and middle school students from schools across the region. The interns helped the younger students in a classroom and lab setting as well as on the beach and in boats on Holly Pond, where the young students do their field work. Over the five-week period of the internships, the seven from Greenwich worked with more than 1,900 younger students. SoundWaters is an amazing organization and I am lucky to have this internship. I get to work outside around the water with kids and help them learn about Long Island Sound and how to protect the environment, said Stedem, who will be attending Indiana University in the fall. I enjoy helping the students, and Im also learning a lot about Long Island Sound myself and how a nonprofit works, Stedem added. The internship program is a powerful learning experience for the high school seniors, said Christina Genz, director of education at SoundWaters. The SoundWaters High School Internship Program is a model for professional development and environmental stewardship. Our interns develop their job and leadership skills on a daily basis as they perform scientific experiments, aquarium maintenance and assist with our STEM programs, reaching over 100 students each day, Genz said. In the Senior Options Program at Greenwich High, seniors in good academic standing have the opportunity to participate in a senior option, such as an internship or project, in the last four or more weeks of their senior year instead of attending classes at GHS. For the program, which this year ran from May 16 to June 17, the students must work 25 hours per week, with a Senior Project Exhibition on June 20. All seniors must choose between a self-designed senior internship, a self-designed senior project, or remaining in class. SoundWaters, founded in 1989, is focused on protecting the Sound and its watershed. Each year, the nonprofit organization hosts shipboard and land-based programs for 32,000 children, including 11,000 from underserved communities. It aims to develop experiences that foster a sense of responsibility for the environment and encourage actions that ensure the sustainability of the Long Island Sound ecosystem. For more information, visit SoundWaters.org. Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media GREENWICH As part of International Horseshoe Crab Day, the Greenwich Conservation Commission held an informational tour to learn about these creatures along the beach near the Old Greenwich Yacht Club at Greenwich Point Park on Saturday. International Horseshoe Crab Day is set aside worldwide to raise awareness about the challenges that these ancient species face for survival. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH The recent theft of five brand new Jeeps from a lot on West Putnam Avenue yielded high-end profits for what was a fairly low-tech crime. Earlier this month, thieves managed to force their way into a locked box at a small lot on the automotive stretch of Greenwichs west end used as a transportation drop-off by Greenwich Chrysler Jeep, according to the auto-theft specialist at Greenwich Police Department; with keys from the box, thieves made off with the vehicles. It was a fairly common story, said Detective Anthony Fiscella, one that police around the region have seen before. They hit a key box that is accessible and then pry it open, said Fiscella. Calls and messages to Greenwich Chrysler Jeep were not returned. A Toyota dealership in Greenwich was hit using the same tactics in 2019; Greenwich police and the New Haven office of the FBI later made arrests in that case. There have been a handful of multi-car thefts from dealerships in Greenwich over the past few years, the detective said. Around the country, a number of car dealerships have been hit by thieves looking to steal keys and then cars. A theft at a Chicago-area dealership, recorded on video, resulted in 14 cars being stolen earlier this year. A Detroit-area dealership had some $250,000 worth of cars stolen last year, after thieves pushed blocker vehicles, cars intended to shield high-priced cars, out of the way. While the theft of multiple cars at one time is relatively uncommon, it is part of a larger trend involving ongoing organized crime rings of professional car thieves, police said. Thieves are targeting dealerships as well as high-end luxury vehicles in residential neighborhoods, which is a bigger problem for local law enforcement. The crux of our problem is were being burdened by organized steal crews, said Fiscella. So far this year, more than 60 cars have been stolen in Greenwich, including the five taken from the lot last weekend and all were taken with keys. The organized crime rings, centered in New Jersey, are gang related, said Fiscella. Typically, he said, Younger members are used to perpetuate the crimes or thefts. Fiscella said more than 90 percent of the cars stolen in Greenwich are recovered. Looking at a list of vehicles stolen in Greenwich and later retrieved by other law enforcement agencies, a majority of them were found in northern New Jersey, although a few also turned up around Connecticut, and, in isolated instances, as far as Pennsylvania and Ohio. Its not just Greenwich, Fiscella notes. Its Darien, Westport theyre all plagued with high-end auto thefts. The high-end cars that are recovered are all in perfect condition, the detective said, though in some cases thieves will try to remove any kind of GPS or tracking devices: They want the vehicles whole, they want the vehicles pristine. The stolen cars are put into containers and shipped overseas, Fiscella said, with most of the vehicles headed for Africa. At Cadillac of Greenwich, Eric Sandstrom, a vice president at the operation, knows all about the effort to steal cars and parts from dealerships, a criminal trend that became a serious problem several years ago in the field, he said. Its been ongoing, he said, with thieves also going after wheels, tires and catalytic converters in particular. In late 2021, a shipping hub in Newark was raided by police, and numerous stolen cars were recovered. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the vehicles are typically left in an open parking lot for several days, to wait and see if law enforcement authorities have tracked them. If not, the cars are then loaded onto a container ship bound for West Africa. In 2014, 160 stolen cars worth $8 million were recovered in New Jersey, and 23 alleged car traffickers were arrested. According to a statement from CBP, sophisticated organizations with transnational criminal networks are responsible for the car thefts across the country. In addition to professional thieves, juvenile thieves from around the region looking for cars to steal in Greenwich have also been a persistent problem for law enforcement, police said. Greenwich police are working with the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force and other agencies around the region to combat the problem. Police have been urging the public to remove keys and starting devices from cars, and to never leave a car with its engine running in public even for an instant. Several cars have been stolen from motorists in Greenwich while operators were running minor chores, police said. Fiscella said the department has been seeking to engage with local auto dealerships to add security features and tighten up policies on how cars are moved and stored. Sandstrom, at Cadillac of Greenwich, said his business has substantially upgraded security at the dealership over the past several years. I have motion sensitive LED lights that light the property up like a ball field, he said. He has also invested in a high-end video monitoring system, and someone in Nebraska is monitoring our cameras and suspicious activity. Sandstrom, who also operates a dealership in Fairfield, said most dealerships in the region have installed fencing in recent years. You need good defenses, he said, But if someone wants something bad enough, theyll find a way. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GARDINER, Mont. (AP) Most of Yellowstone National Park should reopen within the next two weeks much faster than originally expected after record floods pounded the region last week and knocked out major roads, federal officials said. Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said the world-renowned park will be able to accommodate fewer visitors for the time being, and it will take more time to restore road connections with some southern Montana communities. Park officials said Sunday they'll use $50 million in federal highway money to speed up road and bridge repairs. Theres still no timetable for repairs to routes between the park and areas of Montana where the recovery is expected to stretch for months. Yellowstone will partially reopen at 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than a week after more than 10,000 visitors were forced out of the park when the Yellowstone and other rivers went over their banks after being swelled by melting snow and several inches of rainfall. Only portions of the park that can be accessed along its southern loop of roads will be opened initially and access to the parks scenic backcountry will be for day hikers only. Within two weeks officials plan to also open the northern loop, after previously declaring that it would likely stay closed through the summer season. The northern loop would give visitors access to popular attractions including Tower Fall and Mammoth Hot Springs. Theyd still be barred from the Lamar Valley, which is famous for its prolific wildlife including bears, wolves and bison that can often be seen from the roadside. That would get 75 to 80% of the park back to working, National Park Service Director Charles Chuck Sams said Sunday during a visit to Yellowstone to gauge the floods effects. It will take much longer possibly years to fully restore two badly-damaged stretches of road that link the park with Gardiner to the north and Cooke City to the northeast. During a tour of damaged areas on Sunday, park officials showed reporters one of six sections of road near Gardiner where the raging floodwaters obliterated most of the roadway. Muddy water now courses through where the roadbed had been only a week ago. Trunks of huge trees litter the the surrounding canyon. With no chances for an immediate fix, Sholly said 20,000 tons of material were being hauled in to construct a temporary, alternate route along an old road that runs above the canyon. That would let employees who work at the park headquarters in Mammoth get to their homes in Gardiner, Sholly said. The temporary route also could be used by commercial tour companies that have permits to lead guided visits. We've gotten a lot more done than we thought we would a week ago, Sholly said. It's going to be a summer of adjustments. The scope of the damage is still being tallied by Yellowstone officials, but based on other national park disasters, it could take years and carry a steep price tag to rebuild in an environmentally sensitive landscape with a huge underground plumbing system where construction season only runs from the spring thaw until the first snowfall. Theyll have to look at all the resources the park is designed to protect, and try to do this project as carefully as possible, but theyre also going to try to go fairly quickly, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Montana counties have also been surveying their damages. Some of those hardest hit in the disaster far from the famous parks limelight are leaning heavily on one another to pull their lives out of the mud. In and around the agricultural community of Fromberg, the Clarks Fork River flooded almost 100 homes and badly damaged a major irrigation ditch that serves many farms. The town's mayor says about a third of the flooded homes are too far gone to be repaired. In Red Lodge, nearly 150 homes were damaged or destroyed after Rock Creek escaped its banks last week. In Park County which includes Livingston, Gardiner and Cooke City a preliminary assessment of 437 structures found three residences were destroyed, 76 had moderate to major damage and another 126 had minor damage. Eight bridges and seven roads were destroyed, while 16 commercial buildings suffered moderate to major damage, officials said. Stillwater County officials were still tallying the damage there on Monday, following heavy rains on the weekend that caused the rivers to rise again, said Rich Cowger, the fire chief in Columbus. One house at the confluence of Rosebud Creek and the Stillwater River near Absarokee remained threatened on Monday, Cowger said. If that house goes out, it's a direct threat to county infrastructure," he said. People also want to remove logjams upstream, but that could also create downstream problems, he said. Not far from the riverbank in Fromberg, Lindi O'Brien's trailer home was raised high enough to avoid major damage. But she got water in her barns and sheds, lost some of her poultry and saw her recently deceased parents' home get swamped with several feet of water. Elected officials who showed up to tour the damage in Red Lodge and Gardiner Montana tourist towns that serve as gateways to Yellowstone havent made it to Fromberg to see its devastation. O'Brien said the lack of attention is no surprise given the town's location away from major tourist routes. She's not resentful but resigned to the idea that if Fromberg is going to recover, its roughly 400 residents will have to do much of the work themselves. We take care of each other," O'Brien said as she and two longtime friends, Melody Murter and Aileen Rogers, combed through mud-caked items scattered across her property. OBrien, an art teacher for the local school, had been fixing up her parents' home with hopes of turning it into a vacation rental. Now she's not sure it's salvageable. A few blocks away, Matt Holmes combed through piles of muck and debris but could find little to save out of the trailer home that he shared with his wife and four children. Holmes had taken the day off, but said he needed to get back soon to his construction job so he could begin making money again. Whether he can bring in enough to rebuild is unclear. If not, Holmes said he may move the family to Louisiana, where they have relatives. I want to stay in Montana. I don't know if we can, he said. ___ Hanson reported from Helena. OPINION 2022 On this page you will find a collection of opinion pieces. Opinion pieces provide detailed viewpoints written by groundWork staff and researchers. Most of these items will also appear in the press, both print and online. Africa Day 2022 - Africa you are on your own. 25 May 2022 Today we celebrate Africa Day. A day where Africas strength and connection to the world is considered. But the world in which Africa operates is not just. At a time where we need to consider the past inhumanity of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and forge a united future where we can all live in solidarity and equity with each other the opposite is in motion. These are some of groundWorks reflections about how things change and yet stay the same. This past weekend, Durban my hometown on the east coast of South Africa was besieged by flooding for the second time in two months. The April 2022 floods resulted in the deaths of 443 people and even today, 22nd May, more than fifty people are missing. Families have given up hope of finding their loved ones. The floods touched us not only as activists, but also in our personal lives as many of us experienced what our fellow Africans experience now close to an annual reality of flooding and lost loved ones. Friends in Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Malawi and the other parts of this planet called home, we now understand your pain and suffering. To begin reflection on African Day within the context of solidarity and climate justice, let us reflect on recent global events, especially those emerging out of Europe that undermines any promises of solidarity and any hope of a just transition. The brutality and overtness of colonialism and neo-colonialism has been replaced by sophistication and stealth, as was demonstrated by the US and Germany at the recent Kathmandu climate finance obligations discussions, hidden away from the mainstream media and excluding a strong civil society presence. The US and Germany questioned the decades long agreement on how climate finance should be considered, questioning in a sophisticated manner the very simple reality of developed and developing countries. From the outset, the most prominent finance fight in the world climate finance and reparations was watered down. As reported by the Third World Network, the fight was over country classifications based on the fundamental bifurcation of development levels viz. developing countries and developed countries. Essentially this move pushed to undermine their climate finance obligations to the developing countries, which is firmly embedded in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement (PA). All this was done far from the prying eyes of the public. The crisis in Ukraine ever present in our news is enabling Europeans to spin a narrative that places Africa and the world in danger, by continuing to push for increasing extraction of fossil fuel. The renewable energy power plan (REPowerEU) says: We want to build long-term partnerships that are mutually beneficial boosting renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency around the globe and cooperating on green technology and innovation. This sounds noble and it might even have a hint of global solidarity in it. But the leaked EU Energy Strategy - now called EU external energy engagement in a changing world, clearly articulates intentions to secure more oil and gas, rather than shift to renewable energy as soon as possible. It says: the REPower EU Plan aims to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas and before this summer, the EU aims to conclude a trilateral agreement with Egypt and Israel on supplying Europe with LNG. Further, it focuses on countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular in Western Africa, such as Nigeria, Senegal, and Angola, which offer untapped LNG potential. Clearly, the EU is speaking with a forked tongue. What the EU should be doing now, is cutting their addiction to fossil fuel. Recently, taking this a push for fossil fuels further, Germany, Italy and Japan have been in the news, on the back of the Russian invasion. They are seeking to increase coal imports and to recommission decommissioned coal fired power stations. And at the same time, they expect the Global South to stop digging and burning coal. As Southern activist, we demand that our Northern counterparts challenge this with deep passion and urgency. On the issue of refugees, the adoption of a bilateral agreement to relocate asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda, where their cases will be processed. If they are granted asylum, they will be encouraged to remain in Rwanda for at least five years. While the UK has exited the EU, the EU is not unfamiliar with this approach. The Conversation reported that it is part of a wider strategy deployed by the powerful governments of richer nations, from Australia to the EU, to discourage unwanted arrivals by creating conditions that are hostile or inhumane. The ongoing undemocratic practices within Africa must also be questions. A call for solidarity was made from Australians who are campaigning for freedom and democracy in Western Sahara, to push back against the West African Oil and Gas pipeline that will cut through Western Sahara on its way to Morocco, and then continue to Europe. This is across land that is occupied by Morocco and where Morocco seeks falsely to establish a presence. Finally, the Swedish government, has on the back of the Ukrainian crisis, cut development aid and the support to those fighting for a just and dignity. In the context of the issues raised, there is a critical need for all people in Europe to lead in solidarity and to question the actions in Europe (including the UK), and the powerful Global North, and to continue supporting those of us who are struggling in the Global South. It is critical that progressive civil society in the Global North looks beyond the aid paradigm, and wrestles with a politic that encourages and supports global humanity. We also need to understand the conflict moving forward and realise that its purpose is to expand military power, military budgets and the arms industry, and then question who or what the threat is. Sweden is cutting budgets under the guise of support for Ukraine, saying that Ukraine is more important than the deep global crisis we have in terms of refugees and undemocracy. As the Swedish United Nations Association has articulated: The reception of Ukrainian refugees unavoidably will have an effect on the state budget. However, it should not be to the detriment of the world's poorest people. People made poor because of the extractive development forced upon them by Europe, neo-colonialism, and large financial institutions such as the World Bank. What also affects state budgets is the increase in state military spending and its links to arms corporations. Sweden has sufficient resources not to have to cut budgets, and would have further resources by not squandering money on militarism. Under these circumstances, we have to ask: Who is The Threat that is mobilising the expanded spend on militarism? These are the thoughts we have on this Africa Day. We are willing to engage with Europeans to develop a strong solidarity position that must take action on Ukraine, but which is not limited to Ukraine. Let us remember there are global challenges also in Syria, Sri Lanka, and the Western Sahara, to mention a few. As Sweden hosts fifty years on from the first global summit on environment and development that was held in Stockholm in 1972, gains by the feminist and peoples movements on the rights of women, the environment and peace, are all being challenged by conservatives and by war mongers and this is leading to food shortages across the globe and other injustices. A positive future requires that we all remain true to agree on common values and principles. Europe cannot now go back on energy commitments. We will fight side-by-side and support people in their struggles for change on the ground and be prepared to go to prison for this and we will also seek to engage as part of the system of governance that support an equitable society. A Luta Continua Bobby Peek Bobby Peek is Director at groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa and a Commissioner in the Presidential Climate Commission Earlier this year Chinas BOE had reportedly struck a deal with Apple to supply OLED display panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. That deal seemed to be in question back in May as BOE had altered the display circuit design which prompted Apple to halt its orders. Now, South Koreas The Elec is reporting that Apple is re-evaluating sample BOE displays and may proceed to place a large-scale order. Based on sources close to the matter, if BOE receives a green light from Cupertino it would try to begin maximum capacity display production between July and August. The new report specifies that the BOE OLED panels would be used for the iPhone 14 and 14 Max while the iPhone 14 Pro series would get Samsung and LG panels instead. Source Last year Motorola returned to the tablet market with the basic Tab G20, then released the more capable Tab G70 this January. Now the brand is working at a model in between those two the Moto Tab G62 was spotted on the Google Play Console. Unfortunately, most details are still under wraps, but we have two model numbers XT2261-1 and XT2261-2. Looking at the marketing names for the two, its clear that the second one will have 4G connectivity. Update: A few more details have surfaced, thanks to Abhishek Yadav. The Wi-Fi only model will be powered by a Snapdragon 678, the 4G model will use a Snapdragon 665. Both are 11nm chipsets, one from 2020 and one from 2019, respectively. Motorola Moto Tab G62 Specs by Google Play Console The chipset will be paired with 4GB of RAM and will run Android 12 out of the box. The display will have 2,000 x 1,200px resolution. The rest of the original post follows below: That was the case with the Moto Tab G70 as well, an 11 tablet powered by the Helio G90T. It launched in India and Brazil with Android 11, 4/64GB memory (expandable with a microSD slot) and a 7,700mAh battery with 20W fast charging. By the way, there is also a Moto G62, a 5G phone powered by the Snapdragon 480+. There is probably no relation between the G62 and Tab G62 beyond the name. It may instead be related to a Lenovo tablet e.g. the Tab G70 is based on the Lenovo Tab P11 Plus. Source Experts ask US officials to view display industry as key national security asset amid China's growing influence By Kim Yoo-chul One of the key lessons the United States has learned from its trade conflict with China, which has caused supply chain issues that also led to worsening political and economic relations between the world's biggest economies, is that having a high level of manufacturing capability has even larger implications for national security. Washington's launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is aimed at regrouping advanced democracies amid the rise of some autocratic states such as China, which U.S. President Joe Biden described as " a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies." The alliance of techno-democracies protects technologies seen as critical such as 5G, quantum communication, facial recognition and AI in their rivalry with China, with the help of its Asian allies. Korea and Taiwan are the leaders in semiconductors, and keep these high-tech ecosystems afloat. Given the Biden administration's focus on the battery industry is also intended to keep the battery supply chain strong as batteries' importance starts to grow, experts said it's worth paying more attention to the display industry from a national security perspective too. China outpacing IPEF members to become global display leader While more in-depth discussions are needed on the rather vague IPEF agenda, experts said like semiconductors and the battery industry, it's reasonable for U.S. officials to apply "place-focused approaches" to the display industry. An aerial view of LG Display's complex in Paju, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file "The Biden administration is viewing semiconductors and displays as important engines of economic competitiveness and pillars of national security, because bulking up the manufacturing capacity of these parts creates new jobs and offers value-focused growth opportunities. But the display industry is also following the semiconductor industry in becoming a significant high-tech industry with only a few industry players most of which are based in Korea, Taiwan and Japan which have proven manufacturing capability," a senior trade ministry official told The Korea Times. According to his analysis, the main reason that the display industry is receiving less attention is the fact that, unlike semiconductors and batteries, no "big name" companies have large-scale flat-screen factories in the United States, mostly due to cost factors. The IPEF could encourage the shifting of supply chains in critical industries, away from China and toward member states, potentially creating new manufacturing jobs in the United States. Taiwanese display company Foxconn is operating a plant in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. "From the job market standpoint, the magnitude of the display industry in the United States is quite small compared to that of the battery and semiconductor industries which have already won huge foreign investment and conducted massive amounts of recruitment. It's very unlikely that the U.S. government will react too quickly to the rise of Chinese companies in the display industry. But if China tightens its control in the global display market, then it may lead to supply chain disruptions," the official said. The key question is how the U.S. and Korean governments could react to the growing influence of China in the global display industry, given the fact that the U.S.' industry and military are struggling to acquire advanced displays outside of China. Because of the souring bilateral ties, supplying the U.S. military with Chinese display products won't work. How fruitful a U.S.-led technology alliance would be and how effectively it manages key stakeholders' participation is in question. Political and industry analysts say that the display industry could be treated as a "hidden axis" in terms of backing Washington's pursuit of strengthening the technology alliance, as U.S. politicians are still concerned about the possible risks associated with products from Chinese tech companies. The intersection between advanced displays and the automotive and aerospace industries is becoming very clear. Displays have become an integral part of daily life. China is outpacing Korea in LCDs. Last year, the combined global share by Chinese companies in LCDs was 40.4 percent, followed by Korean companies with 36.3 percent, according to market research firms. An aerial view of Samsung Display's display complex in Tangjeong, Asan, South Chungcheong Province / Korea Times file In general, the display market is no longer lucrative. Supply chain analyst Ross Young at Display Supply Chain Consulting (DSCC) said this year would be the "worst of times" as everything is going wrong for the display industry lower units, lower prices, loosening supply, higher costs and lower margins. Prices are expected to fall. Plus, Young said that there will be a large drop in capital spending throughout the next year and that he expects extra capacity will come from offline sources, another negative factor in the threat to firms' bottom line. Samsung retired its LCD business as of this month, while its chief rival LG Display is also cutting its production of LCDs. Korea still beats China in next-gen OLED tech Meanwhile, Korea is still leading over China when it comes to the level of technology applied to manufacturing OLEDs, considered the next generation of displays for use in all advanced and high-tech products as both Samsung and LG pioneered the market. "Given Chinese companies' growing influence in the display industry, it will be worthwhile for Washington's policymakers to view the display industry as a national security asset just like semiconductors and batteries," said Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities in Seoul. An expert in the display industry said that if China expands its influence in the OLED market, then this will give Beijing a lot of power, helping it control supply and even the development environment of the technology in the future. "If China controls the global display market including OLEDs then this may lead to the industry seeing another supply crunch. Assuming that displays are also treated like toilet paper and COVID face masks, which at one point were scarce due to supply chain issues, Washington and Seoul policymakers will need to take steps to keep the OLED supply chain working," Moon Kook-chul, a professor at Gachon University in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, was quoted as saying in a recent YouTube interview with the elec, a local tech media outlet. Moon has worked at Samsung's display business, as well as LG and a Chinese display firm. Currently, China's display industry is entering its second five-year plan and will be self-sufficient by 2025. 'Supply-push approach' Washington's strategy for its semiconductor and battery industries is represented by the combination of "demand-pull" and "supply-push" approaches. Experts say it could be an idea for the U.S. to apply a "supply-push" for the display industry offering incentives and providing financing for manufacturers while increasing funding for research projects in advanced technologies. Representatives at Samsung Display and LG Display said they have no comments regarding the possibility of establishing OLED plants in the United States. Nevertheless, one high-ranking executive at Samsung's partner company in Korea said he was hoping to see the role of advanced displays discussed between trade policymakers in the United States and Korea from a national security standpoint, and why the buildup of resilient supply chains of these advanced displays matters. He added that the governments in the United States and Korea should let Korean display manufacturers counter Chinese companies. Former Vice President Mike Pence is seen through an LCD as he speaks at the Gas Energy Education Program roundtable discussion at Enerfab in Kansas City, Missouri, June 16. AP-Yonhap These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Oral arguments on a motion to dismiss charges filed by the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority against Del. Michael San Nicolas and his father were rescheduled pending the outcome of a decision in a similar case. San Nicolas and his father, Miguel San Nicolas, face charges connected to receiving payments as landlords of property under the GHURA program, despite public officials and their immediate family members being barred from benefitting from the program, according to GHURAs complaint. On Monday morning at the Superior Court of Guam, Joseph Razzano, the attorney for Del. San Nicolas and his father, was set to argue for the dismissal of the charges with GHURAs attorney Joseph McDonald, but Judge Dana Gutierrez decided to move the hearing date to wait for a decision in a similar case. The case Gutierrez referred to also involves GHURA filing a civil lawsuit against former Sen. Dennis Rodriguezs sister Antoinette who also is accused of receiving payments as a GHURA landlord while her brother was a senator. Gutierrez in March ordered Antoinette Rodriguezs charges be dismissed. However, GHURA has asked for a reconsideration. Gutierrez said the pending decision for reconsideration has issues that overlap and could affect the outcome of the San Nicolas case so she thought it best to deal with the reconsideration before the San Nicolas case moves forward. Gutierrez said there will be a hearing date for Antoinette Rodriguez set in the next couple of days. More input will be needed from the public before lawmakers weigh legislation to cap the profits of local gas companies, or further slash taxes on fuel, in the hopes of combating historically high gas prices. Lawmakers voted last week to suspend taxes on liquid fuel for six months through Sen. Joe San Agustins Bill 295, but met only briefly Monday before concluding an emergency session spurred by the climbing price at the pump. Bill 295 would amount to a reduction of 23 cents in taxes and surcharges per gallon of regular gas if signed into law, which senators hope will translate into savings for consumers. But Sen. Clynt Ridgell proposes taking further steps by capping the price of fuel at the landed price per gallon plus 20% through his Bill 320. The bill notes the desire for a balance between the landed price of gas on Guam and the oil companies desire to make a profit. Lack of competition It points to the lack of competition reflected by identical gas prices at the three main gas companies on Guam as justification for the extraordinary step, which would be enforced by a $1,000 per day fine. While the measure was on the emergency session agenda, it had not received a public hearing, committee report, or note from the Bureau of Budget and Management Research detailing its fiscal impact. Ridgell, the only senator to vote against suspending fuel taxes last week, wanted senators to entertain the legislation on Monday. San Agustin, chair of the Committee of the whole, initially asked that discussion be delayed until the afternoon so that experts could be brought in to respond to questions. Im not going to object to it, but there are quite a few people to be invited Im communicating with the attorney generals office, and theyre also asking for industry representatives to be here, and also the economist, he said. His motion failed and, after a brief recess, San Agustin came back and asked that the bill be sent back to committee to receive a public hearing. This second motion passed, despite an objection from Ridgell. Also moving back to committee will be Sen. James Moylans Bill 290, to cut business privilege taxes applied to the retail sales of fuel for two years. It would also require fuel retailers to display on their receipts what amount of the cost goes toward business privilege taxes. According to the senator, the cut would amount to about 32 cents in savings per gallon of regular fuel. The measure is estimated to cost GovGuam between $35.3 million and $44.3 million, and requires the equivalent of two new employees to be hired by the Department of Revenue and Taxation, according to its fiscal note. Moylan himself withdrew the bill from session Friday so that it could receive a public hearing. As of Monday, neither measure had a public hearing date. Bill 290 was introduced on April 7, and Bill 320 was introduced June 16. Officials from the Guam Visitors Bureau on Monday responded to objections over using millions in federal pandemic recovery money to turn the park at Ypao Beach into a smart park and tourist attraction. Gov. Lou would not let us proceed if we disenfranchise (locals), GVB President Carl Gutierrez said of the plans for Ypao. First and foremost is the local use, and tourists may come in and use it too. Gutierrez spoke during a budget request hearing for GVB. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero gave GVB $20 million in American Rescue Plan Funding for the Ypao project, which has an early ballpark cost of $50 million. Federal spending guidance on the ARP funds broadly allows for spending to support the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, which were impacted by the pandemic. The proposal includes plans for a cultural center, three-story commercial building, exercise area, playground and revamping park facilities. Its billed as Tano I Famaguon or the land of the children. GVB Vice President Gerry Perez said that the first goal of the park, which will be embedded with CHamoru cultural icons, is to give residents more outdoor recreation opportunities and the chance to learn about CHamoru culture. That will be leveraged to improve the destination experience for visitors. Upgrading the park could also breathe life into the nearby Saggan Kotturan CHamoru cultural center, Perez said. That place, except for a few times a year, is dying. The move is part of a larger paradigm shift that GVB envisions for branding the island, Gutierrez said. We have gone back to the very essence of what we did in 1967 when tourism opened up, he said, stressing that Guam had originally sold itself on its natural beauty and the culture of the CHamoru people. We kind of forgot about the real reason why people want to come to Guam, he said, and shifted to building as many hotels as possible and providing cheap airline flights. He said the Ypao project was a jumping-off-point for tourism, which stagnated since the last big leap: developing the Pleasure Island district of Tumon in the 90s. Since then, 20-some years ago, nothing really big has come about to reshape and show that Guam is nothing more than a few hotels for you to stay, and beaches in front of your hotels, he said. The park could also be used to spur development in the area, Gutierrez added, and GVB was in talks with owners of property adjacent to Ypao Beach to develop a new resort. GVB also hopes to create a new parking area for Tumon atop the coral pit across the street through a public-private partnership, which could house a monorail or automated bus system for the village. GVB is asking for a budget of $26.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year. Tourism updateGuams tourism numbers for fiscal year 2022 remain at about 83% of what they were pre-pandemic, Perez said, and recovery of the international tourism market across the globe remains slow. But Guam appears to be on a more stable recovery path, with Korea reopening and travel restrictions easing, he said. The island in May breached 20,000 visitor arrivals for the first time since 2020. Despite a dip in arrivals during the early part of the year due to lingering fear about the omicron variant, arrivals were on track to hit the 130,000 visitors projected for fiscal 2022. At the start of fiscal 2020, the island had nearly 160,000 visitors a month. Board troubles GVB Board meetings were suspended on May 12, following accusations lodged by Gutierrez against the board, including violations of the open government law. Perez said the bureau has established a Business Risk Compliance & Control committee, to review whether the bylaws of the board were consistent with Guam law. Meetings will be paused until the review is completed. This is organized under President Carls plenary authority over GVB administrative business. And President Carl did this to address and to clarify once and for all, incongruence between GVB enabling statute and the bylaws, because this has been a source of discord between some of the board members with respect to policy and their advisory role, and managements responsibility and administrative role. The committee is made up of Gutierrez; Perez; Joe McDonald, legal counsel attorney; and Ron Aguon, University of Guam professor of public administration. Perez said the committee will complete a review in 60 to 90 days. A decision is expected soon on whether to throw out a lawsuit that would require the military to stop detonating hazardous munitions along Tarague Beach at Andersen Air Force Base. Thats according to senior attorney David Henkin of Earthjustice, who is representing the nonprofit Prutehi Litekyan in its suit against the Department of the Air Force, secretary of the Air Force, Department of Defense and the secretary of defense. Henkin said District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood would be taking up the case and ruling on the militarys motion to dismiss the case. A date has yet to be set on when arguments will be heard, as Tydingco-Gatewood has been wrapped up in a lengthy criminal trial. He hopes Tydingco-Gatewoods decision would come relatively quickly. The parties agreed not to take the suit to trial at a May 30 scheduling conference. If the suit isnt thrown out, the Air Force will have to put together a record of every document it considered when it decided to reapply in 2021 for its permit to continue operating the open burn and open detonation units at Andersen. The units have been in operation since 1980, though the burn pit hasnt been used since 2002. The permit with the Guam Environmental Protection Agency has to be renewed every three years. Guam EPA officials, during an oversight hearing in October, said the detonation unit was the only way to dispose of munitions and found ordinance dating to World War II. Compounds containing carcinogens such as uranium and strontium are permitted for disposal. Failure to comply Prutehi Litekyan asserts the military failed to comply with a necessary environmental analysis under the National Environmental Protection Act when it reapplied. The military contends that because of Guam EPAs permitting process, the act doesnt apply and that even if it did, the May 2015 Mariana Islands Training & Testing Activities Final Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement already took into account ordinance disposal at the range where the burn and detonation units are located. If Tydingco-Gatewood doesnt throw the case out, the Air Force will have 90 days from her decision to prepare the administrative record used to justify its reapplication for the burn and detonation units, court documents show. Henkin said hell then have 30 days to review the documents before arguing on how the suit should be judged. Prutehi Litekyan wants the Air Force to be barred from operating the burn and detonation units until it complies with the National Environmental Protection Act, including consideration of using alternative technologies and moving ordinance disposal off Guam. Henkin said Earthjustice is hopeful to have the suit resolved before the end of the year, because the plaintiffs are injured as this activity continues. Final agency action The militarys motion to dismiss rests on the argument the U.S. government retains sovereign immunity from lawsuits that dont challenge final agency action. The reapplication for a permit with Guam EPA, which it argues is the only action challenged in the suit, is not a major action. There is no undue hardship because there is no final agency action, and AAFB cannot operate the OB/OD Facility on the basis of the application alone, a May 15 brief filed in support of the motion to dismiss states. Prutehi Litekyan faces no harm from the permit application and the court doesnt have jurisdiction over the matter, the military asserts. Henkin said correspondence with the Air Force showed the only reason Guam EPA allowed it to continue operating the burn and detonation units was that it reapplied for the permit, which is still under review. For the last nine months, the sole justification, this whole legal justification for blowing stuff up on the beach, is that they sought another three-year permit, he said. We encourage the Air Force to think long and hard about whether this is something that it wants to fight over or whether it wants to be transparent and accountable to the people of Guam, he said. He wants Guam EPA to reexamine why it permitted the open burn and open detonation units when safer alternatives were available. On June 7, the U.S. EPA released a memorandum to all state and territorial environmental agencies on open burn and detonation pits. The memo notes that open burn and open detonation have been banned since 1980, except for explosives with no safe mode of treatment. It cites separate 2019 reports from the U.S. EPA and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that document safe alternatives for disposing of waste explosives. Regions, states and territories must not permit OB/OD units that do not meet existing requirements. In addition, permitting authorities should consider the guidance described in this memorandum before permitting OB/OD units, the memo states. It acknowledges that some explosives do not have safe alternatives, but that OB/OD facilities must evaluate and reevaluate whether safe alternative technologies are available to treat their waste explosives. Where safe alternatives are available, facilities must use those alternatives in lieu of OB/OD. On Thursday, officials from Guam EPA said during a budget hearing that its regulatory framework was out of date and had to be updated, and that the agency didnt have adequate staffing to fulfill its mandates as the military buildup enters its peak next year. Former Gov. Carl TC Gutierrez is the president and CEO of Guam Visitors Bureau, permit czar and chairman of the Governors Economic Strategy Council. Send comments or questions to GVB at communityrelations@visitguam.org. Former Gov. Carl TC Gutierrez is the president and CEO of Guam Visitors Bureau, permit czar and chairman of the Governors Economic Strategy Council. Send comments or questions to GVB at communityrelations@visitguam.org. AMD's Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 lineup could include a Ryzen 9 7950X Flagship. AMD's next-generation CPUs will use the Zen 4 CPU. A leaked photograph from AMD China's "dealer promotion meeting" yesterday suggests Socket AM5 CPUs will be released on September 15. The business could unveil the Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7800X, and Ryzen 5 7600X. These SKUs replace 5950X, 5900X, 5800X, and 5600X. AMD recently told us that 16-core/32-thread is the limit for the 7000 series, making the 7950X such a CPU. All these devices feature Socket AM5, PCI-Express Gen 5, and DDR5 connections. A photo has recently surfaced on Twitter via the @wxnod account, most likely from a Chinese AMD dealer briefing. It was apparently about the upcoming Ryzen series, and the presentation artwork for the AM5 socket indicates that it will go on sale on September 15th. The Ryzen 5000 was introduced in November 2020, therefore the Ryzen 7000 release date would be surprising. Whether the photo is authentic cannot be confirmed. The date should therefore be viewed with a certain degree of skepticism. Another rumor is that a Socket AM4 CPU with Zen 4 chiplets is said to be compatible with the existing cIOD, which supports PCI-Express Gen 4 and DDR4 interfaces. The story began with supply-chain sources (resellers). AMD is unsure whether it can target the low-end market with AM5 and whether low-cost DDR5 will arrive on time. Zen 4 + AM4 motherboards with DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4 connectivity would compete with Intel 600-series chipset motherboards. If that date is correct, we'll be there in less than three months. President Yoon Suk-yeol answers reporters' questions on his way to the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps Yoon hints at disclosure of information about death of fisheries official By Nam Hyun-woo A feud between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, deepened Monday after Yoon hinted at disclosing information that was sealed during the previous administration. Yoon's move came as the main opposition party accused him and the ruling party of stoking anti-communist sentiments by linking the death of a fisheries official to the Moon administration's attempt to curry favor with the communist North Korea. During an impromptu meeting with reporters, Monday, Yoon showed his intention to disclose more information that the Moon administration refused to reveal. "It has been my position that the government should defend the spirit of the Constitution such as free democracy and the rule of law," Yoon said when asked whether he was willing to disclose information sealed during the Moon administration. "The country's top priority is to protect its people, and it will be problematic if the government is reluctant to address any questions raised by the public related to this," he added. The fisheries official was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers near the western sea border on Sept. 22, 2020, after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection boat. The Moon administration explained that the official, Lee Dae-joon, appeared to have attempted to defect to North Korea, but the bereaved family has strongly questioned the announcement, demanding the presidential office reveal information related to the case. The bereaved family filed a suit against the Moon Jae-in administration to reveal information related to the official's death. An administrative court ruled in favor of the bereaved family, but the Moon Jae-in administration appealed that ruling. After Yoon became president, the presidential office withdrew that appeal. Also, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense reversed the Moon government's explanation, saying they failed to find evidence proving Lee's intention to defect to the North. As a result, the presidential office is now reviewing all lawsuits on information that the previous government has refused to disclose. "We are now looking into overall cases, without specifying a certain one," an official at the presidential office said. One such lawsuit is related to expenditures for former first lady Kim Jung-sook's clothing. Along with the presidential office's efforts to reveal the Moon government's sealed information, the prosecution is now investigating Baek Woon-gyu, who served as the industry minister during the Moon administration. Baek is under fire for allegedly forcing 13 chiefs of public agencies under the ministry to resign after Moon took office in May 2017. Democratic Party of Korea interim chief Woo Sang-ho speaks during the party's emergency committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps Former President Moon Jae-in poses before his portrait at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential office in Jongno District, Seoul, May 3. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seog Haiti - UN : Intervention of the Haitian Chancellor Geneus front the Security Council Thursday, June 16 in the afternoon front the UN Security Council several country representatives spoke on the situation in Haiti, including Jean Victor Geneus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Haiti. Chancellor Geneus highlighted multiple challenges, such as gang violence and deteriorating security, cited in the Secretary General's report https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/SGreport-on-BINUH-EN.pdf and affirmed that the Haitian authorities were not standing idly. "The Government is doing everything possible to normalize the situation and the National Police of Haiti have dismantled many gangs. The Government has also decided to spare no effort to release resources for the National Police. Warning that gangs are acquiring armored vehicles and lethal weapons through smuggling Jean Victor Geneus, declared "[...] it is urgent that the National Police receive, in the coming days, and not in the weeks or months to come strong support from international partners to end to this unacceptable situation." "Friends of Haiti must be determined to quickly provide equipment, training and other support to help the National Police restore security." The Chancellor highlighted the assistance from the United States, Canada and France and also noted the bilateral support provided by other UN Member States. He said he took note of the creation of the multi-donor pooled fund of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) to help fight gang violence and organized crime, he called for increasing the capacity of BINUH to deal with the unprecedented level of violence and crime in the country. "Security is a public good and a priority for the government and people of Haiti. It is not conceivable to hold free democratic elections in the current environment," he said, adding "It is also imperative to address structural issues, such as the dysfunctional judiciary, corruption and smuggling" calling for concerted international action. Chancellor Geneus explained "To restore and provide basic services, the National Police must take back territory from the gangs. Haiti cannot lose sight of the important point, that "a lasting solution can be made possible through long-term economic development," he said, drawing links between the level of crime and extreme poverty.. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36950-haiti-politic-the-situation-in-haiti-is-alarming-france-s-intervention-at-the-un.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36946-haiti-un-intervention-at-the-security-council-of-the-united-states-on-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36945-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36934-haiti-un-the-situation-of-haiti-before-the-security-council.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Economy : Everything is out of control ! In a note, Wilhelm Lemke President of the Council of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH) once again urges the Government "[...] to take its responsibilities faced the deterioration of the living conditions of the population abandoned to herself. He invites the Government to restore, immediately, order and peace in the country delivered to the hands of armed gangs for too long already. The Government of the Republic of Haiti helplessly assists in the decay of all public authorities. Everything is out of control ! The ADIH is more than worried and exasperated by the pace of the socio-political crisis and The country is at the bottom of the abyss. Criminality, lack of dialogue, progressive loss of control of certain geographical areas of the country, are all factors that plunge the Nation into this unprecedented chaos that we are currently experiencing. For about a month, the General Administration of Customs (AGD) has been on strike, paralyzing the daily activities of our members, importers and exporters in general, causing shortages of basic necessities, also causing serious losses related the impossibility of exporting national production; "[...] The whole country is a victim of acts of kidnapping that must stop !" People need to go about their business in peace. It is a fundamental right of which she is deprived. The Government must take the appropriate measures to combat insecurity, restore confidence among the population, but also allow companies, providers of employment, to ensure the continuity of their operations. Several companies are preparing to suspend their activities permanently, due to the insecurity that has persisted. Added to all this, the constant shortage of fuel, the daily gang thefts etc... The Haitian population is exhausted !" HL/ HaitiLibre Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Monday asked Robert Clark, co-chair of the Minnesota USA Expo 2027 organization, to support South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southern port city of Busan. During their meeting in Paris, Han told Clark that Busan would be the right city to host the event because the city has emerged as a hub of logistics and digital industry from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to Han's office. Han told Clark that Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, is "a case of the transition from an underdeveloped nation to a state-of-the-art technology nation." If Busan hosts the 2030 World Expo, South Korea would display efforts for transition in terms of pending global issues, including climate change, inequality and health, Han told Clark, according to Han's office. Han was accompanied by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who doubles as the chief of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon. Chey told reporters he will make utmost efforts to help South Korea win the bid to host the 2030 expo. "We will try to get as much support as we can," Chey told reporters ahead of the meeting between Han and Clark. (Yonhap) News Release June 19, 2022 Contact information Appointments open for vaccinating children under 5 at the Mall of America State run site one of many options for parents, along with pediatricians, local clinics and pharmacies Today, the State of Minnesota announced that appointments at the state-run Mall of America COVID-19 vaccination site are now open for Minnesota children between 6 months and 5 years old. This follows final authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for this age group, which was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over the weekend. Parents can now book appointments for the Pfizer vaccine at the Mall of America site online by going to: Community Vaccination for COVID-19. The Mall of America vaccination site is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 1:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. Appointments are required for children 6 months to 5 years at the Mall of America, and initial demand is expected to be high. While the state-run Mall of America vaccination site is one option for parents, Minnesotas provider network primarily large medical systems, pediatricians, local clinics, and pharmacies will administer most COVID-19 vaccines to children between 6 months and 5 years old because of their expertise caring for young children. Vaccine shipments are expected to arrive to Minnesota providers in waves over the next week. This is an important and exciting time for many families as our youngest Minnesotans can now receive important protection against COVID-19 through vaccination, said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm. We know that even young children can get very sick from this virus, and thats why its important for all of us to continue doing everything we can to protect our loved ones and our communities from COVID-19. Now is a great time to make sure the entire family is up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. Minnesota pediatricians and health care providers also echoed this excitement about todays news. Parents and families have been struggling for 2 years to keep their children healthy, and for the youngest ones who couldn't wear a mask, this often meant keeping them at home. But now, our youngest patients from 6 months to 5 years old, will finally be able to receive a vaccine that will help protect them against this virus, said Dr. Sheldon Berkowitz, president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MNAAP). MNAAP, representing nearly 1,000 pediatricians around the state, is thrilled to see this day arrived when now all of our children and youth 6 months and older will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination. We encourage all parents to get their children in for these and any other routine vaccinations they may need, and if they have older children who have also not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, to bring them in also. Parents now have the choice to vaccinate our youngest children against COVID-19 with a safe and effective vaccine, said Dr. Nathan Chomilo pediatrician at Park Nicollet and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. As a pediatrician, I look forward to counseling parents of young children on their decision to vaccinate and being able to offer them a way to help decrease the suffering caused by COVID-19. Families can now feel assured that there are safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to protect our youngest kids from severe illness, too, said Dr. Gigi Chawla, vice president and chief of general pediatrics at Childrens Minnesota. The data is remarkably clear that vaccination is the best way to protect our children and communities. As a parent and a pediatrician, I encourage all families to get their eligible kids vaccinated. Many of usparents and families, child care and preschool professionals, pediatricians and other health care professionalshave been waiting for a COVID vaccine to help protect infants and children 6 months to 5 years of age from this deadly virus. These now well-studied vaccines are a critical addition to families' toolkits for keeping their youngest children safe, said Dr. Iris Borowsky, director of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health at the University of Minnesota and pediatrician at Community-University Health Care Center. In rolling out this vaccine, we must use all we have learned about centering community and justice to be trustworthy and support vaccine confidence and accessibility. As a family physician, Im so pleased that our youngest Minnesotans are finally eligible for COVID vaccinations. Vaccinations are an integral tool for keeping kids and our communities healthy, said Dr. Deb Dittberner, president of Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians. Please connect with your health care provider to discuss your questions about vaccinations. We are here to help you navigate these important decisions and to partner with you to keep your kids safe and healthy. A network of providers mobilized by the Walz-Flanagan Administration will also offer the vaccine to families. Initial demand is expected to be high, and families wishing to get the vaccine in a specific location such as through their family pediatrician may need to wait several weeks until appointments are available. Providers can be found using the Find Vaccine Locations map, which will be updated as vaccines arrive in Minnesota. Initially, appointments may be limited. More than 320 primary care providers, pediatric and family medicine offices, Federally Qualified Health Centers, local public health agencies, tribal health offices, and Indian Health Service locations report that they will offer the vaccine to children between six months and five years old. Of these, 268 providers say they will begin vaccinating within one week of receiving their doses. At least 44 Minute Clinic locations around Minnesota say they will vaccinate children between 18 months and five years old. All 44 of these Minute Clinic locations say they will begin vaccinating within one week of receiving their doses. At least 50 Minnesota pharmacies say they will vaccinate children between 3 years old and five years old. 44 of these pharmacy locations say they will begin vaccinating within one week of receiving their doses. The states Community Vaccination location at the Mall of America will begin administering the vaccine as soon as Wednesday, June 22. To expand equal access to the vaccine, 21 COVID-19 Community Coordinators will host vaccination clinics for children under 5 in communities around Minnesota in the weeks ahead. Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Health is partnering with Childrens Minnesota to host weekly vaccination clinics at four Childrens clinic locations in the metro: West Saint Paul, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, and Saint Paul. All families, including those who are not Childrens patients, are welcome. How families can get a free COVID-19 shot: Contact your or your childs primary health care provider or a local pharmacy. Use the states Find Vaccine Locations to find vaccine providers near you. Parents can also visit mn.gov/vaxforkids for more information. Check for vaccine appointments at Vaccines.gov, where you can search for appointments by vaccine type (e.g., Pfizer). Watch for vaccination clinics being offered at other community locations around Minnesota. How Minnesotans can get a COVID-19 test: Walk in or schedule an appointment for a test at one of the states free COVID-19 Community Testing Sites. Test-to-treat options are available at some locations. Order rapid testing test through the states free COVID-19 at-home rapid testing program, or from CovidTests.gov. Check with your insurance company about ways to get free rapid testing from pharmacies. Find a testing option near you through the states Find Testing Locations map. Questions about COVID-19: Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 Public Hotline: 1-833-431-2053, Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. -MDH- Andrea Ahneman MDH Communications andrea.ahneman@state.mn.us By Stephane Duguin Advances in technology have always transformed military doctrine and have influenced developments in the law of armed conflict to constrain how conflict is waged. This can be seen in particular in the rules of the Geneva Conventions which prohibit the use of weapons that cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering. One hundred days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are witnessing a paradigm shift. The interconnection (and synchronization) of traditional military attacks with massive disinformation operations and campaigns of cyberattacks has enormous implications for cyberspace. This invasion, and the massive use of digital means, has opened a new era in armed conflicts. The scale of the use of digital means of warfare is unprecedented. Whether through cyberattacks on systems, disinformation campaigns, or digital surveillance, the use of digital means is directly implicating factors such as time (when the war started), space (where the war is taking place) and the belligerents (who engage in the war). Indeed, in cyberspace, the war in Ukraine did not start on Feb. 24, 2022, is not limited to the Russian and Ukrainian borders, and is not fought exclusively by the military. This reality is fundamental to thinking about the attribution of cyberattacks, the investigation of war crimes, and even the humanitarian needs of the civilian population. It has been well documented that the Russian authorities and Russian-speaking criminal groups were at work long before the invasion: data theft, as well as intrusion and tracking of systems, enabled the creation of useful information for the war effort. At the same time, destructive cyberattacks were deployed weeks before the invasion to weaken Ukraine's technological capabilities. Additionally, the Russian disinformation machine, which has been running at full speed since the invasion, not only aims to spread false information about the hostilities (the present) but also to modify history (the past). Russian disinformation seeks to reinvent history, such as the details of the Nuremberg Trials, or painting Ukrainians as Nazi criminals. These tactics have been around for years, and are accelerating since the invasion of Ukraine. But the profound change is not only temporal. It is spatial. This "crowdsourced" war potentially allows anyone to participate in the hostilities through digital means wherever they are located, using human capabilities and technical infrastructures which are outside Ukraine and Russia. (Importantly, the same capabilities also enable the documentation of war crimes.) These developments are happening so rapidly that it calls for clarifications of international humanitarian law (IHL) because of the unique characteristics of cyberspace. In cyberspace, it is very difficult to separate technology which can be used for both civilian and military purposes, although IHL restricts the use of cyber capabilities as a means or method of warfare during armed conflicts as essential to protecting civilians and other protected persons, infrastructure essential for the survival of the civilian population, as well as civilian objects. Clarifications will also be required in relation to the role of "collectives," "hacktivists" and other groups that have carried out cyberattacks for a specific or limited time, pledging allegiance to and committing cyberattacks on behalf of one or other of the belligerent parties including using the civilian infrastructure of a country that is not a party to the conflict, such as participation in distributed denial-of-service campaigns (DDoS). These temporal and spatial "mutations" are major. Traditionally war, whether conducted on land, sea, or in the air, have been spaces controlled by states. Cyberspace is a set of technical infrastructures, largely owned by private actors, or operated by groups using technologies that belong to everyone and no one. In this context, the war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a paradigm shift, as the scale and space of warfare now includes cyberspace and the information space, and this connects civilians, industry, military, collectives and criminal groups in a way that has not previously been encountered. It will be essential to recognize this paradigm shift to ensure that the waging of war in cyberspace is limited by the rules imposed by international law and norms in order to ensure the protection of civilians. . Stephane Duguin is one of the speakers at the 2022 World Emerging Security Forum, in Seoul, from June 21-22, speaking at the session "Ongoing Battle in Cyberspace: A Case in Ukraine". He is CEO of the CyberPeace Institute, a neutral and independent NGO, working for cyberpeace. The Institute tracks Cyber Attacks in Times of Conflict Platform #Ukraine We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here By Imran Khalid After almost one-and-a-half years in power, the Joe Biden administration has finally divulged the basic contours of its strategic intent toward China. On May 26, while addressing a session organized by the Asia Society at the campus of George Washington University, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a rather comprehensive insight into the current thinking in the White House on China. Same old stuff with a more reconciliatory tone is how it can be summarized in one sentence. Certainly, it was an abridged collection of the key talking points from all the previous administrations. However, quite conspicuously, Blinken spent a lot of time elaborating the strategy for domestic technological revival an indirect indication that the Biden administration has a similar approach as Donald Trump to counter the ever-increasing technological leadership of China by strengthening American domestic technological infrastructure. Blinken's tone, not surprisingly, missed the caustic and sarcastic elements that were always an integral part of the Trump administration's trademark statements pertaining to Beijing. He has made it categorically clear that the U.S. does not want any kind of new cold war or to be engaged in a direct war-like conflict with China. "We don't seek to block China from its role as a major power, nor to stop China or any other country, for that matter from growing their economy or advancing the interests of their people," is how Blinken tried to sound conciliatory in his speech. At the same time, he reiterated the much-touted American policy to resort to the use of force to snub all attempts from a "revisionist" China to redefine the post-World War II liberal international order. "China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do so," he added. Beijing's vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world's progress over the past 75 years," said Blinken bluntly so as to warn China as well as to reassure the U.S.' allies that Washington is in no mood to compromise on the existing liberal international order. "We'll continue to oppose Beijing's aggressive and unlawful activities in the South and East China Seas," he declared. However, Blinken did not mention any tangible plan on how Washington was planning to counter the growing Chinese influence in the global arena. It appears that the Biden administration is still unclear about a concrete counter-strategy to push back China's influence, squeeze China's dominance and suppress China's development space. Interestingly, Blinken mentioned a long list of the oft-repeated complaints against China in his speech; technology pilfering, corporate malpractices like espionage, illicit technology transfers, supply chain problems and unequal market access, etc. Contrary to Biden's statement in Tokyo last month where he pledged to intervene militarily in case Taiwan is attacked by mainland China, Blinken did not use any coercive language while mentioning Taiwan and its role in the often complicated Sino-U.S. relations. He emphatically reiterated the continued adherence to the "One China Policy." A cursory appraisal of Blinken's policy speech on China indicates that the Biden administration has learned some lessons from the failure of the Trump administration's belligerent stance on Beijing. The Trump administration tried many aggressive steps including a trade war, geopolitical imposition, diplomatic intimidation, technological embargo and other indirect bullying moves to corner the Xi regime, but all these measures proved to be inadequate to achieve Washington's desired strategic objectives. Blinken also referred to familiar American rhetoric about the internal "repressive" socio-political environment inside China, but in a rather soft tone. In a balancing act, while discussing a long list of ragged complaints, Blinken was quite generous in talking about the potential territories of mutual cooperation with China including public health issues, climate-related strategy, nuclear nonproliferation and arms control, stopping the global expansion of narcotics networks, growing food insecurity, and global macroeconomic coordination. In a conciliatory mood, he pledged that "as we invest, align and compete we'll work together with Beijing where our interests come together." Nonetheless, the much-hyped speech by Blinken has exposed two fundamental realities about the Biden administration's approach toward China. One, Biden does not want to repeat the mistakes of Trump by unnecessarily bullying Beijing. There is a realization in the White House that arm-twisting has proven to be too counter-productive in the last five years and has actually pushed the Chinese to become more vindictive, which has inversely injured American interests. The Biden administration is indirectly admitting that it cannot change China and its system in the near future. And two, the Americans have not yet been able to chalk out a tangible strategy on how to pre-empt the growing influence of Beijing in global politics at large. And this is perhaps the bigger problem with the policymakers in Washington. Some experts are suggesting the usage of "system pressure" as the only viable option for the Americans at the moment to contain the Xi regime from metastasizing its cultural, economic, political and ideological seeds across the globe. The Biden administration is likely to buy into this idea of system pressure as a workable tactic to placate Beijing. "Invest, align and compete" is the new mantra of the Biden administration to realign its strategy toward China. But a lot still depends upon the execution part, particularly the response of U.S. allies will be too detrimental in shaping this new phase of complicated Sino-U.S. relations. Dr. Imran Khalid (immhza6@gmail.com) is a freelance contributor based in Karachi, Pakistan. Beijing resumes normal operation of all subway stations Xinhua) 10:25, June 20, 2022 BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- All metro stations in Beijing that were closed due to epidemic prevention and control resumed operation on Sunday, according to the municipal transport commission. The bus services that were earlier halted in Fengtai District have also resumed operation, according to Beijing Public Transport Group. More bus services will resume operation as the epidemic wanes. Beijing has virtually cut off the transmission chain of a COVID-19 cluster related to a bar, and the epidemic situation in the city is improving, said Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Government, in a press release on Saturday. The capital city reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the municipal health commission said Sunday. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Yoon needs to use doorstepping more properly President Yoon Suk-yeol has been taking questions from reporters and answering them on his way to work 18 times since he took office May 10. Unprecedented in Korean politics, this move is in stark contrast to what his predecessor Moon Jae-in did. Moon held 11 press conferences during his five-year presidency. Yoon letting reporters doorstep him deserves acclaim as it is a new way of communicating with reporters. It is also part of his efforts to keep his campaign promise to become an interactive president. This is also in line with Yoon's commitment to open a new era of the "Yongsan presidential office" while leaving the secluded Cheong Wa Dae compound. During the doorstepping encounters with the president, journalists asked questions regarding important issues such as his summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, a supplementary budget bill and a general strike by cargo truckers. Thanks to the impromptu nature of a doorstepping interview with the press, the public can hear Yoon's candid comments, as was the case with contentious issues such as the appointment of disputed minister nominees. Other cases included matters related to noisy rallies against former President Moon Jae-in in front of his residence in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and even some controversies raised by First Lady Kim Keon-hee. Yoon might have been frustrated due to some sensitive queries. Yet, the doorstepping seems to have been conducive to effective communication between Yoon and the public. We hope Yoon's endeavors to communicate with the people will facilitate his bid to efficiently carry out state affairs without repeating the legacies of his predecessors who suffered setbacks due to a lack of communication with the public. It seems that Yoon's frank speaking style has helped the people understand his motives on many issues. This can be seen as progress. Lee Jun-seok, the leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said last Tuesday, "The President is going a few steps ahead compared to the past. Doorstepping is taking root as a symbol of our government." What is worrisome is that Yoon's style of impromptu and straightforward communication can sometimes cause misunderstanding and controversy. For instance, his remarks about the rallies against Moon touched off a dispute. Yoon said, "Such demonstrations are allowed even around the presidential office." Yoon's aides later explained that he was attempting to stress the need to protect the people's right to hold rallies. But Yoon is taking flak for having failed to come up with more "refined" and "well-coordinated" expressions. Yoon has also come under fire for remarks that undermined the values of inclusiveness and integrity. When asked whether corruption investigations into core members of the previous Moon government could be seen as political revenge, Yoon said, "Such investigations are natural with the shift of power." Those comments have triggered a fierce backlash from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. As to the dispute involving the first lady, it was not proper for Yoon to say, "It is because I assumed the presidency for the first time." Doorstepping holds a very symbolic meaning and should be maintained for Yoon and his successors. For this, Yoon should maximize efforts to use more decent and refined language to avoid unnecessary disputes. By Kim Won-soo Liberal democracy, along with the open market economy, has been the main engine of progress for humanity over the last century. Liberal democracy is not perfect, but it's the best available option that we currently have. It comprises a liberal political ideology and an elected government composed of separate branches that exercise checks and balances against each other. It has evolved over time to suit the specific socio-political context of each country. Recently, however, liberal democracy has come under siege both domestically and internationally. Now it is facing a two-pronged challenge: 1) domestically, many democracies are experiencing a surge in populism and socio-political polarization, which is chipping away at their ability to adapt to internal challenges; and 2) internationally, the growing rivalry with authoritarian governments is amplifying the internal polarization of liberal democracies and weakening their ability to respond to external challenges. Behind this double siege on liberal democracy are the following three factors. First and foremost is the great turmoil the international community finds itself in. Economically, the weak recovery from the 2007-8 global financial crisis, coupled with the pandemic-induced economic hardship, are exacerbating the level of inequality and shrinking the middle class. Politically, moderate voices are losing ground while populist rhetoric is gathering steam, disguised as alternative facts. The pandemic has heightened walls between nations and negated many gains of globalization. The second factor is the growing deficit in the international community's coping capacity. The leaders of the West, including the United States, are struggling to uphold liberal democratic ideals and values. At the same time, they have been unable to come to an agreement with non-democracies on how to deal with mounting global challenges. Last but not least is liberal democracy's inherent limitations in finding the broadest possible solutions to emerging socio-political issues that sharply divide the population along ideological, gender, race, regional and generational lines. The search for solutions to such divisive issues is bound to take time as they require in-depth consultations with diverse interest groups. As social tensions rise, the institutional capacity of the liberal democratic system falls even though the need for solutions is greater. Under such circumstances, delays in finding solutions will be inevitable and at the expense of future generations who do not have voices in the current decision-making process. On the other hand, it is relatively easier for authoritarian governments to identify the path forward and impose it on their population. But the short-term certainty may turn into a long-term debacle, as the imposed solutions will most likely be sub-optimal. Rescuing liberal democracy from the double siege is a formidable task that requires close cooperation among liberal democracies. No single democracy can do the job alone. In this regard, it is heartening to see that The Democracy and Culture Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by the New York Times, put together a series of roundtables on various challenges confronting today's democracies in partnership with several think tanks around the world. The only roundtable in Asia was held in Seoul last month in closed settings. A heated debate among bipartisan experts from academia, media and civic organizations was followed by a citizens' panel composed of ordinary citizens selected to represent diverse political, social, and economic interests. The following are the main findings from the debate: 1) Liberal democracy stands at a critical inflection point. The choices we make now will determine its path forward; 2) Business as usual will not work. Structural overhaul is urgently needed. It must include both short-term fixes and long-term solutions; 3) There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Solutions must be tailored to meet the specific circumstances of each democracy; 4) Citizen engagement in the political process must be enlarged. The broadest possible consensus is required to find solutions and implement them with consistency. South Korea is no exception to this global phenomenon of liberal democracy under double siege. But it has endured many tests in the past to build a resilient democracy. This is well recognized by the international community. The most recent evidence for that is the selection of Seoul as the venue for the above-mentioned roundtable. Now South Korea must live up to these international expectations. It must renew its relatively young and dynamic democracy. It must work harder to remedy the fatigue and the flaws increasingly manifest in democratic institutions. The new government of South Korea must take the lead by reaching out to opposition parties and the civil society. New endeavors are necessary to take South Korea's democratic institutions to the next level. Together, the South Korean people can make it happen. They owe it not only to themselves but also to the world. Kim Won-soo (wsk4321@gmail.com) is the former under secretary-general of the United Nations and high representative for disarmament. As a Korean diplomat, he served as secretary to the ROK president for foreign affairs as well as for international security. He is now the chair of the international advisory board of the Taejae Academy (Future Consensus Institute) and the chair professor of Kyung Hee University. JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa promotes Vince Waddill to the Director of Event Management role. In his new position, Waddill will be responsible for overseeing the event management and event operations teams, as well as acting as a facilitator with key hotel partners. Since 2015, Waddill has served the role of Director of Event Planning at the resort. Waddill began his career with Marriott in 1990 at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa as a banquet server and soon became a senior banquet captain. In 1997, he relocated to San Diego and served as the senior banquet manager, opening the Coronado Island Marriott Resort and Spa. While in San Diego, he transitioned into event planning as an event manager. In 2002, Waddill relocated to San Antonio and served as the senior banquet manager at the Marriott Rivercenter and Riverwalk Hotels where he later took on the role of event manager. He then worked as Director of Knibbe Ranch before joining JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.In his 32 years of hospitality experience, Waddill has consistently delivered industry leading results in customer satisfaction, associate engagement, and financial performance. He has held the professional designation of Certified Meeting Professional since 2005 as well as Certified Tourism Ambassador of San Antonio. Luis Barboza's 25-year history in the hospitality industry brings experience in a variety of brands and properties. During his career, he has held leadership positions such as Sales Management for Orient Express hotels in Peru. Later, as General Manager of the Sonesta Posadas del Inca Cusco and Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay hotels, in the Cusco region. In 2007 Luis Barboza moved to southern Peru to work as manager of the Libertador Hotel Lake Titicaca. After two years, in 2009, Lu is settled in Lima, the Peruvian capital, where he assumed the role of Director of Operations of Intursa Hotels, leading the operational leadership of seven brand properties in the Marriott International portfolio, three of them part of The Luxury Collections. During that period he participated in remodeling projects in two of the hotels and in the transition from Palacio de Inka to a Luxury Collection Hotel in 2009. In 2015, the executive assumes the position of general manager of The Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center. Under his leadership, the positioning of this property stands out, for 2 consecutive years, as the number 1 hotel in the Westin Hotels Global Recommendation Intent Index, the highest indicator of customer satisfaction, and in the Top 10 of Trip Advisor Travelers Choice Awards in the Luxury Hotels category. In addition, he was actively involved in planning the opening of the AC Hotel Lima Miraflores and Aloft Lima Miraflores hotels. In 2022 his i nternational experience comes from the hand of Marriott International, when he is appointed General Manager of the Santa Marta Marriott Resort Playa Dormida, a position he assumes with the firm commitment to maintain the positioning of the destination and the property, providing memorable and enriching experiences to the guests, domestic and foreign. Luis not only shines in his leadership, he is also characterized by creating environments that foster the growth and development of human talent, something that is reflected in his vocation as a teacher, teaching at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya and Toulouse Lautrec Peruvian universities, as well as at the Tourism Training Center. He is a fan of the world of cinema, auto mechanics, dogs and running. Montage Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment of Victorio Gonzalez as general manager of Montage Big Sky. Bringing more than 30 years of luxury hospitality experience with him, including nearly two decades in management roles at Montage International properties in the U.S. and Mexico, Gonzalez will oversee all daily operations at the year-round mountain resort in Big Sky, Montana. Throughout his long tenure with Montage International, Gonzalez holds the remarkable distinction of having served on the pre-opening teams of every Montage and Pendry property. He joined the company at its inception in 2003, serving as director of restaurants on the opening team at Montage Laguna Beach before becoming the director of food and beverage at the property in 2007. Among myriad highlights of his Montage International career, Gonzalez served as resort manager of Montage Deer Valley and also at Montage Los Cabos, where he played a key role in the successful grand opening of the company's first international resort. Most recently, he served as general manager of Pendry San Diego. Prior to joining Montage International, Gonzalez was founder and managing partner of Executive Dining Consultants LLC, which owned and operated restaurants in and around Tucson, Arizona, and consulted for the pre-opening team of Studio Restaurant at Montage Laguna Beach. He also served as general manager of restaurants at The Mirage and Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada and The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona. Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) CEO Yu Jeoung-yeol delivers a commemorative speech during an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of the agency's establishment at its headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Yu pledged to improve support for Korean exporters through digitalization. Courtesy of Kotra Guests increasingly are booking hotel rooms closer to the date of their stays, including via walk-ins with no notice, forcing hoteliers to be more flexible and plan ahead to manage last-minute demand. Hotel News Now reached out to hoteliers across different markets and hotel types to gauge successful strategies being implemented to capture demand.Sereno Hotels Samy Ghachem, managing director at Sereno Hotels, which has luxury properties in Lake Como, Italy, and St. Barths, said in an email interview that current booking trends "give a whole new meaning to 'more last-minute."' Bookings across the properties are coming in anywhere from one month out to, more often, one to two weeks and even one to two days out, he said. Additionally, his hotels are experiencing an increase in walk-in bookings, which staff must be well-positioned for at all times. "We are also seeing changes in plans or schedules. So, any cancellations are quickly refilled. We are offering more flexibility with reservation system parameters to tighten or loosen minimum-stay requirements, package validity or pricing as needed," Ghachem said. The Rose Hotel The Chicago O'Hare market has had strict vaccination mandates in place until just a couple of months ago. Since then, The Rose Hotel Chicago O'Hare, about two miles from the airport, has experienced a "heavy uptick in leads" for group bookings, Emily Likosar, director of sales and catering for The Rose Hotel, said via email. Bookings for the past two months have been at or near pre-pandemic levels. Likosar said small groups of less than 15 attendees are trending toward a shorter booking window with the majority of bookings coming in about two to four weeks in advance. Larger groups, however, are booking two to four months out. Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar) DALLAS, TX - UniFocus, the leading provider of Workforce Management Systems, is pleased to announce that it is donating its advanced labor management platform to The Union Club Hotel at Purdue University, Autograph Collection. The historic boutique property on Purdue Universitys campus is managed by White Lodging and offers Purdue University students real-word hotel management experience. Like other common systems in place at the hotel that are used across the industry, this donation by UniFocus helps ensure that future industry leaders will have the expertise necessary to address the latest workforce management needs and challenges. With a student workforce, we must be extremely agile and technology-forward as we manage our workforce needs, said Victoria Wicks, General Manager of The Union Club Hotel. UniFocus, with its constantly evolving technology, continues to represent the industrys latest capabilities in effective labor management. We look forward to collaborating and using the technology to not only manage our own workforce, but to train students how the right technology can help ensure maximum workforce productivity aligned with demand without sacrificing service expectations. UniFocus Labor Management Solution is used across all White Lodgings approximately 60 hotels. The advanced tools allow the company to more accurately forecast projected service demand volumes by the hour and by department, limiting the risks of under- or over-staffing. Other key features available with this donation include: Implementing flexible schedules that can accommodate individual staff needs to maximize workforce loyalty without jeopardizing guest service quality. The development and use of enhanced productivity standards that can be leveraged to identify improvement opportunities for labor management processes. Utilizing labor management system analytics to identify and make enhancements to guest service experiences. Leveraging system analytics and multi-variable forecasts to ensure that budgeting processes are aligned with projected service demand. The ever-shifting landscape of workforce management as a result of new labor laws, business needs and staff expectations mean that current and future industry leaders require advanced tools that can navigate the growing complexities to ensure a successful hotel operation, said Ken Heymann, COO, UniFocus. We are honored to be part of The Union Club Hotel at Purdue, Autograph Collection, and that students will have access to the latest labor management capabilities they need to further prepare for a successful career in the hospitality industry. About UniFocus UniFocus is the only complete workforce management platform designed to fundamentally shift the way service industries manage labor. The powerful platform helps managers plan with intelligent Labor Management tools that automatically produce accurate forecasts, optimized schedules based on business demand, employee availability, service standards and work rules. Staff is easily aligned with a world class Time and Attendance module that communicates schedules and facilitates swaps with tools like Shift Genius that live within an intuitive mobile app. Once scheduled, frontline employees operate with ease from the industry leading Knowcross Task Management suite that streamlines guest services, housekeeping, maintenance, inspections and glitches. With traditional workplace silos removed, managers benefit from a complete view of analytics and a personalized virtual assistant, Odin, that highlights opportunities to improve productivity and cost controls while keeping an eye on guest satisfaction and employee engagement. UniFocus is arming managers with best-in-class decision making technology in the hospitality, restaurant, retail, and healthcare industries. Check us out at UniFocus.com to learn more about the labor paradigm shift. Corey McCarthy Chief Marketing Officer 972-512-5100 Hotel operators at this months HITEC conference in Orlando will get an opportunity to put themselves in their guests shoes thanks to an immersive interactive experience designed by P3 Hotel Software. P3 will provide delegates with a complete end-to-end walk through of their online booking journey including features such as their artificial intelligence-powered booking engine, integrated secure payments solutions and online check-in/checkout. The company will demonstrate how hotel customers move through the booking process, the obstacles they encounter and how investing in fully integrated solutions enhances the journey and drives direct bookings. As the old saying goes, never judge someone until youve walked a mile in their shoes. Well, hoteliers need to be acutely aware of the challenges their customers face, said P3 Chief Executive, Phelim Pekaar. Thats why P3 has devised this immersive interactive experience for HITEC to allow hotel operators to experience the online booking journey as a guest, to show them the challenges guests can face, and to demonstrate the technology solutions which enhance the guest journey and drive direct bookings. Were really excited to be showcasing these online booking journeys and solutions via computer, cell phone, and kiosk platforms at HITEC. HITEC 2022 comes during an exciting year for P3 Hotel Software. The Irish company entered the North American market last year, secured an investment of $800,000 at the beginning of this year, and then opened its first US office last month in Boulder, Colorado. P3 has also brought two new products to market. The first, a booking engine driven by artificial intelligence, was developed with AI company Arvoia. It deploys technology similar to that used by Netflix and Instagram to derive a behavioral understanding of the needs of each guest in real-time and prioritize the most relevant rooms, hotel amenities and content accordingly. The second product, P3 Essential, is a cost-efficient booking engine which can be rolled out in just one day for an all-inclusive, flat-rate fee starting at just $175 per month. P3 has really committed to the North American market, continued Pekaar. Im now based in our new US office, were hiring staff, and were working with partners such as Oracle Hospitality to demonstrate the value of our software solutions for US hotels, hotel groups and resorts. Being at HITEC in Orlando is an important part of our plan. HITEC is the largest show in the world for hospitality technology. Its where we need to demonstrate our capabilities and build on a US strategy that is already paying off as we roll out P3 software solutions into an increasing number of hotels and hotel chains, universities, and casino resorts across the United States and Canada. P3, a Strategic Oracle Partner which currently works exclusively with Oracle Hospitality, will occupy booth number 2301 at HITEC 2022 in Orlando, from June 27-30, 2022. About P3 Hotel Software Founded in 2000, in the aftermath of the tech bubble crash, P3 Hotel Software provides customized booking solutions for large independent hotels and hotel groups across the globe. Core products of custom booking engine and online check-in/checkout facilitate a smooth booking process for customers and an enhanced guest experience. P3's solutions cover all stages of the online guest journey and integrate seamlessly with Oracle's market-leading OPERA hotel reservations and property management system. Julia Bertuol Marketing Manager P3 Hotel Software +353 1 453 5770 Economic fallout from the pandemic has created a widening gap between the high expectations of guests and the economic realities of hotels, the Cloudbeds team observes in the newly released book, More Reservations, Happier Guests. Automation has the potential to fill that gap. The question is, how can hotels leverage automation to enhance the guest experience rather than detract from it? Here, we explore the growing trend of automation in the lodging business. In this time of labor shortages and tight operating budgets, which tasks can be automated and which tasks are better performed by employees? What are the costs and benefits of automation, and how can hotels increase efficiency while providing an elevated level of guest service? The digital transformation in hotels During the pandemic, companies around the world accelerated the digitization of customer interactions and internal operations by three years on average, according to a survey from McKinsey & Company. A similar trend occurred in the hospitality industry, as more operators turned to technology to offset staffing shortages and meet traveler demand for contactless services. In fact, at the recent International Hospitality Investment Forum in Berlin, the hotel industry was lauded for turning from technology laggard to innovator. What is hotel automation? Hotel automation is the use of machines and computers to perform tasks typically performed manually by employees in order to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. While machine automation has been used in hotels for many decades think of washing machines, dishwashers, and even elevators computer automation can be traced back to the introduction of the hotel property management system (PMS) in the 1980s. Today, automation technology is used throughout hotels to perform or augment an increasing number of tasks from check-in to check-out. 8 benefits of automation in the hospitality industry Automation isnt just for large, chain hotels with complex operations. Whether you operate an independent hotel, hostel, inn, B&B, or vacation rental, automation can bring a host of benefits, including: Greater efficiency and productivity Faster, more consistent guest service More contact-free service options Savings in labor and operating costs Increased hotel revenue and profitability Fewer manual errors Better scalability with business flows Better data management, reporting, and performance tracking The rise of automation in 2022 One question that is often top of mind is, how can hotels embrace automation without losing the human touch? The answer depends on the type of property you operate and your guests expectations. Many short-term rentals and apartment hotels are already fully automated. Guests can make a reservation online using a booking engine, check-in, pay the bill, and check out without ever seeing the propertys host. While guests of luxury hotels may expect more direct contact with hotel staff, todays travelers prize speed, convenience, and greater control over their trip experience. Moreover, the desire for human contact isnt what it used to be. In a recent global survey from Tripadvisor, a majority of travelers said they would like to see safety measures in place at hospitality businesses even after Covid-19 cases have dropped worldwide. In the back office, automation technology is also on the rise. Whereas self-service automation is about guests helping themselves, employee-facing automation is about computers helping employees. Its happening in every department, from the front office to accounting, marketing, revenue management, and food & beverage. What tasks should hotels automate? Think about the guests perspective. When is speed and efficiency more important, and when is in-person service preferred? Automation can increase efficiency with simple transactions like online reservations, check-in, check-out, payments, and messaging. When hotel guests needs are more complex and require problem-solving, for example, if they have a complaint or special request, employees can step in to provide personalized service. When it comes to employee-facing technology, staff members and computer applications work in tandem. Automation handles simple, repetitive tasks like data processing, workflows, and reporting so employees can have time to perform more complex tasks. For a complete list of operational tasks that can be automated and a guide to streamlining your operations, check out More Reservations, Happier Guests. The cost of hotel automation in 2022 While the benefits of automation should far exceed the costs over time, initial investments of time and money can be a deterrent. Hoteliers should carefully weigh the costs and benefits along with the risks of being held back by manual systems and outdated legacy technology. Software-as-as-service (SaaS) solutions allow costs to be spread over months and years rather than paid upfront in large sums. There are also the potential costs to guest satisfaction to consider. If technology is difficult to use or breaks down frequently, such as a lobby kiosk that is often out of service or text notifications that go unanswered by staff, it will only lead to frustration. To ensure successful implementation and transition to automated hotel services, hotels should survey guest preferences in advance, carefully vet technology partners, train employees to test systems thoroughly, and keep an employee on hand to assist guests when help is needed. 4 examples of hotel automation Below are a few examples of how automation is used in a variety of hotel departments. If you have a cloud-based hotel management platform with an open API, you can easily integrate with the automation apps, tools, and services that are right for your business. Check out Cloudbeds Marketplace for an idea of which services are readily available to lodging businesses today. 1. Hotel operations automation These days, most hotels and an increasing number of inns, hostels, B&Bs, and vacation rental properties use hotel management software. At the heart of front desk operations is the PMS, which facilitates reservations, check-in, room assignments, and other tasks, as well as acts as the central hub for other applications. Other functions can help streamline housekeeping and maintenance processes, digitize task management checklists, and automate alerts to ensure tasks are completed on time. Integrated payment processing enables properties to offer contactless payments while facilitating tasks like payments reconciliation and reducing late charges and chargebacks. 2. Guest experience automation Powering improvements to the guest experience are tools that enhance guest engagement and self-service, like automated email confirmations and pre-arrival messages, upsell tools, and mobile check-in applications. With a guest engagement tool, hoteliers and hosts can send and reply to guests messages using the guests preferred mode of communication, including SMS, Whatsapp, Messenger, WeChat, and more. Hoteliers can also automate certain types of guest messaging, such as answering frequently asked questions in real-time using auto-replies and chatbots. After the stay, automated email requests for a survey or online review can help generate valuable feedback. 3. Guestroom automation While were probably a long way off before robots can clean hotel rooms as well as a human can, today, a variety of automation solutions are enhancing the guestroom experience. For example, hoteliers and hosts can cut energy costs by using energy efficiency solutions that allow you to control HVAC appliances, like air conditioning, via a mobile app. There are also automation tools that provide mobile concierge services to facilitate the fulfillment of guest requests. 4. Hotel marketing automation While computers have yet to crack the creative aspects of marketing, a number of technology solutions are available today to automate day-to-day marketing tasks. This includes email marketing and CRM solutions that send targeted promotional emails to guests to online reputation management software that helps hotels monitor and respond to reviews and boost ratings on review sites. If you want to completely automated your hotel marketing, you can even use a done-for-you marketing service like Cloudbeds Amplify to create a conversion-focused website, run your metasearch and search engine marketing efforts, and manage all your business listings. How Cloudbeds can help automate your hospitality business One of the biggest challenges of automation for hoteliers is dealing with multiple products and vendors. The Cloudbeds Management Hospitality Platform provides everything hoteliers and hosts need in one centralized and fully integrated platform. Here are just a few of the automation features provided by the Cloudbeds platform: Automatically update your rates and inventory across all your channels using the Cloudbeds channel manager. across all your channels using the Cloudbeds channel manager. Receive bookings on your website 24/7 with an online booking engine so you never miss an opportunity to maximize your occupancy and earnings. with an online booking engine so you never miss an opportunity to maximize your occupancy and earnings. Automate competitor rate shopping so you can make better pricing decisions with the pricing intelligence engine. so you can make better pricing decisions with the pricing intelligence engine. Automate your marketing efforts by using Cloudbeds Amplify a done-for-you digital marketing service. Hotel Automation: Its Only Just Beginning As automation technology becomes better integrated, more cloud-based, and more guest-friendly, an increasing number of hotel tasks will become automated. Now is the time to embrace automation to ensure your property isnt left behind. About Cloudbeds Cloudbeds provides the platform that powers hospitality, driving streamlined operations, increasing reservations and revenue, and enabling memorable guest experiences for lodging businesses of all sizes and types across the globe. The award-winning Cloudbeds Hospitality Platform seamlessly combines solutions for front desk, revenue, distribution, guest acquisition and guest engagement in a single unified system, enhanced by a marketplace of third-party integrations. Cloudbeds was named No. 1 PMS and No. 1 Hotel Management System by Hotel Tech Report in 2022 and recognized by Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 in 2021. For more information, visit www.cloudbeds.com. View source The travel recovery that hotels are gearing up for over the next year will not see the same guest behavior as in 2019. The world has changed and hotels have to adapt to the new demands. One key direction where travel is headed is towards time maximization filling a vacation or work trip with meaningful moments because you never know when the prospects of moving freely about the globe will grind to a halt once again. This concept of time maximization means that guests will be seeking hotel brands that aid with this goal by designing trips and itineraries that make those experiences a reality. Travelers are looking for operators who can reduce the friction of experiential travel by handling the logistics on their behalf along with a guarantee of safety and seamless execution. To help give hoteliers some inspiration as to what will attract guests who are keen on experiential travel in the post-pandemic era, we sat down with Geraint Hamer, VP of Tours, Packages and Wholesale for TRIPS by Culture Trip a company that really needs no introduction as its a foremost worldwide hub for unique travel experiences. Culture Trip launched TRIPS in late 2021 as its curated series of immersive, cultural, multi-night vacations for small groups, with the first departures already underway. Not that it needs hammering home, but can you cite any recent statistics that point to the growth of travel experiences since the onset of the pandemic? In 2021, we surveyed 2,000 Americans and found that one in four Americans (24%) dont want to travel as they did before the pandemic; theyd rather travel in a more meaningful and responsible way. We responded to these post-pandemic desires to explore the world in a different way with our small-group adventures that are curated by travel experts and led by local insiders. We combine immersive experiences with one-of-a-kind and (often) boutique places to stay, and a whole load of thoughtful research behind the scenes which is ideal for people with limited time to plan their next adventure. What forces should hoteliers be cognizant of regarding the rising demand for experiential travel? The world is opening up again, which is fantastic to see; humans crave human connection and exploration. Some travelers naturally are still a bit hesitant. I think we can all do our part to encourage them while at the same time making sure they can book with confidence. We want to enable people to enjoy these once-in-a-lifetime experiences and give them reassurance while making it hassle-free for them. Thats why we offer a Covid Booking Guarantee which gives customers complete confidence when booking should plans need to change due to the latest regulations, and we ensure we have safety protocols in place across all our adventures. How are travelers finding the experiences they want and what immediate steps can hotels take to broaden the exposure of their experiences? Making a travel decision can be a longer process more so now than before the pandemic as there are many things to consider such as travel regulations. First, people research and read a lot before they actually book. Travel content such as ours is one touchpoint during the research process. With guests using so many channels its not easy to cover them all, especially when youre a small, independent operator. Thats why its important for hotels to really think about the kind of consumers they want to attract and understand the kind of channels this audience likes to use. Taking these first steps can help you reach the right audience at the right time and the right place; its more efficient than trying to cover everything if you dont have the time, budget and resources like big players might have. Can you cite any specific examples where specific hotels or brands have excelled at creating a strong, profitable experiences program? Hotel Husafell is part of our Iceland trip; its a modern property with sweeping views over swathes of unspoiled landscape. Part of the hotel experience is the Husafell Canyon Baths, fed by the Giljabo Hot Springs and a relatively new attraction in Iceland where you are invited to bathe as Vikings once did. The Husafell locals who undertook the Canyon Baths project went to great lengths to keep the entire structure as environmentally unobtrusive, sustainable and true to the areas heritage as possible. Matera in Southern Italy is also a great example. Known for its ancient hillside cave dwellings in the UNESCO-listed Sassi area (and its recent appearance in the latest James Bond movie), this is one of the worlds oldest cities. In this endless maze of caves, some were restored and turned into hotels. The Corte San Pietro part of our Southern Italy Tour lets guests sleep in rooms with ancient tuft walls and vaults. And there are modern art projects and cooking classes using local produce, too. In South Korea, we found a stunning cliffside temple to stay in. Built in the sixth century, Golgulsa Temple houses 12 caves carved into the side of a mountain close to the former capital of the former Silla Kingdom. Its a serene place to spend a night. Guests will not only glimpse the Buddhist way of life, but also learn all about sunmudo a traditional Korean martial art and form of moving meditation that dates back over a millennium. With many hotels having budget constraints at present, do you have any tips for hotels to develop their experience programs without compromising other operations? Collaborating with the local community can be a great way to affordably enhance the guest experience. You could, for example, one day per week or per month host and showcase independent businesses that are local or from your immediate neighborhood at your property. This provides small businesses with much needed support, and its interesting for your guests as they might discover a shop or a producer they otherwise wouldnt find. We know that people are increasingly looking to discover and to connect with authentic, local activities and products, so this could be an experience that motivates travelers to choose your hotel. Looking beyond the immediate travel recovery period, what experiential travel trends do you think will be top of mind for hotel guests within the next five years? After two years of travel deprivation, many people are prioritizing those bucket list moments that we have all been craving for so long; instead of thinking that one day in the distant future they might fulfill those dreams, many want to experience them now. Guests want a responsible, purposeful approach to travel; this means caring for the world, but also for local communities. They also want unforgettable experiences to create memories we will cherish forever (and share on our social channels). Next think local immersion; its not just that we havent been able to travel, we also havent been able to make new friends or spend enough time with the people we love, making reconnection top of mind. In short, its now much more about a more meaningful way of traveling. Being able to explore the world has just become so much more precious, and its our job to make sure our guests get these experiences from us as they go out to explore the world again. Larry Mogelonsky Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited View source The claim: Public schools are now as segregated by race and class as they were in the 1960s. U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott. Scott, D-Virginia, is chairman of the House Education & Labor Committee. He made the claim about segregation in comments supporting a bill he proposed that would authorize $130 billion in federal grants and loans to high-poverty areas to improve school facilities. PolitiFact rating: Mostly True. Scotts claim doesnt hold up for most of the 1960s, when Jim Crow still breathed and Southern states circumvented the Supreme Courts 1954 order to integrate public schools. But he has a point, if we start in 1968, when 77 percent of Black students in the nation attended majority nonwhite schools. That dropped to 63 percent in the 1980s and then rose to 81 percent in 2019, the last year data is available. The ups and downs followed Supreme Court decisions that first toughened, then ended, integration mandates. Discussion Its important to note that modern school segregation is not the same as the government-ordered social system that the Supreme Court struck down in 1954. Segregation today refers to the level of isolation of nonwhite students or, conversely, the level of exposure students of different races have to one another in school. In 1960, 0.1 percent of Black students in the South 1 in 1,000 attended a majority-white school, according to a study by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. That increased to 14 percent in 1967. Scotts statement is on strong legs, however, if the measurement begins in 1968, when the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving New Kent County, Va. ruled that school district integration plans must meaningfully reduce segregation. School segregation is now more severe than in the late 1960s, says a 2020 UCLA report, the latest research we found. NEWSLETTERS Join the conversation with HouWeAre We want to foster conversation and highlight the intersection of race, identity and culture in one of America's most diverse cities. Sign up for the HouWeAre newsletter here. A pair of 2020 studies found Central Virginia schools are becoming more segregated as well. A key reason for the backslide is a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended court-ordered desegregation, which often took the form of busing. The court ruled that school desegregation was a temporary remedy, not a permanent obligation. Another reason, according to UCLA researchers: The white birthrate has fallen below the reproduction levels of about a half century ago; consequently, the share of the white population and their school enrollment has sharply declined. In 1970, 79 percent of public school students were white. That fell to 47 percent in 2018. This is not because of transfer to private schools, which have a declining share of total enrollment and have themselves become somewhat more diverse, the report stated. The white decline reflects historically low birth rates and immigration patterns that are overwhelmingly non-white. Black students have comprised about 15 percent of public school students since 1970. But they are no longer the second-largest population of students, as they were until the turn of the century. Latinos grew from 5 percent of the public school population in 1970 to 27 percent in 2018. Asian Americans have increased from 0.5 percent to 6 percent in that same span. School segregation is intrinsically tied to the racial gaps in housing and income. The end of court-ordered integration in 1991 led to the reemergence of color lines in school districts. Whereas Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be concentrated in high-poverty schools, Asian students, like their white counterparts, are most frequently found in middle-class schools, researchers from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth wrote in a 2019 report. Another team of UCLA researchers found that in 2010, half of the public schools that were 90 percent or more Black and Hispanic also had a student population that was 90 percent or more from low-income households. At the time, a low-income student was defined as one who qualified for a free or reduced-price school lunch. Since then, changes to the federal lunch program have made it impossible to know how many students are impoverished. Houston Chronicle A Jersey Village man is wanted in connection to the death of his wife, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Deputies were initially dispatched around 9:50 a.m. on Monday to the 10000 block of North Eldridge Parkway in Jersey Village, the agency said in a news release. When they arrived, authorities found 22-year-old Jael Roman Gonzalez unresponsive with family members performing CPR on her. Chronicle Staff Galvestons Own Farmers Market canceled a drag queen story time planned for Sunday, the latest such event to be called off for safety concerns. This decision brings us great sadness and was made out of concern for the safety of our partners and the story readers, Galvestons Own Farmers Market wrote on its Facebook page. The farmers market teamed up with Access Care of Coastal Texas, an advocacy group that supports those with HIV/AIDS. The organization declined to comment. Drag queen story time events have been canceled across the country after receiving criticism from conservative politicians and some had even received threats. A drag queen story hour at a library on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany was called off amid backlash from conservative politicians, particularly Marco Rubio. The Republican U.S. senator from Florida penned a letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall claiming the event exposed children to sexually charged content. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As the country waits for the Supreme Court to decide whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, many Texas health care workers are bracing for the toll that stricter abortion laws will take on women who face life-threatening complications in a wanted pregnancy. Already, the states restrictions extend beyond abortion clinics and into large medical institutions, where doctors face considerable legal hurdles when recommending termination to preserve the health of an expectant mother. I feel like Im practicing medicine with my hands tied behind my back, said Dr. Judy Levison, a longtime Houston obstetrician-gynecologist. Striking down the landmark 1973 decision would pave the way for Texas to implement a near-total abortion ban within 30 days, threatening a felony for any provider who terminates a pregnancy. The law offers no exceptions for pregnancies from rape or incest, nor does it exempt cases of severe fetal abnormalities, including those that would result in the fetus death. The only exemption is for patients experiencing a medical emergency, defined as a risk of death or substantial impairment of a major bodily function. The law also allows doctors to remove a fetus during a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy. The similarly narrow exemptions in the current state law, which threatens a lawsuit and a fine for anyone who aids and abets an abortion when there is detectable fetal heartbeat, offer a preview of post-Roe life. Last month, a 26-year-old Kingwood woman was forced to wait for her condition to worsen when, at 17 weeks pregnant, she lost fluid that is essential for fetal development. Another pregnant Texas woman drove to Denver earlier this year for a lifesaving abortion after her water broke in her second trimester, according to a Colorado OB-GYNs testimony before the states Legislature. Texas doctors told the woman that her only option was to wait until she became septic or went into labor. Sepsis can develop very fast, and women can die very fast, Levison said. And Im afraid we are going to see women dying. Legal opinions About 8 percent of all pregnancies involve complications that, if left untreated, may harm the mother or the baby, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. While proponents of the law say the medical emergency exemption clearly allows doctors to intervene in severe cases, the issue is not black-and-white. There are a variety complications that may not pose an immediate risk to the mother but could quickly worsen, said Dr. Kimberly Pilkinton, president-elect of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. For example, there is severe pre-eclampsia, which causes unusually high blood pressure after 20 weeks gestation. Symptoms include bleeding, organ failure and seizures. Doctors generally recommend inducing labor to prevent maternal and fetal complications, but in rare cases, the mother may need to deliver a nonviable fetus to survive. Theres also PPROM, or preterm premature rupture of membranes, which affects about 1 percent of women before the fetus reaches viability. Doctors generally offer termination, as the mother faces an increased risk of life-threatening infections or heavy bleeding. Right now, these cases are treated differently at hospitals across Texas, based on their individual interpretation of the law, Pilkinton said. Some wait until theres an obvious medical need. Others may act immediately under the medical emergency exemption. We were seeing differing legal opinions in hospitals across the street from one another, she said. I think the legal departments have had to get more engaged in things because of the lack of known interpretation from the courts. Warning signs Highly publicized stories from other countries show what can happen when laws prevent access to needed care. In 2012, a 31-year-old dentist in Ireland, Savita Halappanavar, started miscarrying at 17 weeks pregnant. Her fetus still had a heartbeat, and according to the New York Times, doctors declined to terminate her pregnancy under the countrys strict abortion ban. Six days later, after the heartbeat stopped and doctors removed the contents of her womb, she had already developed a life-threatening infection. Her death became a focal point in the ultimately successful movement to repeal the countrys ban. Last year, in Poland, 30-year-old Izabela Sajbor learned that her fetus had multiple severe malformations, including what doctors suspected to be Edwards syndrome a rare, typically fatal genetic condition. But the countrys 29-year-old ban on abortion prevented her from terminating the pregnancy, according to the Times. Like Halappanavar, Sajbors condition had rapidly deteriorated by the time the fetus heart stopped. She died, and nationwide protests ensued when the story went public. Out-of-state procedures The hesitancy to treat some complicated pregnancies in Texas already is forcing women to seek care in less restrictive states such as Colorado, said Dr. Nancy Fang, a Denver OB-GYN who recently testified in support of a bill to preserve reproductive rights in the state. Colorado is one 16 states that have laws protecting abortion access if Roe v. Wade is overturned. We are most certainly seeing an uptick in patients that are traveling from Texas, she said, adding, We just dont know who cant come. Low-income women and women of color are disproportionately affected by anti-abortion laws, with steep barriers to accessing care in other states, according to a report from the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Child care, lodging, gas money and lost wages from time off work can pose an insurmountable burden. Those who do make it to Colorado are visibly shaken, Fang said, especially those forced to overcome legal barriers while processing the loss of a wanted pregnancy. I think that sometimes the conversation gets caught up in the rhetoric of anti-choice and what the social and cultural implications of what an abortion is, but at the end of the day abortion is health care and its a necessary procedure for many people, Fang said. For providers like Levison, abortion access is not political discussion. People on both sides of the conversation might face heath complications that force them to consider termination, she said. I feel compelled to alert the public, Levison said, that the downside of removing abortion as a constitutional right may be greater than people realize. julian.gill@chron.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A new initiative seeks to help the thousands of Afghan children in Houston process the challenges of adjusting to their new homes through a collection of culturally relevant books about the refugee experience. Newly arrived Afghan kids in Houston will receive a special shipment of more than 3,000 childrens books that highlight the resettlement process, especially the process of adapting to a new country. The global education nonprofit Room to Read announced the initiative Monday, World Refugee Day. The organization will publish and distribute a total of 51,600 books in cities across the country. Houston was selected as a participating city for the program due to its high population of evacuated Afghans many of whom are children. Texas has resettled more than 11,000 Afghans who were evacuated by the United States after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Roughly half of those Afghans were resettled in the Houston-area, according to agency data. Agencies overwhelmed: Afghans in Houston are being temporarily housed in motels after months-long stay on military bases Twelve different stories are part of this collection, which was specially tailored to a young Afghan audience, according to Shannon Hesel, Room to Reads U.S. program associate director. They all touch on the themes of resettlement, and finding a new home, meeting and integrating into a new culture, navigating different social situations, connecting with others who may have gone through a similar kind of experience, Hesel said. The stories were originally written for other refugee groups, such as Syrian refugees living in Jordan, but have been adapted, translated and reviewed by Afghan authors. They will be printed in the two most common Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. In some cases, there were some minor adaptations to the actual artwork, Hesel said. Afghans in Houston: Meet the staff working around the clock to resettle the crush of Afghan newcomers The books in Houston will be distributed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops through Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which has resettled more than 1,300 Afghans in Houston. Refugee families typically experience a number of logistical and psychological obstacles when resettling in a new country, including a loss of culture and family. Some may also be dealing with post-traumatic stress from their experiences in Afghanistan. elizabeth.trovall@chron.com Bidder Ole Bjorn Fausa, of Norway, holds the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize medal in Baltimore, March 27, 2014, the second Nobel Peace Prize ever to come to auction. AP-Yonhap What's the price of peace? That question could be partially answered Monday night when Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov auctions off his Nobel Peace Prize medal. The proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. Muratov, awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publication's editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlin's clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was Muratov's idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. The idea of the donation, he said, ''is to give the child refugees a chance for a future.'' In an interview with The Associated Press, Muratov said he was particularly concerned about children who have been orphaned because of the conflict in Ukraine. ''We want to return their future,'' he said. He added that it's important international sanctions levied against Russia do not prevent humanitarian aid, such as medicine for rare diseases and bone marrow transplants, from reaching those in need. ''It has to become a beginning of a flash mob as an example to follow so people auction their valuable possessions to help Ukrainians,'' Muratov said in a video released by Heritage Auctions, which is handling the sale but not taking any share of the proceeds. Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines. Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri A. Muratov, the former editor-in-chief of the Moscow newspaper "Novaya Gazeta," pauses Jan. 21, 2009, in Berlin. AP-Yonhap This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When state lawmakers last year decided to kill a ballooning economic incentive program that had allowed some of the countrys biggest corporations to collectively avoid paying billions of dollars in school property taxes, it shocked even the programs many critics. But legislators left gaping loopholes in the law, known as Chapter 313. Instead of shutting down the program immediately, they let it fade away over the course of a year. A tidal wave of applicants has now rushed to seek billions of additional dollars in last-minute tax breaks before it shuts down. And because the law places no limit on when the new projects must be built, many companies could continue to enjoy the subsidies for decades: At least two recent applicants dont expect their facilities to open until 2040 almost 20 years after the programs demise on Dec. 31. The loopholes have created a perverse scenario. Lawmakers said its death was long overdue: It was being abused, said Sen. Juan Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen. It was time to end it. Staff in the comptrollers office, which administers Chapter 313, said portions of the law were impossible to apply as written. Even industry groups said they were fed up with its flaws. Yet the decision to end the program is now poised to cause a dramatic spike in its cost to taxpayers. Its like hogs at the trough, said Bishop John Ogletree, an official with the faith-based Texas Industrial Areas Foundation, which has opposed the arrangements. Meanwhile, lawmakers and interest groups have begun discussing how to craft a replacement during next years legislative session to keep the tax breaks flowing. The Chapter 313 deals named for their location in the state tax code let companies slash 10 years worth of school property tax bills they otherwise would owe on newly constructed factories and energy projects. Over the past decade the state comptrollers office has received an average of about 90 applications annually from companies seeking the subsidy. Since the Legislature adjourned at the end of May 2021, by comparison, records show companies have filed requests for more than 460 new tax breaks about 400 in the past five months alone. Typically, companies sought Chapter 313 tax breaks for projects two to four years in the future, with the occasional oil and gas facility taking six or seven years to complete. Since last May, however, companies have applied for 120 of the subsidies for facilities not scheduled to open until at least 2028. At least 10 wont be online for a decade or more. Despite the programs demise, applicants have figured out how to extend it, said Rev. Minerva Camarena-Skeith, of Central Texas Interfaith. Their strategy seems to be, Just in case, lets get 10 years of requests in in one year, added Bob Fleming, of The Metropolitan Organization, the Houston branch of the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation. I dont know anybody who can forecast their needs 30 years out. A spokesman for the comptrollers office said the agencys staff simply followed the law as it was written. But by slow-walking the end of a program they said was giving away too much money to corporations at the expense of Texas taxpayers, legislators have now put the state on the hook for billions of additional tax breaks that Texans will be paying off well into the middle of the century. A rush of applications The program that would grow to be Texas largest corporate tax incentive was launched 20 years ago with the help of a misprint. In 2000 an influential magazine reported Texas had lured only three manufacturing companies to the state, ranking it 37th among states for new facilities. The number turned out to be wrong; Texas actually had attracted 73 new manufacturing facilities, ranking it in the top 10. But lawmakers already were convinced the state was losing its competitive edge. In 2001 the Legislature created the Chapter 313 program to lure companies to the state with a new lucrative tax break. In exchange for building new facilities and creating jobs here, companies could lop millions of dollars off their local school tax bill, the largest chunk of property taxes. To make sure the schools wouldnt be out any money, the state would give the local school district whatever taxes the companies didnt pay. Some of the countrys largest oil and gas companies used the deals to save hundreds of millions of dollars for their sprawling new refineries and processing facilities along the coast. Dozens of wind and solar companies used it to build electricity-producing facilities in the Panhandle and West Texas. Giant chip manufacturers signed on to save money on their new Central Texas manufacturing plants. The programs cost to taxpayers swelled. Worth about $2.4 billion in 2012, by 2020 Chapter 313 tax breaks had soared to $10.8 billion. Some projects have since expired or been canceled, but the comptrollers office has also signed off on another 240 applications, records show, representing a projected $4.7 billion in additional tax breaks. And those figures dont include more than 370 applications that are still pending. To win the incentives, companies needed only to demonstrate they were considering building outside of Texas and that, if not for the 313 incentive, they might go elsewhere. But a Houston Chronicle investigation last year found that the proof required by the comptrollers office was so loose that less than 2.5 percent of applications were ever rejected - even if it was apparent the companies had no intention of locating anywhere but Texas. In dozens of cases companies had already publicly announced the projects - in some cases even starting construction - before applying and got the subsidies anyway. Close inspection showed some applications were little more than simple cut-and-paste jobs from other applications - typos included. Dozens of companies also failed to create jobs they had promised as part of the deals, with no consequence. Those jobs that were created, meanwhile, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece in tax breaks. To make up for the taxes the companies arent paying, the Legislature must allocate more general revenue the taxes all Texans pay to public education, leaving less money not only to increase school spending but to build roads, provide health care and fund other vital services. As it had three times previously since the program began, Chapter 313 came up for renewal during last years legislative session. This time, however, lawmakers from both parties had heard enough of the programs high cost and abuses. By declining to renew it they insured it would die out at the end of 2022. Chapter 313 applications take about six months to process. That gave companies until mid-year 2022 to file their paperwork. Last month, the comptrollers office clarified that any corporation filing after early June would not make the deadline. The rush was on. In April alone the comptrollers office received 66 Chapter 313 applications - about two-thirds the number it fielded in all of 2020. It received another 64 in the first half of May alone, the latest date for which the agency has released detailed application information. They know theyre not going to get another deal like this anytime soon, so while the doors open theyre rushing through it, said Dick Lavine, a senior policy analyst for Every Texan, a left-leaning nonprofit that has long opposed the program. The state will be paying for literally decades to come. A tax break for two jobs Some of the last-minute applications provide more examples of the same loose regulation and high program costs for modest return that convinced legislators to kill Chapter 313, said Nathan Jensen, a University of Texas government professor who has studied economic incentive programs. Theyre openly gaming the system, he said. Records show companies have continued to recycle text that has appeared in their applications for years - even a decade or more. The comptrollers office often continues to justify their approvals by simply quoting from the companies applications, with no evidence of independent research listed. Enterprise Products Operating, a midstream energy company that already has obtained 18 Chapter 313 tax breaks, submitted two new applications under the wire, records show. The most recent, filed a month ago, is for a ethane cracker slated to open in Beaumont in 2028. In its application, the company proposes creating 10 new $63,000-a-year jobs in exchange for $395 million in avoided property taxes over a decade. Also getting in its 11th-hour request for the incentives was GlobiTech, a semiconductor wafer manufacturer. The company's requests, filed in April, were for four separate, but connected projects in Grayson County. The final one isnt scheduled to go online until 2040. That facility would be situated next to an existing manufacturing plant the company already has in Sherman, GlobiTech said in filings. But, it warned, if it doesnt get the 313 tax break it might decide to build in Korea, which has offered generous incentives, or Ohio, which is trying to become a semiconductor hub. Neither company responded to inquiries from the Chronicle. In Central Texas, the giant tech company Samsung has applied for 313 tax breaks so far into the future its officials conceded they arent even sure how they will be used. While we do not have specific plans to build at this time, the Chapter 313 applications to the state of Texas are part of a long-term planning process of Samsung to evaluate the viability of potentially building additional fabrication plants in the United States, a spokeswoman told the Austin American-Statesman. Tony Bennett, of the Texas Association of Manufacturers, said many members have filed placeholder applications knowing that the Legislature may not pass a replacement for Chapter 313, or may do so in a very different form. Many of those applications are placeholders for very legitimate advanced manufacturing projects, he said. Triangle Brick Company submitted its request for the expiring tax breaks late last year for a new brick-making facility outside of Wichita Falls. In exchange for $5 million in tax breaks, it has proposed creating two new full-time jobs. The company already has a manufacturing plant in Clay County. But it said without the valuable Chapter 313 incentives it might decide to locate in North Carolina, where it also has business, according to filings. Jensen, whose research has concluded that 85 percent of the projects receiving Chapter 313 tax breaks would have been built in Texas without the incentive, is skeptical. Bricks are often produced in areas of raw materials, but close to demand, he said. Brick companies come to Texas to sell bricks to Texans. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, urged the comptrollers office and school boards to apply extra scrutiny to the flood of last-minute applications. Im trying to warn everybody to take the time to review this stuff, dont do anything crazy - especially when were looking at things not happening for decades, he said. The odds of that are low. The comptroller last rejected a Chapter 313 application in 2016. Legislature will decide Lawmakers and industry groups for months have discussed what a replacement for Chapter 313 should look like ahead of the legislative session that starts in January. There is no shortage of political pressure points. Those concerned that tax breaks have gone to businesses that were going to build in Texas anyway may seek stronger evidence than the cost-savings merely being a determining factor, the current wording. Some conservatives have suggested removing wind and solar energy projects from the program, though doing so could risk draining Democratic support. Industry groups have long griped about the dynamic they face with school districts, whose trustees ultimately must vote to approve each Chapter 313 deal. School officials negotiate additional payments from companies that can be used for a variety of education purposes. Districts collect billions of dollars this way money they never would have received through the states school funding system. A lot of folks compare it to extortion. That doesnt offer the public a good vibe about the program, said Dale Craymer, president of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, a longtime supporter of the program. Wed like those amounts to be specified by formula rather than negotiated. This topic, too, is touchy. When a bill last year initially sought to scrap these payments to schools, superintendents hit the roof. Its critical that school districts be involved in the conversation, said Sara Leon, a consultant who guides school districts through the Chapter 313 process, adding that she has heard draft language is circulating but that industry sources have not shared a copy with her. During the last session industry kind of wrote its own bill and was not able to get that passed. There are other issues: Bettencourt said jobs provisions must be ironclad. Bennett, of the Texas Association of Manufacturers, said the program may need to expand eligibility to more types of projects, and should be made more generous, in both the length of the subsidies and the taxes reduced. Even with the old 313 program, Bennett said, we were losing projects left and right to more competitive states and countries. Ultimately, Craymer said, the matter is up to lawmakers. Ideally well create something that helps us stay competitive with other states but is viewed with better confidence than what the old Chapter 313 program was, Craymer said. If the public doesnt have confidence in the program, then its not going to pass the Legislature regardless. mike.morris@chron.com eric.dexheimer@chron.com This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. The Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org. In June 2022, the Texas State Republican Convention adopted a resolution urging the Legislature in 2023 to put a referendum before the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation. Secession and independence have been perennial themes throughout the history of Texas, which broke away from Mexico in 1836 and was an independent republic before it was annexed by the United States in 1845. As the United States was torn apart by divisions over whether slavery could expand into the nations western territories, Texas in 1861 voted to secede from the Union. Following the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, Texas was formally readmitted to the Union in 1870, during the Reconstruction Era. Despite perennial talk of another secession, the law is clear that Texas may not leave the union. The idea is most often raised by conservatives in the state who are angry over some kind of policy coming from the federal government and the calls seem to become more frequent when a Democrat is occupying the White House. State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, filed a bill in 2021 to create a referendum election on whether Texans should create a joint legislative committee to develop a plan for achieving Texas independence. It is now time that the People of Texas are allowed the right to decide their own future, he said in a statement announcing the legislation. Even if the Legislature were to act on the new Republican Party proposal to put an independence referendum on the general election, it would not be legally valid. The legality of seceding is problematic, Eric McDaniel, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in 2016. The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues. Many historians believe that when the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox in 1865, the idea of secession was forever defeated, McDaniel said. The Unions victory set a precedent that states could not legally secede. Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession had never been legal, and that, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state. In the 1869 case Texas v. White, the court held that individual states could not unilaterally secede from the Union and that the acts of the insurgent Texas Legislature even if ratified by a majority of Texans were absolutely null. When Texas entered the Union, she entered into an indissoluble relation, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase wrote for the court. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration, or revocation, except through revolution, or through consent of the States. Chase added: The ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null. They were utterly without operation in law. Another source of confusion and misinformation over the years has been language in the 1845 annexation resolution that Texas could, in the future, choose to divide itself into New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas. But the language of the resolution says merely Texas could be split into five new states. It says nothing of splitting apart from the United States. Only Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union, which last occurred in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii. If there were any doubt remaining after this matter, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia set it to rest when he asked by a screenwriter in 2006 whether there was a legal basis for secession. In his response, he wrote: The answer is clear, Scalia wrote. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, one Nation, indivisible.) As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Why Spotifys total addressable market is not enough [Mark Mulligan] Heres another way to think about this: How many fish are there in the pond, how many fish do you think you can catch, and how many fish do you think you will actually catch? by Mark Mulligan from the MIDiA: Music Industry Blog Spotify held an investor day in which it ran through its vision for growth. Spotify has long touted the concept of its total addressable market (TAM), its path to a billion users and the role of emerging markets as the surest path to this figure. Spotifys presentation focused on monthly active users (MAUs), but, for the purpose of this blog, subscribers will be the key focus for two reasons: 1) MAUs are an inflated reach measure, while weekly (WAU) and daily (DAU) active users measure a far more tangible quantity of actual engagement. The tech giants, like Meta, focus on WAU and DAUs in their filings. In the saturated attention economy, monthly use can be one step away from total inactivity. 2) Ad revenue was just 12% of Spotifys 2021 revenue, and while it is getting better at ad monetisation (due in large part to podcasts), it has a much weaker track record of ad monetisation than it does subscriptions. Subscriptions are where Spotify makes its money and are also where the music business makes its money. 73% of 2021 global label streaming revenue was from subscriptions (and that is based on a number inflated by non-DSP streaming). First off, a bluffers guide to TAMs. TAMs are actually just one part of a three-step way of measuring opportunity: Total addressable market (TAM): the total potential audience the total potential audience Serviceable addressable market (SAM): how much of it is relevant to your product how much of it is relevant to your product Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): how much of it you think you can convert Another way to think about it is: how many fish are there in the pond, how many fish you think you can catch, how many fish you think you will actually catch. Why TAMs alone are not enough MIDiA employs a TAM / SAM / SOM methodology in its forecasts, as follows: TAM: those with smartphones and data plans those with smartphones and data plans SAM: of this, those who are interested in paying for music of this, those who are interested in paying for music SOM: the SAM adjusted for urbanisation rates and music streaming affordability on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis The SOM stage is crucial for emerging markets. Broadly speaking, it is consumers in urban conglomerations who are most likely to be addressable by streaming subscriptions. A rice paddy worker in rural Bangladesh might have a phone, but they are likely to a) have very little disposable income, b) use their phone most as a utility, and c) have bigger worries than whether to pay for a music subscription. The TAM and SAM figures might be reassuringly larger figures, but, in truth, it is the wealthier, more tech-centred, urban elites in emerging markets who are most likely to convert. Real terms affordability is crucial too. A subscription in India is around five times cheaper in dollar terms than in the US, but, on a PP basis (i.e., adjusted for local affordability), it is 12 times more expensive. Which further emphasises the role of urban elites in emerging markets for streaming subscriptions. When we map MIDiAs SOM alongside Spotifys TAM, the market opportunity immediately looks bigger. And it is. But Spotify does not operate in isolation. It is one player in a competitive marketplace. In 2021, there were already 554 million paid subscribers globally, of which, 180 million were Spotify users. The global subscriber base represents 92% of Spotifys TAM. The global subscriber figure is swelled by Chinas nearly 100 million subscribers, a market in which Spotify does not operate due to its poison pill equity swap relationship with Tencent. But even removing China from the equation, 76% of Spotifys TAM was already addressed by itself and its competitors in 2021. Does this mean Spotifys growth ambitions are unrealistic? Not necessarily. There is a huge amount of growth left in the market, as MIDiAs forthcoming music market forecasts will show (and from where the figures in the chart come). But the opportunity must be gauged in the context of where Spotify sits in the wider competitive marketplace, not in isolation. It is no coincidence that Spotify is focusing here on free users rather than paid. Free users are the funnel for Spotifys wider business (i.e., including podcasts and audiobooks, which it can best monetise via ads). But even the free streaming market is hyper competitive, with close to 1.5 billion free users already globally in 2021. Most importantly, though, the free user numbers are biggest in the most populous emerging markets, and it is local players that dominate. The future of music streaming in emerging market is going to (at the very least) be shaped as much by local emerging market players (e.g., Boomplay, JioSaavn, NetEase Cloud Music) as it is Western streaming services. In fact, there is an argument that Western streaming services looking at the emerging markets world as their target for colonising with streaming users is actually Western-tech imperialism. Share on: Pittsfield celebrated Juneteenth with games, activities, music and other performances. Pittsfield Celebrates Freedom on Juneteenth Dre Finley gives a spoken word performance. See more photos here. PITTSFIELD, Mass. Durant Park was alive with the city's first official Juneteenth celebration on Sunday. "This was our Independence Day because we know that July 4th didn't include everybody," Berkshire NAACP President Dennis Powell said. "And so that's why we celebrate." The event was a collaborative effort between various Black organizations in Berkshire County. It included around 20 booths offering food, hand-crafted items, and children's games. This was accompanied by performances throughout the day. Juneteenth was recognized as a local, state, and national holiday for the first time last year. The city of Pittsfield added the holiday to its municipal roster in May 2021, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill making Juneteenth a state holiday in July 2020, and President Biden signed a bill making it a national holiday in June 2021. The final execution and fulfillment of the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on June 19, 1865, when Union Army Gen. Gordan Granger's General Order No. 3 freed enslaved people in Texas, ending slavery in the United States after more than 300 years. During Sunday's event, around 30 stipends were given to students who are continuing their education from the Women of Color Giving Circle, the NAACP, and St. John's Lodge 10. This year, the NAACP raised more than $65,000 to subsidize funding in freshman and sophomore years. Students attending four-year institutions received $1,000 stipends, two-year colleges $800, and trade school $400. "Nothing speaks more to freedom than education," Powell said. "This is why we pick Juneteenth as a day to honor our graduates, our students who completed 12 years of education when all the terms were not what they should have been for them." He added that the students walking the stage are amazing people who will be future leaders and "lead better than our leaders now are leading us." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an abbreviated Juneteenth celebration last year at Park Square, where the stipends were distributed. This year's celebration is a new tradition. Powell explained that it will replace The Gathering, which was held at the park for 45 years in the fourth week of July. He emphasized the importance of Juneteenth not becoming a profit-making holiday for corporations. Powell said he wanted this day to be one of celebration and free of "political aspects." He sent out a memo to both candidates in the district attorney's race, Andrea Harrington and Timothy Shugrue, asking them not to advertise their campaigns at the event. "This is not that kind of a day," he said. Adams Free Library Pastel Painting Workshop ADAMS, Mass. The Adams Free Library will host award-winning pastel artist Gregory Maichack. He will present his new "Jellyfish," a pastel painting workshop for adults 18+, Wednesday, June 22, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. No experience necessary. Seating may fill quickly, so call 413-743-8345 to register for this free class. Materials will be provided during this two-hour workshop. This project is supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Participants will receive a hands-on experience of basic pastel painting, as well as advanced techniques. Participants are encouraged to freely experiment with hundreds of the artist's professional grade hard and soft pastels, and professional pastel paper. The event is for those ages 18 and up. Artist Gregory John Maichack lives in the Berkshires. He is a portraitist and painter working primarily in pastels. Winner of the Award of Merit from the Bennington Center for the Arts: Impressions of New England Show 2003, he also was awarded the Savoir-faire Pastel Award from the Great Lakes Pastel Society. The Adams Free Library is located at 92 Park Street. Vermont, Mass Authorities Seeking Actor Ezra Miller STAMFORD, Vt. Another family has filed a protection order against actor Ezra Miller, this time in Greenfield (Mass.) District Court. Miller, who owns a home in Stamford, had a protection order issued against them from Standing Rock Sioux tribal court earlier this month. According to NBC News, the order of protection granted last week was made after the Massachusetts family "grew suspicious" of the actor's relationship with their 12-year-old child. Miller had reportedly offered to buy the child expensive gifts after first making the family's acquaintance in February. The allegations also include Miller showing up in a bullet-proof vest and displaying a gun, "pestering" the child and engaging in "grooming" behavior, as stated in the Daily Beast, which first broke the story. The 29-year-old Miller catapulted to prominence after starring in the latest Harry Potter film series "Fantastic Beasts" and as the speedy hero Flash in "Justice League" and upcoming "The Flash." But in the past several months, they have had several tussles with the law, including arrests in Hawaii for assault, disorderly conduct and harassment. The Standing Rock Sioux interim order was issued at the behest of attorney Chase Iron Eyes, who says his child, Tokata, now 19, is in an abusive relationship with Miller. Iron Eyes said in the NBC News report that Miller has known the family since 2012 when they attended a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. According to several media reports, the order accuses Miller of having a "cult-like and psychologically manipulative, controlling behavior" over Tokata. Tokata Iron Eyes, who like Miller identifies as nonbinary, reportedly dropped out of Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Mass., at 18 and moved in with Miller. Last week, Tokata used their Instagram account to claim their parents were using ceremony and religious teachings to guilt them in to returning to a "dysfunctional" home. "Ezra is innocent," they wrote. "It's really distressing that the narrative of the 'victim' in question is not being granted trust," they also said in a video. "I'd like to say it's nobody's business and nobody is owed a story or an outcome ... this is my life, these are my decisions and I'm disappointed in my parents and the press in every way." They acknowledged that they did not have their own phone but denied that anyone else was using their account. According to NBC News, the Bennington County Sheriff's Department has attempted to serve Tokata an order from Standing Rock calling for a substance abuse and mental health evaluation. Miller had reportedly deleted their Instagram that some saw as mocking authorities for not being to find them and serve them with the orders. The actor has been seen locally within the past two weeks. A rickshaw puller wades through flood waters in Sylhet, Bangladesh, Monday, June 20, 2022. Floods in Bangladesh continued to wreak havoc Monday with authorities struggling to ferry drinking water and dry food to flood shelters across the country's vast northern and northeastern regions. AP-Yonhap Days of flooding are challenging authorities Monday in South Asia as they try to deliver food and drinking water to shelters across submerged swaths of India and Bangladesh. The high water brought on by seasonal monsoon downpours has already claimed more than a dozen lives, displaced hundreds of thousands and flooded millions of homes. Bangladesh called in soldiers Friday to help evacuate people, and Ekattor TV station said millions remained without electricity. Enamur Rahman, junior minister for disaster and relief, said that up to 100,000 people have been evacuated in the worst-hit Sunamganj and Sylhet districts, and about 4 million people have been marooned in the area, the United News of Bangladesh agency said. Flooding also continued to ravage India's northeastern Assam where two policemen engaged in rescue operations were washed away by floodwaters Sunday, an official in the state capital Gauhati said. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Monday his administration was in the process of airlifting food and fuel by military helicopters to some parts of the state that were badly affected. Officials said nearly 200,000 people were taking shelter in 700 relief camps. Water levels in all major rivers across the state were flowing above danger levels. Assam has been reeling from massive floods after heavy torrential rains over the past few weeks made the Brahmaputra River break its banks, leaving millions of homes underwater and severing transport links. The Brahmaputra flows from China's Tibet through India and into Bangladesh on a nearly 800-kilometer (500-mile) journey through Assam. Major roads in Bangladesh have been submerged, leaving people stranded. In the country that has a history of climate change-induced disasters, many expressed their frustration that authorities haven't done more locally. ''There isn't much to say about the situation. You can see the water with your own eyes. Water level inside the room has dropped a bit. It used to be up to my waist,'' said Muhit Ahmed, owner of a grocery shop in Sylhet. ''All in all, we are in a great disaster. Neither the Sylhet City Corporation nor anyone else came here to inquire about us,'' he said. ''I am trying to save my belongings as much as I can. We don't have the ability to do any more now.'' In the latest statement Sunday from the country's Flood Forecasting and Warning Center in the nation's capital, Dhaka, said that flooding in the northeastern districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet could worsen further in next 24 hours. It said the Teesta, a major river in the northern Bangladesh, may flow above danger. The situation could also deteriorate in the country's northern districts of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogra, Jamalpur and Sirajganj, it said. Officials said water has started receding already from the northeastern region but is posing a threat to the country's central region, the pathway for flood waters to reach the Bay of Bengal in the south. Media reports said those affected by flooding in remote areas are struggling to access drinking water and food. Arinjoy Dhar, a senior director of the nonprofit developmental organization BRAC, asked for help ensuring food for the flood-affected in a video posted online. Dhar said they opened a center Monday to prepare food items as part of a plan to feed 5,000 families in Sunamganj district, but the arrangement was not enough. BRAC said they alone were trying to reach out to about 52,000 families with emergency supplies. Last month, a pre-monsoon flash flood triggered by a rush of water from upstream in India's northeastern states hit Bangladesh's northern and northeastern regions, destroying crops and damaging homes and roads. Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, is low-lying and faces threats from natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, made worse by climate change. According to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 17% of people in Bangladesh would need to be relocated over the next decade or so if global warming persists at the present rate. (AP) MountainOne Announces Results of Annual Meeting NORTH ADAMS, Mass On behalf of the Trustees of MountainOne Financial, MHC, Chair Daniel Bosley announced the results of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, held on Monday April 25 th at the Norad Mill in North Adams. The Corporators elected Trustees, Officers, and a slate of Corporators representing the communities served by MountainOne. New Corporators to join the company are: Daniel Biggins of Magoun Biggins Funeral Home, Kristy Edmunds and Amelia Wachur of MASS MoCA, Kent and Shiobbean Lemme of Berkshire Running Center, Avril Levesque of Lever, Inc., Dr. Joshua Mendel of MCLA, Francesca Olsen - a local marketing consultant, Frederick Puddester - recently retired from Williams College, and Anna Singleton of the Williamstown Community Chest. Diana Brooks of Williamstown and James Canavan of Scituate were elected honorary lifetime Corporators in recognition of their service to MountainOne. Current Officers were re-elected, and Kevin Maguire of Marshfield was approved as the new Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees succeeding Pamela Art of Williamstown who retired from the board. President & CEO Robert Fraser provided an overview of the financial success of the prior year, an overview of the company's recently approved strategic plan, and MountainOne's commitment to its local communities. "Our staff, collectively known as Mountaineers,' have come through a challenging time with great success, and continue to be critical to the future growth of our organization, Fraser said. He also recognized several milestone service anniversaries and detailed his appreciation for the services of retiring Vice Chair, Pam Art. Executive Vice President, COO, CFO & Treasurer Steven Owens announced earnings of just over $10 million for 2021. Owens also noted the strength of the company's balance sheet including strong capital levels. Jonathan Denmark, President & COO of MountainOne Insurance presented on the recent acquisition of Cross Insurance's Pittsfield office, and the overall success of the Insurance division in 2021. The keynote speaker was Kristy Edmunds, newly appointed Executive Director of MASS MoCA. Edmunds noted her excitement at moving to the Berkshires as well as for the future of MASS MoCA and the local community. ici Haiti - Petit-Goave : Police kill an individual ambushed Sunday, June 19, 2022 around 3:00 am in the first communal section of Petit-Goave, locality of "Mawoz" an individual armed with a pistol in ambush in a strategic place was waiting for the passage of the police patrol. As soon as the patrols crisscrossing the area were visible, the shooter fired at the police who immediately retaliated, fatally hitting the shooter. No police officers were injured. The National Police of Haiti, multiplies its patrols in order to track down bandits and to bring order and peace to the country. IH/ iciHaiti iciHaiti - Economy : All about the new 25 Gourdes note Last week, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) unveiled the characteristics and security elements of the new 25 Gourdes note put on the national market. Characteristics: On the front of the banknote, there is the effigy of Nicolas Geffrard (1762-1806), the latter considered one of the heroes of the War and signatory of the Act of Independence. His son Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard, became the first president born after independence, he was president of Haiti from 1859-1867. On the back is the Forteresse des Platons located in Ducis in Les Cayes, southern Haiti. The Fortress of the Platons, is one of the many vestiges of the fortifications built by the Haitians. Security elements: On the front is the pronounced intaglio portrait with embedded micro text at the lower left. On the back there is a windowed, machine-readable security thread bearing the text "BRH" visible through transparency. The BRH asks the Haitian population to be vigilant so as not to take counterfeit notes that could be in circulation. IH/ iciHaiti Following the United Kingdoms decision to extradite Julian Assange to face trial in the United States, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Australian affiliate, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has called on the Australian Government to take swift steps to lobby for the dismissal of all charges against Assange. The IFJ stands with the MEAA in condemning the extradition order and calls for Assange to be pardoned and allowed to be with his family. On 17 June, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Assanges extradition to the US to face charges, primarily under the nations Espionage Act, for releasing US government records that revealed the US military committed war crimes against civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the killing of two Reuters journalists. Assange, a member of the MEAA since 2007, may now only have a slim chance of challenging the extradition. If found guilty, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison. The WikiLeaks founder is highly likely to be detained in the US under conditions of isolation or solitary confinement, despite the US governments assurances, which would severely exacerbate his risk of suicide. Wikileaks was awarded the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2011, an annual prize to reward excellence in Australian journalism, in recognition of the impact of WikiLeaks actions on public interest journalism by assisting whistleblowers to tell their stories. According to the MEAA, Walkley judges said WikiLeaks applied new technology to penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup. Whistleblowers have since been utilised by other media outlets to expose global tax avoidance schemes, among other stories. In the case of WikiLeaks, only Julian Assange faces charges, with no other WikiLeaks media partners cited in any US government legal actions. In 2017, Chelsea Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst who released classified information to WikiLeaks, was pardoned by former US President Barack Obama. MEAA Media section Federal President Karen Percy said, We urge the new Australian government to act on Julian Assanges behalf and lobby for his release. The actions of the US are a warning sign to journalists and whistleblowers everywhere and undermine the importance of uncovering wrongdoing. Our thoughts are with Julian and his family at this difficult time. The IFJ said, The United Kingdom Home Secretarys decision to allow the extradition of Julian Assange is a significant blow to media freedom and a dire threat to journalists, whistleblowers, and media workers worldwide. The IFJ urges the Government of Australia to act swiftly to intervene and lobby the United States and United Kingdom governments to dismiss all charges against Assange. Journalism is not a crime. At least 10 local and international news organisations have been barred from covering the inauguration of incoming Chief Secretary John Lee and other events during the twenty-fifth anniversary of Hong Kongs handover to China on July 1. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), in condemning the obstruction of the press. The next Chief Executive of Hong Kong, John Lee, speaks during a press conference inside the Central Government Office on June 19, 2022 in Hong Kong. Credit: Vernon Yuen / NurPhoto via AFP On June 16, applications for media outlets seeking to access the Hong Kong Chief Secretary inauguration and handover anniversary events closed, but at least 10 organisations registrations were denied. The Hong Kong based independent news and photography outlets restricted from reporting the events on July 1 include InMedia, Hong Kong Free Press, Photographic Society of Hong Kong, and Truth Media Hong Kong. International media, including Japans Nikkei, Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News, Taiwans CTV, United States Getty Images, and the European Pressphoto Agency have also not been invited to attend. July 1, 2022, marks 25 years since the United Kingdom transferred authority over Hong Kong to the Peoples Republic of China. The days events will involve the inauguration of John Lee as Hong Kongs new Chief Secretary, succeeding Carrie Lam, as well as the rumoured attendance of Chinas President Xi Jinping. The Hong Kong Information Services Department (ISD) invited specific television broadcasters to nominate up to 20 reporters and other select news outlets to nominate a maximum of 10 reporters to cover the events. According to InMedia , at previous official handover ceremonies, the media did not need direct invitations to report on events. The ISD cited pandemic concerns, security risks and venue constraints as reasons for heavily limiting the number of permitted media organisations. However, the Hong Kong Free Press said there is no record of security concerns at similar recent events. Despite the Hong Kong governments assertions that press freedom is intact, media workers in the region have continuously experienced arrests, newsroom raids and closures. The IFJs report, Lights Out: Is this the End of Press Freedom in Hong Kong? , found that Hong Kongs free media has rapidly deteriorated since the 2020 enactment of the National Security Law. On June 10, the independent investigative news agency FactWire became the fourth major Hong Kong news outlet to close in 2022, stating an increasingly controlled and patriotic media environment. Media outlets, Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen news, also shuttered earlier this year. The HKJA said, [HKJA] urges the citys authorities to be more inclusive by accepting applications from media organisations keen to attend, so that those with a considerable readership can fulfil their duty in keeping the public informed by reporting on Hong Kongs historic moments. The IFJ said, The restrictions on media coverage at the inauguration of Chief Executive John Lee and handover anniversary events further curb press freedom in Hong Kong. The IFJ urges Hong Kongs authorities to allow free and unfettered access to both local and international media at all events in the public interest. When Andrew Neil devoted his column in the Daily Mail to the Assange, his prejudices rang clear. Neil is Britains most-celebrated right-wing journalist: the Mail, the best-selling reactionary newspaper. Assange, Neil told his readers, is: reckless, cavalier, stupid, a narcissist, a sexual predator and careless with personal hygiene. But once Neil had pleasured himself with a discharge of invective, he got to his real point. If (Assange) ends up incarcerated in America, journalists all over what is still called the free world will wonder if its worth the risk when they are presented with classified information that deserves to see the light of day. His conclusion was clear: when democracy is under threat from Ukraine to Hong Kong, far better for Britain to refuse to extradite Assange and send a clear message a clarion call to the free world and beyond: we do not jail our dissidents. Neil is not the only journalist to arrive at this view albeit late in the day. In an editorial on the same day, The Independent contrasted its own opinion five years ago with today: Then, it accused Assange of entanglement with Russian interests and the authoritarian right. Today it concluded: Mr Assange has suffered enough. If his appeal fails, Ms Patel (the UKs Home Secretary/minister for the interior) should exercise compassion with whatever legal fig leaf the Home Offices lawyers can find. It is time to let Mr Assange go. The British media may have been slow coming to Assanges case, but its shift in opinion is critical. It is testimony to those who have stuck with the case when it was unfashionable, and a reminder of how much more there is to do. Because where the op-ed pages have led, many individual journalists are following only slowly. On Friday, Patel gave the green light for Assanges dispatch to face charges. He is sought by the United States under the Espionage Act for actions familiar to any journalist cultivating a source and encouraging the discreet passing of information proving wrong doing. He is now very nearly at the end of the legal process that began with extradition hearings in February 2020, and occupied Londons Old Bailey for a month in September that year. Further appeals are possible, and it was obvious from a press conference on Friday (at which I spoke from the platform) that these will be vigorously pursued. Assanges wife, Stella said: Our resolve is redoubled for every decision that is taken. While his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson told the gathering: It is hard to imagine a case in which there is more abuse of process and injustice. We will use all avenues open to us to expose this. The basis for any appeal will be the points that were dismissed by the Judge who heard the original case. These include: that the UK/US Extradition treaty rules out extradition on political grounds; that such has been the abuse of process that a fair trial is impossible; and, that this prosecution would breach guarantees of free expression contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. All of these arguments could be made in the Appeal Court, in the UKs Supreme Court, and at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. However, there is no guarantee that any of these courts will accept the case. In each, a judge must first rule that there are sufficient contentious points of law to require a hearing. The Supreme Court, for example, has already rejected a previous application to consider the lower courts decision that extradition would not be oppressive as a result of Assanges mental health. As a result, it is possible that the case for extradition could come to a swift conclusion, in which instance Assange would be dispatched within days. Or, there could be a year or more wrangling in court with the subject, almost certainly, remaining in the Belmarsh high-security prison. At the press conference, Assanges wife spoke directly to the massed reporters and photographers. This affects all of you, you know, she said. The warm nod of approval for which she might have hoped was not obviously forthcoming and this gives an idea of the work that journalists unions have still to do among their own members. Of course, dispassion and neutrality can be useful for those who report daily events. When a case threatens our ability to undertake the most important journalistic work, however, even-handedness becomes a dangerous conceit. In time it will become accepted common sense that this prosecution was a dangerous folly. The question is, how long will that take? How many more days must Assange languish in jail? And, most important, how much damage to free expression and the democracy it supports will we tolerate? As an absolute minimum, journalists can add their names to the international petition of media workers who oppose this prosecution: speak-up-for-assange.org. Those outside the UK could pressure their own unions to raise this issue with the UK Government and point out that challenging despots who threaten free expression rings hollow for so long as the prosecution is live. The broader the chorus making this case, the louder will be our call. I, for one, welcome all who add their voices, even those with whom I could unite about little else. Tim Dawson, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Delhi is Indias long time capital city and is a union territory. The current National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi formally came into existence in 1991 and Delhi was granted union territory status in 1956. Delhi is one of Indias fastest growing regions and home to around 18 million people (as per Aadhaar, Indias biometric ID system) although these estimates vary considerably due to regional migration flows. It is the second most populous city in India, after Mumbai, as per the 2011 census. (The decadal census has been repeatedly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now scheduled for 2023.) Delhi is situated in Indias north and is the largest city in the National Capital Region (NCR) a planned region centered around the NCT. Delhi straddles the Yamuna River, and is bordered on its northern, western, and southern sides by the state of Haryana and to the east by the vastly populous state of Uttar Pradesh. The citys urban sprawl incorporates the satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon (Gurugram), and Noida, creating a massive metropolitan area the NCR one of the most populated in the world. The presence of Indias vast bureaucracy and political system in New Delhi has been conducive to the creation of a cosmopolitan city, drawing people from multiple ethnicities and cultures. Economic profile Delhi is northern Indias largest commerce center. Major industries in the region include banking, insurance, and financial services, agri and processed food, construction and real estate, tourism, logistics, and IT/ITeS. The city is also a well-established education hub with premier schools and higher institutes of research and learning. The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Delhi is INR 9.23 trillion (US$118 billion), according to reporting based on the Delhi Economic Survey 2021. According to previously released advanced estimates, Delhis GSDP grew at an average rate of 7.70 percent between 2015-16 and 2020-21, although the pandemic engendered a contraction of economic activity. The economic survey of Delhi (2020/2021) suggests that its economy has doubled in size over the past decade. The tertiary sector represents around 84.6 percent of the union territorys GSDP, while the secondary and primary sectors account for 13.5 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. Delhis service sector is thus its largest income generator and source of employment. The NCR has a booming real-estate market and is a popular destination for tourists given its rich cultural heritage, street shopping centers, cuisine, and mature connectivity infrastructure. Delhis Indira Gandhi Airport welcomes the most foreign tourist arrivals in India. Over the next three years, the city will operationalize multiple transit-oriented projects targeting sustainable and integrated development. Meanwhile, Delhi and the wider NCR is a hub for the information technology (IT) and software industry. Software exports from Delhi-based Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) were worth INR 236.34 billion (US$338.17 million) in 2018-19, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation. Delhis service sector has grown partially on the back of a sizeable skilled and English-speaking population, owing, in part, to the citys role as the seat of governance and diplomatic capital. The manufacturing sector boomed in the 1980s and remains a considerable employer. Key manufacturing sectors include electronics, home consumable, and the garments industry. Agriculture once contributed significantly to the economy of the national capital territory, but now has largely receded. However, Delhi NCR is also known for its dairy and livestock industry; the region represents Indias 11th largest dairy market, according to research from Invest India. The public sector is also a major employer in the NCT. New Delhi, is the seat of all three branches of government, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan (official residence of the President of India), Parliament House, and the Supreme Court of India. Government and quasi-government sectors are the primary employer in New Delhi. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, Delhi has the second highest GDP per capita in the country. In 2021/2022, the per capita income of Delhi was INR 354,000 (US$4,530). Based on Delhi Economic Survey 2021, its per capita income is ranked third in the country, behind the states of Goa and Sikkim, at INR 401,982 (US$5149) at current prices. In May 2022, Delhi increased its monthly minimum wage to INR 16,506 (US$211) for unskilled workers, INR 18,187 (US$233) for semi-skilled ones, and INR 20,019 (US$256) for skilled labor. Education and workforce The presence of premier educational institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi; Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi Technological University (DTU), and University of Delhi (DU), among others, has ensured a steady supply of skilled workforce. A recent survey by WorkMotion indicated that Delhi had among the worlds most competitive workforce for top level remotes jobs and the available supporting infrastructure. There are six central universities, five autonomous universities and 10 state universities located in Delhi. Meanwhile, the Delhi government has focused its attention on the development of its public education sector in the last eight years. Infrastructure and connectivity Delhi is one of the best-connected cities in India. It is also Indias most urbanized city with a urbanization rate of 98 percent. Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport is currently the ninth busiest airport in the world, according to OAG data, which uses a metric based on scheduled airline capacity for the month. The airport connects Delhi with the rest of the world and helps maintain the citys status as the number one tourist base. The NCT is also home to an air freight terminal, at Kapashera, which sits near the border with Haryana. Delhi has the seventh busiest metro rail network in the world. The wider metro system consists of 286 stations linking Delhi with neighboring settlements in the NCR. There are 12 lines and 391km of network, making it comparable with Londons famous Underground, prior to its recent expansion. The metro network is complemented by more than 23,160km of roads within the NCT. By comparison, London only has 13,600km of roads. Delhi is also connected with neighboring states, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, by a network of national highways, including the NH 9 and the NH 44. Delhis connectivity to Ghaziabad and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) will be strengthened by the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), which is currently under construction. When finished, the semi-high speed rail corridor will stretch for 82.15 km, and travel along the route will take just 55 minutes. As reported in the Indian Express, it will be the first in the country to have a business or premium coach on a regional corridor. The first train set of the RRTS was handed over to the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) on May 7 and arrived at the Duhai depot in Ghaziabad on June 13 from Savli in Gujarat. The Print reports that it will service the Sarai Kale Khan-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor. In 2019, Delhis average broadband download speeds were 32.3mbps, below the national average of 34mbps. The capital was ranked below top-performing cities, Chennai, Tamil Nadu state (51mbps) and Bengaluru, Karnataka state (42.5mbps). Although, the speeds vary depending on internet providers. FDI and trade Delhi has been home to a large number of multinational companies (MNCs) for several decades, including DuPont, Godfrey Phillips, Oracle, PepsiCo, Samsung, Schneider Electric, and Walmart. Its also attracting considerable FDI (foreign direct investment). According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Delhi ranked third among Indian states and union territories by FDI inflows. Delhi attracted US$6.3 billion in FDI between April 2021 and December 2021. By comparison, Karnataka and Maharashtra saw inflows of US$17.2 billion and US$9.7 billion, respectively. According to FDI India, FDI inflows into Delhi NCR, stood at US$89.68 billion for the period from April 2000 to June 2019. The industries attracting the most investment into Delhi were services, IT, and real estate. Delhi is also becoming an increasingly attractive destination for investments in start-ups, jumping 11 places to ranking 26th in the global start-up ecosystem index. Delhi is considered the most attractive retail market of northern India. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, total merchandise exports from Delhi stood at US$7.59 billion in FY 2020-21 and US$ 6.53 billion in FY 2021-22 (until January 2022). As per Invest India, Delhi ranked 12th in the national Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2021. The EPI ranks Indias states and union territories on four main criteria policy; business ecosystem; export ecosystem; and export performance and 11 sub-criteria export promotion policy; institutional framework; business environment; infrastructure; transport connectivity; access to finance; export infrastructure; trade support; R&D infrastructure; export diversification; and growth orientation. In 2021, seven Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda (IEMs) with proposed investments worth INR 9.01 billion (US$120.66 million) were filed in Delhi. All industrial undertakings exempted from the requirements of industrial licensing under The Industries (Development and Regulation) Act I (D&R),1951 and having an investment in plant and machinery of INR 500 million and above and turnover of INR 2.5 billion and above, including existing units, new undertaking (NU) and new article (NA), may file an IEM online with the DPIIT. Policies and initiatives to enhance business growth and attract investment Delhi is looking to build on its position as Indias service capital, by aiding the development of start-ups. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced in May this year that the government has passed its Delhi Start-up Policy which, it is hoped, would turn the capital into an international start-up hub. Delhi will help start-ups get collateral-free loans that will be interest-free for a year. It will also enroll lawyers and other professionals to aid start-ups for free, with their costs covered by the government. The city wants to become a global innovation hub and is working on ways to create the right ecosystem and foster entrepreneurship. The Delhi Start-up Policy aims to generate 900,000 jobs over the next five years. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as of October 31, 2021, Delhi had approved two Special Economic Zones (SEZs), but none were operational. SEZs are geographical regions that has economic laws developed to attract foreign investment and enhance business operations. The policy was introduced across India in 2000, building upon an existing framework. There are 268 operational SEZs in India as of October 31, 2021. However, the national capital region has industry focused SEZ units that are in operation, mostly in the IT/ITeS area. Delhi also hosts STPIs under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). STPIs, of which there are 62 in India, provide infrastructure, skilling, mentoring, market connection and support to start-ups. Delhi is home to the first Center of Excellence (CoE) in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM. It was opened in 2016; a second ESDM center of excellence was opened in Bhubaneshwar, the state of Odisha, in 2019. The CoE in Delhi has nurtured 51 start-ups as of April 2022, enabling them to file 52 patents, launch 43 products, and build 33 prototypes. In a similar vein, the government is keen to enhance the development of hi-tech, sophisticated, knowledge-based IT and ITeS industries in the city. To this end, Delhi is funding new initiatives in the education sector. The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIITD) an autonomous State University established a new Centre of Excellence in Human-Centered Computing, in January. The facility focusses on teaching relevant courses on Human-Centered Computing and will also facilitate research collaborations. In February, the Delhi government also announced the creation of a Science Innovation Hub at a school in the Kautilya Enclave. It will aim to promote a scientific culture and inculcate a scientific temper for nurturing talent in science and technology. The Delhi government also announced in its 2022-23 budget that it will build an Electronic City at Baprola, west Delhi, to create 80,000 new jobs in electronics manufacturing. A 90-acre plug-and-play manufacturing center will be set up and the redevelopment of non-conforming industrial areas will in turn create 600,000 new jobs. (With added inputs from Melissa Cyrill.) India developed federal, state, and private special economic zones (SEZs) to boost foreign investment and encourage manufacturing and exports. Here, India Briefing introduces the benefits of SEZs as well as the SEZs and warehouses that can be found in Mumbai. Maharashtra has encouraged a wide array of foreign businesses to set up in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state. Foreign companies investing in the state can save up to 20-30 percent of the cost of setting up a production unit through the federal and state tax incentives, customs benefits, and access to facilities such as raw material, banks, and foreign exchange house, among others. Some SEZs in the state offer additional facilities and support for investors, such as infrastructure, training, and networking. Currently, there are 29 operational SEZs in the state. Out of these, seven are located in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Thane. While the federal state SEZ Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) SEZ is situated in central Mumbai, most SEZs developed by private firms are concentrated in Navi Mumbai and Thane. Sector data shows that a significant majority of the SEZs in Maharashtra are information technology (IT), IT enabled services (ITeS), and electronic hardware businesses. This is partly a result of prolonged tax incentives offered to the industry under various government schemes. The government is now according in-principal approvals to more non-IT SEZs, such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, multi-products, engineering, and multi-services. Below, are the general benefits available for companies setting up units in Indias SEZS. Federal government incentives available for SEZ developers and SEZ units Indias SEZ Act, 2005 offers several financial incentives to developers and tenants of SEZs. In addition, foreign direct investment (FDI) equity caps are not applicable to companies operating from SEZs. The companies are exempted from the requirements of industrial licenses and are allowed to retain 100 percent of their foreign exchange earnings in special export earners foreign currency exchange accounts. SEZ located businesses are also free to sell goods in the domestic tariff area (DTA) on payment of applicable duties. It is worth noting for investors that there are many more industry and location-specific provisions, schemes, and incentives available in Maharashtra. Therefore, when considering a new investment in any of the SEZs in the state, it is important for companies to examine each location individually - various sources and types of support that may be available, depending on the scope of the business. SEZ set up by the federal government There are seven federal government SEZs that were set-up across India before the enactment of the SEZs Act, 2005. Out of these, only one is located in Mumbai SEEPZ SEZ. SEEPZ Special Economic Zone The SEEPZ was established as an Export Processing Zone in 1973, for the manufacturing and export of electronic products, and was converted into an SEZ in 2000. The SEEPZ SEZ is situated close to Indias most robust financial center, giving it access to the surroundings regions existing infrastructure, capital, logistics networks, raw materials, and labor markets. Spread over 45 hectares, the SEZ is dedicated to electronic products, as well as gems and jewelry. It houses seven standard design factories and three gems & jewelry factories, accommodating over 28 IT hardware units, 66 IT software units, 168 gem and jewelry units, and 33 trading units. The jewelry companies together account for 38 40 percent of Indias total jewelry exports. Businesses situated in the SEEPZ have access to various facilities such as banks with ATM, post-office, public telex office, central warehouse, as well as point-to-point dedicated data communication facilities. In addition, units in the SEZ are entitled to certain tax benefits such as: Tax holiday as per the provision of the Income Tax Act, 1961; Duty-free import of capital goods, equipment from preferred sources, raw materials, components, consumables, spares, tooling and packaging materials; Exemption from excise duty and other levies on products manufactured within the zone; and Excise duty exemption on capital goods, raw materials, and computers procured from the Domestic Tariff Area. There are special dispensations and relaxations in local laws and levies, State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) and property tax. Capital goods and all other inputs supplied to the zone from the rest of the country are treated as deemed exports and are eligible for deemed export benefits under the GST law. This provision enables companies to avail materials for manufacturing at international prices at zero inventory. Distance from Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport 3.7 miles (6km) Distance from Andheri railway station 2.9 miles (4.7 km), Jogeshwari railway station 3.5 miles (5.6 km) Power rate: INR 8.23 and INR 9.31 (US$0.12) per unit respectively Water supply: assured supply of 4.6 million liters per day (mld) of water SEZs set up by private sector There are 18 notified private sector SEZs situated in and around Mumbai; two IT/ITeS SEZs in Mumbai, six IT/ITeS and biotechnology SEZs in Thane, and 10 sector-specific SEZs in Navi Mumbai. Out of these, six are currently operational: HGP Community Private Limited SEZ The SEZ is located in the central suburbs of Mumbai Powai. It houses several major IT/ITeS units in India such as TCS, Wipro, CRISIL, Nomura, and Covansys. Distance from Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport 3.7 miles (6 km) Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station 15.5 miles (25 km) Mumbai central railway station- 13.6 miles (22 km) Sunstream city private limited SEZ Sunstream city project is situated off the Eastern Express Highway at Mulund-Thane region of Maharashtra. The SEZ is spread over 141 acres and comprises of IT SEZ and residential township. Distance from Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport 10.2 miles (16.5 km) Kurla railway station 10.8 miles (17.5 km) Mumbai central railway station- 18.1 (29.2 km) Other private SEZs are: iGate Global Solutions Limited, Aurum Platz IT Private Limited, Serene Properties Private Limited, and Gigaplex Estate Private Limited. Warehousing clusters in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai The high concentration of SEZs and establishment of manufacturing hubs across Mumbai have augmented the attractiveness of warehousing and industrial clusters in the region. Some of the regions major warehousing centers are given in the table below. Bhiwandi, situated on the outskirts of Mumbai, is the largest warehousing location in the region. It is located along the Mumbai-Nashik highway giving distributors easy access to both Mumbai and Pune. It is also close to Maharashtra Gujarat border. In the last five years, Bhiwandi has emerged as a major warehousing hub for companies such as Amazon, Samsung, BMW, and Flipkart. The area generates a business of INR 20,000 crore (US$2.8 billion) every month, according to industry estimates. Panvel is located in close proximity to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. The connectivity to one of Indias largest ports and availability of large land parcels in the area has made Panvel a popular choice for warehousing among businesses. Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors. KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary. No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account." www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others. In the fiscal year 2021-22, India's merchandise exports increased by 44.6 % while imports increased by 55.3 %. For the first time, the entire amount of merchandise commerce surpassed $1 trillion, with exports reaching $422 billion and imports reaching $613 billion. Despite several problems such as disrupted supply chains, a scarcity of containers, and delays at ports, trade rose. The increase in trade contributed to a worsening of India's trade balance, with imports exceeding exports. The trade imbalance increased, just edging over the 2012-13 peak. A rise in petroleum crude and gold import bills contributed to a worsening of the trade balance in that year. A strong jump in commodity prices drove growth in exports and imports in FY 2022, as demand soared after economies emerged from months of lockdown. India exports to 240 countries and jurisdictions and purchases from 229 countries and jurisdictions. However, the most substantial trade flows are with the United States and China. In 2021-22, the US and China accounted for over a quarter of India's foreign commerce trade. The United States reclaimed the top spot from China the previous year, but the difference was just approximately $4 billion. Despite certain anti-China sentiments, India's exports to the US and imports from there increased by around 50% year on year, while imports from China increased by approximately 45 %. Exports to China were unchanged. Among the top trading partners, bilateral goods commerce with Australia grew the fastest, with both exports and imports doubling over the course of the year. Despite this, Australia represents only 2.4 % of the total value of commodities exchanged between the two nations. Due to the high price of crude petroleum, India's imports from oil-producing countries increased dramatically. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Iraq increased their imports by more than double, while the United Arab Emirates and Qatar increased theirs by almost 70%. The trade imbalance has increased In 2021-22, India's trade deficit increased by 85.8% to $190 billion. China had the greatest trade imbalance, estimated at $72.9 billion. That was the equivalent of 40% of the year's trade deficit. Electronic components, computer hardware, telecom instruments (mainly mobile phones), organic and other chemicals, and machinery are among the items India imports from China. Six oil-exporting countriesIraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Omanaccounted for half of the entire shortfall. Is the growing trade imbalance a cause for concern? Given the substantial growth in the merchandise trade deficit, India's current account deficit is likely to reach a three-year high of more than $40 billion in 2021-22. In the previous year, India posted a current account surplus as the value of imports declined, aided in part by lower crude oil prices. One of the most important components of the current account balance is the merchandise trade deficit. Net earnings from trade in services, net income on investments, and net workers' remittances are among the other components. It will balance some of the merchandise trade deficit as long as gains from trade in services and workers' remittances remain strong. However, rising crude oil and other commodity prices might increase the trade gap even further, putting more pressure on the rupee to weaken. Its likely youve heard the term bear market and bull market being used as context to whats happening in the stock market. But what exactly do they mean? And why are we involving animals in this? Bear and Bull markets A bear market is characterised by falling stock prices, whereas a bull market is characterised by rising prices. Given that the two concepts are essentially opposites of one another, their interpretation is straightforward. Low investor confidence and a sense that the market is risky are generally also present during a bear market, which is characterised by a sharp decline in stock prices. A bull market, or sustained increase in stock values, is likely to be characterised by high investor confidence and the sense of a robust economic environment. Indiatimes However, a bear market is more specifically defined as any stock index or specific stock that declines by at least 20% from recent highs. A bull market, on the other hand, typically rises 20% from recent bear market lows and reaches record benchmark highs. Why are they named so? There are multiple theories for the terms origins. One is that its how they kill: bulls gore enemies by thrusting upward with their horns, while bears swipe down with their claws. People would refer to someone as a "bearskin jobber" who had "sold the bearskin" in the 18th century when they sold something they did not yet own in order to purchase it later at a reduced price. The South Sea Bubble, a financial collapse in 1720 involving the South Sea Corporation, a trade company that ended up being essentially worthless despite its once-soaring stocks, contributed to the wider popularisation of that phrase. If that's how the word "bear" originated, then another theory holds that the word "bull" originated from the practice of staging fights between bears and bulls for amusement. Characteristics of both markets Supply and Demand for Securities- Strong demand and low supply for securities characterise a bull market. To put it another way, a lot of investors want to acquire assets, but not as many are ready to sell them. As investors fight for available stock, share prices will increase as a result. The reverse is true in a bear market: more people are looking to sell than buy. Share prices decline as a result of the demand being far lower than the supply. File image Investor behaviour- Investor psychology and mood influence whether the market will rise or collapse since the market's behaviour is influenced and determined by how people perceive and respond to it. Investor psychology and stock market performance are interdependent. Investors willingly join in a bull market with the expectation of making money. Market sentiment is negative during a bear market, and investors start shifting their funds from equities to fixed-income instruments while they wait for the stock market to recover. In conclusion, investor confidence is shaken by the drop in stock market prices. As a result, investors hold their money out of the market, which leads to an increase in outflow and a consequent decrease in prices overall. Economic Activity- The stock market and economy are closely related since the companies whose stocks are traded on the exchanges are active in the larger economy. tradinginsider A sluggish economy is related to a bear market. Since consumers are not spending nearly enough, the majority of businesses are unable to post enormous profits. The market's valuation of equities is directly impacted by this reduction in profits. The opposite happens during a bull market. People are more ready and able to spend their increased wealth. The economy is boosted and driven by this. What to do in each market? In a bull market, it is ideal for investors to profit from rising prices by purchasing stocks as early as possible in the trend and then selling them once it has peaked. Any losses should be brief and minimal during a bull market, when an investor can comfortably and aggressively engage in additional equity with a larger chance of profit. Getty images However, because prices are steadily declining in value and the end is frequently not in sight, there is a bigger potential of losses in a bear market. Even if you do choose to invest in anticipation of a recovery, you are probably going to lose money up front. Therefore, the majority of the profits can be made through short selling or through safer assets like fixed-income securities. It's a good idea to spend some time researching the market before making an investment decision because both bull and bear markets will have a significant impact on your finances. Keep in mind that the stock market has consistently produced good returns over the long run. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. Good news for sky watchers! Rajasthan in India has become the first state to launch the night sky astro tourism in all its 33 districts! Located in the states capital, Jaipur itself has four popular venues for stargazing: Jantar Mantar, Amber Fort, University of Maharaja and Jawahar Kala Kendra. State Department of Art and Culture introduced a Night Sky Tourism Project. This was done to introduce sky-gazing among the tourists and encourage them for the same. How was this idea born? Mugdha Sinha, Rajasthan's Department of Science and Technology Secretary said that because of COVID-19, there was a strict lockdown, people were locked inside their houses and a number of interesting astronomical events were taking place in the sky. The Rajasthan government organised a star gazing session in 2021 to help people who wished to be outdoors after a long hiatus forced by COVID-19 lockdown. Residents got super excited for the event and this led to the conception of the approval of night sky astro tourism across Rajasthan. Its inception Soon, a lot of recommendations walked in and the idea was adopted by Rajasthans chief minister Ashok Ghelot. The dates will be decided depending upon the calendars of the sky. The state also plans to launch astrophotography workshops in the future. On March 3, the CM announced the introduction of Night Sky Astro Tourism in all 33 districts of the state. astro-tourism Mugdha further added, "Now, we shall get telescopes for all districts and for Delhi's Bikaner House too. One of the prime features of the product is that it will be managed by calendars of the sky and sky will play the main guide to fix the dates for such events. Dark Sky Reserve at Ladakh In wake of this augmenting tourism streak, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between Indian Institute of Astrophysics, the Ladakh administration and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council to form Indias first ever Dark Sky Reserve at Hanle in Ladakh. Dark sky reserves are areas which are particularly preserved, maintained for their astronomical value. Organisations look for the darkest skies with best starry nets and endeavour to preserve them from light pollution. CEC @tashi_gyalson also attended the event of the signing of the tripartite MoU for the setting up of the first Dark Sky Reserve of the country at Hanley. It was signed between the UT administration, LAHDC Leh and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). pic.twitter.com/00kr9j8Knc LAHDC LEH (@LAHDC_LEH) June 17, 2022 Light pollution refers to the brightening of the sky due to artificial, obstructive lights which are more than often manmade, and not only have harmful effects on natural ways but also inhibit astronomical observations. Scientists claim it to be menacing hindrances to the environment. Unpolluted night sky makes it possible to see stars in the milky way too. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. Thousands of suitcases lay sprawled across the floor of London's Heathrow airport after the baggage system in Terminal 2 faced a "technical issue" on Saturday. In what could be seen in viral images and videos, hundreds of passenger bags were heaped in Terminal 2 of the airport without any staff around due to a glitch in the system. Twitterati stunned Passengers reportedly waited for many hours for their bags while some had to leave without getting their bags back, BBC News reported. Some even posted photos and videos of the chaotic sea of baggage on Twitter. Lost luggage has a final resting place perhaps.@HeathrowAirport T2mines the black one (I think) pic.twitter.com/u0tDMTgFHj Stuart Dempster (@StuDempster) June 17, 2022 Suddenly a slight wait for my luggage to arrive at @HeathrowAirport is even more of an irrelevance - at least it came on the same flight and is leaving with me pic.twitter.com/h42BfCe0mo Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) June 17, 2022 Heard from ground staff that all of Fridays lost bags (around 8000) have been moved away from #Heathrow T2 into containers. Will take at least 1 week to start reuniting passengers with their luggage. Bags from yesterday/today are still lying around (see pic) and will take longer pic.twitter.com/83FATFbOTX HeathrowChaos (@ChaosHeathrow) June 19, 2022 Passengers asked to leave without bags In some cases, passengers were even asked to leave and were told that their luggage will reach them in a period of 1-2 days. Absolute chaos at #Heathrow where all passengers are asked to drop their baggages at level 0 and hope it will reach destination one or two days later. pic.twitter.com/rLKuyNlrGk Giovanni Gaetani (@giovannigaetani) June 17, 2022 A user tweeted a video from inside the airport where he said that "all the baggage belts in Terminal 2 of the airport had stopped working". "We had to que up our luggage and we were told that security would watch it so that we could go through security, and maybe our luggage might make it to the plane with a 50-50 shot." Asked airlines to cancel flights To curb the crisis, Heathrow asked airlines flying off from Terminals 2 and 3 to cancel 10 percent of their flights for the day due to baggage handling issues, The Independent reported. As many as 15,000 passengers on 90 flights are estimated to be affected. British Airways, which operates a number of flights from Terminal 3 and Terminal 5, stated that it had made a small number of cancellations. "We're in contact with affected customers to apologise, advise them of their consumer rights and offer them alternative options, including a refund or rebooking," a spokesperson for the airline said. Heathrow issues apology According to a report by the BBC, a spokesperson for Heathrow airport apologised for the chaos and the delay. Hi there, We're very sorry that the technical issue with our baggage system caused this delay, our airline partners will be working to deliver luggage, and we trust your airline will provide you with an update soon. For airline contact information, visit: https://t.co/tNNHwETNKM Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) June 18, 2022 "Earlier today there was a technical issue with the Terminal 2 baggage system which has now been resolved. Passengers are now able to check-in as normal, but a number of passengers who departed from Terminal 2 earlier today may have travelled without their luggage. We are working closely with airlines to reunite passengers with their luggage as soon as possible. We're sorry there's been disruption to passenger journeys, she stated. Heathrow airport is the UK's largest and busiest airport as well as being the busiest airport in Europe and the seventh busiest in the world based on passenger traffic. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. Stargazers in New Zealand were left puzzled and awestruck by a bizarre, spiral light formation in the sky on Sunday night. Around 7:30 pm, Kiwis caught a glimpse of an incredible sight - a huge, blue spiral of light amid the darkness, suspiciously drifting across. Shaun Rolston/Stuff Many people took to social media to share the photographs showing the rare phenomenon. Alasdair Burns, 34, who runs a star-gazing business on Stewart Island told local website Stuff that it was by far the strangest thing hed seen in the night sky. It was absolutely bizarre. It was like a massive spiral. And it very, very slowly, serenely moving north across the night sky and then just sort of dissipating as it went, he told the outlet. However, Richard Easther, a physics professor at the University of Auckland, explained that the spiral was, in fact, the illuminated plume of a rocket. They are clouds created by the exhaust plumes of the rocket, which would have been illuminated by the sun, he told Stuff. Its similar to the effect you sometimes see at sunset when the setting sun lights up the underside of high clouds. These were photographed by a friend in #Asheville last night. The spiral at the end was taken last night in New Zealand and sent to a friend of mine (next tweet.) Then what @VennieKocsis saw the night before last. So much activity right now! #ufotwitter pic.twitter.com/zJaibiDwVN FullDisclosureForTheWin (@fulldiscloseFTW) June 19, 2022 According to Easther, its plausible the rocket was Space Xs Global Star Mission, which launched earlier on Sunday and passed over New Zealand. People on social media had their own theories - from UFOs to foreign rockets to commercial light displays. Premonition from our orbital black hole, one user said. Aliens at it again, another user commented. "That's a porter to another world," a third user said. For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram. A teenager in the USA has shared how she became a multi-millionaire through her lemonade business which she started when she was just four years old. Mikaila Ulmer began creating her drinks after receiving an old cookbook from her great-grandmother. The 17-year-old, from Texas, US, had earned $11 million before her 12th birthday, and her company has continued to grow ever since, as per a report in mirror.co.uk. forbes After finding an old recipe for flaxseed lemonade, she reportedly got to work and added a twist of honey which proved to be crucial as the drink took off. She went on to secure a mega-money deal from Whole Foods back in 2016 to sell her Me & the Bees Lemonade and even before she turns 18, her product has been stocked in 1,500 stores across America. Also, the young teenager and entrepreneur hasn't stopped at the drink 'Me & the Bees Lemonade', and even has her own line of lip balms and written her own book - all achieved while she studies in school, as per the report. She says for each drink sold, 10% of her profits go to the bee rescue foundations. Mikaila earned some vital investment to take the company to the next level after appearing on the television show Shark Tank US in 2015. She had successfully received a $60,000 investment to support her growing business. Investor Daymond John had put up the money in Shark Tank. And thats not all. The teenager was also invited that year to meet President Barack Obama at the White House. bbc/getty Her books 'Bee Fearless' and 'Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid,' came out in 2019 and 2020, respectively. instagram/mikailasbees Also Read: From An Author At Age 8 To Becoming A Millionaire At 11: This 14YO's Career Goals Are Never-ending More About The Lemonade Business On her website, the 17-year-old millionaire says: I decided to give her beloved lemonade a new twist by adding honey from bees, instead of only sugar. That's how Be Sweet Lemonade was born! However, we had to change the name due to a copyright issue so we decided to call it Me & the Bees Lemonade because we give a percentage of sales to help save the bees. lemonadeday.org We are now celebrating more than 10 years in buzzness!, as stated in the report. Also Read: 22-YO Millionaire Shares How He Flies Around The World In Luxury Jets For Half The Price! For the latest and interesting financial news, keep reading Indiatimes Worth. Click here. Miguel de Icazas barrage of criticism against Microsoft comes with a lot of credibility. This is the developer who has spent much of his career building open source projects within the Microsoft ecosystem and spent years working for Microsoft on Xamarin and other projects. His primary complaint? That Microsoft would subvert an active open source project by ramming in a proprietary extension to continue to lock down .NET. This comes after last years Hot Reload open source dumpster fire. For those who choose to see this as a resurrection of Microsofts old Linux is a cancer trope, not so fast. On balance, Microsoft has been a consistent contributor to open source communities, at least since its public declaration of open source devotion back in 2014. Its doubtful that the company is suddenly reverting to type, closing off one of its most visible open source successes. Instead, I suspect this is one divisions decision to satisfy corporate revenue targets with a well understood, if out-of-favor, licensing model. Still think its just Microsoft being evil? Have you ever worked at a big company? Right hand, meet left hand The reality of big company existence is that the CEO said to do it is more persuasive than my cubicle mate thinks its a good idea. Also, even executive edicts take time and persistence to enforce. Think about it this way: The CEO says, Everyone must sell our new monkey glasses. Sounds good, right? Well, it does until the general manager of the zebra glasses division reminds the CEO that she has $1 billion depending on selling zebra glasses, not monkey glasses. Oh, and then the partner lead reminds the CEO that they have $500 million in commitments to partners related to hippo glasses. Sales folks will need to be trained, marketing will need to update all the collateral, etc., etc., etc. A year later (or five), that edict will still largely be unmet. Back to Microsoft. In 2014 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella declared that Microsoft loves Linux. Hell didnt freeze over because by this time what else could Microsoft do? Linux was a fact of life, as was open source. I wont rehash history that Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has already captured exceptionally well. The TL;DR? Cloud computing (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) was sprinting to open source, and if Microsoft wanted to have a future, it would have to learn to minimize its obsession for Windows. (Remember when Azure was called Windows Azure?) Microsoft had a compelling financial reason to go all-in on open source, and it largely has. But, as mentioned, executive edicts take time to enforce. This was particularly true in 2014. At the same moment that Nadella was exulting in Microsofts newfound love for open source, other parts of the company were actively fighting against it and the principles that underpin it, as Simon Phipps wrote at the time. Things got better. By 2016, I could reasonably write that Microsoft had become the worlds largest open source contributor, as measured by number of employees actively contributing to open source projects on GitHub. Its not a perfect measure, of course, but its directionally accurate. By 2018, I ran the numbers again using an open source project and, again, Microsoft came out ahead, measured by employees actively contributing to GitHub open source projects. (You can use this same project to get updated numbers.) Lets get back to the specific matter that riled de Icaza and other open source advocates. Microsoft communicated some changes it was making to the C# extension to Visual Studio Code, making it proprietary. That communication was a bit hard to follow, leading de Icaza to summarize: Over time, the .NET platform is becoming closed, to ensure it is only useful if you are a customer. For those who had hoped open source .NET would pave the way to C# and other key Microsoft technologies, this seems like a hard reversal. One commenter on de Icazas post suggested that despite the we love open source corporate slogan, many of the old-timers who were there in the nasty era are still there now. Theres a lot of them, and very senior, and some certainly still have those nasty ideas. To this de Icaza replied, Yup. Its possible to accept de Icazas view of the situation and still think that, on balance, Microsoft gets more decisions on open source right than wrong. This is the same Microsoft that recently funded the GNOME project, a direct (if not particularly threatening) challenge to the Windows desktop. Its a big sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation, plus it contributes cash and other resources to Python, Java (!!), Kubernetes, OpenTelemetry, and more. Of course, one rejoinder to all this is that of course Microsoft does that! Its in their self-interest, and maybe they see closing off .NET as in their self-interest, too. To which I reply, sure. I cant think of a single instance of a company contributing to open source projects out of altruism. Open source is inherently selfish, and thats why it continues to sustain itself and thrive. Theres no shortage of self-interest in developers contributing and companies paying them to do so. On Microsoft and .NET, I dont have any particular complaint. Ive followed Microsoft for more than two decades and have spent my share of time raging against that machine. One thing Ive learned: A company is never as bad as it seems on the surface because ultimately its made up of individual people making decisions. Some of those decisions I like, and others I dont. My opinion (and probably yours) doesnt really matter, though, because the acid test will be what developers and customers do. If Microsofts .NET developer community hits back and takes their employers money with them, Microsoft will blink and walk back the decision. It was money that influenced Microsofts love for open source, just as with every other company, and Microsoft will follow the money in this case, too. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. We may update this Policy from time to time without notice to you, so please check it regularly. The provision of your personal data to us is voluntary. However, without providing us with your personal data, you will be unable to (as appropriate): contact us; subscribe to our mailing list; subscribe to any of our publications; or receive information about In Defence of Marxism. We collect information about you: (1) When you give it to us DIRECTLY You may give us your personal data in order to subscribe to a newsletter or publication, when you contact us by phone, email or post, when you sign a petition / statement, and/or when you donate money to us. (2) When you give it to us INDIRECTLY Your information will also be provided to us when you follow us or otherwise interact with on or via Twitter, when you like and/or join our page on Facebook or interact with us in other ways on or via Facebook. (3) When you give permission to OTHER ORGANISATIONS to share it or it is AVAILABLE PUBLICLY We may combine information you provide to us with information available from external publicly available sources. Depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may also access information from those accounts or services. We use this information to gain a better understanding of you and to improve our communications and fundraising activities. (4) When you visit our WEBSITE We use cookies to identify you when you visit our website. Please refer to our Cookies Policy for details on the way our use of cookies affects your personal data. What information do we collect? We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data: (1) We will typically hold your name and contact details, including telephone number, location, and e-mail address. However, we may request other information where it is appropriate and relevant, for example: Your bank details or debit/credit card details (if making a donation). (2) any communication preferences you give; (3) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views; and/or (4) any other information shared with us as per clause 1. Do we process sensitive personal information? Applicable law recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection, including political opinions and trade union membership. In limited cases, we may collect sensitive personal data about you. We would only collect sensitive personal data if there is a clear reason for doing so; and will only do so with your explicit consent. How and why will we use your personal data? Personal data, however provided to us, will be used for the purposes specified in this Policy or in relevant parts of the website. We may use your personal information to: (1) Enable you to subscribe to our hard copy publications; (2) Send you information about our work, campaigns, organisations and any other information, products or services that we provide (this will not be done without your consent); (3) Provide you with the services, products or information you have requested; (4) If you request, put you in touch with other supporters in your area (who have also provided such consent); (5) Handle the administration of any donation or other payment you make via credit/debit card, cheque, standing order or BACS transfer; (6) Collect payments from you and send statements and/or receipts to you; (7) Conduct research into the impact of our activity / campaigns; (8) Deal with enquiries and complaints made by you relating to the website or us in general; (9) Make petition submissions to third parties, where you have signed a petition and the third party is a target of the campaign to which the petition relates; and/or (10) Audit and/or administer our accounts. Supporter Analysis Google Analytics We may use some of your personal information to analyse our digital performance, for example to see how our website can be improved to help us achieve the purposes set out in section 9 below, to record how you are using our website or to assess the popularity of different articles / campaigns. For more information on how we use your personal information in relation to Google Analytics, please view our cookie policy by clicking this link cookies policy You can opt-out of the collection of information for such purposes here: http://www.aboutads.info/choices Communications, updates, fundraising Where you have provided appropriate consent, we will contact you by telephone and e-mail, with targeted communications to let you know about our events and/or activities that we consider may be of particular interest; about the work of In Defence of Marxism; and to ask for donations or other support. Donations and other payments All financial transactions carried out on our website are handled through either: PayPal (Europe) S.a r.l. (PayPal), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read PayPals privacy policy (available at https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full?locale.x=en_GB ) prior to effecting any transactions with us through PayPal; or GoCardless Ltd (GoCardless), a third party payment services provider. We recommend that you read GoCardlesss privacy policy (available at https://www.gocardless.com/legal/privacy) prior to effecting any transactions with us through GoCardless. We will provide your personal data to PayPal / GoCardless only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments for transactions you enter into with us. We do not store your financial details. Childrens data We do not knowingly process data of any person under the age of 16. If we come to discover, or have reason to believe, that you are 15 and under and we are holding your personal information, we will delete that information within a reasonable period and withhold our services accordingly. Security of and access to your personal data We endeavour to ensure that there are appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to prevent the loss, destruction, misuse, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or of access to your personal information. Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and volunteers. We may also use agencies and/or suppliers to process data on our behalf. We may also merge or partner with other organisations and in so doing transfer and/or acquire personal data. Please note that some countries outside of the EEA have a lower standard of protection for personal data, including lower security requirements and fewer rights for individuals. We may transfer and/or store personal data collected from you to and/or at a destination outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such personal data may be processed by agencies and/or suppliers operating outside the EEA. If we transfer and/or store your personal data outside the EEA we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate measures to protect your personal data. Otherwise than as set out in this Privacy Policy, we will only ever share your data with your informed consent. Your rights Where we rely on your consent to use your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This includes the right to ask us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes or to be unsubscribed from our email list at any time. You also have the following rights: (1) Right to be informed you have the right to be told how your personal information will be used. This Policy and any other policies and statements used on our website and in our communications are intended to provide you with a clear and transparent description of how your personal information may be used. (2) Right of access you can write to us to ask for confirmation of what information we hold on you and to request a copy of that information. Provided we are satisfied that you are entitled to see the information requested and we have successfully confirmed your identity, we have 30 days to comply. (3) Right of erasure as from 25 May 2018, you can ask us for your personal information to be deleted from our records. (4) Right of rectification if you believe our records of your personal information are inaccurate, you have the right to ask for those records to be updated. (5) Right to restrict processing you have the right to ask for processing of your personal data to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage. (6) Right to data portability to the extent required by the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) where we are processing your personal information (i) under your consent, (ii) because such processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contact or (iii) by automated means, you may ask us to provide it to you or another service provider in a machine-readable format. To exercise these rights, please send a description of the personal information in question using the contact details in section 15 below. You can also unsubscribe from our email list by sending a blank email to news-unsubscribe@marxist.com Where we consider that the information with which you have provided us does not enable us to identify the personal information in question, we reserve the right to ask for (i) personal identification and/or (ii) further information. Lawful processing We are required to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. Only 4 of these are relevant to us: Personal information is processed on the basis of a persons consent Personal information is processed on the basis of a contractual relationship Personal information is processed on the basis of legal obligations Personal information is processed on the basis of legitimate interests (1) Consent We will ask for your consent to use your information to send you electronic communications such as newsletters and and fundraising emails, and if you ever share sensitive personal information with us. (2) Contractual relationships Most of our interactions with supporters are voluntary and not contractual. However, sometimes it will be necessary to process personal information so that we can enter contractual relationships with people. For example, if you subscribe to one of our publications, or purchase merchandise online. (3) Legal obligations Sometimes we will be obliged to process your personal information due to legal obligations which are binding on us. We will only ever do so when strictly necessary. (4) Legitimate interests Applicable law allows personal information to be collected and used if it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate activities (as long as its use is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact individuals rights). We will rely on this ground to process your personal data when it is not practical or appropriate to ask for consent. Achieving our purposes These include (but are not limited to) promoting socialist policies Governance Internal and external audit for financial or regulatory compliance purposes Statutory reporting Publicity and income generation Conventional direct marketing and other forms of marketing, publicity or advertisement Unsolicited messages, including campaigns, newsletters, and fundraising appeals Analysis, targeting and segmentation to develop and promote or strategy and improve communication efficiency Personalisation used to tailor and enhance your experience of our communications Operational Management Maintenance of suppression files Processing for historical, scientific or statistical purpose Purely administrative purposes Responding to enquiries Delivery of requested products or information Communications designed to administer existing services including subscriptions, administration of petitions and financial transactions Thank you communications and receipts Maintaining a supporter database and suppression lists Financial Management and control Processing financial transactions and maintaining financial controls Prevention of fraud, misuse of services, or money laundering Enforcement of legal claims Reporting criminal acts and compliance with law enforcement agencies When we use your personal information, we will consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and if it is within your reasonable expectations. We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways. Data retention The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes. In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again. Policy amendments We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. Third party websites We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website. Updating information You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com Contact We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer however we have a Data Protection Manager. Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! An insured claiming his auto insurers delay in approving treatment caused his injuries to worsen is entitled to prove his breach of contract claim despite New Jerseys no-fault law. That law governing personal injury protection benefits provides an exclusive remedy in some personal injury claims situations but not all, a state appeals court has ruled. A state superior court reversed a trial courts order granting summary judgment to State Farm and remanded the case for further proceedings. State Farm was not entitled to dismissal of the claim before the plaintiff had a chance to prove his insurer acted in bad faith and breached his contract, according to the reversal opinion. On September 10, 2016, Miguel Vera sustained injuries to his right shoulder when he was in a car accident while driving. Six days later, Veras saw an orthopedic surgeon who recommended a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of his right shoulder to assess the injuries. Initially State Farm denied that authorization. Thereafter, State Farm authorized the MRI, and the test was conducted on November 19 more than two months after he first saw the doctor. On December 9, the surgeon informed Vera that the MRI showed he had significant injuries to his right shoulder and that he needed surgery. Approximately a month later, Vera met with the doctor again and he again recommended surgery. On January 20, 2017, Vera was examined by a doctor selected by State Farm to conduct a separate medical evaluation. State Farm then authorized the surgery, which was performed on February 23, 2017. The doctor who performed the surgery said he found a complete tear of the bicep tendon of the right shoulder. He stated that the delay in approving the MRI and surgery prevented him from repairing the bicep tendon and left Vera with a significant permanent injury to his right shoulder and permanent damage to the bicep tendon. In 2018, Vera sued State Farm, alleging that the insurer arbitrarily and capriciously breached its contractual obligations by delaying the approval of his MRI and surgery. He asserted that the delay caused the injury to be permanent and more serious than would have been the case if the testing and surgery had been approved in a timely manner. As damages, Vera sought compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys fees and costs. In granting summary judgment the trial court had reasoned that Veras claims were for the wrongful denial of PIP benefits and that the states no-fault law limited the remedies on a successful claim for a denial of, or delay in approval of, benefits to recovery of interest and attorneys fees. Vera was not seeking interest or attorneys fees as provided for in the statute and his claims for compensatory and punitive damages were statutorily barred, according to the trail court. On appeal, Vera argued that his claims do not involve a denial of coverage; rather, his claims are for a delay in authorizing testing and treatment and, therefore, his claims are not barred by the statute governing PIP benefits. State Farm argued that the no-fault law (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-5) sets forth the exclusive remedy available if an insurer fails to issue payments in a timely manner. But the appeals court noted that the statutory scheme provides an exclusive remedy for some, but not all, automobile insurance claims. For one, the text of the no-fault law addresses the payment of PIP benefits but not authorization or precertification. In short, the text of the statute relates to payment of benefits after treatment has commenced and notice to the insurer, the opinion states, adding that by its plain language the no-fault law does not expressly preclude plaintiffs claim. At the same time, New Jersey law does permit claims for damage caused by delayed authorization where a plaintiff can prove a breach of contract, the court added. In the case of a processing delay, bad faith is established by showing that no valid reasons existed to delay processing the claim and the insurance company knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that no valid reasons supported the delay. Vera has not yet established those facts. For example, he has not provided the court with a copy of his policy. Nor has he shown that his doctor needed preauthorization to conduct the MRI. He has also not shown that State Farm acted unreasonably in having its own doctor examine him before he had surgery. Even though Vera has not established the elements of a bad-faith claim, the court said the record also does not show that he cannot prove the claim. Consequently, State Farm was not entitled to summary judgment. Instead, the court remanded the case for further proceedings. Topics Lawsuits Carriers New Jersey New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.A former Virginia police chief is suing the city she served as well as several current and former officials over her firing, saying in her $10 million lawsuit that she was terminated because of her race, color and sex. Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney was fired last September. In her lawsuit, Brackney and her lawyers allege that city officials engaged in a monthslong conspiracy to have Brackney fired, The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reported. (Brackney) was fired for being a Black woman who was trying to reform a police department, attorney Charles Tucker Jr., who represents Brackney, said during a news conference Wednesday outside the U.S. Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Charlottesville. City officials declined to discuss the lawsuit. City spokesman David Dillehunt said the city does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit names 10 individuals as defendants in addition to the city. Among those named as defendants is former City Manager Chip Boyles, who fired Brackney, and former Assistant Police Chief James Mooney, who once backed out of replacing the fired chief. In an op-ed published in The Daily Progress on Sept. 17, Boyles said he fired Brackney because he was concerned after at least 10 department leaders said they would leave because of Brackneys leadership. Boyles said he felt he had to make a hasty decision to save the department. Boyles also said he regrets the decision and wishes he had worked with Brackney and city councilors more before making the decision to fire her. Prior to the lawsuit, Brackney filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the city, Boyles and others, asking for $3 million. At a news conference in November she said she was still experiencing humiliating acts of discrimination, continued disparate treatment, harassment and retaliation. Brackneys actions came at a time when Charlottesville turned to a consulting firm to run it because two city managers resigned in 2021 and Mooney, who was to replace Brackney temporarily, backed out. Outgoing Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who had said that city leaders were contributing to white supremacy, announced in September that she would not run for City Council again because of Brackneys firing as well as her relationship with the other councilors. Walker drew criticism for social media posts in which she compared Charlottesville to a rapist. According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Brackney lists 11 causes of action for the lawsuit. They include race, color and gender discrimination; unlawful retaliation; violation of Virginias whistleblower statute; defamation and more. During the news conference, Brackney said she had a message for the defendants: You have been put on notice. As our former mayor (Nikuyah Walker) said, we have unmasked this illusion. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Law Enforcement Virginia Russias state-run Sovcomflot has insured all its cargo ships with Russian insurers and the cover meets international rules, the chief executive said, after Western insurers withdrew cover. Western insurers halted insurance cover for Russias biggest shipping group when Sovcomflot was hit by sanctions after Moscow sent troops across the border into Ukraine. Sources told Reuters this month that state-controlled Russian National Reinsurance Co. had become the main reinsurer of Russian ships, including Sovcomflots fleet. Reuters: Russias State-Owned RNRC to Reinsure Russian Oil Shipments: Sources Technically, we meet all international trade requirements, CEO Igor Tonkovidov told reporters. Currently, the companys fleet is almost fully busy in shipping hydrocarbons, cargoes are delivered to different parts of the world. Sovcomflot is a key shipper of Russian oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes globally. Western insurance sources have said the Russian replacement cover would likely be enough to keep Russian vessels sailing around the world. (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Edmund Blair) Related: Topics Carriers Russia Trucking Credit Suisse on Sunday rejected a claim by Russian businessman Vitaly Malkin for 500 million francs ($515.62 million) he linked to a former client adviser at the bank who was convicted of fraud. The SonntagsZeitung reported that Malkin was pursuing the bank for the money following the conviction of Patrice Lescaudron. A Geneva court in 2018 sentenced Lescaudron to five years imprisonment for abusing the trust of clients and putting in place a fraudulent scheme that brought him tens of millions of francs. Responding to the newspaper report published on Sunday, Credit Suisse said in a statement: Credit Suisse was recognized as the aggrieved party by all criminal authorities seized with this matter. The criminal proceedings against the former relationship manager established that the former client did not suffer any damages resulting from the relationship managers criminal activities, the bank added. Credit Suisse rejects all of the clients allegations. Malkin could not immediately be reached for comment. A Bermuda court ruled in March that former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family are due damages substantially in excess of $500 million from Credit Suisses local life insurance arm due to fraud committed by Lescaudron. The bank has said it intends to appeal the verdict. Judge Alexandra Banna said at Lescaudrons 2018 sentencing that he was guilty of serious fraud and forgery in his handling of former clients, including Ivanishvili and Malkin, over a very long period of eight years. Lescaudron admitted in court to having falsified trades and hidden mounting losses. ($1 = 0.9697 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Paul Carrel; editing by Barbara Lewis) Topics Russia Volkswagen AG faces mounting pressure to address allegations of human rights violations in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where the German carmaker operates a car factory. While theres no evidence that anyone has been mistreated at the VW plant, the company should carefully examine the accusations, said supervisory board members Joerg Hofmann, a labor leader, and Stephan Weil, who represents VWs anchor shareholder Lower Saxony. We have to concretely weigh the facts and on this basis answer the question if a termination of the activity there would be the right thing, Hofmann told the Braunschweiger Zeitung in an interview, citing potential damage to VWs reputation. Berlin recently declined a Volkswagen request to renew risk insurance for the companys Chinese operations over the human rights concerns. Volkswagen has fielded uncomfortable questions about its suppliers and operations in Xinjiang, where human rights groups and a panel of United Nations experts have raised concerns about coercive labor practices. China has repeatedly rejected criticisms of the work programs, calling allegations of forced labor lies and defending its policies as an effort to reduce poverty and unemployment. Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess has defended the companys presence in the region, telling CBSs 60 Minutes in April hes absolutely sure theres no forced labor at VWs plant, and that locals are much better off if the company stays put. China is Volkswagens biggest market, accounting for roughly 40% of sales. Volkswagen is firmly opposed to forced labor, Nicolai Laude, a company spokesman, said Friday. In our worldwide business activities, we ensure that our values are lived and our standards are upheld. We expect the same from our local business partners. The automaker is also facing pushback from the German government. Berlin recently declined a Volkswagen request to renew risk insurance for the companys Chinese operations over the human rights concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter. Its the first time Berlin has rejected such a bid and shows a shift in tone on China, which became Germanys biggest non-EU trading partner over the past two decades. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month called out alleged abuse at detention for ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang and called on companies to do more to diversify their supply chains and export markets. Photograph: A Volkswagen production facility in Urumqi, Xinjiang,, China. Photo credit: Getty Images/Visual China Group. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics China Japans government is not liable for damages demanded by people whose lives were devastated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the countrys top court said on Friday, the first such ruling in a series of similar cases. The rulings effect as a precedent will be closely watched, media said. A massive tsunami set off by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japans northeastern coast on March 11, 2011 struck the Fukushima Daiichi power plant of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes. Plaintiffs demanded damages from both Tepco and the country in several class-action lawsuits, and in March the Supreme Court upheld an order for Tepco to pay damages of 1.4 billion yen to about 3,700 people. Japan Approves Plan to Release Wastewater From Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno declined direct comment when asked about the ruling at a news conference, though he said he was aware of it. Regardless of the ruling, we will stay close to those affected by the disaster and keep on doing our utmost for Fukushimas reconstruction and revival, he said. About 470,000 people were forced to evacuate in the first days after the disaster, and tens of thousands remain unable to return even now. Lower courts had split over the extent of the governments responsibility in foreseeing the disaster and ordering Tepco to take steps to prevent it. (Reporting by Elaine Lies, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Ju-min Park; editing by Michael Perry) Photograph: This photo shows tanks (in gray, beige and blue) storing water that was treated but still radioactive after it was used to cool down spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. Photo credit: AP Photo/Hiro Komae. DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Army troops were called in to rescue thousands of people stranded by massive floods that have ravaged northeastern India and Bangladesh, leaving millions of homes underwater and severing transport links, authorities said Saturday. In Indias Assam state, at least nine people were killed in the floods and 2 million saw their homes submerged, according to the state disaster management agency. Lightning strikes in parts of neighboring Bangladesh have left at least nine dead since Friday. Both countries have asked their militaries for help as more flooding looms with rains expected to continue over the weekend. In Sylhet in northeastern Bangladesh, on the banks of the Surma River, children sat on a window of an inundated house while other family members gathered on a bed inside their flooded home, some wondering how to make it through the ordeal. How can we eat (in this condition)? said Anjuman Ara Begum, standing in the water inside her kitchen. We are living on muri (puffed rice) and chira (flattened rice) and other things given by people. What else can we do? We cant cook. Flights at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet were suspended for three days as floodwaters almost reached the runway, according to Hafiz Ahmed, the airport manager. The Sylhet Sunamganj highway also was flooded but motorbikes were moving along. Water levels in all major rivers across the country were rising, according to the flood forecasting and warning center in Dhaka, the capital. The country has about 130 rivers. The center said the flood situation is likely to deteriorate in the worst-hit Sunamganj and Sylhet districts in the northeastern region as well as in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Rangpur districts in northern Bangladesh. The Brahmaputra, one of Asias largest rivers, breached its mud embankments, inundating 3,000 villages and croplands in 28 of Assams 33 districts across the border in India. We expect moderate to heavy rainfall in several parts of Assam till Sunday. The volume of rainfall has been unprecedented, said Sanjay ONeil, an official at the meteorological station in Gauhati, Assams capital. Several train services were canceled in India amid the incessant downpour over the past five days. In southern Assams Haflong town, the railway station was underwater and flooded rivers deposited mud and silt along the rail tracks. Indias army has been mobilized to assist disaster response agencies in rescuing stranded people and providing food and other essentials. Soldiers used speedboats and inflatable rafts to navigate through submerged areas. Last month, a pre-monsoon flash flood, triggered by a rush of water from upstream in Indias northeastern states, hit Bangladeshs northern and northeastern regions, destroying crops and damaging homes and roads. The country was just starting to recover when fresh rains flooded the same areas again this week. Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, is low-lying and faces threats from natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, made worse by climate change. According to the U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 17% of people in Bangladesh would need to be relocated over the next decade or so if global warming persists at the present rate. ___ Hussain reported from Gauhati, India. Photograph: Indian army personnel rescue flood-affected villagers on a boat in Jalimura village, west of Gauhati, India, on Saturday, June 18, 2022. Photo credit: AP Photo/Anupam Nath. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Flood India Two Oklahoma attorneys were charged last week in an alleged medical marijuana scheme that allowed out-of-state growers to skirt the states law requiring marijuana businesses to be at least 75% owned by state residents. Oklahoma Attorney General John OConnor announced charges against Logan Jones, 56, and Eric Brown, 41, of the Jones Brown Law Firm. Both are charged with conspiracy to cultivate marijuana, offering false or forged instruments for recordation, cultivation of marijuana and pattern of criminal offenses. My office is committed to eradicating these illegal operators and will continue to hold those facilitating illegal marijuana operations accountable, OConnor said in a statement. The charges resulted from a monthslong investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and the states multi-county grand jury. More than 20,000 marijuana plants were seized during search warrants at three grow facilities: Dao K 88 LLC in Garvin County, Evergreen Cannabis LLC in Major County and Tianz LLC in Mayes County. The charges allege the two attorneys had employees of their law firm act as ghost owners for a $3,000 fee for out-of-state residents seeking to get into the medical marijuana business. More than 400 marijuana growing operations in the state listed Jones Brown Law Firm employees as 75% owners, according to a news release from OConnors office. Messages left Thursday with the attorneys and their law firm werent immediately returned. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Cannabis Oklahoma New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordered by a federal appeals court on Friday to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer AGs Roundup weed killer, poses unreasonable risks to humans and the environment. In a 3-0 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with several environmental, farmworker and food-safety advocacy groups that the EPA did not adequately consider whether glyphosate causes cancer and threatens endangered species. The litigation began after the EPA reauthorized the use of glyphosate in January 2020. Groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Food Safety and the Rural Coalition, which represents farmworkers, faulted the agency for rubber-stamping glyphosate despite its alleged harms to agriculture, farmers exposed during spraying, and wildlife such as the Monarch butterfly. Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for the Pasadena, California-based appeals court that the EPA did not properly justify its findings that glyphosate did not threaten human health and was unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans. She also faulted aspects of the agencys approval process. Bayers Monsanto unit, which makes Roundup, opposed groups challenging the EPA reauthorization. Fridays decision does not prevent people from using Roundup or similar products. An EPA spokeswoman said the agency will review the decision. Bayer said the EPA conducted a rigorous assessment of more than 40 years of science, and believes that the agency will continue to conclude that glyphosate-based herbicides are safe and are not carcinogenic. George Kimbrell, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, which represented the Rural Coalition, in an interview called the decision a historic victory for farmworkers, the public and endangered species. Bayer has faced tens of thousands of lawsuits claiming that Roundup causes cancer and other illnesses. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether to hear the German companys appeal of a $25 million damages award to Edwin Hardeman, a Roundup user who blamed his cancer on its weedkillers. The cases are Natural Resources Defense Council et al v EPA, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 20-70787, and Rural Coalition et al v EPA et al in the same court, No. 20-70801. Topics Pollution New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Tesla CEO Elon Musk is appealing a federal court ruling that upheld a securities fraud settlement over Musks tweets claiming that he had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. Musks lawyer Alex Spiro filed a notice of appeal June 15 with the federal appeals court in Manhattan. No grounds were stated, and a full filing with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is expected later. In April, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman rejected Musks bid to throw the settlement that Musk signed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also denied a motion to nullify a subpoena of Musk seeking information about possible violations of the settlement. The settlement required that Musks tweets be approved by a Tesla attorney before being published. The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated the settlement with tweets last November asking Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock. Limons ruling said that Musk made the tweets without getting pre-approval, but the judge later wrote that he didnt mean to pass judgment on that issue. The whole dispute stems from an October 2018 agreement with the SEC that Musk signed. He and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in civil fines over Musks tweets about having the funding secured to take Tesla private at $420 per share. Court Says Musk Recklessly Tweeted Funding Secured for Taking Tesla Private | Musk Loses Bid to End SEC Agreement on Oversight of Tesla Tweets The funding was far from locked up, and the electric vehicle company remains public, but Teslas stock price jumped. The settlement specified governance changes, including Musks ouster as board chairman, as well as pre-approval of his tweets. Limons ruling cleared the way for the SEC to seek a court order enforcing the subpoena, and for an investigation into another possible violation of the settlement by Musk. Spiro contended the SEC is using the settlement and near limitless resources to chill Musks speech. He wrote in court documents that Musk signed the settlement when Tesla was a less mature company and SEC action jeopardized the companys financing at a critical time. He also alleged that the subpoena from the SEC is illegal, and that the agency cant take action about Musks tweets without court authorization. But in a 22-page ruling, Liman wrote that Musks claim that economic duress caused him to sign the settlement is wholly unpersuasive. Even if Musk was worried that litigation with the SEC would ruin Tesla financially, that does not establish a basis for him to get out of the judgment he voluntarily signed, Liman wrote. The judge also said the argument that the SEC had used the settlement order to harass Musk and launch investigations was meritless. Photo: Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany in March. Musk appealed a federal court ruling June 15 that upheld a securities fraud settlement over Musks tweets claiming that he had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via AP, File) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Lyft Inc has reached a $25 million settlement to resolve shareholder claims that the ride-hailing company concealed safety problems, including sexual assaults by drivers, prior to its 2019 initial public offering. The preliminary all-cash settlement was filed on Thursday with the federal court in Oakland, California, and requires approval by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. Lyft denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The San Francisco-based company raised $2.34 billion in its IPO, becoming the first ride-hailing business to go public. But its share price fell below the $72 IPO price less than two weeks after trading began on March 29, 2019, and never recovered. Shareholders accused Lyft of trying to appear more socially responsible than rival Uber Technologies Inc. by failing to disclose known problems in its IPO registration statement, and that its share price fell as the problems surfaced. The shareholders said dozens of people brought claims against Lyft related to driver sexual misconduct in the months after the IPO, an existential risk to its brand that should have been disclosed. Lyft was also accused of concealing braking issues plaguing its bike-share program, which surfaced in April 2019 when the company pulled its electric bike fleet from the New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. markets. Shareholders said Lyft also concealed its dependence on promotions to boost market share, resulting in a price war that saw Uber reclaim market share it had lost. The shareholders lawyers called the settlement an excellent result given the exceedingly unlikely prospect of recovering up to $777 million of potential damages at trial. They expect to seek up to $6.25 million from the settlement for legal fees. Topics Claims United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC a Texas company, was sentenced on June 14, 2022 for violating the Clean Water Act in connection with an oil spill and ordered to pay a $1 million fine. According to court documents, Great Lakesadmitted to negligently causing the discharge of a harmful quantity of oil into a navigable water of the United States, in violation of the Clean Water Act. The spill took place on September 5, 2016, on the edge of Bay Long near the Chenier Ronquille barrier island, which is east of Grand Isle. In the plea documents, Great Lakesadmitted that in its contract with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Great Lakeswas responsible for locating all pipelines in the area of the project and complying with the federal Pipeline Safety Act and the One Call system created by the Louisiana Underground Utilities and Facilities Damage Prevention Law. Great Lakes admitted that it violated those two laws by failing to alert pipeline companies about continuing work near their pipelines for several months leading up to the oil spill. James Tassin, the subcontractor working for Great Lakes who operated the marsh buggy that physically caused the spill, was charged in a separate criminal case, No. 21-cr-8, and he pled guilty as charged on March 18, 2021 and is awaiting sentencing. According to court documents in Tassins case, after Great Lakes stopped complying with One Call requirements, a Great Lakesemployee instructed Tassin to use his marsh buggy to dig near pipelines, despite that digging not being in NOAAs approved plans, and without Great Lakesgetting approval from any pipeline companies that it was safe to dig. While Tassin was in the area of that work on September 5, 2016, he struck one of the pipelines with his marsh buggy and caused the oil spill. Tassin admitted that a Great Lakes employee instructed Tassin not to tell anyone that Tassin had been digging near the site of the spill, so Tassin followed that instruction. In Great Lakes plea documents, Great Lakes admitted that it supervised Tassins work and that Great Lakesnegligent supervision of Tassin caused the oil spill. The defendant in this case recklessly violated regulations designed to protect the environment and then tried to hide their actions, said Kimberly Bahney, Special Agent in Charge, of EPAs Criminal Enforcement Program in Louisiana. This sentencing demonstrates that we will hold violators responsible for breaking our environmental laws. This sentencing sends a strong message to those responsible for ensuring the safety and integrity of the Nations pipeline transportation system, said Todd Damiani, Special Agent-in-Charge, Southern Region, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. Together with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that justice is served. The Department of Commerce OIG is dedicated to working with our partners to curb fraud, waste and abuse, especially when projects receiving NOAA funding result in environmental hazards. We greatly appreciate the cooperative efforts of the United States Attorneys Office and our law enforcement counterparts in ensuring justice is served in this matter, said Jeffrey Lysaght, Special Agent in Charge, U.S Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General. Judge Greg G. Guidry ordered Great Lakesto pay a criminal fine of $1 million and a mandatory special assessment fee of $125. Additionally, Great Lakespreviouslyagreed to pay the victim pipeline company $3,166,667 in a related civil case, and Tassins employer also agreed in the same civil case to pay the victim an additional $1,666,667, for a total payment to the victim of over $4.8 million. Topics Texas New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! A decade ago, it was questionable sinkhole damages that proliferated in Florida property insurance claims. More recently, free roof solicitations, roof claims and thousands of lawsuits have rattled the industry. Now comes cast iron drainpipes, common in homes built before 1975. The pipe systems have become targets for some of Floridas largest plaintiffs law firms, according to insurance attorneys, adjusters and engineers. Its possible the pipes could lead to many more claims and suits in coming years, after Florida lawmakers took action designed to reduce roof claims and litigation. Were seeing patterns. Patterns in property claims, said Cassandra Hand-Gallegos, adjuster and CEO with CCMS & Associates in Dunedin, Florida, who spoke last week at the Florida Defense Lawyers Association claims conference in Orlando. The biggest issue is not whats going on inside the pipes, but whats going on with the insurance claims industry, said David Grindley, a forensic structural engineer who also spoke at the conference. One recent television advertisement from Orlando-based Morgan & Morgan, which calls itself Americas largest injury law firm, for example, flashes large amounts of cash that may be available to homeowners whose dwellings are more than 45 years old and which may have sewage drainage problems. Replacing the drain pipes in a home can cost $20,000 to $100,000, the Morgan & Morgan website notes. Another claimants law firm, Florin Roebig of West Palm Beach, reports that some 76 million U.S. homes have cast iron pipes, an alarming amount of which are experiencing problems. This risk is high in Florida, with its high humidity and salt-rich soil, the firms website said. Grindley and Hand-Gallegos said that many of those assertions are exaggerated. Cast iron pipes dont often need full replacement, and there are ways to defeat erroneous or spurious pipe claims and litigation, they argue. Cast iron in many ways is superior to other types of material, Grindley said. The pipes are very rigid. Theyre strong, and they dont break if you hit them with a shovel when youre digging in the back yard. In many homes, the pipes have been in use for more than a century. But they can rust to some degree and may develop deposits on the inside that can constrict the flow of drain water, something that a growing number of claims have attempted to capitalize on, he said. Grindley said many insurance claims start with a clogged kitchen sink. In a number of cases his firm has investigated, the homeowners, the public adjusters or plumbing contractors have claimed that mold and mildew under sinks is the result of backed-up cast iron pipes. More likely, he said, the growth is from years of leaks in plastic sink drains or supply lines, or from seepage around the edge of the basin. One way to tell if the blockage is in the main drain pipe beneath the house or underneath the sink is to see where the overflow began. A backed-up main drain line will force water up through the lowest opening first, Grindley explained. If the sink, 36 inches above the floor, is overflowing but the floor-level shower drain is not it means the sink drain is clogged, not the drain lines for the whole house. For that reason, its important for insurance adjusters to quiz homeowners, when possible, on where and when the backup was spotted. Always ask: Where was the claimant at the time of the overflow? Where were they standing? in the kitchen? In the bathroom? Grindley said. If they say, the kitchen, then, were skeptical that its the main drain line. Another rule of thumb: Household drain lines dont hold that much water. If the entire house is flooded, its probably the result of a supply line or an outside source of water not a clogged drain pipe. Many homeowner policies exclude water-pipe losses altogether. Others exclude damage due to gradual leaks. Despite the use of those endorsements, though, non-weather water claims and litigation appear to be on the rise in Florida and have resulted in a number of appeals court rulings in recent years some for insurers, some against. The exact wording of the policy endorsement is often at issue. To investigate and defend cast-iron pipe claims, Grindley and Hand-Gallegos offered several other rules that insurance companies and their adjusters and experts should follow: Inspect the home carefully. This may require a video inspection inside the drain lines to determine the condition of the pipes and to find any obstruction. Check vent and stack pipes for proper air flow. Map the location of pipes. Request building permits to help determine if plumbing installation and repairs were done correctly. Check the claims history. Report to the carrier all information that was not made available. Determine if the blockage can be easily rectified. In most cases, clogged lines can be cleared with a water jet or with a root-cutting device or a simple auger. (But be prepared to quickly clean up any water that may overflow from the procedure.) And if cast iron pipes are occluded, that doesnt mean the entire system has to be replaced. Many times, pipes can be cleaned, then lined with polymer sleeves that will last for decades. Be prepared to counter the hydrostatic test often employed by plaintiffs experts. The test purports to check for leaks in a drain system by stoppering outlet points and filling the pipe with water, Grindley explained. If the water level drops in a relatively short amount of time, it can indicate a leak. Grindley said the test is misleading and will almost always show leakage because drain lines are not normally pressurized and dont face those conditions in everyday usage. Beware of add-on damages or last-resort claims, such as contaminated or damaged soil around the pipes. Soil is soil. Is it contaminated just because sewage came in contact with it? Grindley asked. You can put some lime on it and 24 hours later youre good to go. If it is determined that the drain pipes do, in fact, need replacing, consider rerouting them around the outside of the home, instead of undertaking the disruptive and expensive method of having to cut through the concrete slab in several rooms. And watch for claimants expert plumbers who report that full pipe replacement is necessary, when those plumbers have a vested interest in doing the work. Grindley quoted from one plaintiff plumbers report that said the system would soon fail simply because it was 66 years old. Anyone here 66 years old or greater? he asked the crowd of insurance defense lawyers and adjusters. Have you failed? Topics Florida Claims New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Less than a month after a federal judge barred a Brazilian firm from certifying any more plywood due to questions about the material meeting U.S. standards, a new certification organization has popped up. A U.S. plywood coalition is crying foul and its attorney has likened the Brazilian plywood issue to the infamous Chinese drywall problem of the mid-2000s, in which thousands of properties were built with drywall containing hydrogen sulfide, which allegedly corroded electrical wiring and sickened homeowners. The U.S. Structural Plywood Integrity Coalition last week asked a federal court in South Florida for an injunction, blocking Forestwood Industries from certifying that Brazilian plywood meets whats known as the PS1 standard required by most U.S. building codes, the coalition said in a statement. Forestwood is accredited by A2LA, a Maryland-based testing laboratory. Also last week, a Miami-Dade County building code official posted a memo warning against the use of the PS1-certified material from Brazil. Building officials and inspectors should be made aware of these inferior Brazilian plywood products bearing the PS-1 stamps and not accept these stamps as a means of indicating code compliance, reads the June 15 memo from Jaime Gascon, engineer with the countys Board and Code Administration Division. In a nutshell, this is a put-up or shut-up moment for Forestwood and A2LA, said Mike Haglund, lead counsel for the coalition. The publicly available evidence and our investigation show that Forestwood is unqualified to act as a plywood mill certifier under the strict requirements of the PS1 standard governing structural plywood sold in the U.S. Unless Forestwood can prove otherwise, which we believe is highly unlikely, an injunction should issue within a matter of weeks. Forestwood has asked the court for more time to respond to the motion. The firm began certifying the wood from 17 Brazilian plywood mills just three weeks after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in late May issued an injunction against the previous certification organization, PFS-Teco. Officials with the New York-based company could not be reached for comment Monday. The U.S. plywood coalition, made up of nine companies with 11 plywood plants in the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest, had charged in a 2019 lawsuit that PFS-Tecos certification process did not meet American standards for use in floors, walls and roofs. The material experienced massive failures during testing by the American Plywood Association and other testing labs, according to the coalition and news reports. The Brazilian plywood has become a top issue in the U.S. building and construction industry as building material costs have soared in the last 18 months. In 2021, Brazilian plywood, usually available at a lower price than American-made products, made up 11% of the supply of the material in the United States, with much of that used to rebuild and restore homes in Florida and Puerto Rico after 2017s Hurricane Maria, the coalition said. The courts permanent injunction in May was seen as a victory for the U.S. industry, but left many distributors stuck with the allegedly sub-par material. Everyone currently holding this inventory is now on notice that it should be considered off-grade, which means the PS1 grade stamp on each panel should be obliterated before resale or the panel destroyed, the Portland-based Haglund said in a news release at the time. Haglund on Monday compared the Brazilian plywood issues to the Chinese-manufactured drywall debacle as well as the flooring fiasco, in which Lumber Liquidators was sued for allegedly knowingly importing Chinese-made flooring material that contained formaldehyde, a possible carcinogen. He said that builders who may have used the suspect Brazilian plywood may not have known of the problems until recently, when the court cases gained widespread news coverage. If a structure is damaged in a storm, it will probably require a case-by-case examination to determine if the plywood was at fault, he noted. Photo: A Brazilian plywood operation in 2005, when plywood prices soared in the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina and the South American industry ramped up production. (AP Photo/Maurilio Cheli) Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee is now among a growing number of people saying elected Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler should resign. The calls for the 78-year-old, six-term Democrat, to step down come after the Northwest News Network reported Wednesday that Kreidlers office had fired employee Jon Noski. Noski in February submitted a written complaint saying Kreidler had bullied him and was increasingly antagonizing staff. Noski served as Kreidlers legislative liaison, a role that required him to advocate with lawmakers on behalf of the insurance commissioners office. Noski was fired Tuesday, the same day he returned to work from medical leave. The agency gave no reason for Noskis firing. Other current and former insurance commissioner staff also told the Northwest News Network they had been subject to or witnessed what they described Kreider verbally mistreating staff and also, at times, using racially offensive language. Kreidler said in February that he was surprised and saddened to hear his conduct was having a negative effect on staff and said it wasnt his intention. Im going to double down to make sure that I am more careful in dealing with people, Kreidler said at the time. Inslee said in a statement Friday that the events of the last several months demonstrate Kreidler is unable to fulfill his leadership responsibility. Commissioner Kreidler assured his employees and the public he would work to improve his relationship with staff, but instead he terminated an employee who spoke out about these issues, Inslee said. All staff deserve respect regardless of their at-will status. Therefore its my belief we need different leadership in this position and I believe he should resign. The Washington State Democratic Party also joined the call Friday for Kreidler to resign, which followed a bipartisan group of state senators who did so on Thursday. In response, Kreidler in a statement Friday that he cant comment on the details of an individual personnel matter but the conclusion that an important and valued employees departure was because he filed a complaint against me is not true and does not reflect the full context of the story. Kreidler also said he generally respects Inslees perspective, but disagrees with his conclusion regarding Kreidlers ability to continue his duties. I take full responsibility for my past behavior and recognize the impact it has had on those around me and the people I serve, his statement said. I have pledged to do better and stand by that commitment. At the same time, I intend to continue serving alongside the dedicated people of our agency and to work on the important consumer protection issues ahead. Photo: Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Washington Opinion Policies Editorials are longer opinion pieces that are written by a group of community members recruited across campus who address relevant issues on a local, national and international level. Editorials are research-based. The purpose of the Editorial Board is to promote discussion concerning relevant issues in the community while advising on possible solutions. Topics are chosen via relevancy and interests of the members, which are then discussed by the Editorial Board in order to reach a general consensus concerning the topic or issue. Feedback policy If you have a grievance concerning the content or argument of the Editorial Board, please contact either Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or the Editorial Board as a whole (editorialboard@iowastatedaily.com). Those wanting to respond to editorials can also submit a letter to the editor through the Iowa State Daily website or by emailing the letter to Opinion Editor Peyton Hamel (peyton.hamel@iowastatedaily.com) or Editor-in-Chief Sage Smith (sage.smith@iowastatedaily.com). Column Policy Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions. Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020 The Central Bank has written to Irish business representatives to remind them how vitally important it is that Ireland implement the financial sanctions that were introduced after Russia invaded Ukraine. The letter by the Central Bank was sent to The Law Society, The Bar of Ireland, individual Chambers of Commerce, Small Firms Association, IBEC, Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Citizens Information Board, ACCA, Chartered Accountants Ireland, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Ireland, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Women's Network Ireland and the National Ploughing Association. The Central Banks director of enforcement and anti-money laundering Seana Cunningham said Ireland needs to play its part in the effective implementation of sanctions to ensure that the sanctions achieve their desired goal. The adoption of sanctions places legally binding obligations on all individuals and entities and we are requesting that business and professional groups would assist in ensuring that their members are aware of these obligations, she added. The EU issued a range of sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of financially paralysing businessmen, politicians, and officials linked to Vladimir Putin. In April, the worth of Russian assets that have been frozen by Ireland under these sanctions reached 1bn. If a business or individual is in possession or control of funds or economic resources of a person or entity that is subject to an EU Financial Sanction, that business or individual are legally obliged to freeze the funds or economic resources. Businesses are also required to refuse to deal with or release the funds or economic resources to the sanctioned person unless there is an available exemption and have obtained the required authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland. The freezing of the funds or economic resources must then be reported to the Central Bank using the Sanctions Return Form. The Central Bank of Ireland is one of three competent authorities in Ireland for EU Sanctions and is responsible for the administration and enforcement of financial sanctions. The other two Irish competent authorities for EU Restrictive Measures are the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs. In a panel discussion at Aalto Universitys 5G Summer School on Thursday, experts from the U.S., Africa and Europe explored the business opportunities that the latest communications and network technology, remote learning, work, and entrepreneurship from Africa can bring to U.S. companies. These are at the same time opportunities for positive impact on African economies. The webinar was organized by Start North, the Finnish technology learning accelerator network. One prominent theme was how the 5G Mokki Tech Space network can serve international companies. In a media release in May, the network had announced how it intends to deploy its Tech Spaces to connect the African continent to Europe, promoting the learning and adoption of technology, remote work, and entrepreneurship. In addition to promoting education, jobs, and the economic development of the regions, the network also aims to curb climate change by utilizing the latest technology. This time, rather than focusing on the African-European connection, the discussion revolved around the possibilities of a Tech Space network for American companies that are keen on taking advantage of new opportunities swiftly. The purpose of this discussion was to highlight the diverse opportunities and benefits of the 5G Mokki Tech Space network for international companies that recruit tens of thousands of people each year and launch hundreds or thousands of innovation and technology projects each year. Mokki is derived from the Finnish word mokki, meaning cottage. The cottage enables innovative uses of fifth generation (5G) mobile communication technology. Where 5G frequencies and networks are not yet available, Mokki works with previous-generation technologies. Regardless of the technology it runs on, Mokki already brings knowledge and know-how related to the latest 5G technology and its application in several different areas that are important for each region. Mokki is a catalyst for the development of fixed and 5G networks across Africa, including underserved areas. Investments in fixed networks, the latest mobile technology and green energy, combined with the deployment of Mokkis to accelerate education, work, and other services, is one of the fastest and surest ways to develop regions. The panel discussion highlighted the many benefits that collaboration with the 5G Mokki Tech Space network offers to international companies. Professor Leonard Wantchekon from Princeton University cited China and, more broadly, Asia as an example of a region that has boosted business growth and productivity in recent decades. Known for its natural resources and large young population, Africa is the next continent comparable to Asia that will provide businesses with expertise and other resources. The Covid pandemic has taught us the value of remote learning, work, and entrepreneurship. By taking advantage of the latest technology, new resources can be quickly made available to companies to grow their businesses and promote regional economic development. The 5G Mokki network helps with this. Professor Wantchekon is also the founder of the African School of Economics with campuses in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Benin, recruiting students from more than 20 African countries. He argues that 5G Mokki can play a crucial role in supporting research activities and providing cutting-edge teaching materials to studies across campuses. Professor Marko Nieminen from Aalto University in Finland put forward that the latest network and communications technology, together with new solutions for energy and electricity, open up completely new opportunities to export know-how, work and entrepreneurship, even for underserved rural areas. This will bring more expertise and other resources to businesses. Professor Nieminen elaborated on hands-on development projects such as in remote villages in Namibia and Zambia, where his research team has built electricity and energy systems as well as internet connections. Villages have rapidly moved to a new level of development. As one of the players in the Start North network, Aalto University is now utilizing the 5G Mokki network for research and education to facilitate and accelerate development. Dr. Olatundun Adelegan from Nigeria, currently a Visiting Professor at Aalto University, presented research findings on what is slowing down or hindering Africas development. She highlighted infrastructure deficiencies, poor learning outcomes, and weak internet connections, youth unemployment and adverse effects of climate change and financial exclusion as hindrances to economic growth. She further explained that a robust information and technology network will lead to innovation in education and entrepreneurship and enhance financial inclusion and adoption of digital financial services and mobile money among rural dwellers as well as facilitating trade. In addition, strong internet and digital technology will reduce the adverse effects of climate change through the provision of early warning systems on extreme weather events (floods, drought, storms, heat waves); boost agriculture yield with digital information on the onset of rainfall and sensors to monitor soil and plant conditions; minimize post-harvest loss from farm-to-fork; and enhance online nomadic education on adaptation techniques to minimize conflicts between herdsmen and farmers induced by climate change. A robust information and technology network will contribute significantly to improving sub-Saharan Africas ability to create new business and attract international companies and investors. Mr. Boris Ngala, Founder and CEO of BB Incubator in Douala, Cameroon and one of the co-founders of the 5G Mokki Tech Space network, having spent seven years abroad, returned to his home country with a vision to reduce poverty through technology-driven solutions, entrepreneurial training, and business advice. When he heard about the 5G Mokki concept and its potential to accelerate the learning and application of new technology for the benefit of the region and its youth, he immediately seized the opportunity and set out to promote a concept that connects young people in Africa to each other and to other continents. Young people who are hungry for knowledge, learning, work, and entrepreneurship will make a significant contribution to the development of local and international business, as long as they are provided with advanced environments for learning, technological development and entrepreneurship. Mr. Douglas Ogeto, Co-Founder and CEO of Ludique Works, the Pan-African video game publishing company in Nairobi, Kenya, said: The 5G Mokki Tech Space network has the enormous potential to serve international and local companies, to provide creative-economy and technology-based jobs and promote entrepreneurship based on the learning of the latest technology and hands-on projects that serve local conditions. Furthermore, this is supported by extensive national and international collaboration with universities and companies. He is also a recent co-founder of the 5G Mokki Tech Space network. Ludique Works conducts numerous game development and business acceleration programs across Africa each year. The 5G Mokki network significantly improves the business opportunities for game developers. Atte Leskinen, one of the driving forces behind Start North, the Finnish technology learning accelerator network, and one of the inventors of the 5G Mokki learning and technology environment, told that 5G Mokki is a concept invented by young people themselves and developed together with experienced professionals. The concept has been tested and developed at an early stage in leading U.S. universities such as Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley and USC and has since been developed in cooperation with leading universities and companies in Finland and other Nordic countries. Mr Leskinen however emphasised that the Mokki is only a tool to accelerate the learning and application of new technology. Most important are its benefits for businesses, young people and the sustainable development of the regions and our planet. Leskinen also welcomes the cooperation with African universities and business incubators and invites U.S. companies such as Microsoft, as well as universities such as Princeton University, to use the network to promote their operations and global sustainability. The webinar was moderated by Lars Ling, founder of CleanTech Region Impact Group. Mr Ling highlighted his particular interest in developing the new kind of education needed to promote sustainable development in the world. He ended the panel with the notion that all change starts with a change in an individuals own behavior. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires New Zealand's livestock emissions levy could have the potential to be copied in Ireland if it proves successful. But what exactly is involved? Admittedly, there has been no talk here of such a levy. However, there are so many parallels between Ireland and the land down under, that many farmers locally are paying close attention. The so-called flatulence or 'burp tax' got a lot of laughs when announced by mainstream media around the world, but the likely cost of 180 for a typical New Zealand farmer is an unwanted extra bill, at a difficult time for agriculture around the world. Larger farmers could pay up to 1,800. The politics of climate in New Zealand are similar to Ireland's. Making the hard decisions is a government made up of a major political party (Labour), which had an overall majority win in the 2020 general election) in a co-operation agreement with the Green Party. Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson secured ministerial posts, with Shaw installed as Minister of Climate Change. As in Ireland, agriculture is a major source of emissions. Here, agriculture has about 35% of the emissions which cause global warming, in New Zealand, livestock alone generate about half of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The government, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, says it was elected to take action on climate change, and its aim for agriculture and other primary industries is to be environmentally sustainable and globally competitive, offering the more climate-friendly produce that export markets start to demand. Minister Shaw is under intense pressure from Green Party members to deliver on climate change, the party's core reason for being in politics and in the Government. Progress has been slow, for which Shaw blames his Labour colleagues in government. Shaw has argued that the policies he puts forward as Minister of Climate Change don't represent his own party. But the Green Party membership may not be happy with that excuse. Shaw has said it is entirely possible for farming to be both profitable and have lower emissions. He has praised the Silver Fern Farms meat company for their success with a net-zero beef product in the US market. As in Ireland, there are diametrically opposed factions in the New Zealand climate debate, with polar opposite views. On one side are farmers, who say they are the most efficient in the world, with the lowest emissions per kg of product. On the far side are environmentalists. In the middle is the Government, and another parallel with Ireland is that the Government tries to bring the primary sector, including agriculture, on board for its climate plans (it is happy to delegate difficult farming emissions decisions to farmers). That is why it has allowed an agricultural sector partnership to develop a way to pay for their emissions. What they have come up with includes the flatulence tax on livestock, as part of an agricultural emissions pricing system alternative to the already-legislated entry of agriculture into the country's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). If the partnership's recommendations to the Government are not accepted, agriculture may have to go in the scheme, which the industry says would be disastrous for farmers. As it stands, the fossil fuel-derived ETS would undervalue on-farm sequestration, and wouldnt recognise methanes different warming impact. The ETS carbon price could keep rising, reducing farming viability, especially for sheep and beef farming. By the end of 2022, the Government will decide how emissions from agriculture are priced. Advising it will be the Climate Change Commission. Agricultural emissions are legislated to enter the ETS by 2025. The Government can bring them in sooner if it believes the agriculture partnership has made insufficient progress in preparing the farming sector for its farm-level emissions pricing (flatulence tax). Burp tax The initially proposed flatulence tax for 2025 is up to 0.066 per kg of livestock for methane. It is expected to cost farmers 13c a year for every sheep; and 32.5c to 43.4c for every beef and dairy cow. Deer and goat farmers will also be taxed. There will be a separate price for nitrous oxide. Farmers would calculate their individual methane and nitrous oxide emissions based on what theyre doing on-farm, not based on national averages. Farmers can get credit for their sequestration (compared to a 1990 baseline), and for using technologies and practices that reduce emissions. The partnership pushed for the price to be as low as possible while achieving emission reductions. The tax money raised will go back into research and development for further agricultural emissions reductions. The Government is considering these recommendations, and public consultation is also expected later this year. Already, the Green Party said this agricultural sector partnership plan "raised more questions than answers", and its not clear if or how it will reduce emissions to meet targets for a safe climate. Meanwhile, many agriculture industry lobbyists welcomed Minister Shaw's first Emissions Reduction Plan, while environmentalists were furious, particularly about 428m from the Emissions Trading Scheme for research to help farmers reduce methane emissions. Environmentalists, however, have said farmers have been exempted from having to contribute to the ETS fund, and should fund their own research. Political commentators say governments tend to believe that "what's good for farmers is good for New Zealand" (because farm and food produce accounts for 82% of exports, and 11.2% of GDP). Nevertheless, it seems to be on the way to being the first nation in the world to force its farmers to pay for their emissions, as part of the government's commitment to net-zero by 2050. New Zealand has ended new offshore oil and gas exploration, upgraded schools and hospitals to run on clean energy, made it easier to buy electric cars. With the country recently hit by multiple floods, severe storms, droughts and wildfires, the pressure is on for climate action, and agriculture has to carry its share of the load. Clissmann Horse Caravans Perhaps few camping experiences warrant a place on the national travel experience bucket list but Clissmann Horse Caravans in County Wicklow is a true holiday Hall of Famer. The traditional, horse-drawn caravan hub has long been renting out both horses and caravans for those seeking the ultimate slow tourism escape. But now you can also overnight in one of their gorgeously decked out wooden wagons on site without the need to tack your horse every day. You can also pair your experience by taking a guided horse-drawn wagon tour around the local byroads. If that even sounds too speedy, you can also go on a hiking tour of the stunning local hills accompanied by your very own companion donkey. Nature lovers should note that the site is also conveniently located near the new Beyond the Trees Avondale attraction; a seriously exciting tree top walk and viewing tower set over the forests of Wicklow which opens this month. The best part? To descend the 38m back down to Earth, you can catch a thrilling spiral slide! Horse caravan stays start from 95 some of the best glamping value around right now. clissmannhorsecaravans.com Lough Mardal Glamping can sometimes feel like somebody just popped a bell tent in a vacant field which is why the true queens of glam stand out from the pack. No more so than Lough Mardal, a sustainability-minded and off-the-grid glamping site set upon the lake of the same name in scenic South Donegal. Show-stopper here are its skydome Mongolian yurts which are kitted out with a mix of vintage furniture and cosy comforts while the site also features a snug Shepherds Hut if youre feeling a little more pastoral. In your downtime, enjoy rambles along beautiful bogland walks, visit nearby Murvagh Beach for a dip or head to local pub Whoriskeys known for its pizzas and live music. Back at base, catch up with your campmates at Lough Mardals base eco-lodge which is sustainably grown with mud, straw and gra. Huts from 110, yurts from 130; loughmardalglamping.ie Morriscastle Strand Okay, so your neighbours went to a campsite in France which had a heated pool, solar powered tents, and an on-site boulangerie. But did it sit overlooking some of Europes most stunning sandy shores, offer everything from beach yoga classes to ukulele nights and serve Crispy Creme Tayto ice-creams in their very own parlour? Well, perhaps they should have saved themselves the ferry schlepp with a visit to Morris Castle Holiday Park, one of Irelands finest four-star campsites which surely stacks up to any contenders on the Continent! The family-run Wexford site has long been popular with the touring market but has pivoted during the pandemic and now offers sea-view pods stays too.. They can sleep up to two adults and five children and rates include access to the many family friendly activities on site, too. Absolutely worth those sunrise shots too if you fancy rising at5am! Pods cost from 140 with minimum night stays applying. morriscastlestrand.com Roof Tent Adventure The covid pandemic paired with social media has brought with it several travel trends not least, enjoy nature, embrace great outdoors, and most importantly of all, look great doing it! Youll be the envy of your fellow campers if you kit your motor with a roof tent, an eye-catching and comfy sleeping cocoon which clips onto your cars roof rack to take your camping adventure, literally, next level. Accessed via a drop-down ladder, your tent is essentially a hard shell box which pops open in a minute (no more peg hammering!) and features an integrated memory foam mattress to guarantee the perfect slumber. Tents are available for hire from outdoors camping specialists, Buckled Wheel, in Fethard, Co. Tipperary. Youll need to pick one up from Tipp, so why not spend your first night in the likes of Con Traas charming Apple Farm site near Cahir before making a break for the wilds of the West. Tents cost 280 per week. buckledwheel.ie Wild Camping Wild Camping has emerged as an increasingly popular activity in recent years but to really go wild in Irelandin a national parkhead to Wild Nephin National Park in Mayo. This huge park features a number of designated camping areas accessible following hefty hikes and shelters are also available on a first-come/first-served basis. Camping is free but youll need to pre-register via campingwildnephin.com before your trip. This adventure is for experienced hikers and campers only so plan ahead and pack accordingly: that includes bug repellent to deal with midges and possibly ticks who thrive in bogs in summer. For other camping in nature options, which require a lower step count, check out Coilltes forest camping options at coillte.ie Dromquinna Manor Okay, well forgive you for thinking youve just woken up in some dream watering hole in the savannas of Africa but this is actually Kenmare Bay, not Kenya. The ultimate in outdoor opulence, Dromquinna Manor is so glam it prefers to shy away from the term glamping entirely, opting to brand itself with the luxury camping tagline instead. And with good reason. Each of the custom made tents are loaded with quasi five star hotel standards along with your own private veranda overlooking the estate. There are still some spots available for this summer (a rarity) and tents are available from 175, which rates pretty well compared to some pod options across the country. Guests can also look forward to a basket hamper delivery of freshly brewed tea or coffee, yogurt and croissants come morning. dromquinnamanor.com Crom Campsite The National Trust are the custodians of some of the most magical heritage sites in Northern Ireland but did you know you can also camp in one of their locations? Fermanaghs historic Crom Estate, home to the largest area of natural woodland in Northern Ireland, is a haven for both campers (and pine martens) this time of year and makes an idyllic spot to base yourself in the lakelands region. The site is spread over two areas, Culliagh and Bell Hill which offer family friendly plot offers tent pitches from as little as 13 as well as glamping pods built into original estate buildings from 57. While there, wake up to stunning views of Lough Erne, hire a boat to explore the secret islands, or discover the sites old castle ruins. nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays/crom-campsite Highview Country Park Northern Irelands great value camping is drawing visitors from both the south and across the pond and few areas in the region offer better summer feels than Portrush. Covering all camping bases, the towns highly rated Highview Country Park, offers twelve pitches for tents, four log cabins, two static mobile homes and a self-catering holiday cottage. Pitch rates start from 27 and holiday homes from 85 per night. Though you may wish to stick around for longer, located within short spinning distance to all the attractions of Antrims Causeway Coast including the Giants Causeway, Bushmills Distillery, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, Game of Thrones Dark Hedges and Dunluce Castle. highviewholidaypark.co.uk Goats Path Farm West Cork is camping heaven with everywhere from Eagle Point in Ballylickey to Barleycove Holiday Park on Mizen offering dream back-drops to pitch up for the night. Looking for a new spot to pitch up at? Goats Path Pods is a brand new pod and camping site located on the gorgeous and lesser travelled Sheeps Head peninsula. As well as traditional tent pitch options, the site features six grass-roof effect pods including one hobbit-style pond hewn into the hillside. All pods feature sea views, too. goatspathpods.ie For another option in the West Cork, check out Top of the Rock a family friendly Pod Pairc and walking centre set on a family farm outside Drimoleague. Its an ideal spot for families with animal lovers or guests looking for a base to hike the St. Finbarrs Way. topoftherock.ie Glamping Under The Stars One of the consistently top-rated glamping sites in Ireland, Glamping Under The Stars makes the perfect family friendly base for those considering a break in lovely Laois this summer. The colourful offering has a collection of bell tents, shepherd huts, hobbit houses and wood lodges to choose from which provide a great introduction to families wishing to dip their toes into a stay in the great outdoors. While there, explore everything from the fairy trails and wildflower meadows, discover local attractions like Emo Court and the fantastic Rock of Dunamase while the site has also teamed up with new outdoor specialist Midland Escape to offer guests kayaking, paddle-boarding and mountain biking too. glampingunderthestars.ie A convicted murderer who has spent 20 years behind bars had brought a High Court challenge over what he claims is a refusal by the minister for justice to consider his entitlement to parole. The action has been brought by Paulo Nascimento, 46, who was jailed after he admitted shooting dead trainee hotel manager Grainne Dillon, from Glounthane, Co Cork, after he robbed the Limerick hotel where they both worked. He claims he applied for parole on several occasions under the non-statutory Parole Board system, which had been in operation between 2001 and last year. Under that regime the board reviewed applications from prisoners serving lengthy sentences after being advised by the minister for justice who should be considered for temporary release. He claims in early 2021, a parole board recommended that he be granted temporary release, sometime at the start of this year. The board which reviewed his case stated that the risk the applicant would re-offend was "as low as it can get", that keeping him in custody was "no longer productive," and that his case did not need any further review. However, Nascimento's lawyers have told the High Court he remains in custody because of an alleged refusal of the Minister to decide on his entitlement to temporary release. Represented by Michael Lynn, instructed by solicitor James MacGuill, Nascimento claims that last year a new parole system came into place. The State established a statutory Parole Board, which makes its decisions on the release of prisoners independently from the minister. It is claimed that as a consequence the minister has abandoned the administrative processes undertaken by the board that had operated under the former parole system. Nascimento contacted the new Parole Board to ensure that the regime change would not impact on his proposed temporary release. However, the new board said it entirely separate from the previous board and is a stranger to the previous decision granting him parole. The new board said that it would review his case. Given the purported decisions that were made under the previous parole regime Nascimento's lawyers wrote to the Minister seeking a response. It is claimed that no substantive reply has been given by the minister, and it is claimed that the minister has adopted a position that Nascimento's entitlement to temporary release is now a matter for the new Parole Board. It is claimed that the extension of his incarcerations, without any rehabilitation plan to prepare him for release, is a breach of his rights and amounts to failure by the minister to fulfil her duties. The Portuguese native was given a life sentence at the Central Criminal Court in 2003 after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Dillon at the Jury's Inn Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick in January 2002. Nascimento had been working as a night porter at the hotel. The two had been working a night shift together, when Nascimento blasted his then 24-year-old victim three times at point range with a shotgun after he robbed 3,000 from the hotel. Paulo Nascimento is seeking to have a decision on his bid for parole. He is currently serving his sentence at Shelton Abbey Prison, in Co Wicklow. In his judicial review action against the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General the applicant seeks various orders and declarations from the court. These include an order that Minister provide the applicant with a decision on his entitlement to reviewable temporary release or alternatively that the Minister's refusal to consider his entitlement to temporary release be quashed. He also seeks various declarations including that the Minister is acting unlawfully and fettering her discretion by operating a blanket policy of refusing to consider the applicants individual circumstances because a new statutory Parole Board has been established. This it is claimed has resulted in the minister refusing to decide on Nascimento's entitlement to parole. Counsel said that the at this stage the new board has been asked to consider his client's application. However, the board may not be able to deal with it until March or April of next year. He also seeks declarations that the continuing refusal to decide on his entitlement to parole is unlawful, and that the refusal amounts to a breach of the Minister's duty. He further seeks a declaration that the refusal amounts to a breach of his constitutional rights, and a breach of the Minister's duties under the European Convention on Human Rights. The matter came before Mr Justice Charles Meenan today. The judge on an ex-parte basis granted the applicant permission to bring his challenge. The matter will return before the court in October. Belgian authorities have returned a gold-capped tooth belonging to the murdered Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look towards reconciliation. The restitution of the relic took place after Belgiums King Philippe earlier this month expressed his deepest regrets for his nations abuses in its African former colony, Congo, which is 75 times the size of Belgium. Following a private ceremony in the presence of relatives of Lumumba during which the federal prosecutor handed over a case containing the tooth, Belgiums Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told Congolese officials and Lumumbas family that the restitution came way too late. It is not normal that Belgium held on to the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades, said Mr De Croo, who also offered apologies for the role played by his country in the assassination. Democratic Republic of the Congo Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, left, speaks during a ceremony to return the remains of Patrice Lumumba to the family at the Egmont Palace in Brussels (Nicholas Maeterlinck, Pool Photo via AP) Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said the return of the relic will be essential for the countrys national memory. After his assassination in 1961, Lumumbas body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site. The tooth was seized by Belgian officials decades later from the daughter of the Belgian police commissioner, who said he took it after overseeing the destruction of Lumumbas body. Two years ago, the federal prosecutors office said there is no absolute certainty that the tooth being returned is Lumumbas since no DNA test could be conducted. Lumumbas daughter, Juliana, agreed with Mr De Croo that the handover was long overdue. Father, our hearts bled for 61 years, she said during the official ceremony, speaking next to a coffin with a picture of her late father on top of it. We, your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren but also Congo, Africa and the world we mourned your death without a eulogy. Later the coffin was brought outside and draped in a Congolese flag. Protocol members prepare to cover the coffin with the remains of Patrice Lumumba with a Congolese flag during a ceremony at the Egmont Palace in Brussels (Olivier Matthys/AP) Lumumba remains for many in Congo a symbol of what the country could have become after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches. After pushing for an end to colonial rule, Lumumba became the newly independent Congos first prime minister in 1960. But historians say when he reached out to the Soviet Union for help in putting down a secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region, he quickly fell out of favour during Cold War times with both Belgium and the United States. So when dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a military coup later that year, western powers did little to intervene as Lumumba was arrested and jailed. Congos former prime minister Patrice Lumumba, centre right, with hands tied behind his back, sits in a truck upon arrival at Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) Airport in Congo, on December 2 1960, following his arrest the previous day (AP) Lumumbas assassination by separatists in January 1961 ultimately cleared the way for Mobutu to rule the country, which he later renamed Zaire, for decades until his death in 1997. Even though Lumumbas killers were Congolese, questions have persisted over how complicit Belgium and the United States may have been in his death because of his perceived Communist ties. A Belgian parliamentary probe later determined that the government was morally responsible for Lumumbas death. A US Senate committee found in 1975 that the CIA had hatched a separate, failed plan to kill the Congolese leader. Several ministers of the Belgian government of the time bear a moral responsibility for the circumstances that led to this murder, Mr De Croo said. The children of Patrice Lumumba, from left, Francois, Roland and Juliana arrive for a ceremony at the Egmont Palace (Olivier Matthys, Pool/AP) A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals. For the democrat that I am, it is indefensible. For the liberal that I am, it is unacceptable. And for the human being that I am, it is odious. Two years ago, the 60th anniversary of Congos independence reignited calls to put Lumumbas soul to rest. Protesters gathered outside the Belgian embassy in Kinshasa, seeking restitution of his remains along with cultural artefacts taken during colonial rule. In Belgium, the international protests against racism that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States gave a new momentum to activists fighting to have monuments to King Leopold II removed. Leopold had plundered Congo during his 1865-1909 reign and forced many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his own profit. Belgiums King Philippe, second left, greets the children of Congos former prime minister Patrice Lumumba, from left, Juliana, Francois and Roland, at the Royal Palace in Brussels (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP) In 1908, he handed it over to the Belgian state, which continued to rule over the colony until it became independent in 1960. Amid the Black Lives Matter actions, protesters took down busts of the former monarch held responsible for the death of millions of Africans, and King Philippe later expressed regret for the violence carried out by the country when it ruled over Congo. None of his predecessors had gone so far as to convey remorse. Burma Cambodia Rejects Calls to Bar Myanmar Junta Minister From ASEAN Meeting Myanmar junta Defense Minister General Mya Tun Oo / Myawady Cambodia has ignored an appeal by Myanmar-based as well as regional and international civil society organizations not to invite the Myanmar regimes defense minister, who is responsible for the juntas atrocities against civilians, to the upcoming ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM). The meeting, which is scheduled to be held in this week, will be joined by defense ministers from the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Cambodia currently holds the rotating chair of the bloc, of which Myanmar is a member. Since last week the letter has been signed by 677 Myanmar, regional and international civil organizations. It requests that the defense ministers of the other ASEAN countries not invite the regimes defense minsiter, General Mya Tun Oo, to the meeting as it could embolden the junta, which has been committing extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, lootings and torchings of civilian properties in Myanmar since the coup last year. The letter said the general has played a leading role in the management of the military, which is responsible for committing ongoing crimes with total impunity. However, Cambodia said on Friday that as the chair of the meeting it has invited all ASEAN defense ministers, including the regimes, to attend. As we are the chair for this year, we have mentioned that ASEAN is 10, which makes it necessary to invite all ASEAN members. We also have the consensus from eight ASEAN countries, General Nem Sowath, director-general of the General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs at the Defense Ministry of Cambodia, said at a press conference, according to the Khmer Times. Since the Myanmar militarys coup against the elected civilian government, almost 700,000 people have been forcibly displaced as the junta wages a terror campaign against the Myanmar people. In the face of mass public resistance, the junta has murdered more than 1,900 people, arbitrarily arrested over 14,000 more, committed widespread torture, indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, burnt villages and looted public property, said the letter. Mya Tun Oo has been sanctioned by the US, UK, EU, Canada and New Zealand for his responsibility for violations of international law. The UK said he has command responsibility for these violations and can therefore be held responsible for these actions. At the same time, further evidence of such horrendous atrocities has emerged. On Saturday, Radio Free Asia exposed the brutality of the juntas troops in Saging Region by publishing a video in which a soldier says, For us, we even killed a lot by slitting their throats, describing a killing operation in the region. The international community, including the US and EU, have left it to ASEAN to deal with the Myanmar crisis as the regional body. However, its peace plan for Myanmar has been criticized for failing to halt the regimes violence. Previously, ASEAN punished the junta by not inviting its leadership to regional summits. At the same time, there are divisions within the grouping, with some countries like Malaysia urging the bloc to reach out more to Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG), rather than engaging with the junta. But current chair Cambodia is trying to engage more with the junta, insisting on promoting ASEAN solidarity. However, the Myanmar people see Cambodia as trying to legitimize the junta. Last week, NUG Defense Minister U Yee Mon wrote in The Diplomat that inviting junta defense officials to this months ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting would stain ASEANs reputation and deny the Myanmar people the recognition they deserve. When ASEANs defense ministers meet, they would be wise to remember this: Do not underestimate us, he said, referring to Myanmars ongoing popular armed resistance against the regime. More than one year on, the regime is still unable to control the country due to the widespread and unwavering armed resistance against it, especially in the countrys northwest, heartland and south, where local fighters have inflicted heavy casualties on junta troops. The NUGs defense minister said the determination of the peoples fight for freedom is not a flame that can be extinguished through time, fear or violence. Each day we grow stronger, he added. Burma Huge Myanmar Junta Convoy Suffers Heavy Casualties in Sagaing: Resistance The regimes convoy in Matupi Township, Chin State, in late May. / HKL Mindat A Myanmar junta convoy has suffered heavy causalities in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, according to resistance fighters. More than 100 military vehicles, including two tanks and approximately 200 soldiers, left Chin State and arrived in Pale Township on June 12. It is reportedly the first deployment of tanks in Yinmabin. Min Kong, commander of the Golden Triangle Force (GTF), told The Irrawaddy that Yinmabin and Pale resistance fighters repeatedly attacked the convoy with mines, meaning it sometimes moved less than a mile a day. It arrived at the Chinese-owned Wanbao mine in Salingyi Township on Monday. There were approximately 40 to 50 regime casualties because many resistance fighters repeatedly attacked the convoy with bombs, said Min Kong. He said his group and allied peoples defense forces attacked the convoy on Sunday, killing at least 10 soldiers and injuring many others. The GTF uploaded a video on Facebook showing many bloody bandages on the ground and purportedly burned soldiers. The GTF said it was the groups third attack on the convoy. From Pale to Wanbaos mine is about 40km which took the convoy nine days. The resistance believes the convoy must be carrying something valuable because of its large number of vehicles. More than 5,000 people from about 15 villages, including Kayay Sar Kya, Kaung Sint, Sel Pin Kan and Kan Kone, on the Pale-Yinmabin-Monywa road fled their roadside homes to avoid fighting. On Monday the convoy set fire to Kaung Sint and killed a man in his 50s. Three civilians were detained and carried with the convoy as hostages. By the end of May, an estimated 18,886 houses and other buildings had been burned down by the regime across Myanmar and Sagaing has suffered the most, losing an estimated 13,480 houses, according to Data for Myanmar, an independent group monitoring junta atrocities. Burma Myanmar Junta Jails NLD Vice Chair for 21 Years on Corruption Charges NLD vice-chair Dr. Zaw Myint Maung. / The Irrawaddy Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, the Mandalay Region Chief Minister under the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government, was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Friday on five counts of corruption by a junta court at Mandalays Obo Prison, according to his legal team. The charges filed by the regimes Anti-Corruption Commission at Mandalay Region High Court accused Dr. Zaw Myint Maung of taking bribes in exchange for business contracts and abusing his position of power to grant land permits for NLD offices. The NLD vice chair was given five years each for three corruption charges over the alleged taking of kickbacks to cover costs when he received medical treatment in Bangkok in 2019 for leukemia, and three years each on two other corruption charges, said his legal team. We will appeal against the ruling because the court handed down the jail sentence without strong evidence, said a member of Dr. Zaw Myint Maungs legal team. The 70-year-old politician is still on medication for leukemia and has now been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison. In December, he was sentenced to four years including two years for incitement under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code and two years on two charges under the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaches of COVID-19 regulations. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to one year in prison for alleged electoral fraud in the 2020 general election. He faces an additional charge for alleged electoral fraud, with the junta court scheduled to deliver its verdict on Wednesday. Despite his age and medical condition, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung has been held in Obo Prison since the February 2021 coup. He was previously imprisoned for 18 years by the former military regime. Burma Resistance Fighters Return Motorcycles Looted by Myanmar Junta Troops to Owners Owners reunited with their motorcycles. Sagaing Region resistance forces have returned motorcycles to Chaung-U Township villagers after they were looted by Myanmars regime troops. More than 100 soldiers raided Ba Lway village in the southeast of the township, which is a resistance stronghold, and looted valuables and 10 motorcycles, including five Honda motorcycles, on June 10. The 10 vehicles were worth around US$5,400. The soldiers forced villagers to transport the motorcycles to nearby Nat Yay Kan village. Troops normally carry away loot in military vehicles but they reportedly feared mine attacks by the resistance. Troops kept the looted vehicles at Nat Yay Kan. All the stolen vehicles were stored in one place. Resistance fighters entered the village on Friday while the soldiers were raiding elsewhere. Our members rode the motorcycles back to Ba Lway, Ko Nway Oo, who leads the Civilian Defense and Security Organization in Myaung, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. They returned the motorcycles to their owners on Saturday. Troops detained Ba Lway villagers on June 9. Villagers fleeing on motorcycles were intercepted by troops, who took their bikes. The villagers were held for over 30 hours without food, according to a villager. More than 100 villagers, including older citizens and children, were released when soldiers left the village on June 10. Around 70 mobile phones were seized by soldiers. A Ba Lway villager said: I am very glad to get my motorcycle back. We could not buy a new one. We did not dare take them back, although we knew they were in Nat Yan Kan. Fortunately, the resistance rescued them. We are very thankful. Ba Lway had about 600 houses before the junta raids. More than 1,000 villagers have been displaced and are living in the forests, according to a villager. Many Chaung-U villages have been raided this month with numerous houses torched. Burma Suu Kyi Enjoys Unwavering Popular Support as Myanmar Celebrates Her Birthday Amid tight security, anti-regime activists in Yangon on Sunday celebrated the 77th birthday of Myanmars detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with a flash mob protest. They prayed for her good health while calling for the release of all political prisoners. / YRF / AAMI From jungle camps to the countryside and major cities, the Myanmar people united yesterday to celebrate the 77th birthday of their detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, calling for her release from junta detention. The ousted civilian leader has been held at an undisclosed location in the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw since last years February 1 coup that plunged the country into crisis. Young resistance fighters who have taken up arms to bring down the military regime held ceremonies in their jungle camps to honor their cherished leader, including in areas controlled by ethnic armed organizations, cutting cakes, making offerings or wearing and holding flowers to show solidarity with their leader, who is known for wearing flowers. The fighters wished their leader well and to be free soon. Some fighters also did 77 push ups to commemorate the occasion. Columns of protesters around the country also marched to mark Daw Aung San Suu Kyis June 19 birthday, calling for the release of her and all political prisoners unjustly detained by the junta since the coup. The protesters and anti-regime activists also called on people to continue to fight to topple the regime, highlighting Suu Kyis well-known saying Freedom from Fear to mark the anniversary. Buddhist monks chanted and wished for her speedy release and planted trees to mark her birthday. Daw Aung San Suu Kyis supporters abroad also gathered and held events in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Norway and Sweden. May May [mom], may you be in good health, Kim Aris, younger son of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said in his birthday message, adding that the family havent had any details of her whereabouts and health since she was detained. Kim Aris thanked people all around the world for supporting his mother and for continuing to strive to restore democracy to Myanmar. Currently, Suu Kyi has to attend her ongoing trials in Naypyitaw four days a week. She faces an array of fraudulent charges that carry a total potential prison sentence of over 100 years, as the ruthless regime endeavors to ensure the end of her political career by locking her up for the rest of her life. But the Myanmar peoples celebrations both home and abroad vividly reflect their unwavering love and faith in their deposed leader, who has stood up for them for over 30 years in the countrys struggle for democracy, no matter how hard the generals attempt to get rid her. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party has won landslide victories in every election it has contested, always capturing at least 80 per cent of parliamentary seats. In the 2020 general election, the NLD won over 82 per cent of the seats. This is the 16th birthday Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has marked in custody since she was first detained in July 1989. Since then, she has spent 15 years under arrest at her lakeside house in Yangon and now in Naypyitaw. The National Unity Governments (NUG) acting president Duwa Lashi La said on Sunday that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who retains her State Counselor position in the NUG, is an inspiration for all Myanmar people when it comes to her determination, sacrifice and affection for the country and its democratic struggle. Instead of celebrating her birthday with her people and family members, she has been arbitrarily arrested by the military dictators. I would like to wish her a free life from the dictators and long life, said Duwa Lashi La. You may also like these stories: Junta Chief to Preside Over Myanmars First Grand Military Review in Seven Years Resistance Fighters and KIA Clash With Junta Forces in Northern Myanmar Myanmar Junta Raises SIM and Internet Taxes to Silence Opposition Burma Two Advisers to Myanmar Junta Chief Applaud Planned Executions Daw Yin Yin Nwe (left) and Daw Yin Yin Oo (right). Two female members of junta leader Min Aung Hlaings advisory board, Daw Yin Yin Nwe and Daw Yin Yin Oo, have been unable to hide their pleasure at the regimes execution order for anti-regime activists Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw. In response to the United Nations statement that it was deeply troubled by the execution order, Daw Yin Yin Nwe, the 70-year-old ex-daughter-in-law of late military dictator General Ne Win, wrote on her Facebook that the regime doesnt give a damn about the UN. Addressing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Daw Yin Yin Nwe said she has never ever seen a government that was forced to step down just because the UN doesnt recognize it. Echoing junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, she defended the execution order as a judicial ruling. Do not mistake patience and politeness for weakness. This is a mistake made by arrogant people, wrote the geologist, who worked with UNICEF from 1991 to 2011. The order is in line with domestic law whether the UN likes it or not, she responded to Guterres. She accused media outlets of concealing crimes committed by Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw in their reports about the duo. However, she herself has been tight-lipped about the extrajudicial killings and arson attacks on villages that the regime has been committing for months. The ethnic Shan-Mon woman, who served as the chief education adviser to the Thein Sein administration, is known to be a conservative. In August 2012 she was appointed to an inquiry commission investigating the Rakhine State communal violence of that year. Today, she offers blind allegiance to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and has strongly responded to anti-regime forces though diplomatic briefings, newspaper articles and social media. Another junta chief adviser, Daw Yin Yin Oo, apparently cant wait to see Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw standing on the gallows. Daw Yin Yin Oo, 66, is the daughter of late president Dr. Maung Maung, the henchman of late military dictator Ne Win. Dr. Maung Maung ruled for a month following the 1988 nationwide uprising. Though she did not write a post herself on Facebook, she shared a post, along with a photo of Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, reading, [Relatives of the duo] should consider [themselves] fortunate if they are informed to collect the bodies [after execution]. Her sharing of the post shows how much the daughter of the former justice minister and chief justice of the country wants to see the deaths of the duo. Daw Yin Yin Oo served in Myanmars Foreign Ministry for more than three decades, and was deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry under Thein Seins administration. She retired in 2016 before the National League for Democracy government took office. As advisers to Min Aung Hlaing, Daw Yin Yin Nwe and Daw Yin Yin Oo enjoy remuneration packages that include a monthly salary of 1 million kyats (about US$540), free accommodation and other allowances. Tanzanian university students excel in Chinese language competition Xinhua) 10:27, June 20, 2022 A Tanzanian student performs Chinese martial arts during the 21st Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition 2022 at the Confucius Institute of the University of Dar es Salaam in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on June 17, 2022.(Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua) Twelve university students in Tanzania on Friday gathered to compete in the 21st Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition 2022 at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). DAR ES SALAAM, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Twelve university students in Tanzania, whose faces glittered with broad smiles, on Friday gathered to compete in the 21st Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition 2022 at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). The contesting students, who competed via prepared video clips, came from the Confucius Institute at UDSM, Confucius Institute at the University of Dodoma and Confucius Classroom at the State University of Zanzibar. After a two-hour grueling competition, Adam Nyenje, a second-year Chinese language student from Confucius Institute at the University of Dodoma was declared the overall winner. Nyenje will later this year travel to China to compete in an international Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition. The main purpose of the competition is to assess the proficiency of students in various skills of the Chinese language such as Chinese speech, and knowledge about China as well as a talent show. Participants of the 21st Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition 2022 pose for a group photo at the Confucius Institute of the University of Dar es Salaam in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on June 17, 2022. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua) Vice-Chancellor of the UDSM William Anangisye thanked the Confucius Institute at the UDSM for hosting the competition, saying the event promotes and encourages more students who will be interested in learning Chinese and performing different talents, including Chinese culture. Anangisye believed that Chinese language learning is an effective approach to further developing Sino-African ties. He said the UDSM is offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (Chinese and English) to students who will later teach the Chinese language in primary and secondary schools across Tanzania. Wang Siping, the cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, thanked the government of Tanzania, particularly the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Confucius Institute at UDSM for supporting the promotion of the Chinese language and Chinese culture. Wang, who presented certificates to some of the winners, said the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania will support the teaching of the Chinese language in schools at all levels. The competition was also witnessed by Aldin Mutembei and Zhang Xiaozhen, both directors of the Confucius Institute at the UDSM, who presented the winners with certificates. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Yes, there are plenty of politicians who are liars, there is no doubt about this! But some of them are not only liars but also serial killers because they deliberately send people to the wars! The more money you spend on guns, the less money you spend on people! More weapons, less happiness; more guns, more misery! The best defense industry is to build good relationships with your neighbors! The best missile, the best tank, the best atomic bomb is to be good friends with other countries! Enmity and its measures belong to the world of stupidity! Violence is the tool of the barbarian; aggression is the method of the primitive; bloodshed is the way of the savage; cruelty is the manner of the brutish! To be called civilised, man must be peaceable! Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Burma UK Imposes More Sanctions on Myanmar and Russia Military chief Min Aung Hlaing during a ceremony to commission new helicopters into service in Naypyitaw in 2019. The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on three Myanmar and three Russian companies that have supplied aircraft parts to junta forces. The sanctions came after Amnesty Internationals report Bullets Rained from the Sky and other reports of indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians. A first set of sanctions were imposed on March 25. New sanctions will limit Myanmars military junta who are heavily reliant on Russian air assets and cut Putin off from profiting from sales that fund his war machine, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said when the sanctions were announced. The UK also imposed sanctions on Thursday on Russias childrens rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, for supporting Russias military and other allies of Vladimir Putin, military commanders and arms dealers in Russia and Myanmar. Myanmar New Era Trading Co Ltd, Synpex Shwe Co Ltd and Sky Aviator Co Ltd and JSC Gorizont, Sins Avia Trading House LLC (CNS Aviation) and Ural Avia LLC in Russia face sanctions for supplying aircraft and parts to the juntas airforce. New Era procured Mi-17 parts from Russia through the US-sanctioned International Gateways Group, led by Dr. Naing Htut Aung who has close ties to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing. Sky Aviator is a junta arms broker which procured YAK-30 equipment, engines and engine parts from Russia and Ukraine, according to Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a group of covert activists campaigning for justice and accountability. JFM reported that Sky Aviator had procured military helicopters for Myanmar since 2019 from Russia and Min Aung Hlaing visited Kazan Helicopters in Russia after the 2021 coup. Synpex Shwe procured helicopter parts from Sins Avia and supplied the Directorate of Defense Industries. JSC Gorizont shipped drone parts to UK-sanctioned Miya Win, an arms broker in Myanmar. Ural Avia supplied aviation parts and made repairs and Mi-17 parts. The company and its director, Dr. Aung Moe Myint, were sanctioned by the UK on March 25. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted: I applaud the United Kingdoms announcement to impose sanctions on entities supporting Russias aggression against Ukraine as well as on companies perpetuating the Burmese military regimes brutal violence against the people of Burma. The regime has used helicopters, jet fighters and surveillance drones to indiscriminately attack civilians and nearly 200,000 civilians have experienced airstrikes. The number of people forced to flee their homes since the coup is almost 700,000 and the total number of displaced people is more than 1 million, the highest recorded figure in Myanmar, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on May 31. Analysis How Myanmar Junta Chief Plays Military Proxy Party for His Presidency USDP supporters during the election campaign in Naypyitaw in October 2020. / The Irrawaddy The militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) held its central executive committee (CEC) meeting last week, which ended with a rift over the partys future leadership. The party is expected to announce new leadership at the partys conference to be held soon. Last weeks CEC meeting saw the USDP divided into two camps one which wants to bring down party chairman U Than Htay and the other loyal to him. The group seeking to oust U Than Htay is stronger and is believed to be backed by junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, according to CEC members. The five year term of the partys current CEC ended last August, but U Than Htay cited the COVID-19 outbreak and political situation as reasons to cancel the 2021 party conference. However, many USDP members saw that as just an excuse for U Than Htay to retain his position as party chair in the wake of the USDPs resounding defeat in the 2020 general election. Those seeking to remove U Than Htay believe that, at the very least, he hopes to be appointed vice chair of the USDP after the regimes proposed election next year. U Than Htays leadership threatened The USDPs most important meeting is the party conference which elects the CEC, whose term runs for five years. The CEC elects the chair, vice chairs and secretaries of the party. After the party conference, the CEC meeting is the highest-level meeting of the USDP, although it only has the power to fill vacant positions on the CEC. At the USDPs CEC meeting on June 8-9, U Than Htay attempted to extend his term as chair of the party for another five years without confirmation from the party conference. However, the USDP group opposed to that, reportedly supported by Min Aung Hlaing, objected and U Than Htay was forced to promise that a party conference will be held soon. If he insists on extending his term without convening a party conference, U Than Htay will follow in the footsteps of Thura Shwe Mann who was purged in a power struggle with former President U Thein Sein, said one CEC member who wished to remain anonymous. The same member said that U Than Htay appeared unhappy as he delivered the opening address at the CEC meeting, and that his address was like a farewell speech. Junta chief operating behind the scenes Min Aung Hlaings dream of becoming president of Myanmar is an open secret. With the Myanmar military guaranteed 25 per cent of all seats in the national legislature under the army-drafted 2008 constitution, it is not unrealistic for him to dream of becoming president. However, in the 2020 general election the USDP failed to win the 26 per cent of votes which would have enabled it to form a government, forcing Min Aung Hlaing to stage his coup in February last year. Now, after annulling the results of the 2020 poll, Min Aung Hlaing is planning for an election next year. He may already have someone in mind to succeed him as military chief after the election. At the same time, he wants to pick someone he trusts as the next USDP chair, as the party will play a crucial role if he is to achieve his presidency dream. U Than Htay was handpicked as USDP chair by former dictator Senior General Than Shwe, which makes it hard for Min Aung Hlaing to purge him personally. He was rewarded with the party chair after exposing the plan by the late dictator Ne Wins grandsons to stage a coup. Than Shwe still provides advice to the USDP, although CEC members do not believe that he interferes in the partys administration. Former agriculture and irrigation minister U Myint Hlaing, who is infamous in Myanmar as One Meal Myint Hlaing for asking farmers to skip a meal each day in order to repay their agricultural loans to the government, has recently reached out to Than Shwe, said a CEC member. Ko Myint Hlaing was involved in purging [former military spy chief] General Khin Nyunt. So the [former] Senior General trusts him, said the CEC member. Meanwhile, Min Aung Hlaing is trying to control the party through his henchmen, said another CEC member. Min Aung Hlaing has not spoken a word about the USDP since the coup. USDP leaders have also told local media that they are yet to meet the coup leader in person. It appears that [Min Aung Hlaing] controls the party through U Khin Yi and U Thaung Aye, said a CEC member. U Khin Yi is a USDP vice chair, as well as the immigration minister in Min Aung Hlaings regime. U Thaung Aye is a CEC member and former lieutenant general and MP. He is expected to be promoted in the party hierarchy at the upcoming USDP conference. Critics of U Than Htay There cant be a shining party under poor leadership, wrote U Maung Myint before the CEC meeting. U Maung Myint, a native of Sagaing Regions Mingin Township, acted as industry minister in U Thein Seins quasi-civilian administration. Also opposed to U Than Htay is U Hla Swe, better known as Bullet Hla Swe, a former lieutenant colonel and Upper House lawmaker. At the recent CEC meeting, he made an official call for the USDP conference to be convened. But neither U Hla Swe nor U Maung Myint are expected to be candidates for USDP chair. U Myint Hlaing is another senior critic of U Than Htay and since succeeding former defence minister General Wai Lwin as the chief of the Naypyitaw USDP, he has effectively consolidated his control in the party. He was known as a hardliner during his time in U Thein Seins administration. Another prominent opponent of U Htan Thay is U Thaung Aye, who is regarded as a shrewd man who goes by the book and is close to Min Aung Hlaing. He is thought to be the most likely candidate to replace U Than Htay as USDP chair. Min Aung Hlaing doubts that U Than Htay has capacity to win the 26 per cent of parliamentary seats the USDP needs to win so he can become president, said a former USDP lawmaker. Min Aung Hlaing is also angry with U Than Htay over remarks he has made, said a party member. The party is dominated by former military personnel who contest elections on the USDP ticket. But U Than Htay said that the USDP and military are not related at all. Of course, Min Aung Hlaing was not happy with that, said the party member. The USDP and the 2023 election The USDP leadership can exepct to assume senior positions, including the vice president, parliament speakers and union ministers, if the military regime can win the election next year by excluding the National League for Democracy Party from contesting it. The current senior leadership are eyeing cabinet positions in 2023. Many of Than Shwes proteges remain in the USDP, according to photos released by the party. Vice-chair U Khin Yin, former finance and revenues minister U Hla Tun and former air force chief U Myat Hein are all confidants of Than Shwe. Other CEC members also served as ministers in Than Shwes regime including U Thein Zaw, U Thein Aung, U Soe Thane, U Myint Hlaing, U Nyan Win, U Nyan Tun, and U Nyan Tun Aung, all of whom are senior to Min Aung Hlaing. However, CEC members believe that the junta chief will look to people junior to him to become the next USDP chair, with the former lieutenant general U Thaung Aye thought to be Min Aung Hlaings pick to smooth his road to the presidency. You may also like these stories: Regime Airstrike Destroys Hospital in Lower Myanmar Junta Chief to Preside Over Myanmars First Grand Military Review in Seven Years Resistance Fighters and KIA Clash With Junta Forces in Northern Myanmar Commentary Hell Hounds Are Loose in Myanmar; Who Can Stop Them? Civilians arrested by regime troops in Sagaing, in one of the junta atrocities mentioned in the RFA report. The debate over what to call the Myanmar militarywhile it might seem of secondary importanceis in fact timely and appropriate, as every day brings reports of fresh brutality and atrocities committed by the regime against its own noncombatant civilians. Further evidence of such atrocities came to light last week when Radio Free Asia published images and video demonstrating that the military continues to commit crimes in Myanmars Sagaing Region, in the countrys northwest. For us, we even killed a lot by slitting their throats, a young soldier says as he describes a killing operation in a video obtained by RFA. One needs a strong stomach to listen to the gruesome details so casually described in the video, and to view the photos, which should also serve as a reminder that the military has long been committing these abuses in the ethnic states. Ironically, a few days before RFA exposed the atrocities, the deputy junta chief Soe Win said military personnel had been given instruction in human rights and protecting civilians. The video not only provides solid proof of the regimes lies, but also serves as the latest visual testament to the juntas brutality against its own civilians. It shows, yet again, what murderous commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and his barbarian thugs are capable of when let loose upon the people. The Myanmar military fosters a culture of extreme brutality and the fact is, officers and soldiers know they have license to commit such atrocities and war crimes and walk away scot-free. But who can stop them? The military is completely undeterred by the condemnation such atrocities bring upon it. Not even the regimes apologistsChinese, Japanese or Thaicome out to defend Min Aung Hlaing and his thuggish army. The military today is a disgraced institution that lacks any moral authority to rule the country, and the coup has failed. If these allies of the military dared to defend its actions they would be tainted by association with it, seen as birds of a feather. I say to them: If you have a conscience there is only one way for you to refer to the Myanmar militaryas the bunch of thugs that they are. The Myanmar people will applaud you if you do. But if you choose to continue with your lies, urging that the best course of action is to negotiate with the murderous regime, then you are no better than the psychopaths you support; I suggest you seek psychiatric help: You have a problem. So, which side you are on? China and Japanor whoever: Do you back the mindless Myanmar generals? It goes without saying that Russiathe supplier of arms and provider of annual training to Myanmar officershas no qualms, as it has been committing the same war crimes in Ukraine, but on an even larger scale. The public will still be digesting the latest images from Sagaing Region even as the regimes Defense Minister General Mya Tun Oo represents Myanmar at the 16th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Perversely, a number of resolutions are expected to be adopted at the meeting promoting cooperation and enhancing the role of the regions militaries in responding to deadly diseases and peacekeeping. So the regimes defense minister, who has direct knowledge of the Myanmar armys operations in the country, will sign a document on the militarys role in peacekeeping? Its worth repeating: the video and images brought to light last week offer concrete evidence that the regimes military is inflicting brutal atrocities on its own people. These young soldiers behaved like a group of murderous gangsters and thugs, but one thing is clearthey did so with license, and in response to commands and orders, from their superior officers. Recall the Myanmar militarys famous official motto: One Blood, One Voice, One Command. In Sagaing Region, senior military officers and commanders have given orders to burn down villages and execute their residents. In the past, when the regime faced allegations of war crimes it usually found a scapegoat for the offense, prosecuted them and quietly released them later. What all of this shows is that the regime has no authoritylegal, moral or otherwiseto govern the country, whose citizens feel a universal revulsion toward the military and the coup leader. Myanmar will need a professional military in the future, but it has no use for the current one. Which raises an important question: What do we call the present military? By its traditional name, the Tatmadaw (which translates as Royal Armed Forces)? Or should we refer to it as the Sit-tat army? (Since the coup, Myanmar citizens and activists have taken to referring to it as Sit-kweor by its acronym, Sa-Kameaning dog soldiers. But while I share the feelings and emotions of the Myanmar people on this, to call the soldiers dogs? I feel its not right. Personally, I see this as a real insult to dogs. (I owned a handsome and intelligent Labrador named Choco who would have been very upset to learn of this.) The Myanmar military today is no longer a unifying force in the countryinstead, it is a source of division, destruction and conflict. Thus, calling it the Tatmadaw is to bring the term into disgrace. Amid the ongoing revolution against Min Aung Hlaing and his army, regional and international governments and institutions and, more importantly, the Myanmar people will have to work hard to establish a professional military that respects human rights and human dignity, while protecting the country. However, that institution must be a servant of an elected government and all Myanmar citizensand never again wage war against its own people. Let that be our goal. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Junta Raises SIM and Internet Taxes to Silence Opposition Myanmar Junta Airstrikes Continue in Kayah State Myanmar Air Force Chief Forced to Retire Im speeding through the countryside of Sweden on an express train, headed to my high school reunion. We decided not to go to Bogota, Colombia (where the high school is); instead, one of our classmates has a farm outside of Gutenberg and were gathering there. A fabulous example of why we need to live every day, and I urge you to do it. Another great example of wisdom so often illustrated by Elders, is Pepe the Parrots alter ego apologizing to the Key Biscayne Community Foundation AND donating $10,000. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes (even Elders) and there is no shame in using the words Im sorry and expressing remorse. The contribution is also a welcome gesture. I, like most of us, have regrets. I think back to when I moved Mom and Dad from Texas to Georgia, for example. Was it fair of me to uproot them to make it easier for my brother and me? I still havent answered that question and I know Dad would say, Of course it was; we never wanted to be a burden. Yet, Mom and Dad werent a burden. It was an honor to assist them in their Elder years (which happened when Mom was in her eighties and Dad in his nineties). What I know is that when they passed away, within four months of each other, Dad knew we had done our best. He was grateful, he loved us, and we loved and cherished them. What else matters? It is easy to burn bridges. Its much more difficult to build and maintain them hello Rickenbacker Causeway. As Boomer Elders, with wisdom and experience, it is to our benefit to lead by example. I work with a plethora of families who have issues amongst themselves, almost always over money. I have cousins who fought over minimal family assets, and when the youngest died of complications exacerbated by COVID, my brother called the estranged side to inform them, and he was told this man was dead to them. Wow!That bridge was bombed! Over money! This is the mantra I use with family and friends: If they die tomorrow, will I wish Id reached out to mend a wrong? Remember, the living must exist with the consequences of their actions. If you extend an olive branch and its rebuffed, rest easy. You can only control your actions. These words are easy to write, hard to practice. As a new Elder I realize maturity helps, and in my case a glass of wine during a difficult talk can ease the conversation. To date, each time I made the effort, it enhanced the relationship. Whatever way works for you, right those wrongs. The more inclusive we are, the stronger we are. My train is coming to a stop, and Ill begin acting like a highschooler all over again this time with wisdom and experience. Or not it is high school! New Zealand based seafood company Sealord has selected Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage and Infor Supply Chain Planning, looking to enhance productivity, improve forecasting and better measure sustainability. Sealord is also looking to incorporate a stronger and modernised asset management system to cover purchase and commissioning, maintenance and asset management, and tracking for land and sea-based users. Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage (F&B) will also help Sealord establish specific carbon and other sustainability measures such as sea temperature and plastics usage monitoring, and then report and manage progress towards its sustainability goals. "Infor has incorporated deep industry-specific features that are purpose-built within Infor CloudSuite F&B which align with Sealord's business processes and operations. This results in a close fit solution out of the box. Ultimately, we were looking for a strategic long-term partner to work with, so not only do we value the decades of Infor development that have resulted in strong food-manufacturing capability, but we also appreciate that Infor and Sealord share similar visions for people and culture," said Sealord CIO Matthew Dodd. The initial agreement for CloudSuite F&B and Infor Supply Chain Planning runs for seven years. "We needed to address growing business and security risks associated with our legacy systems. Infor will enable us to redesign our core financial systems around current and anticipated business requirements. With Infor, we will be able to more easily automate workflows, month-end processes, and provide standardised reports to increase productivity across the business," Dodd added. The Infor software will allow Sealord to add lead indicators, statistical data, and other non-financial information relating to areas such as sustainability, market share, employee numbers, customer sentiment, market trends and health and safety data. The Infor software will be used across the entire Sealord business, including the fishing, aquaculture and land-based factory processing operations in New Zealand and Australia, plus the global sales operation. It will provide comprehensive multi-currency financial consolidation within the ERP system, allowing Sealord to retire the costly, standalone consolidation software it has been using. "Standardising on one procurement system will create process efficiencies and reduce costs. It will also improve speed and accuracy, as well as the visibility of planning and forecasting. With Infor's ERP solution, Sealord will save valuable time through the use of modern workflow, automation and AI tools," Dodd said. "Infor is delighted to be Sealord's strategic partner, helping to streamline their business and realise new efficiencies with the innovative and industry-specific functionalities afforded by Infor CloudSuite," said Infor ANZ vice-president and managing director Jarrod Kinchington. "We've built a very good relationship with the business despite pandemic disruptions. We look forward to helping Sealord meet its strategic goals, so that they can focus on their core business while our platform provides the data and seamless tracking they require." Automation, security, and hybrid cloud consultancy Advent One has teamed with vulnerability management company Vicarius to boost its cybersecurity detection and response capabilities. Advent One will use Vicarius' Topia platform for automated patch management, threat assessment and vulnerability management across remote devices, third party applications and a range of operating systems. "As our customers accelerate their cloud computing, endpoint expansion and remote working scenarios their threat attack surface expands to the point where internal security teams are unable to keep up. The key areas where some companies fall short is in their patch management processes and their ability to assess, prioritise and remediate vulnerabilities in third party applications and remote operating systems," said Advent One CEO Jon Ossip. "Patch management and third-party application control, from an operational and cybersecurity perspective, has always been a deeply coordinated process that takes time, human effort and attention-to-detail. As cybersecurity threats have evolved and a large volume of attacks are being targeted at unpatched devices, endpoints or integrated third party applications, it became clear to our team that we needed to offer an automated, intelligent and 24-hour solution." Advent One head of cybersecurity Wayne Glynne said "The benefit of Vicarius over incumbent vulnerability management technologies is the ability to automate, assess, prioritise and remediate vulnerabilities in remote third party applications and operating systems. Its key strength is in cloud or hybrid cloud environments where many applications or devices are being added and incorporated frequently. "Particularly, the Vicarius patchless protection and patch management focus through the Topia platform is flexible and allows security teams to deploy OS and patch updates remotely and automatically, to any device across the network. This is an exciting evolution that can reduce patch management task times from weeks down to hours." Vicarius CEO Michael Assraf said "We're proud to partner with a company with such a rich track-record of solution deployment in the Australian market as Advent One. We share a vision of going beyond simply scanning for vulnerabilities, and enacting prioritisation and remediation from a singular solution." Finnish telecommunications vendor Nokia and South Korean electronic power equipment company LS Electric have signed a deal to develop information communications technology solutions for new service models. Both will develop a model for factory automation, data centre, and electric vehicle charging services. They will also explore opportunities in 5G, which will allow LS Electric to modernise its infrastructure. LS Electric will use Nokias industrial grade private wireless solutions, data centre fabric, and EV charging solutions to power its operations. Nokia will provide technical information and solutions related to smart factory infrastructure, data centre business, and EV charging businesses to support implementation strategies. Nokia is our existing partner and we are confident that its proven expertise and industry-leading solutions will help us realise our business vision, says LS Electric president and chief operating officer global services Jong-Woo Kim. The emerging business models for Industry 4.0 demand close collaboration between the enterprises and ICT-based global communication equipment companies to be better placed to leverage the market opportunities, says Nokia Korea head of enterprise Josh Lee. This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 17 June 2022. Electricity price rises have been significant and unprecedented in recent weeks, according to the ACCC latest Electricity Markets Inquiry report. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says that during the first two weeks of June, wholesale electricity spot prices rose significantly and volume weighted average spot prices ranged from $341/MWh to $590/MWh depending on region, roughly 5 times higher than in quarter 1 2022. The ACCC Electricity Markets Inquiry also reports that base futures contracts became significantly more expensive, reflecting market expectations of a sustained period of high wholesale prices. There is no doubt that international factors such as the war in Ukraine have heavily impacted the global gas supply and prices. A cold start to winter and a reliance on ageing coal-fired power stations amplified challenges already facing the Australian energy market, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. We are acutely aware of the pressures that rapidly rising energy prices are placing on Australian households and businesses. We are working closely with our colleagues at the Australian Energy Regulator to monitor the market and to take action against conduct harming competition or consumers and to preserve the competitiveness of our energy markets. In response to these building challenges, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) suspended operation of the National Electricity Market last week. This provided the market operator the best avenue in the circumstances to ensure secure and reliable supply of electricity. The Treasurer recently wrote to the ACCC about our role in addressing the energy crisis. Under direction from the Federal Government, we will use our full information gathering powers to provide greater transparency around the factors influencing electricity and gas prices, including profits and margins from a wide range of energy companies. Cass-Gottlieb said. In line with the Treasurers request, we will also assess and bring to the governments attention any need for regulatory change to ensure electricity and gas markets function properly for the benefit of all Australian consumers. In addition, the Federal Energy Minister with State and Territory Energy Ministers have requested the ACCC, as part of its ongoing inquiries on the national energy market, to report back in July 2022 , Cass-Gottlieb said. The ACCC says it actively monitors retailer offers to supply electricity and can take energy retailers to court if they mislead consumers. Working jointly with the AER, we have written to energy retailers to remind them of their obligations in relation to electricity prices under the Competition and Consumer Act and the National Electricity Retail Code, Cass-Gottlieb said. The ACCC notes that retailers cannot set the price of their standing offers above the safety net Default Market Offer set by the AER, or (in Victoria) the Victorian Default Offer set by the Essential Services Commission. The ACCC also enforces legislation aimed at preventing anti-competitive conduct in the electricity market. Part XICA of the Competition and Consumer Act (the Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct laws) bans generators from manipulating the spot market, for example by withholding supply to inflate prices. It also penalises generators that withhold electricity contracts for the purpose of substantially lessening market competition. We will be closely watching market behaviour in coming months to ensure these rules are not being broken. Many Australians are worried about the prospect of higher energy bills. In some cases, retailers have contacted customers advising that their prices will go up and suggesting that they switch provider, the ACCC observes. The market is changing rapidly so keep up to date about your plan and the prices youre paying. Cass-Gottlieb said. It may also be harder to find another plan at the moment, as some retailers are not accepting new customers. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that customers shop around to ensure they are on the best deal available to them. The ACCC advises that the best sites to compare all available electricity plans are the government-funded Energy Made Easy (operated by the AER) and Victorian Energy Compare (for Victorians only). The ACCC has also published guidance for consumers on its website in response to recent events. This covers things like questions you can ask your retailer about your current plan, or what to do if you need help paying your energy bill. Cass-Gottlieb says the Market insights from 2021 report published today is the seventh report in the ACCCs ongoing inquiry into prices, profits and margins in the National Electricity Market - with the most recent report based on billing data collected from retailers through to the end of the 2021 calendar year. This series provides unique insight into electricity bills and allows us to quantify changes over time. It shows the extent of the decline in household electricity bills in 2021, prior to the recent upswing. It measures the impact of switching to a cheaper market offer instead of the standing offer, and how much better off consumers were if they had solar panels. It also describes how people facing financial hardship had the highest median bills, largely as a result of their higher electricity usage. Further work will be carried out to scrutinise costs, including understanding the net impact of wholesale price changes and hedging contracts as well as analysis of retail costs and retail margins to assess the financial viability of energy retailers, Cass-Gottlieb concluded. Commissioners in all New Mexico counties have certified the results from their primary election, after one county had sparked a standoff over election integrity that was fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment Johnson City, TN (37604) Today Some clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. FORMER Dynamos organising secretary, Seth Chigogora, says he is lucky to be alive after he was held hostage for about NINE hours by some carjackers in Johannesburg. The businessman, who has been based in South Africa for some time now, was attacked as he waited for the traffic lights to clear him to pass. He lost his Toyota Quantum and has been struggling to deal with the trauma inflicted by the incident in which he claims escaped death by a whisker. For about nine hours I was held hostage by a group of dangerous and heavily armed robbers and, throughout the ordeal, I could tell things could turn horribly wrong for me. I kept praying that let them not kill me violently and they should leave my body where it can be found so that my family and friends can get a chance to give me a proper goodbye. The incident happened on May 31 but I have only found the courage to speak about it now because I have been struggling with nightmares since that day. The robbers were taking drugs and their mood was darkening quickly and they kept talking to some other guys, on the phone, who probably were their bosses. They were arguing, at times, with those at the other end of the line and I can understand Zulu and now and again they would talk about the possibility of killing me. They took the car and they took all my bank cards, asked for the pin numbers but I did not have a substantial sum of money in any of my bank accounts. Its something which angered them more and thats when I began to fear for my life. Chigogora, who also had a stint as the Dynamos team manager, also owns a farm in South Africa which he usually uses as a retreat for Zimbabweans based in that country. He once hosted the likes of Tauya Murewa, Elasto Lungu, the late Butler Masango and the late Charles Yohane at his farm. Ironically, Yohane was killed after a carjacking incident in Johannesburg. When you read about it you dont get the true picture of what happens in these carjacking incidents, he told H-Metro. But when it happens to you, thats when you realise that its something which no one should ever experience. Its the worst nightmare you can live through, especially when they detain you and you are at their mercy, things might go wrong very quickly. I was eventually released in the evening, after having been abducted in the morning, and I was blindfolded and told not to turn back but keep walking. You know, thats quite terrifying because you will be thinking maybe they just want to finish me off. Last week, Willard Katsande revealed he was dealing with the trauma inflicted by a hijacking incident in Johannesburg. It came just 10 months after the Zimbabwean midfielder was left with injuries and had his SUV vehicle damaged after being assaulted during a road rage incident on the West Rand in Johannesburg. Tuesdays incident happened at Southgate Mall. Katsandes vehicle was later recovered in Eldorado Park by a tracking company, however with extensive damage. H Metro GUSHUNGO Dairy Estates has closed shop after former first lady Grace Mugabe sold about 700 dairy cows worth about US$1,4 million to a prominent butcher, rendering about 120 workers jobless. The company was reeling from a US$20 million debt, which forced the entity to auction some of its equipment to pay creditors. The sprawling estate, formerly known as Foyle Farm before the property was parceled to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) by the then Agriculture ministry, measures 1 200 hectares. It was later taken by the late former president Robert Mugabe who set up a state-of-the-art dairy plant in Mazowe about 40km north of Harare. Over 80 newly resettled farmers in Mazowe were forcibly removed to pave way for Mugabes business venture. Gushungo Dairy equipment was imported from South Africa for about US$15 million at a time when Mugabe was ruling Zimbabwe with an iron fist. The company Alpha Omega Dairy (Pvt) Ltd under the Gushungo Estates produced milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. At its peak, the firm produced over 400 000 litres of milk per month. High-level sources told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that Grace Mugabe failed to run the business resulting in the sale of 700 dairy cows to a local butcher. At market value, each of the dairy cows cost around US$$2 000, but the butcher could have bought at a lesser price as the cattle were meant for beef. Under normal circumstances, dairy cows are expensive but what butchers do is that they buy each beast after weighing. The Gushungo cows were sold last year, the official, who preferred anonymity, said. Gushungo Dairy is closed. Workers have been sent home; about 120 of them. Just a few were left doing menial jobs. The Independent understands that the dairy equipment is lying idle as a millionaire businessman who is renting the farm has not yet started producing. There is no activity at the farm. Most of the equipment was auctioned away earlier this year and some of it last year. This paints a grim picture of a once thriving dairy farm, an official said. Things are not going well. In fact the Mugabe family has scaled down on operations at the farms. In summation, they failed dismally. Apart from the collapsed Gushungo Dairy, a 1 000 pig and 6 000 chicken project at Mugabes rural Kutamba village home, suffered a natural death as Grace neglected the projects. Mugabe who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years, but was removed via a military coup in November 2017 left a huge business portfolio mainly in farming with 21 farms, according to a government commissioned land audit. This is in stark contrast with the one-man-one-farm land policy his administration touted while Mugabe and his family turned into notorious land barons. Signs of financial problems started showing in May 2019 after Gushungo Dairy Farm auctioned five combine harvesters, five Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks and other farm equipment. Mugabe later died on September 6, 2019. Recently, the Independent exclusively reported that Mugabes family was rocked by a fresh scandal after allegedly selling an assortment of farm equipment belonging to government departments and pocketed the money. Some of the equipment sold included tractors, high-pressure water pumps and vehicles which had been bought by various government departments using taxpayers money. The Mugabes accessed tractors and combine harvesters from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) during the Gideon Gono era as the apex bank governor. Mugabes daughter, Bona Chikore, who was once Gushungo Holdings finance director, could not be reached for comment this week. Zimbabwe Independent Raiders in Mali killed at least 20 civilians in attacks on villages near the northern town of Gao over the weekend, while a landmine killed a UN peacekeeper in the troubled region. "Criminal terrorists" on Saturday killed at least 20 civilians in several hamlets in the Anchawadj commune, a few dozen kilometres north of Gao, said a senior police officer who asked to remain anonymous. A local official blamed the attacks on jihadists and put the death toll at 24, saying the killings occurred at Ebak, some 35 kilometres (23 miles) north of Gao, the region's main town. The official described a "general panic" in the area. The situation in Anchawadj was "very concerning," and civilians were fleeing the area fearing further violence, he added. Following the bloodshed on Saturday, a landmine killed a UN peacekeeper on Sunday as he was out on patrol further north in Kidal, the head of the UN's MINUSMA Mali force, El Ghassim Wane, tweeted. The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killing of the peacekeeper, who he said was from Guinea. "Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law," added the spokesperson. - Separatists and jihadists - While there has been no official confirmation that the attacks were carried out by jihadist groups, fighters affiliated to either Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group are active in the region. The region has become increasingly violent and unstable since Tuareg separatist rebels rose up against the government in 2012. Jihadist fighters took advantage of their rebellion to launch their own offensive, threatening the capital Bamako in the south until a French-led force pushed them back in 2013. The Tuareg separatists and the government agreed to a peace accord in 2015, but it has yet to be applied. So now Mali's weak, national government faces both separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north of the country -- a largely desert region that is all but devoid of state infrastructure. "A good part of the Gao region and that of Menaka" are occupied by the jihadists, said the official in Gao. "The state must do something." Some of the rebel groups have also been fighting each other as they battle for influence and territory. Adding to the volatile mix are traffickers and other criminal groups. Government stability meanwhile has been interrupted by military coups in August 2020 and May 2021. Following his latest report into the area, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last month warned that instability in Mali and Burkina Faso were undermining attempts to stabilise the region. The security situation in the Gao region had badly deteriorated in recent months, he said. He also voiced concern over Menaka, the eastern region bordering Niger. Initially captured by a Tuareg rebel group a decade ago, it was subsequently taken over by Islamist groups. Islam is not just another soldier. "If the Russians take me, I won't be exchanged", said the Chechen fighting with the Ukrainian army near the front line. "They'll torture me then show me on television." The 33-year-old dissident, a refugee who has been in Poland for nearly two decades, joined the Sheikh Mansur battalion in April. Founded in 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea, the unit is mostly made up of veterans of the Chechen wars. It takes its name from the 18th-century Chechen military commander who fought against Russian expansion in the Caucasus -- a reminder that the Chechen campaign for independence is not new. "Several hundred" men with shaven heads and long beards like Islam have volunteered to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion. Islam did not reveal exactly how many troops there are in the battalion, or where they are stationed. He wants to keep their identities secret for fear of reprisals against relatives in Chechnya. Because just across the front line, there are Chechens loyal to the Kremlin serving with the "Kadyrovites" -- Chechen militias with a sinister reputation, deployed alongside Russian troops. They are said to be 8,000 fighters -- a figure that has not been verified. "We want to show that not all Chechens are like them -- many of us see the Russians as aggressors and occupiers," said Islam as bomb sirens blared. For him, the war here has an air of deja vu. "It's like a journey into the past, a continuation of what started in the Caucasus," he said calmly, getting out of a van with a broken windscreen and a hurried spray paint job. - Echoes of war - Chechnya's capital, Grozny, destroyed by Russian bombs more than two decades ago, suffered a fate similar to that of Mariupol. The small Muslim-majority republic was ravaged by two brutal wars. The last, begun by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 1999, led to the installation of Chechnya's strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been accused of ruthlessly suppressing opposition. As a result, a Chechen diaspora of an estimated 250,000 people has formed in Europe, Turkey and the UAE. "I decided to join the battalion (for) the honour of the Chechens Moscow is trying to pass off as terrorists," said Islam, who has received threats for documenting alleged Russian war crimes online. He takes orders from Deputy Commander Mansour, a battle-scarred 40-year-old soldier. "Two of us have been killed and others injured. But it's important we're here," Mansur said. "We have things to teach the local soldiers about war." The Chechen fighters are not officially part of the Ukrainian army. The equipment they use has been recovered from the Russians, and they are fed by locals, mostly Orthodox Christians, who seem to have taken kindly to them. "We're not here to impose Islamic beliefs -- we're here to fight a common enemy and defend freedom," said Mansour. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that Russia should be held "accountable" if it keeps blocking the export of vitally needed grain from Ukraine. "One cannot imagine that millions of tonnes of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger. This is a real war crime," Borrell said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers. The West has demanded Moscow stop blockading Ukraine's Black Sea ports to allow vast stores of grain to be taken to world markets as fears rise of famines in vulnerable regions. The EU backs United Nation efforts to mediate a deal between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to get the grain out but these have failed to make any headway so far. The 27-nation bloc has struggled to counter Moscow's claims that rising prices and shortfalls in the Middle East and Africa are down to EU sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. "I want to insist that it's not European sanctions that are creating this crisis -- our sanctions don't target food, don't target fertilisers," Borrell said. "The problem comes from the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grains." French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna insisted that "Russia must stop playing with global hunger" as it seeks leverage on the West. "Leaving cereals blocked is dangerous for stability in the world," she said. Russian forces have stepped up their shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, Kyiv said Monday, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned to expect greater hostilities ahead of a historic EU decision on Ukraine's bid for candidate status. Nearly four months after Russia launched a bloody invasion of his country, Zelensky said in his evening address on Sunday there had been "few such fateful decisions for Ukraine" as the one it expects from the European Union this week. "Obviously, we expect Russia to intensify hostile activity this week ... We are preparing. We are ready," he said. Leaders of the EU's 27 member states will discuss at a summit on Thursday and Friday whether to add Ukraine to the list of countries vying for membership. EU foreign ministers gathering in Luxembourg kicked off the week urging Moscow to stop blocking the export of vitally needed grain from Ukraine, a top global supplier. "One cannot imagine that millions of tonnes of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger. This is a real war crime," the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said. Moscow has denied responsibility for the food crisis, and blames Western sanctions for the disrupted deliveries that have pushed up cereal prices and fanned fears of famines in vulnerable regions. - Heavy bombardment - On the ground, Russia appeared to be making some battlefield advances in the east. In its daily update on Monday, Ukraine's presidency reported heavier Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. In the Donetsk region, the intensity of the attacks "is growing along the entire frontline" it said, leaving at least one person dead and injuring seven people, including a child. Fighting also continued in the key industrial city of Severodonetsk in the east, with Ukraine saying it had lost control of the adjacent village of Metyolkine. "Unfortunately, we do not control Metyolkine anymore. And the enemy continues to build up its reserves," the Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a statement on social media. Moscow's forces have for weeks been battling to seize the eastern Donbas region, after being repelled from other parts of the country following their February invasion. A chemical plant in Severodonetsk where hundreds of civilians are said to be sheltering was being shelled "constantly", Gaiday said. NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg meanwhile warned on Sunday that the war could grind on "for years" and urged Western countries to be ready to offer long-term military, political and economic aid. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western countries to step up their deliveries of arms, despite warnings from nuclear-armed Russia that it could trigger wider conflict. - Energy crisis - Russia's defence ministry said Sunday it launched missile strikes during the past 24 hours, with one attack on a top-level Ukrainian military meeting near the city of Dnipro killing "more than 50 generals and officers". It said it also targeted a building housing Western-provided weapons in Mykolaiv, destroying Ukrainian artillery and armoured vehicles. There was no independent verification of the claims. Mykolaiv is a key target for Russia as it lies on the route to the strategic port of Odessa. With Russia maintaining a blockade of Odessa that has trapped grain supplies, residents have turned their attention to rallying the home front effort. "Every day, including the weekend, I come to make camouflage netting for the army," said Natalia Pinchenkova, 49, standing by a large Union flag, a show of thanks to Britain for its support for Ukraine. The Ukraine war is fuelling not only a global food crisis but an energy crisis too. Hit by punishing sanctions, Moscow has turned up the pressure on European economies by sharply reducing gas supplies, which has in turn sent energy prices soaring. Germany on Sunday announced emergency measures including increased use of coal to ensure it meets its energy needs after a drop in the supply of Russian gas in recent days. Austria announced it will reopen a mothballed coal power station to combat shortages, and Italian company Eni joined a huge Qatari project to expand production from the world's biggest natural gas field. China's imports of oil from Russia meanwhile jumped by 55 percent year on year in May, customs data showed Monday, as Beijing continued to refuse to condemn Moscow's war. Natalia Khalaimova, 54, a resident in Lysychansk, across the river from Severodonetsk, said she wanted Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war. "Every war in any country ends -- but the sooner, the better," she told AFP. "So many civilians are killed. Most of them were not involved in the war at all." burs-mfp/yad ENI There are a growing number of criminal proceedings aimed at holding multinational companies accountable for their direct or indirect role in international crimes or serious human rights violations. These include complicity in war crimes, complicity with dictatorships or environmental destruction. NGOs and victim communities are fighting to undermine the legal protections for economic actors involved in such abuse. On May 18, 2022, the Paris appeals court confirmed a charge of complicity in crimes against humanity against French cement group Lafarge. The multinational is suspected of having financed terrorist groups including Islamic State via its Lafarge Cement Syria subsidiary, and of having participated indirectly in crimes committed in Syria between 2013 and 2014. "This is the first time anywhere in the world that a parent company has been indicted for activities of a subsidiary abroad, and that a company has been indicted on such serious charges: terrorist financing, complicity in crimes against humanity and deliberately endangering the lives of others," says Marie Laure Ghislain, main architect of the initial complaint against Lafarge by the NGO Sherpa. "This last charge is extremely important because it can now be used against other companies if their activity negligently or deliberately endangers the lives of employees and local communities." A few weeks later, on June 2, 2022, three human rights NGOs filed a complaint with a Paris court against French arms companies (Dassault Aviation, Thales Group and MBDA France) for their "possible complicity in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen, which may have been committed as a result of their arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. With the recent prosecutions of Swedish multinationals Lundin Energy in connection with war crimes in Sudan and Ericsson in connection with war crimes in Iraq, the movement to hold multinationals accountable for certain international crimes is growing. Individual responsibility first So far, only one example has truly marked the history of international criminal justice in the effort to hold business accountable. Between December 1946 and October 1948, trials were held of the German industrial groups Krupp, IG Farben and Flick, in the context of prosecutions organized by the Americans after the Inter-Allied Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Alfried Krupp, the son, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with eleven other company executives; fourteen executives of chemical giant IG Farben were given light sentences and the boss, Friedrich Karl Flick, was sentenced to seven years in jail. But no company was convicted as an entity. The desire to hold corporations accountable for certain international crimes is not new, but they remain largely unpunished for human rights violations committed around the world because of their status which gives them almost total protection. "In all of criminal history for centuries, it has been the individual that counts. The company is not, a priori, responsible for the crime, even though it is a social actor that has an absolutely decisive role," explains Sylvain Savolainen, lawyer and member of the human rights commission of the Geneva Bar Association. Thus the responsibility of companies has been excluded from international criminal jurisdictions, which only recognize individual responsibility. No international lawsuit can be brought against them; only their employees can be prosecuted. With various declarations and guidelines (see timeline), efforts have been made at international level to gradually oblige companies to respect human rights. So far, however, such efforts have not gone beyond non-binding principles. International justice powerless In 1984, the Bhopal tragedy in India shocked the world. Twenty thousand people died of poisoning in the explosion of an agrochemical plant belonging to the American multinational Union Carbide. "Faced with these violent and brutal deaths, similar to those of Chernobyl [two years later], there is an international awareness that a company can do damage," says Savolainen. "Between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, a whole series of events made it clear that companies played a role in conflicts in places like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda and South Africa during apartheid even if the finger was not pointed at them directly." Victims of the Bophal tragedy who lost their sight in 1984. STR / AFP-Files / AFP It is in this context and especially following the work of American law professor John Ruggie, special representative of the United Nations Secretary General, that the "UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" were adopted in June 2011. Adopted unanimously by the Human Rights Council, these 31 so-called "Ruggie principles" formalize the concept of "due diligence" and its application to companies: they must take proportionate measures to identify, prevent and remedy the negative impacts of their actions on human rights. This is still so-called "soft law" since non-binding, but Savolainen says it "is causing a tsunami that places corporate responsibility for human rights at the heart of companies' concerns". However, the criminal impunity of companies remains massive in the face of the powerlessness of international jurisdictions to try them. As far as national jurisdictions are concerned, a few countries can now prosecute companies in criminal or civil cases; this is notably the case in France which, in the Lafarge case, has for the first time recognized its universal jurisdiction to try a company and its managers for international crimes committed outside the country. "It is a huge new avenue that has been opened by France -- an example so strong that all companies in the world will be careful not to make the same mistake," Ghislain hopes. Failure of Texaco-Chevron case The Texaco-Chevron case is an emblematic example of the difficulty of initiating proceedings against multinationals accused of serious human rights violations. Between 1967 and 1993, the American oil company dug 350 oil wells and 880 retention basins in the Amazonian forest. Thirty thousand people were poisoned by the toxic wastewater discharged into the rivers. In 1993, victims sued Texaco-Chevron in the United States, where the company was headquartered. The case was finally referred to the Court of Justice of the Ecuadorian region of Sucumbio, which, in February 2013, ordered the multinational to pay 9.5 billion dollars in reparations. But on August 30, 2018, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague overturned this conviction, finding that "Ecuador is responsible for denial of justice". At the same time, Texaco-Chevron took the case to a private international court of arbitration and got Ecuador ordered to pay compensation for the inconvenience caused by the lawsuit. Twenty-six years later, the victims are still waiting for compensation. "This shows us one thing: how multinationals get away with it," remarks Valerie Cabanes, a French lawyer who campaigns for the recognition of ecocide before the International Criminal Court (ICC). "On average, more than 60% of cases brought against multinationals end up in their favour. What I have been denouncing for years is this form of supremacy of commercial law which has been established above human rights, environmental law and, a fortiori, the rights of nature if they were recognized." The Texaco-Chevron case in the Amazon illustrates the difficulty of prosecuting multinationals for serious crimes. Rodrigo Buendia / AFP The Texaco-Chevron case pushed Ecuador, along with South Africa, to initiate in June 2014 an intergovernmental working group open to civil society. Mandated by the United Nations, it was tasked with developing an international treaty binding multinationals to respect human rights. "This has created a fascinating political space: a real battle over whether companies should be held directly accountable for human rights under international law or not," comments Australian lawyer Joanna Kyriakakis, author of a recent book entitled "Business, Accountability and International Criminal Law. "The draft does not propose to impose direct human rights obligations on companies," she explains. "It seeks ways to encourage states to meet their human rights obligations by ensuring that companies are adequately regulated and held accountable for human rights abuses. If successful, "this binding multilateral treaty would be a historic opportunity to change international law, prevent human rights abuses by corporations and reduce the current power imbalance between people, the planet and corporations," according to the National Centre for Development Cooperation, which coordinates Belgian NGOs working in international solidarity. After three revisions of the text, however, the negotiation process still faces many obstacles. International Criminal Court: a false hope? "By putting responsibility only on individuals, the founders of the ICC must have thought that one day they would add collective corporate responsibility. But we're still waiting," says Mark Drumbl, a professor at Washington and Lee University in the United States. Indeed, says Cabanes, "the Rome Statute [which gave birth to the ICC and came into force in 2002] only concerns political or war leaders. It was never intended to include multinationals and their leaders as subjects of international criminal law. This is a real pitfall in the law". Experts in international law have been debating for decades the capacity of the ICC to effectively tackle multinationals that commit international crimes, but there has been no real progress. For Drumbl, the reason is structural: "The ICC evolves in a liberal market democracy, incompatible with the recognition of corporate responsibility." Guenael Mettraux thinks it is not just lack of will but especially the ICCs lack of resources, which restrict the court in terms of what it can promise. "If you promise victims that you can compensate them or give reparations for their harm, you have to have the legal and financial means to do so. And the ICC doesn't have them," says this international crimes specialist and judge in the Kosovo Specialized Chambers who has acted as a consultant for Lundin Energy, a Swedish company whose executives are being prosecuted in Sweden for allegedly aiding and abetting war crimes in Sudan. "Economic actors must be held accountable for their activities, but at the same time, the ability of international criminal law to deal with such issues should not be exaggerated," Mettraux adds. Valerie Cabanes is also forgiving of the international court. "It is a decision by States not to give it the means to act. So, indeed, it disappoints because it does not conduct as many investigations as it could, it doesnt have enough convictions because the investigations take long and require a lot of means. But there is a real willingness on the part of the ICC to seek solutions to adapt to the times. The lawyer is referring to a directive from former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who in 2016 appeared to open a path by announcing, among other things, that environmental violations that could constitute crimes against humanity were among her new prosecutorial priorities. Nothing came of it. However, international humanitarian law academic Jelena Aparac believes that the ICC is the preferred jurisdiction. "Bringing international corporate accountability to the ICC may be a way for it to counter criticism, breathe new life into it, and give it more legitimacy by creating the possibility for it to correct the narrative on ongoing conflicts and the role that some multinationals play," she writes. It is nevertheless at national level that the most concrete action has been taken, as shown by the Lafarge, Lundin and Ericsson cases. All of Prosecutor Karim Khan's predecessors at the International Criminal Court and at recent international criminal tribunals have failed to prosecute the financiers who benefited from war crimes. John Thys / AFP Due diligence In response to the Rana Plaza tragedy - the collapse of textile workshops in Bangladesh on April 24, 2013, which killed 1,138 workers supplying major Western brands France on March 27, 2017 passed a "Law on the due diligence parent companies and companies giving orders. It provides for "the engagement of their responsibility in case of failure to comply with these new obligations aimed at preventing the risks of serious human rights and environmental abuses, including when committed by their direct or indirect subsidiaries in France and in the rest of the world". A first evaluation report, published on February 21, 2020 by the Conseil general de l'economie, presents a mixed assessment and reveals that "while some companies have made real progress in taking into account the issues raised by the law, others are applying it in an unsatisfactory manner that does not allow the due diligence to be effective". Of the three formal notices issued for inadequate due diligence plans, two concern the oil company Total for, in particular, "failure to mention the impact on local populations of a specific project in Uganda". Total's "Tilenga" project plans to exploit oil under Lake Albert, on the western border of Uganda, in parallel with the "Eacop" project in Tanzania, which plans to transport this oil via a pipeline linking the two countries. Denouncing the human and environmental impact of "Tilenga", NGOs Friends of the Earth France, Survie and four Ugandan associations took the oil giant to court in Nanterre in 2019. On December 15, 2021, the Court of Cassation confirmed the jurisdiction of this court. Another hearing, scheduled for late 2022, will be the first legal action based on due diligence. Pressure in Europe Norway and Germany have passed similar legislation. The Netherlands, Spain and Belgium are considering it. Switzerland narrowly rejected strong legislation on corporate responsibility on November 29, 2020 in a "popular initiative for responsible multinationals". New obligations in terms of human rights and the environment would have been created, such as the production of an annual report by Swiss companies and their liability before Swiss courts for their subsidiaries and subcontractors who may be at fault. "I think the no side considered it unfair to subject companies to standards that would make them uncompetitive internationally," says Mettraux. "If this had been done in the framework of an international or regional convention at European level, it would have passed easily. On February 23, 2022, following a decision by the European Parliament in favour of legislation on corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a directive on corporate due diligence on sustainability. Acknowledging an "essential and long-awaited step towards recognizing corporate responsibility for human rights and ensuring access to justice for victims", NGOs nevertheless call for "remedying some significant shortcomings" in this legislation, such as the burden of proof "which still rests with the victims, who must prove that the company has failed to meet its obligations". The NGOs also regret that "the possibility provided by French law to refer a case to a judge before harm is done and get an order for the company to respect its obligations is not explicitly envisaged in the [European] Commission's proposal". The Latin American model In Latin America, it is the transitional justice processes following conflicts or dictatorial regimes that have made this region one of the most competent in the world for dealing with victims of serious corporate violations. "This is the result of enormous efforts by groups of victims, survivors and human rights defenders in civil society, combined with the existence of a strong regional human rights body in the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights," explains Leigh Payne, professor of sociology at the Centre on Latin America at Oxford University. The Inter-American Court has ordered its member states to integrate international human rights conventions into their legislation. "Almost all Latin American countries have incorporated international human rights law into their domestic law in the form of constitutions, but also in criminal law codes. This means that victims do not have to depend on international courts, but can rely on local courts to apply the law," says the American specialist. She gives the example of the Volkswagen company in Brazil, which was ordered to pay collective reparations to families whose members -- trade unionists and Communist activists who worked at the company -- were arrested and tortured under the Brazilian military regime (1965-1984). In 2014, in its final report on the investigation of the crimes of the dictatorship in Brazil, the Brazilian National Truth Commission established that some 50 companies had collaborated with the military regime. The German car company Volkswagen eventually accepted its share of responsibility for the repression under the military dictatorship in Brazil. Nelson Almeida / AFP More awareness within multinationals Stephane Brabant, 65, has a long career as an international lawyer advising companies on human rights issues. "Twenty years ago, human rights issues were completely unknown in the business world," he recalls. Consulting firms like Trinity International, where Brabant was hired in 2021, have since proliferated. "My job is to ask company managers if they have thought about taking all the necessary measures on the environmental and human rights front, in consultation with local populations," he explains, welcoming the French law on due diligence. "Companies are now taking a huge risk - reputational and trust if they dont do this." Valerie Cabanes also admits she sees the beginning of a change. Invited on April 10, 2019, to present the concept of ecocide before several hundred entrepreneurs gathered at the Palais des Congres in Paris, she says she received a standing ovation from the business leaders. "I really didn't understand. They told me afterwards that they were completely on their own, often aware that they were doing things that were dangerous in the long term, but that, without a binding legal framework, they remained tied to this objective of profit and to their shareholders. I felt there was a new awareness on this subject." The legal director of an international group with 35,000 employees, who wishes to remain anonymous, recognizes the "moral success" of this law on due diligence and hopes that "France will provoke a virtuous contamination in Europe". However, he regrets its imprecise definition of "human rights" and the unqualified condemnation of companies by the media and NGOs. "On a daily basis, we have safety rules, training, internal audits to meet internal regulations and, of course, a due diligence plan. But for the media, NGOs and human rights groups, all companies are the same. Total is being attacked for expropriating land from Ugandan farmers for oil production; we agree that it is an infringement of rights if it does not properly compensate these farmers. But not all due diligence cases are like that. More precise legal rules are needed," he argues. Lafarge, Lundin Energy and Ericsson Brabant also recognizes the complexity of the subject for lawyers: "When we talk about human rights violations, we often talk about offences abroad. Here it is indeed a question of making a French company responsible for human rights violations that have taken place abroad. We therefore have a whole body of rules that must be developed and on which we must question ourselves. Today, all eyes are on the Lafarge case and that of the two other multinationals in the judicial hot seat. On November 11, 2021, Swedish oil company Lundin Energys president Ian Lundin and director Alex Schneiter were indicted for "complicity in war crimes" between 1991 and 2003 in Sudan, a country ravaged by civil war. Three months later, following an extensive investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, telecommunications infrastructure provider Ericsson announced that it was being investigated by the US federal securities regulator, the SEC. The Swedish firm allegedly paid money to members of Islamic State in Iraq. "The big difference between these two cases and Lafarge is that the victims will not win their case in court and will not be compensated because these cases do not involve criminal responsibility of the companies," says Marie-Laure Guislain with regret. Moscow's blockade of Ukrainian grain exports and a rail transit row sparked fresh tensions between Russia and the European Union on Monday, as Kyiv warned that Russian troops were intensifying their battle for control of eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of holding Africa "hostage" by blocking wheat deliveries, which has spurred food shortages and fears of famines in vulnerable areas. Russia hit back by blaming soaring grain prices on the West's "destructive" policies and "illegal restrictions" imposed since the war began. Nearly four months after Russia launched its bloody invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine was headed into a "fateful" week with EU leaders set to discuss Kyiv's bid to become a candidate for bloc membership on Thursday and Friday. European Council President Charles Michel on Monday invited the bloc's leaders to back granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova ahead of the pivotal Brussels summit. Zelensky warned to expect heavier fighting in the days to come in strategic areas in eastern Ukraine already under relentless Russian bombardment. Ukraine said Russian troops appeared to be making small gains, including capturing a village near the industrial city of Severodonetsk, a focus of recent fighting. The fallout from the war continued to reverberate beyond Ukraine's borders, with Russia threatening EU member Lithuania over its "openly hostile" restrictions on the rail transit of goods to Moscow's exclave of Kaliningrad. Russia's foreign ministry said if the cargo transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of the country was not fully restored "Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests". Lithuania and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the ban was in line with European sanctions over Moscow's aggression. Turkey dealt a fresh blow to Sweden and Finland's hopes for swift NATO membership on Monday, saying next week's alliance summit in Madrid was not a deadline. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland in Brussels were "constructive" but conceded that Ankara's "legitimate" concerns had not been fully addressed. Turkey says the Nordic nations offer a safe haven to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, an organisation listed as a "terrorist" group by its Western allies. Elsewhere on the diplomatic front, US President Joe Biden said it was "not likely" that a trip to Europe this week would include Ukraine, after the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain met Zelensky in Kyiv last week. Biden is one of few Western leaders yet to visit the country since Russia's invasion. - 'Complex' grain talks - The West's deteriorating relationship with Moscow was highlighted in harsh comments from Borrell, who called Russia's blockade of vitally needed grain exports from Ukraine "a real war crime". "One cannot imagine that millions of tonnes of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger," Borrell said as EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg. Moscow denies responsibility for the disruption to deliveries. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday called the West "provokers and destroyers", blaming its policies and anti-Russian sanctions for the logistical upheaval that has pushed up cereal prices and fanned fears of famines in vulnerable regions. Zelensky said Ukraine was engaged in "complex multilevel negotiations" to end Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports. "But there is no progress yet... That is why the global food crisis will continue as long as this colonial war continues," he said in a video address to the African Union. Germany said it will host a meeting on Friday on the crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken among those attending. - Oil site strike - On the ground, Ukraine's presidency said the intensity of shelling in the Donetsk area of the eastern Donbas region was "growing along the entire frontline", leaving at least one person dead over the last 24 hours and injuring seven others, including a child. Ukraine announced it had lost control of the village of Metyolkine, adjacent to Severodonetsk. In Severodonetsk, "Russians control most of the residential areas", the head of the city administration Oleksandr Stryuk told Ukrainian television Monday. A chemical plant in Severodonetsk where hundreds of civilians are said to be sheltering was being shelled "constantly", Ukraine said. Kyiv also reported heavier Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. Crimea leader Sergey Aksyonov said three people were injured and seven more missing after Ukrainian forces attacked oil drilling platforms in the Black Sea off the coast of the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Aksyonov vowed that search and rescue operations would continue. It was the first reported strike against offshore energy infrastructure in Crimea since Russia launched its invasion. - Energy crisis - The Ukraine war is fuelling not only a global food crisis but an energy crisis too. Hit by punishing sanctions, Moscow has turned up the pressure on European economies by sharply reducing gas supplies, which has in turn sent energy prices soaring. The Netherlands on Monday lifted restrictions preventing its coal-fired power stations from operating at full capacity to counter the fall in Russian gas supplies, a day after Germany and Austria took similar steps. But Berlin insisted it still aims to close its coal power plants by 2030. China's imports of oil from Russia meanwhile jumped by 55 percent year on year in May, customs data showed Monday, helping to make up for losses from Western sanctions as Beijing refuses to publicly condemn Moscow's war. burs-mfp/imm/pvh The Myanmar junta's plans to execute political opponents may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity, a UN official said Monday. The junta said on June 3 it would execute a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi's party and a prominent democracy activist, both convicted of terrorism, in what would be the country's first judicial executions since 1990. Four people, including former MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and democracy activist Ko Jimmy, "who were sentenced to death will be hanged according to prison procedures", junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP then. Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said he was following this case closely. "The available information strongly suggests that under international law, fundamental rights of the convicted persons were blatantly violated in these proceedings," Koumjian said of the trials, which were closed to the public. "Imposing a death sentence, or even a period of detention, on the basis of proceedings that do not satisfy the basic requirements of a fair trial may constitute one or more crimes against humanity or war crimes," he added. The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death as part of its crackdown on dissent after seizing power last year, but Myanmar has not carried out an execution for decades. For a trial to be considered fair it must be held in public to the greatest extent possible, said Koumjian. "Exceptions based on national security or other considerations must be limited to the extent that they are strictly justified," he said. But in these cases, "it appears that there were no public proceedings nor are the judgments publicly available". This raised doubts as to whether the tribunal was impartial and independent, he added. The UN mechanism for Myanmar was created by the UN human rights council in 2018. Its task is to gather evidence of international crimes and human rights violations in the former Burma and document them with a view to facilitating criminal proceedings. "Single's Inferno's" Song Ji Ah wows her followers as she shows off her transformation on Instagram. The YouTuber turned reality star has become active on social media and often updates her fans with her activities. Song Ji Ah Flaunts New Hairstyle, Tattoo on Instagram The 25-year-old South Korean beauty dazzles with a new hairstyle. From having long straight hair, she now looked edgy with blunt-cut bangs. Another thing that struck netizens is her flower tattoo which has yet to confirm if it was real or a temporary one. Interestingly, Song Ji Ah's Instagram post gained praise from her followers. The majority lauded her new hairstyle noting that she looked like a real-life barbie doll and how incredible she is with full bangs. Others also wished her good health and hoped that she is doing well now. Song Ji Ah's recent Instagram post comes after she took a five-month hiatus due to an issue. The YouTuber, who skyrocketed her fame after being one of the official participants of Netflix's first South Korean reality show. The 25-year-old beauty is among the fan favorites as she mesmerized fans with her alluring charm. Unfortunately, amid her rising fame comes a controversy that almost tainted her career. Song Ji Ah's Controversy After wrapping up "Single's Inferno" in January 2022, the cast members, including Song JI Ah shined with their individual endeavors. Knag So Yeon graced the cover of Maxim Magazine while the others started their own YouTube channel as a way to reach out to fans. On the other hand, Song JI AH experiences the opposite. She made headlines for the wrong reasons after the YouTuber was accused of wearing fake luxury items on the show. It comes after netizens and viewers noticed that she had worn fake items, especially the Dior pink tube top and Chanel cropped knit top that she dons in some episodes of the show. After making rounds of noise on social media, the viewers uncovered that she not only wore duped luxury items once but has been passing off knockoff goods as real in her haul videos on YouTube. Netizens pointed out that Song Ji Ah's YouTube video titled "Monthly Ji A", featured a fake Chanel crop top which she claimed that she purchased, and a pair of tweed slippers from the same fashion house. Due to the criticisms, the 25-year-old reality star apologized for wearing knockoff luxury items. Moreover, she also expressed regret for causing disappointment not only to fans but also to the brands. "I apologize once again for any situation caused by the infringement of the designers' creations and ignorance of copyright," she said in a now-deleted Instagram post. In addition, she also mentioned that "all content with exposed fakes has been deleted." Following this, she also released a video on YouTube noting how deeply sorry she is for her actions. After the public apology, Song Ji Ah wiped off her Instagram and stay under the radar for five months. It was only recently that she has become active on social media updating her followers IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Song Ji Ah, Shin Ji Yeon, Kim Hyun Joong, More Shocking Controversies Involving 'Single's Inferno' Cast KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills Song Kang and NCT Jaehyun are the newest besties? The two dazzling stars steal the spotlight at the recent Prada show in Milan, Italy and fans just couldn't help but swoon! Song Kang, NCT Jaehyun Make Fans Swoon With Gorgeous Visuals Actor Song Kang and idol-actor NCT Jaehyun might be the newest swoon worthy besties in their generation. The two stars attended the Prada S/S 2023 Menswear Collection show in Milan, Italy on Sunday, June 19 as South Korean representatives. Song Kang sported a simple all gray outfit that highlighted his beauty, as his tousled hair framed his ever gorgeous face. Meanwhile, NCT Jaehyun showcased an all black look that was inspired by retro fashion, showcasing his chic and dapper style. Throughout the event, Song Kang and NCT Jaehyun were seen interacting with one another, sitting side-by-side and striking a pose for the cameras with various stars and fashion figures. In particular, fans expressed their excitement as the two gorgeous visuals took their time to smile at the camera with Thai actor and model Win Metawin and English actor Louis Partridge. Apart from the Prada S/S 2023 Menswear Collection show, Song Kang and NCT Jaehyun are gearing up for their new acting projects, amplifying excitement. Song Kang, NCT Jaehyun Upcoming Works To Anticipate While Song Kang returns to the small screen to reprise a role in his A-grade series, NCT Jaehyun finally makes his television debut with a coming-of-age rom-com! Song Kang makes his much awaited comeback with a sequel of his highly loved Netflix series "Sweet Home." The drama depicts the struggles of residents who are trapped in an apartment full of hideous monsters. Apart from the second season, the production unit also prepares for the release of the third season, which will simultaneously be produced with an exciting roster of actors. Song Kang, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Si Young, Go Min Si and Park Gyu Young welcome Kim Mu Yeol, GOT7 Jinyoung, Yoo Oh Seong and Oh Jung Se to the final drama lineup. "Sweet Home" Season 2 is expected to be released in the second half of 2022, followed by its buzzworthy third season. On the other hand, NCT Jaehyun is finally set to debut as an actor with his much anticipated drama "Dear.M"! After the postponement of the series, which was originally set to premiere in February 2021, KBS drama's "Dear.M" finally hits the small screen! The drama follows the story of four students who search for "M," a secret student who makes news after a confession was posted on the student forum. "Dear.M" will also showcase the beauty of university life, friendships, romance and dreams. NCT Jaehyun couples up with Park Hye Su, and works along with Noh Jung Ui, Bae Hyun Sung and more. The drama which consists of 12 episodes will air for the first time in June 2022 on KBS! YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN: Kim Ji Won Learns THIS After Starring in 'My Liberation Notes' KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Nam Joo Hyuk is making rounds of headlines for the wrong reasons. Following the success of his Kdrama "Twenty-Five Twenty-One," the South Korean heartthrob is criticized for an alleged school bullying scandal. Nam Joo Hyuk Accused of Bullying According to a report, the 28-year-old actor is being slammed for his rude behavior towards his former classmate. As noted by the outlet, an exclusive media report revealed by an anonymous tipper that Nam Joo Hyuk used to be a bully when he was in middle and high school. The person even showed a photo of a yearbook as evidence, pointing out that the actor was a part of a notorious group known to harass their fellow classmates. The clique, which the "Start-Up" star was part of, bullied other students by cussing out, beating up their classmates, and even taking their money. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Nam Joo Hyuk, Lee Sung Kyung to Reunite in New Drama? Here's What the Producers Think As for the anonymous tipper, he mentioned that he experienced Nam Joo Hyuk's rude behavior after the actor harassed him by throwing mechanical pencil refills and pulling out his chair. Moreover, he also revealed that there are some who experienced much worse scenarios and had to go to seek a psychiatrist's help while others avoid seeing the actor on-screen. Nam Joo Hyuk's Agency to Investigate the Legitimacy of the Accusations On the other hand, Nam Joo Hyuk's agency Management SOOP, briefly responds to the issue. As obtained by a media outlet, the talent management said that they've heard the issue and are looking into the matter. "We have heard of the article and are currently looking into [the legitimacy]" the agency said. Over social media, fans expressed their support for the actor. Some slammed the tipper noting that he waited years to air accuse the actor while others think that it is just a false statement. Others are wishing that the controversy will not blow up and affect his career. Nam Joo Hyuk's New Drama The controversy comes ahead of his upcoming Kdrama "Vigilante" where he plays the main lead. The webtoon-based series is his follow-up project after the hit Kdrama "Twenty-Five Twenty-One" with Kim Tae Ri. In his Kdrama comeback, he will portray a police academy student named Kim Ji Yong, whose mother died when he was young. Kim Ji Yong was victimized by a group of local gangsters which caused her death. Interestingly, a mysterious man helped him to avenge and transform him into a vigilante to fight criminals. Joining him is "Money Heist" Korea" star Yoo Ji Tae and Lee Joon Hyuk as Kim Ji Yong's mentor Cho Kang Ok. Apart from the webtoon-based Kdrama, Nam Joo Hyuk is in talks to headline tvN's drama series "here" with Lee Byung Hun, Han Ji Min, Shin Min Ah, and more. KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills A proposed policy that would give the Kenosha County executive the power to terminate the employment of division heads will go before the County Board Tuesday night. The boards Finance and Administration Committee voted 6-1 Thursday night to repeal Resolution 12, a measure in place since 1996 that had created a new class of non-represented employees, namely division heads. Supervisor William Grady cast the dissenting vote. At the time it was set up, the administration and County Board approved it in an effort to hire and retain experienced and high caliber division leaders that supported their ideas, directions and plans. The proposed policy, which if approved by the board would pertain to current and new employees, drew a number of concerns from members of the public at last weeks committee meeting. Jim Foster of Pleasant Prairie, a long-time physician who has been on the countys Board of Health for 17 years, said he believes the policy could lead to stifling the professional expertise of division heads, particularly Jen Freiheit. Freiheit, the divisions director and the countys health officer, whose recommendations followed the CDCs strict masking guidelines and promotion of vaccinations especially in high-risk COVID-19 communities, has drawn criticism from those whove questioned whether the measures work and viewed the health initiatives as affronts to their personal liberty. I do think its imperative that the health officer-director have the ability to always feel comfortable saying whatever they truly believe are the best medical practice and the current guidance based on the science, Foster said. He said his concern wasnt with County Executive Samantha Kerkman, rather the policy change being recommended. I do have unease where the county executive can dismiss one or more directors, he said. Foster said he believes, if the health director were to lose her job, it would not be position to replace. He added he had no reason to think it would occur. But if whoever was being recruited, for any position, knew their job could end in four years, I think that would also impact somebody trying to recruit the best and most qualified people, he said. He said he also had concerns about the job of Clara Tappa, the countys human resources director. If that individual was to be removed at the pleasure of the county executive in my opinion it could create real, or just perceived, conflicts of interests and risks of favoritism, Foster said. More reactions Geraldine Connelly of Kenosha, a retired human resource professional, said she was very surprised the proposed policy made no mention of performance measurements with the county executive given unilateral powers to fire division heads. There should at least be in place, as with Policy 12, performance measurements and steps that are required before the county executive can just, at a whim, fire somebody if the division head or department head doesnt agree with her politics or she doesnt like the way they look that day, she said. Connelly believes both the divisions head proposal and Policy 63, which would allow individuals other than law enforcement to carry firearms and electronic control devices in some county buildings, which will also be voted on by the board Tuesday night have created an very unfriendly work atmosphere. Marieta Huff said she did not think the measure was necessary because there were already other ways to fire division heads, including for insubordination, staff downsizing and unsatisfactory performance reviews. How many more ways do you need to fire someone? she said. She agreed that a county executive, who is elected every four years, should have employees who facilitate the administrations agenda given the relatively short time in which to carry it out. Maybe firing one or two people will put the rest into line so that they will do the bidding of the county executive, she said. But what kind of collaboration do you think you are going to get from the rest of the crew if they know that if they do something that may not be popular with their county executive, they could be fired. Supervisor David Geertsen, who was the countys finance director as a department and division head, said he supported the policy but felt it needed additional vetting and sign-off from corporation counsel, human resources and the administration, including Kerkman. Concentraing power Grady, who voted against the repeal, opposed it because were concentrating power. When I look at this, this smacks of big city politics. This is what you see in Milwaukee. This is what you see in Chicago, he said. Whether you agree or you dont agree about how the health department handled the COVID crisis, isnt really the question. The question is, that person did their best for what was appropriate at the time, he said. In the case of an employee who could be fired at will, Grady said the policy concentrates power with the county executive and it raises a red flag. And its not just for this county executive, he said. Supervisor Terry Rose, committee chairman, said he wanted to clarify that the policy did not pertain to any particular person nor was it targeting anyone. Its a policy that I think its a good policy. Its one that held true under the 12 years with John Collins, said Rose, referring to the former county executive. He further noted that a similar policy is currently in use by the governor of Wisconsin and the president of the United States. Cabinet people dont hold office indefinitely, be it in the presidents cabinet or the governors, Rose said. And I dont see why that isnt true here. The Kenosha County Board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., at the Kenosha County Administration Building, 1010 56th St., in the County Board chambers. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Kenosha County Board committee does not want outside private money being accepted to administer countywide elections. The Finance and Administration Committee voted 7-0 on Thursday to approve a resolution to prohibit the county from accepting non-government entities grants or funding intended for such use. The resolution was authored by newly elected County Board Supervisor Brian Thomas. The premise of the resolution is based on the private money that (had) gone through not-for-profits to give to different cities primarily within the state of Wisconsin Kenosha, Racine, Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay in different amounts, Thomas said. The City of Kenosha, for example, received more than $800,000 to follow a contract that they all had to sign, said Thomas, who was referring to the Get Out the Vote campaign from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which distributed about $8.8 million financed by Facebook, now Meta, mogul Mark Zuckerberg. As a county, we dont hold any elections. But we support the elections in this county and so, its more of a symbolic thing that the election process and election money has been done through county funds or state funds or federal funds, for as long as theres been elections, he said. I think it casts a shadow on some of the processes that were implemented during this last election that were beyond our state statues. And, I dont think that would be something that we would want to have to deal with going forward. County Clerk Regi Waligora took issue with the wording of the resolution, which she said appeared to cast aspersions on her office. The resolution indicates that taxpayer-supported elected officials, who are also county employees, cannot legally hold voter campaigns. The County Clerks office has not, does not and historically has not conducted or participated in any get-out-the-vote campaigns, she said. Since this is a county resolution, this paragraph implies that county elected officials have conducted GOTV campaigns, which is not true for Kenosha County and therefore that should be removed. The resolution also indicates citizens are concerned that county election officials might knowingly or unknowingly accept such private or corporate funds from organizations, such as, the Center for Tech and Civic Life. This statement implies improper action on the part of an elected official or the county and that it should be clarified theres a process in place for accepting grant and donation funds, which is outlined in the municipal code ordinance 211, Waligora noted. Before any grant or donation funds can be spent a resolution needs to be brought before the Finance Committee for authorization to modify the budget. If it is approved by finance, then it would go to the County Board to be voted on. And, the bottom line is the board has the final say. She also asked that last line of the resolution be removed because it erroneously included that the county, through the clerks office, collected ballots and voter registrations. It is an incorrect statement. The receipt of ballots and voter registrations is a function of the municipal clerk and it is not a function of the chief elections officer, the county clerk, she said. Supervisor Erin Decker said she did not think the first two statements which Waligora objected to implied any wrongdoing by the clerk. Rather, they were stating facts, according to Decker. She agreed, however, that the last line in the resolution should be removed because that is not the job of Kenosha County elected officials. That is an action and I think we should keep our actions to what Kenosha County can actually do, she said. The line was omitted by committee vote. Supervisor Bill Grady said he supported the resolution and thanked Thomas for bringing it forward. Grady, however, said he wanted the resolution to reflect the county clerks earlier statements that, furthermore, assert that her office had not applied for, received or spent any funding from a non-governmental entity for political elections administered by the county. The new language was later added to the resolution and approved by the committee before it approved the resolution unanimously. Kenosha County is not alone in considering passing a policy refusing non-governmental funding for elections. Walworth County was the first in the state to ban the use of private funding to administer elections when that board passed its policy in April. In recent months, judges have rejected court challenges by conservative groups that assert that the use of the private money intended for administering elections was a violation of the law. Last year, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation passed by Republicans that wouldve banned the use of such private donations to run elections. The resolution next heads to the County Board on Tuesday for a first reading before supervisors vote on it next month. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. 15 Shares Share An excerpt from Cutthroat: A Surgeons Fight against Big Government, Corrupt Businessmen, and a Broken Healthcare System. The media, the business world, insurance companies, and even the government have done an amazing job of portraying doctors as the culprits for the exorbitant costs of health care. Theyve been able to make the public believe that all doctors are opportunistic millionaires who prey on the injuries and diagnoses of patients in order to make themselves rich. The delusion is that doctors order unnecessary tests, perform unnecessary surgeries, prescribe too many medicationsincluding narcoticsand charge too much for their services. Meanwhile, large hospital systems charge far more for the same services delivered by their physicians and their ancillary services. Most people dont realize that doctors working in the insurance-based medicine world are often not raking in big dollars for their expertise or effort. In most cases, that could not be further from the truth. Most of the doctors I know nowadays are earning low- or mid-level six-figure incomes and working eighty to one hundred hours a week doing lifesaving surgeries and interventionsand even if they are earning more, they are certainly earning it. Doctors are often blamed as the source of ever-increasing health care costs, despite the facts that the median pay of a health care CEO was more than $9 million in 2020 and thirty CEOs made more than $30 million. The CEOs of the top six health insurance carriers made a combined $236 million in 202045 percent more than 2019. Meanwhile, orthopaedic surgery reimbursements fell an average of 28 percent between 1992 and 2007. Doctors saw a 22 percent cut to their reimbursements between 2001 and 2022 and a proposed 9.75 percent cut in 2022 despite the extreme toll the COVID-19 pandemic placed on them mentally and financially. In the same time frame, the cost to run a medical practice has increased 39 percent. By the time physicians pay their student loans and their practice overhead, theres very little left! In my case, all my professional goals were slanted toward service, not profit. Thats one reason I spent fourteen years serving in the military as a U.S. Air Force physician (not a money-making decision) rather than racing into a more lucrative private practice. I was motivated to serve as a patriot. I chose a career in medicine because it was a job that innately required a perspective of self-sacrifice and devotion to others. I have led a life of integrity as an officer in the military and as a man of strong Christian faith. But when I began practicing outside of the military, I realized medicine wasnt what I had envisioned it to be. The reimbursements were controlled and constantly decreased by insurance carriers and the government. Paying overhead was a struggle, and I was soon pounced upon by metaphorical lionsunscrupulous businesspeople who viewed me as an opportunity. To them, I was a dollar sign, a skilled surgeon on whom they could capitalize in order to generate money for themselves. Some would refer to us simply as cuttersmindless butchers with no compassion or integrity who ran an assembly line of people to be cut open. I recall meeting one Russian businessman who, when I told him I was a spine surgeon, had one simple question. How many surgeries can you do in a day? he inquired as if I were producing sweaters in a factory. Much to his disapproval, I told him that to ensure successful surgical outcomes, I typically performed only one big fusion per day or two smaller surgeries. He was unimpressed with that number and scoffed, I know surgeons who can perform between five and ten spine surgeries a day! I found this number staggering and questionable. There was no way to perform that many surgeries meticulously and wind up with good outcomes. That conversation ended rather abruptly when I replied, What drives me is the success of the surgeries, not the number of procedures that I perform nor the income. I was optimistic when the Trump administration made changes like eliminating the financial penalty for choosing not to obtain insurance coverage and pushing for competition amongst insurance carriers to lower the cost of premiums. I also agreed that companies should be allowed to pool together to decrease costs and that employees should have the option of choosing their own carrier with their employers covering the cost. They also sought to decrease health insurance taxes, increase cost transparency of hospitals, and eliminate surprise billing. However, even these changes are a fraction of what needs to transpire to truly improve the situation for doctors and patients. The real solution begins with revisiting the restrictions on entrepreneurship by physicians in the Anti-Kickback and Stark regulations. Even Pete Stark, the author of the law, says he favored repealing the law as it currently exists. It has morphed into a law of complexities and penalties that far exceed the laws original design. As things stand, its truly impossible for doctors to practice medicine the way they would want to. Once a physician is compelled to see more patients than is prudent, the quality of care declines. Add the additional volume of patients being seen to the insurmountable paperwork and documentation required of nurses, mid-levels, and physicians; and the burden becomes too heavy a weight to bear for many. Sadly, many doctors have been relegated to mere technicians working for taskmasters who leave us crumbs to battle over, turning us against each other. The fellowship amongst physicians is all but dead. Physicians have become their own worst enemies. The only way to make this change is to finally band together like doctors of old and become a true fellowship focused on fighting for our rights and control over what and how patient care is delivered. Similarly, patients need to demand that their employers only use an insurance carrier that allows the patient to choose their doctor and the care they deserve and need. We have little left to lose, and we and our patients have everything to gain. Steven J. Cyr is an orthopaedic surgeon and author of Cutthroat: A Surgeons Fight against Big Government, Corrupt Businessmen, and a Broken Healthcare System. Image credit: Shutterstock.com After two Covid-interrupted years, the MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre and Lyrath Estate Ladies Day will be returning to Gowran Park on Saturday, July 23. This years guest judge will be Kilkenny native and fashion blogger Lorraine Booth who will be assisted by the teams at Gowran Park, Lyrath and MacDonagh Junction to spot that perfect balance of racing style and creative chic. I am thrilled to be invited to join up with everyone from MacDonagh Junction, Lyrath Estate and Gowran Park at Ladies Day on July 23," said Lorraine. "Its so much fun getting dressed up for a day at the races and with this years excellent prize everyone has the best excuse to just go out and enjoy themselves. I am sure the fashion stakes will be high, and I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and watching out for that person who stands out from the crowd. This years first prize is two nights' bed and breakfast with dinner on the night of your choosing in the magnificent Lyrath Estate Hotel with a 1,000 MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre gift card which can be redeemed in over 30 top brand stores. There will also be five runners up prizes of a 100 MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre gift card and a 100 voucher for the award-winning Oasis Spa in the Lyrath Estate. Eddie Scally of Gowran Park says the summer Ladies Day event has grown from strength to strength over the past 10 years, in no small part down to the support from the teams at MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre and Lyrath Estate Hotel. Donna Byrne of MacDonagh Junction said the centre was delighted to come on board as main sponsor for Ladies Day at Gowran Park for the sixth consecutive year. "Ladies Day is synonymous with style and fashion so its the perfect fit for the Centre and our 30 top brand retailers. Each year the style stakes reach new heights, and we look forward to seeing the glamourous looks showcased by this years entrants," she said. Debbie Mangan of Lyrath said Lyrath Estate is synonymous with style and the sponsorship would allow it to further communicate the brand to not just a local, Kilkenny market but to racegoers and racing fans all over Ireland. "We are delighted to partner with Gowran Park once again and have worked with the track on many an occasion. We are looking forward to seeing all the ladies and the style that will be on show and are also looking forward to watching premier racing at this great track," she said. The MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre and Lyrath Estate Ladies Day will take place in Gowran Park on Saturday, July 23. Gowran will be running courtesy buses to the track leaving from the Kilkenny Castle Gates one hour before the first race. Early bird tickets for this years event are available online at www.gowranpark.ie where you can save 33% on ticket prices by purchasing before Saturday, July 23. General admission prices on the day will be 20 adult admission and 15 OAP and students. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Five Eyes alliance fabricating evidence, building rumors of China infiltration: source Global Times) 12:12, June 20, 2022 The Five Eyes Alliance is collecting and fabricating evidence that intends to show China is "infiltrating politically into Western countries," with the aim of tarnishing China's image in the world, the Global Times learned from a source close to the matter. Analysts said this is not the first time that the Five Eyes have conspired to target China and other countries. As an alliance designed for intelligence sharing, it has been conducting covert or overt operations like theft, interference, infiltration, subversion and coercion. The Five Eyes alliance is not so much as an intelligence-sharing group but an anti-China club. The Global Times learned that intelligence agencies in the Five Eyes willfully interrogate and harass Chinese students and scholars on questionable or no grounds at all. Some even approach Chinese communities and pressure them to become agents for the Eyes. Although the Eyes are not so sharp at telling the truth from falsehood, they are adept at meddling in the internal affairs of China, among other countries in the world. In Hong Kong, the consulates of these countries have become the headquarters and command of interference and subversion where their consular officials reached out to anti-China forces and separatists to incite violence by providing financial support and training, the source said. The alliance has been obsessed with making up cases of China's "espionage" and "infiltration" merely based on shoddy intelligence. In 2020, Australian spy authorities raided New South Wales state legislator Shaoquett Moselmane's home for alleged links with China. But the cited political influence in Australia on behalf of China was never proven by evidence. In recent years, Five Eyes alliance is also stepping up its efforts to steal and attack other countries in the area of cybersecurity. A latest report from Anzer, a cybersecurity information platform, showed that the US military and government cyber agencies have remotely stolen more than 97 billion pieces of global internet data and 124 billion phone records in the last 30 days, which are becoming a major source of intelligence for the US and other "Five Eyes" countries. The report obtained by the Global Times once again revealed the "black hand" operations of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), the cyber warfare intelligence agency under the US National Security Agency (NSA), which has been using advanced cyberattack weapons to indiscriminately "grab" data from internet users around the world. A cybersecurity analyst told the Global Times on condition of anonymity earlier that TAO is the largest and most important part of the intelligence division of the NSA. Founded in 1998, the main responsibility of the TAO is to use the internet to secretly access insider information of its competitors, including secretly invading target countries' key information infrastructure to steal account codes, break or destroy computer security systems, monitor network traffic, steal privacy and sensitive data, and access to phone calls, emails, network communications and messages. TAO also assumes an important role. When US president issues an order to disable or destroy communications networks or information systems in other countries, TAO will provide relevant cyberattack weapons, and the attacks will be carried out by the US Cyber Warfare Command, the report revealed. According to the report, the various departments of TAO are composed of more than 1,000 active military personnel, network hackers, intelligence analysts, academics, computer hardware and software designers, and electronics engineers. The entire organizational structure consists of one "center" and four "divisions." The "center" employs more than 600 people and is responsible for receiving, sorting and summarizing account passwords and important sensitive information stolen from around the world by network information systems controlled remotely by TAO. Knowingly violating basic norms in the virtual and the real world, the Five Eyes have been going out of their way to undermine the growth of certain foreign companies. In the name of protecting national security, the US has been tightening its grip on the export of chips and other high technologies to China. It also abetted Canada to detain the CFO of Huawei, a leading Chinese provider of smart devices in ICT, for about three years for no legitimate reasons at all. The Five Eyes also add foreign competitors onto the blacklists of technological blockade and exclusion. All the five countries have decided to ban China's Huawei and ZTE from their 5G networks. Apart from taking relatively secret means to achieve its political agenda, the Five Eyes also resort to brutal and bloody wars to overthrow regimes of other countries, showing no respect to international law, sovereignty and human life. Take the 20-year-long war in Afghanistan as an example, where hardly any participating country pulled out with their hands untainted with blood. Back in 2019, 11 British detectives told an investigation team from the BBC and Sunday Times that there was credible evidence of war crimes and ensuing cover-ups in Afghanistan. In 2020, Australia released the Brereton Report on its troops' misconduct in Afghanistan. It found evidence linking 25 Australian Defense Force personnel in the killings of 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners of war. Scandals like this are nothing new. In 2009, Australian troops were shown in some photos drinking beer out of an Afghan's prosthetic leg in Uruzgan province. Before the hasty withdrawal, the US killed 10 civilians including two-year-olds in a drone strike, only to find the target were civilians like so many times before. Turning their eyes and dirty hands to other countries, the five countries have shown no interest in getting their own house in order. Most of the countries have not addressed their dark legacy of mistreating indigenous population by slaughter, expulsion and forced assimilation. They are yet to pay the historical debt and make compensations as the indigenous communities are deprived of the right to life and other basic rights on economic, cultural and political fronts, the source said. The script for the Five Eyes' underhand moves may keep changing, but the end result would remain the same. The scheme to discredit and disrupt the development of other countries would only be met with disdain, and eventually lead to outright failure, the source stressed. (Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji) Velveeta launched two shades of cheese-scented nail polish in collaboration with London-based nail polish brand Nails Inc. President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, walk by an honor guard at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, Seoul, Friday, before attending a luncheon with family members of patriots and veterans at the memorial museum. Yonhap Presidential office will not set up office for Kim By Nam Hyun-woo President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, is amplifying her political presence, meeting former first ladies and attending ceremonies to commemorate patriots last week. Her actions, however, appear to be raising unnecessary controversy, as she has been taking "unofficial" approaches to such official events. This situation comes as pressure to the president because the interest she has stirred up has been overshadowing Yoon's political messages, pundits said. According to the presidential office, Sunday, Kim attended six events as the first lady from Monday to Saturday. Appearing at six public events in a week is rare compared to her predecessors. She paid a visit to Kwon Yang-sook, the widow of former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday, and had a luncheon with ruling party lawmakers' wives on Tuesday. On Thursday, Kim visited Lee Soon-ja, the widow of former authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan, and met previous first lady Kim Jung-sook, the wife of Moon Jae-in, in Seoul on Friday. Also on Friday, she accompanied Yoon to a luncheon with the family members of patriots, followed by attending a commemorative concert for a deceased jet fighter pilot on Saturday. The presidential office said Kim did not attend Yoon's meeting with residents near the presidential office, because she had "separate work to do." The office did not specify what work that was. President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, left, poses for a photo with Lee Soon-ja, the widow of authoritarian former leader Chun Doo-hwan, during Kim's visit to Lee's residence in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of the presidential office Representatives from the Embassy of Denmark, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the ASEM Global Ageing Center and the Bobath Hospital and Nursing Facility pose for a photo at "The Ageing Society: Healthy Ageing and Assisted Living" seminar at the Danish ambassador's residence in Seongbuk District, Seoul, June 14. By Kwon Mee-yoo The Embassy of Denmark in Korea hosts a series of healthcare seminars on health issues faced by both Denmark and Korea. The first seminar was called "The Ageing Society: Healthy Ageing and Assisted Living" and was held at the Danish ambassador's residence in Seoul on June 14. The talk focused on dignified aging and took a look into the primary healthcare system and assistive technology in Denmark and Korea. Danish Ambassador Einar Jensen emphasized the strong Danish-Korea partnership in the senior care sector. "The solutions to these issues are not straightforward. Different approaches can lead to different results in terms of economic feasibility and quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to share our experiences and to collaborate on innovative solutions, so that we may secure the best dignified aging policies and tools for the senior citizens of Denmark and Korea," Jensen said. Both Korea and Denmark face the demographic challenge of an aging society and research shows that more than 25 percent of both countries' population will be above the age of 65 in less than 20 years. The seminar was organized by both Danish and Korean stakeholders to share and discuss knowledge and approaches on aging societies, in which the increase of the elderly population poses a challenge to welfare, healthcare and economic systems. Danish and Korean experts shared information about senior healthcare programs as well as the social impact of aging and health tech in elderly care. The second seminar with the theme of inequality in healthcare and non-communicable diseases will take place on June 23 at 4 p.m. at the ambassador's residence and will be streamed live on the embassy's YouTube channel. The presidential office is reviewing Japan's proposal for a four-way summit with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand on the sidelines of a NATO gathering in Spain next week, an official said Monday. President Yoon Suk-yeol is scheduled to attend a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Madrid, June 29 and 30 on his first overseas trip as president. Korea is not a member of the military alliance but has been invited as a partner nation, along with countries including Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Yoon's office has received Japan's proposal for a four-way summit, and the presidential National Security Office is reviewing it, the presidential official told reporters. Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun carried a report the same day saying the Japanese government is considering holding such a summit as a way to express the four countries' opposition to China's assertiveness in the East and South China Seas, among other matters. (Yonhap) By Arthur I. Cyr The totalitarian regime in North Korea is more threatening than ever. On June 5, Pyongyang launched eight short-range missiles, the most ever in a single day. The next day, South Korea and the United States launched the same number of missiles. President Yoon Suk-yeol, inaugurated last month, promises a hardline approach to the North. North Korea also just tested a missile capable of reaching the United States. The North has pursued nuclear weapons since 2006. From time to time, Pyongyang threatens to use them, including against the U.S., as well as Japan and South Korea. These latest tests occur as the Biden administration gives priority to Northeast Asia defense. Last month, President Biden visited both South Korea and Japan, with emphasis on military and Pacific security. In moving forward, U.S. government officials should keep in mind three basic realities about dealing with North Korea. First, for many years, Pyongyang has been inconsistent, often erratically. In 2013, the regime declared a "state of war" with South Korea and abruptly abrogated the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. Yet, accommodating moves followed. In short, unpredictability is the norm. This pattern implies considerable factional infighting at the top, along with collective insecurity. Second, we must highlight commitment to the defense of South Korea and our own readiness, and willingness, to use a range of forces. The Obama administration rightly deployed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in Korea for this purpose. In 2013, the Pentagon expanded anti-ballistic missile defenses on the U.S. West Coast. Simultaneously, the THAAD batteries were sent to Guam, a potential target. In 2009, THAAD was deployed to Hawaii for the same reason. On cue, China expressed indignation about anti-missile deployments. That was predictable and understandable given potential use of the system's radars for information gathering. At the same time, Beijing worked to restrain Pyongyang, including suspending airline flights between the two cities. Third, we should emphasize coordination with other nations. This coordination ideally should include China and Russia, but always our close friend, South Korea, and ally Japan. South Korea's substantial investment in and trade with China grows, while North Korea remains a costly dependent, though ideologically important. China's President Xi Jinping visited Seoul in 2014. He finally visited North Korea in 2019. China's foreign policy reflects self-interest, and traditional caution regarding military force. North Korea is a drain, and over time a source of growing, well-founded anxiety. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought North Korea's long-evident economic deterioration to a crisis point. Trade and wider interchange with China contracted. Long-term economic sanctions stymie recovery. The brutal Korean War of 1950 to 1953 devastated the Korean Peninsula, and made the Cold War global. President Harry Truman's courageous decision to support the United Nations in defending the South against invasion from the North laid the foundation for today's remarkably successful Republic of Korea. Democratic change culminated with the election in 1998 of President Kim Dae-jung, a heroic opponent of dictatorship. In 2000, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. During Korea's earlier dictatorship, Kim survived imprisonment and at least one attempt to kill him. There has been occasional political turmoil since 1998, but South Korea's democratic system has been confirmed. U.S. leaders should emphasize collaboration with allies, underscore military commitment, and encourage South Korea's diplomatic leadership. The Biden administration is returning to traditional, very strong ties between the U.S. and our allies, including closer military cooperation. Our powerful comprehensive alliance, established during the Korean War, reinforced during the Vietnam War and afterwards, is now unbreakable. Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is author of "After the Cold War American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia" (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan). A 13-year-old female juvenile complained of rib pain after the go-cart she was driving struck a tree in the 6600 block of C.R. 36 just after 5 p.m. Sunday. Police said she was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Steve Garbacz is executive editor for KPC Media Group and editor of The News Sun. He had lunch at El Camino (the best restaurant in Portland), drove past the paper and his old rentals while there Saturday, and took in part of a Portland Rockets baseball game. Email him at sgarbacz@kpcmedia.com. GOT7's main rapper and lead dancer Jackson Wang is loved by many, not only for his incredible talents in singing, rapping, dancing, and sports, but also for his amazing personality and work ethics whether he is on-camera or off-camera. In fact, Jackson has exhibited such incredible behavior towards his peers and fans, that many have dubbed him to be "The Standard" among K-Pop idols. With that, here are four times that Jackson has raised the bar and proved himself to be "The Standard"! 1. Jackson pulling up a little girl's shoulder strap While on his way to board a plane, Jackson was spotted interacting with fans as he navigates through the airport. After spending a couple of minutes greeting and talking to fans, Jackson finally bid them goodbye and left with his bodyguards. However, before he was out of the camera's frame, Jackson can be seen pulling up a little girl's shoulder strap that had fallen off and fixed it. This small action, which he could have ignored, made fans present "aww" at the heartwarming sight. 2. Jackson taking care of a stranger's baby during travel Jackson definitely loves little kids! Back in March, Jackson drew attention after he was spotted traveling via train from Beijing to Wuxi, China. A netizen who sat in front of Jackson, who was accompanied by his assistant and guitarist during the travel, had revealed that their son wanted to play with the Chinese star throughout the trip. However, despite Jackson being busy, he was still able to play with the baby whenever the little boy went up to him. After the netizen's story drew attention, Jackson received numerous praise for taking care of a stranger's baby! IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: GOT7 Jackson Gains Attention for Playing, Taking Care of Stranger's Baby 3. Jackson preventing fans from injuries There are numerous instances when Jackson has helped a fan from falling or getting injured. This usually happens when he, or when he is with his fellow GOT7 members, are walking through a crowd. As fans try to get a good glimpse of the idol, there are times when they end up pushing each other, especially in a limited space. But Jackson has helped prevent dozens of fans from getting seriously hurt, and even makes sure they are okay! 4. Jackson respecting women One of the things that fans love the most about Jackson is how much he respects women! While he is often playful with them, he makes sure he doesn't cross any boundaries. Other actions by Jackson include him taking care of them, protecting them, and basically making women of all ages' hearts beat wildly! Do you think Jackson is "The Standard"? IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jackson Hints at New Solo Album Release + Shares Expectation on GOT7's Reunion For more K-Pop news and updates, always keep your tabs open here on KpopStarz. KpopStarz owns this article. Written by Robyn Joan BTS' "Proof" had debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with the biggest sales in the United States of any group this 2022. Read on to know how many copies the anthology album sold so far. #ProofNo1OnBB200: BTS' 'Proof' Tops Billboard 200 With Biggest Group Sales in 2022 On June 19 local time, Billboard officially announced that BTS' anthology album "Proof" had entered at No. 1 on the Top 200 Albums chart, a weekly ranking of the most popular albums in the U.S. "Proof" secured the No. 1 spot after earning an impressive 314,000 equivalent album units during the week ending on June 16. The sum includes 266,000 pure album sales, 12,000 track equivalent album (TEA) units, and 26,000 streaming equivalent album (SEA) units-which converts to 52.84 million on-demand audio streams in the first week since the album was released. More than 259,000 of the pure album sales attained by BTS' anthology album were in CD sales-the highest sales week for an album on CD in the U.S. since Adele's "30," which sold 378,000 CDs in its first week last year. Billboard noted, "The vast majority of the CD sales for '30' came from the $11.98 and $13.98 editions," while "there are two CD variants available in total [for 'Proof']: a $24 version and a $70 version." In addition to recording the biggest U.S. sales of any group this 2022, BTS' "Proof" also obtained the second-highest overall, following the debut week of Harry Styles' "Harry House." Furthermore, now that "Proof" is BTS' sixth album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200, the septet is now the first-and so far, only-Korean act ever to claim the top on the Top 200 Albums chart with six different albums. The previous BTS albums are "Love Yourself: Tear," Love Yourself: Answer," "MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA," "MAP OF THE SOUL: 7," and "BE." What's more, in Billboard 200 history, only 15 non-English albums have ever reached the No. 1 spot-meaning that out of those 15 releases, six of them belong to BTS. To celebrate the septet's new milestone, ARMYs took to Twitter to trend the hashtags "#ProofNo1OnBB200" and "#BTS6thNo1InBB200," together with the keyword "CONGRATULATIONS BTS." Congratulations to BTS on yet another historic feat with their anthology album "Proof"! BTS' 'Yet to Come' Crosses 100M Views on YouTube, Attains 4th Trophy While BTS' anthology album "Proof" is recording impressive sales in the U.S., the title track "Yet to Come" is performing well on YouTube and Korean music shows. On the June 19 episode of SBS's "Inkigayo," BTS' "Yet to Come" took first place with 7007 total points, beating IVE's "LOVE DIVE" with 6,013 points and KyoungSeo's "Dear my X" with 3,964 points. This marks the song's fourth music show win. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 'Tomorrow' Hit By Controversy Involving BTS Members + Viewers Demand Apology On YouTube, BTS' "Yet to Come" music video had soared past 100 million views on June 20 at approximately 5:17 a.m. KST. It took the MV just nine days, 16 hours, and 17 minutes to reach the mark. "Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)" is now the boy group's 34th music video to hit the 100-million mark on the platform, following "Dope," "Fire," "Not Today," "DNA," "I Need U," "Fake Love," "Boy With Luv," "Dynamite," "Life Goes On," and many more. ARMYs are also celebrating these new feats on Twitter, using the hashtags "#YetToCome100M" and "#YetToCome4thWin." For more K-Pop news, follow and subscribe to KpopStarz. KpopStarz owns this article Written by Maria Scott Women are not a monolith, their experiences of menopause are not all negative, and this stage of life should not be medicalized, argue an international group of experts. In an analysis piece published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, obstetrician Martha Hickey of the Royal Women's Hospital in Victoria, Australia and three women's health professors from the UK, US and Australia discuss the social and cultural attitudes to the life stage when most women's periods stop typically between the ages of 45 and 55 and argue the need to "normalize" menopause. In 2021, a global survey revealed 16% to 40% of women experience moderate to severe symptoms during menopause, such as feeling tired, hot flushes, sleep difficulties and aching muscles or joints. A now-common treatment offered to relieve these symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which uses medication to replace the hormones lost during menopause and, in turn, ease these symptoms. Many studies have shown its effectiveness in helping women through the menopause and though there are risks, such as increasing your risk of breast cancer, the benefits are thought to outweigh such risks. However, Hickey and her co-authors argue that while effective treatments such as HRT are important for those with troublesome symptoms, "medicalization may increase women's anxiety and apprehension about this natural life stage." They add: "Medicalization of menopause risks collapsing the wide range of experiences at the average age associated with this natural process into a narrowly defined disease requiring treatment and tends to emphasize the negative aspects of menopause." The four experts further argue that while "women with severe hot flushes and night sweats often benefit from menopausal hormone therapy, most women consider menopause a natural process and prefer not to take medication." Hickey told CNN: "Medicalization of menopause makes women fearful and reduces their ability to cope with it as a normal event in life." Preserving health and youthful appearance Medical caution over the use of HRT is not new. In Elizabeth Siegel Watkins's book, The Estrogen Elixir: A History of Hormone Replacement in America, the professor of history of health sciences charts the causes of the growing trend in HRT and the responses to it. Published in 2007, Watkins's book explains that "[the medicalization of menopause] begins with the dynamic interactions among scientists, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and gynaecologists in producing, marketing, and prescribing estrogen in the first decades of the twentieth century." According to Watkins, after half a century of research beginning in the 1890s, estrogen was introduced in the US as a short-term treatment for menopausal symptoms in the 1940s and 1950s. Between 1960 and 1975, hormone therapy saw a massive boom after some reproductive endocrinologists redefined menopause as an "estrogen-deficiency disease". The approach to the treatment of menopause reveals not just where the science is at but also where the culture is at when it comes to middle-aged women. Watkins writes about E. Kost Shelton, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA who "promoted long-term hormone therapy as the solution to middle-aged women's woes," believing that estrogen would not only "prevent the development of osteoporosis [a condition where bones weaken, common during menopause]... but it would also help maintain a youthful appearance, a positive attitude, and a happy marriage." The book quotes from a paper Shelton wrote in 1954 in which he said that the lack of estrogen during menopause "is frequently accompanied by regression to a shell of the former alluring woman ... She becomes insecure, inadequate, and ultimately careless during the most vulnerable period of her marital existence.'' The language may have changed since Shelton's time, but the association between HRT and the expectation to hold on to one's youth persist. The authors of the BMJ analysis write: "The belief that ageing can be delayed or reversed by hormone replacement therapy (HRT) persists and is reinforced by the media, medical literature, and information for women." Then and now, why would these associations persist? Hickey and her co-authors provide an answer: "Marketing menopause is a lucrative business." "In the 1960s, for example, it was suggested that all women should be taking hormonal treatment when they go through menopause." Hickey told CNN. "And still, there is strong pharmaceutical drive for women to take hormones to keep themselves young, or protect their skin, or sex life and other such things that have not been proven." She adds: "If you have a medication that half the population should be taking, then that's an enormous profit." Hickey and her co-authors advocate shifting the narrative by pushing forward positive aspects such as freedom from menstruation, pregnancy, and contraception as well as educating women on how to manage the troublesome symptoms. They believe advocating these "might empower women to manage menopause with greater confidence." Narratives around menopause Sunny Singh understands the power of narratives. In 2019 the novelist and professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University wrote a Twitter thread that was widely shared. In it she shares her own experience of going through perimenopause (when you have symptoms before your periods have stopped). With great candor and humor, Singh wrote: "We get some vague talk about hot flushes but here is my peri peri experience. My body has decided it needs hot showers but then overheats for the hour afterwards. Cue: twiddle thumbs until I cool down enough to put clothes on. Cue: add extra hour to morning routine." She adds: "Current discourse veers between "it's all natural" (yeah, so is death) to complete pathologization ... We need to talk menopause without hyper-medicalization." Singh says she benefitted from having her mother share her experience of menopause in her thirties and says this needs to happen more. She tells CNN: "There has been very little informational exchange around menopause. We need women from across races and regions to talk about menopause." The BMJ analysis reaches the same conclusion: "Normalising ageing in women and celebrating the strength, beauty, and achievements of middle-aged women can change the narrative and provide positive role models," the authors write. Story of the week Graphic video of men stomping on a woman's head has shaken China to the core. The shock and anger reverberated widely as the video spread like wildfire on Chinese social media. By the evening, the attack which took place around 2:40 a.m. Friday in the northern city of Tangshan had ignited a nationwide uproar, drawing hundreds of millions of views and dominating online discussions throughout the weekend. Women Behaving Badly: Yogmaya Neupane (1860-1941) Written by Pallabi Munsi In July 1941, Yogmaya Neupane, a feminist leader in Nepal, reportedly plunged into the choppy waters of Arun River. Soon after, over 60 of her disciples also jumped to their death. The alleged mass suicide, which took place when the people of Nepal were cowering under the autocratic Rana regime, was quickly forgotten from Nepal's history until the 1980s. It is only recently that researchers interpreted the act as a protest against the ruler's failure to meet Neupane's repeated demands for Dharma Rajya, or good governance, wherein Hindu systemic discriminations against women are abolished. Neupane was the first Nepalese woman known to have been jailed for her political beliefs when she tried to set herself on fire to protest the Rana regime. She also married three times at a time when widow remarriage was an offence. Researchers say she also gave voice to the voiceless by raising awareness about "superstitious religious practices, the caste system, child marriage, discriminatory treatment of women, corruption and unequal distribution of wealth." Wondering why Neupane did "not appear in the standard history of Nepal for sixty years," Michael Hutt, professor of Nepalese and Himalayan Studies at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) in the UK, says more information is needed about this icon. "My plea to Nepal's historians and social scholars is further research," he said. In 2016, the Nepali government issued a postage stamp marking her "restoration and recognition as a major historical figure, a champion of women's rights," but calls continue for greater research into her life. If you or someone you know might be at risk of suicide, here are ways to help. If you live in the US and are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (800-273-TALK) for free and confidential support. It's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For crisis support in Spanish, call 888-628-9454 TrevorLifeline, a suicide prevention counseling service for the LGBTQ community, can be reached at 866-488-7386 Befrienders Worldwide connects users to the nearest emotional support center for the part of the world they live in. Tragedy hit again this past week on lakes near Walworth County, where two reportedly died in separate swimming accidents. The first accident occurred on Thursday, June 16, when a 22-year-old went missing below the water in western Kenosha Countys Silver Lake. Initial reports indicated that a 5-year-old female child and a 22-year-old male were swimming after jumping into the water from a boat on the lake, according to a Kenosha County Sheriffs Department media release. The man, who was not wearing a flotation device, went underwater and did not resurface. The child was wearing a personal flotation device and was picked up by another boat that was also on the lake. Dive teams from southeast Wisconsin and northern Illinois were called in to assist in an attempt to locate the missing male. The initial call came in at 12:37 p.m. and the mans body was pulled from the lake at 7:10 p.m. He was located about 25 feet below the surface by area divers. He was later identified as Philip Shwaiko of Kenosha. Jefferson County drowning Another drowning was reported over the weekend at a campground in Jefferson County, north of Lauderdale Lake and Palmyra. In that case, a 14-year-old boy was pulled from a swimming pond on Fathers Day, Sunday, June 19. On June 18 at 6:51 p.m., the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office received an emergency 911 call from Natures Villa, N2899 Roger Road, in the Jefferson County Town of Sullivan. The caller stated that a swimmer had gone under the waters surface and could not be located. The water area on this property is a pond-like feature that is located on approximately two acres of land and that is used for swimming by the owners and guests, according to a release from the Sheriffs Office. As fire and rescue units arrived on scene, witnesses provided information for rescue divers to enter the water and begin searching. Rescue divers continued searching until 9:35 p.m., at which time the search was suspended until the morning. On June 19 at 7:30 a.m., the water search resumed. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office worked in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources using their underwater submersible drone with sonar and camera technology. At 8:33 a.m., the teen was located and recovered. The boys name has not been released. The two drownings follow an earlier one in Walworth County over Memorial Day weekend. An 18-year-old was pulled unconscious from Lake Como in the Town of Geneva. The Geneva Town Police Department was dispatched on Sunday, May 29, at approximately 7:57 p.m. to a residence off South Shore Drive for a man with no pulse who was pulled from the water. Life-saving efforts were administered and the man was transported to Mercy Medical Center, then to the University of Madison hospital. However, due to the mans injuries, he died May 30. A parade of tractors will roll through Downtown Lake Geneva this summer. Representatives from the McHenry County Farm Bureau and McHenry County Antique Equipment Association are conducting the 20th annual Tractor Trek Saturday, July 16, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Flat Iron Park, 201 Wrigley Drive. A fundraiser for the farm bureaus Ag in the Classroom program, the event features a variety of antique tractors. On June 13, members of the Lake Geneva City Council unanimously approved a permit for Tractor Trek. Approval was recommended June 7 by the city councils finance, licensing & regulation committee. The number of tractors that will be featured during the event is unknown at this time. Driver attendance varies from year to year with a low around 50 and the high being 107, said Dan Volkers, manager for the McHenry County Farm Bureau. Participants will travel from northern McHenry County to Badger High School, where they will be escorted to and from Flat Iron Park by the Lake Geneva Police Department. Its an all-day event for the tractor drivers, Volkers said. The Tractor Trek event returns to the City of Lake Geneva after a 10-year hiatus. The event previously was held in Lake Geneva in 2012 and in 2010. Volkers said the farm bureau wanted to conduct the event in Lake Geneva this year for its 20th anniversary. He said besides the Tractor Trek, the participants also plan to take a boat cruise on Geneva Lake and visit some of the Downtown businesses. Its our 20th anniversary of the event, and we wanted to do something special, Volkers said. We plan to go on a boat cruise and have a meal at Popeyes, like we did in Lake Geneva for the 10-year event and the eighth year. At the June 7 committee meeting, Alderman Ken Howell asked Volkers if the farm bureau would be responsible for any damage that would incur at Flat Iron Park as a result of the event. We dont know what kind of shape Flat Iron Park will be left in after the event, Howell said. You did it here a long time ago, and we would love to have you again. Volkers said the farm bureau would be liable for any damage, but he feels that will not be an issue because of the design of the tractors. Basically, these are smaller tractors and theyre not real heavy and their wheel spacings are designed not to cause damage, Volkers said. Historically, we havent had a problem. During previous years, the Tractor Trek has been held in Sharon, Twin Lakes and in the Illinois communities of Belvidere, Hampshire, Hebron and Poplar Grove. Volkers said many people attend the event each year. Most people who see the Tractor Trek just stop and take some time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the event, Volkers said. Some will sit out on their lawn chairs and wait for it to go by. Volkers said many of the participants enjoy sharing stories about their tractor. Some of the restoration stories are pretty cool, Volkers said. Sometimes its their dads tractor, grandpas tractor or the tractor they first learned to drive on. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Former families and a former teacher at one of Madisons most prominent Catholic schools say its shift to a more traditionalist approach has resulted in the departure of most of its staff and a massive drop in enrollment for the coming school year. Madison Diocese officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the Wisconsin State Journal about the changes at St. Maria Goretti, which enrolls students in prekindergarten through eighth grade at 5405 Flad Ave. on the citys Southwest Side. But in a letter sent to school families in October, Diocese Bishop Donald Hying acknowledged concerns about recently hired Principal Bob Schell and priest Father Scott Emerson and said changes at the school reflect the desire of your leadership to strengthen the Catholic identity and formation of our students. He rejected the notion that an increased emphasis on religion will diminish the quality of academic excellence. Exact figures are hard to come by, but enrollment for the 2022-23 year is projected to be between 100 and 120, down from more than 400 during the 2020-21 year and about 330 at the beginning of 2021-22, according to parish or former parish members. Schell said enrollment last school year was about 300 but declined to speculate about what it would be next year, saying much can happen during the summer months. The school had 40 staffers most recently, Schell said, and next year there were will be somewhere around 14, to align with reduced enrollment. Former teacher Heather Kandiko, who taught Spanish at the school for 14 years, said teachers and other staff left throughout the last school year, including the mass resignation of the schools lunch crew. She said she received a contract non-renewal notice just before spring break but then saw her job and others at the school posted on a teachers job site. There was nothing stated directly on the notice of why, she said. About 10-plus other teachers were given the same exact letter. Schell declined to discuss specific personnel matters. Families who formerly had children at the school say changes have included a greater emphasis on the spiritual formation of boys specifically and a more traditional, less joyful approach to Mass. They just came in and bombed our school, said Katy Sands. Its like a brand-new school. She said she and her husband allowed their eighth-grader to finish out the year at St. Maria Goretti, but moved their sixth-grader prior to the start of the year and their fourth-grader in October. Both went to other Catholic schools. Schell denied that boys are getting a disproportionate amount of attention or that Mass is significantly different. But as an example of the kinds of changes Hying referenced in his letter, Schell described a program last year called Virtues in Practice, which is a way for children in grades prekindergarten through eight to grow closer to Jesus by imitating His life and virtues. It is set up in such a way that a whole school studies the same virtue each month, to provide a whole-school (and at home, whole-family) focus, he said. The program covers 27 virtues over a three-year cycle, with 81 saints held up as models of the virtues, and staff were encouraged to integrate this learning into their regular classroom routines. Some school families and members of St. Maria Goretti church have complained in recent years about what they see as the advent of a more conservative form of Catholicism that started when longtime priest Father Mike Burke stepped down from full-time ministry in 2017 and was replaced in 2019 by Emerson, who got rid of some contemporary music and emphasized the use of altar boys. Jamie Wenger said he and his family enjoyed many really wonderful years at the school and at the parish but became less active as they saw the conservative direction that the parish was going in. The changes were accompanied by a 200-person drop in parish membership to about 6,700 as of August, and are just the latest sign of the tension generally in Dane Countys Catholic community, where more liberal-leaning rank-and-file Catholics have often been at odds with a more conservative Diocese of Madison leadership, most notably former Bishop Robert Morlino, who died in 2018. Dispute over masks Before he was hired by Emerson, Schell served as principal of Elm Lawn Elementary School in the Middleton-Cross Plains School District, but had also been a longtime member of St. Mary of Pine Bluff in rural Cross Plains, including serving for a time as chair of the churchs pastoral council. St. Marys priest, the Rev. Richard Heilman, has made regular appearances on a right-wing podcast in which the host and his guests often criticized or spread misinformation about government attempts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Schell in August said he wasnt aware of Heilmans views on the pandemic response, but said, whatever Father Heilmans views are, that does not affect me as a principal. Schell also drew criticism on Aug. 13 for announcing that masks would be optional last year at the school. He also shared with some parents a nine-page list of links to studies or articles purportedly questioning the effectiveness of masks and pointing to their alleged negative health effects. The school later reversed course on the mask requirement, in line with Dane Countys mandate at the time. In his Oct. 7 letter, Hying writes that he had heard various rumors, gossip, lies and calumny concerning Mr. Schell, but when pressed, the people alleging such things couldnt come up with the necessary details to justify launching a review of Schells work. What I do hear from some quarters is disregard and resistance to the increased Catholic practice within the school, he wrote. We dont need all that Jesus stuff is an actual quote from a school parent. He claimed the absence of most school parents from weekly Mass and other participation in the church suggests to me that many do not want an actual Catholic school, but simply a private Madison school which is academically excellent. It seems that if you arent the right kind of Catholic, you arent good enough for SMG anymore, Kandiko said. Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 20 (ANI/NewsVoir): Avesthagen Limited, a biotechnology major that specializes in predictive, preventive and personalized healthcare through the convergence of food, pharma and population genetics, has entered into a four-year strategic alliance with Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, for making its genetic testing portfolio commercial. The portfolio includes genome panels offering highly specific, disease-centric analysis for conditions including cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders and rare disease conditions. Also Read | Realme C30 With 5,000mAh Battery Launched in India at Rs 7,499. Together, Avesthagen and Wipro will execute the project titled, "Cancer Risk Assessed by NGS profiling of Circulating free DNA and RNA for Lung Cancer Project related Genomics Sequencing services." The Project will be jointly led by Avesthagen and Wipro where Wipro's state-of-the-art Lifesciences lab will perform initial processing of the samples, generate data on the latest Next-generation sequencing platforms, compile genomic sequences and analyze detailed molecular information using computational AI/ML based tools. Wipro's expertise across multi-disciplinary areas of genomics and biomarker discovery, will help Avesthagen in building well-regulated workflows during the development of CALiBRx gene panels. The tests would be predominantly offered in super specialty clinics and hospitals that focus on oncological disorders. It will later strategically release diagnostic tools that address upper respiratory cancers such as head, neck and esophageal cancers. In the medium and long term, the project would lead to a new generation of genome-led medicine. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: 8 Months On, Woman Held for Husband's Murder in Satna. CALiBRxO - the 624 gene panel - will be available in the market from Q3 2022 and will target cancers and neurological conditions. It presents a targeted screening approach of 624 genes implicated in oncological conditions. "Genomics based innovation is part of Avesthagen's DNA. The Avestagenome Project that we started in 2008 is the largest epidemiological study ever conducted on a consanguineous population worldwide. The diagnostic tools portfolio that we are launching today is the result of the collective knowledge we have amassed since and are looking forward to working with WIPRO to take clinical genetics based precision diagnostics to the people," says Dr Villoo Morawala-Patell, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Avesthagen Limited. "We are excited to join forces with Avesthagen Limited. This partnership will leverage our Tarang Lifesciences labs and R&D expertise, with the goal of identifying new disease specific biomarkers, improving genomic diversity, better healthcare outcomes and smart precision therapeutics," says Srikumar Rao, General Manager and Delivery Leader, Wipro Engineering, Wipro Limited. As per Cancer Statistics, 2020: Report From National Cancer Registry Programme, India, Lung cancer is estimated to account for over one lakh cases in the next five years in India, and almost half of the patients get diagnosed when the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body, thus critically reducing their chances of survival. This highlights the importance of identifying it at an early stage in order to increase the survival rate. The India launch will be followed by expansion in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the MENA region in Q4 2022. Over the next decade, it will license its IP and product outcomes to digital health, pharma and food companies and Fortune 500 biotech companies. Set up in 2001, Avesthagen is an India-based globally-focused biotechnology company with a corporate mission to utilize innovative science to develop new products and novel technologies for predictive, preventive and personalized healthcare and food security through the convergence of food, pharmaceuticals and population genetics. Through the Avestagenome Project, it has been championing the cause of genomic data bias where India with 1.3 billion people represents 20 per cent of the world's population but contributes less than 1 per cent of genomic data and insights. Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, Cloud, analytics, and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. The company is recognized worldwide for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, and has more than 240,000 dedicated employees serving customers on six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better, bolder future. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) The action that armed forces took during the Ladakh standoff in 2020 was a "whole of nation effort" and credited to the coordination among the three services and the strong will of the Indian jawans who held their posts despite harsh weather conditions at such high altitudes, former Army chief Gen (retired) M M Naravane said on Monday. Addressing an event here, he also said that whatever actions the armed forces take would not be possible if "our jawans are not good". Also Read | Delhi: Water Supply Situation Improved Marginally, Say Jal Board Officials. "We say the man behind the gun, and the man behind the gun is our jawans, our strength," Naravane said. Later, when reporters asked about his views on the Agnipath scheme announced by the government recently, he declined to comment. The Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment in the armed forces has triggered protests in several parts of the country. Also Read | Congress Appoints Supriya Shrinate As New Social Media Head. Two books, one each on the India-China standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Balakot airstrike, written by two senior journalists, were released on Monday in the presence of Gen Naravane and former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (retired) RKS Bhadauria. "I have shared this earlier in my press conferences too that during the time when the tension was going on at the LAC, the three service chiefs used to meet every morning at 9 AM at my office and assess what action had been taken and what to do next," Naravane said. The former Army chief termed the actions taken during the standoff a "whole of nation effort" to which all three services contributed. "And, it was not just the armed forces, but whole government, whole of nation, at political, diplomatic and military levels, were contributing to it. And, this should be the way forward too...whatever actions we take in the future, it should be jointly done," Naravane said. The coordination between the three services was of "very high quality" during the standoff, he added. "The actions that we took, it would not have been possible if the Indian Air Force had not fully supported us," said the former Army chief, who retired in April 2022. Following the escalation in tension in eastern Ladakh in June in 2020, the IAF had deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets such as Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 as well as its attack helicopters in the key air bases in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control. "And, thirdly, whatever actions we take, it would not be possible, if our jawans (soldiers) are not good. Whatever orders they got, they acted upon it, despite such harsh weather conditions. At such heights, in harsh winter they held their posts. And, this is the reason why we were able to achieve that success," he said. Naravane said that when soldiers take part in any action, their "tales of valour" are not seen by a reporter or a TV journalist, and it is important that military historians tell their stories to their fellow citizens. "The story of 'jawans' should be told and reach the entire nation and the youth -- that this is Indian armed forces....We say the man behind the gun, and the man behind the gun is our jawans, our strength," he said. Air Chief Marshal (retired) Bhadauria, in his address, said it is important that books on military actions should "keep a gap" between what action is being written about and how it actually happened on ground, in the interest of national security. Gen Naravane, on the sidelines of the event, also said that a delicate balance has to be struck between what is going to the public domain through published material like a book and what needs to kept within the confines of the armed forces as these are sensitive matters. The Indian Air Force had struck a terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jaipur, Jun 20 (PTI) Defending the Agnipath scheme, Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia on Monday said the defence recruitment model is not against anyone but in favour of the country, its military and patriotic people. The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years in the armed forces for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. Youths in several parts of the country have been protesting against the contentious scheme. Over the past few days, incidents of protesters vandalising railway stations, setting trains on fire and blocking roads and railway tracks have been reported from different cities and towns. Poonia asked the youth to refrain from violence and understand the advantages of the scheme. Also Read | Maharashtra MLC Elections 2022: Supreme Court Dismisses Pleas of Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh To Cast Vote for MLC Polls. "This scheme is not against anyone. This is in favour of India, its military and patriotic people. Agniveers who will come out after four years of service will have job opportunities in many ways," he said at the 'Meet The Press' event here. Poonia said damaging public property and violence is not patriotism. "It is a scheme to make the country stronger and youths should understand it," he added. Reacting to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's allegations of BJP working on a Hindutva agenda, Poonia said people of the majority community too have human rights and if they are violated, then speaking about it is not Hindutva. He also accused the chief minister of appeasing the minority community and claimed that Mewat region in Alwar has witnessed several cases of "land Jihad" and "love Jihad" under the Congress rule. Poonia further said the Congress government has failed to fulfil the pre-poll promises. "The unemployment rate in Rajasthan is 32 per cent, which is the highest in the country. Deteriorating law and order and crimes against women continue to remain a challenge," he claimed. He further said "infighting" in the Congress has impacted governance in the state run by that party. "Justice cannot be expected from a government when it is battling infighting. Three-and-a-half-years of Congress rule has left the people of the state disappointed," he said. Poonia expressed hope that the BJP will win the 2023 assembly elections and form the next government in the state. Lauding the Narendra Modi-led central government for the work it has done in the last eight years, Poonia said the country has "transformed" under the BJP rule. He also said that the structure of the BJP has strengthened in Rajasthan under him. "We have worked with an innovative approach and several social activities were undertaken by us. More innovations will be done in the time to come," he said. Poonia informed that a state-level training camp of party workers will be held from July 10 to 12 in Sirohi. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday apprehended a Joint Drug Controller (JDC) posted at CDSCO Headquarters and a private person in an alleged bribery case in Delhi. The accused were identified as S. Eswara Reddy, Joint Drug Controller (India) at Head Quarter of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in New Delhi, Guljit Sethi alias Guljit Chaudhary, Director, M/s Bioinnovat Research Services Private Limited, Dinesh Dua, Director, M/s Synergy Network India Private Limited, L. Praveen Kumar, Associate Vice President and Head-National Regulatory Affairs (NRA), M/s Biocon Biologics Limited, Bangalore, Animesh Kumar, Assistant Drug Inspector (ADI), CDSCO and other unidentified officials of CDSCO. Also Read | Pune: Woman Who Claimed To Be Second Wife of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde Booked for Hurling Casteist Abuse. "S. Eswara Reddy, Joint Drug Controller (India) (JDC) at Head Quarter of CDSCO in New Delhi and Dinesh Dua, Director, M/s Synergy Network India Private Limited have been apprehended," said a senior CBI official. CBI informed that a case was registered against a Joint Drug Controller (India) (JDC), CDSCO Headquarters, New Delhi and others including Directors, Associate Vice President and Head-National Regulatory Affairs (NRA) of separate private companies, two based in New Delhi and another at Bengaluru; Assistant Drug Inspector (ADI), CDSCO, New Delhi and other unknown officials of CDSCO in New Delhi and unknown others. Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Man Buys Car With 60,000 Rs 10 Coins in Dharmapuri. It was alleged that the accused was trying to exert undue influence on officers of CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (GOI), Delhi to waive the Phase III trial of "Insulin Aspart Injection". It was further alleged that the accused agreed to pay a bribe amount of Rs 9 lakh to JDC, CDSCO for favourably processing the said three files related to a private company based in Bangalore and also for favourably recommending the file of "Insulin Aspart injection" to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) meeting. CBI laid a trap wherein the JDC of CDSCO was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh from the Director of a Delhi-based private company. The said Director of Delhi-based private company was also caught. Searches were conducted at 11 places located in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Patna, and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of incriminating documents/articles. The investigation is underway into the matter. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Agartala, Jun 20 (PTI) Congress nominee from Agartala Assembly constituency for an upcoming by-election, Sudip Roy Barman, suffered injuries after miscreants attacked him with bricks at Ujan Abjoynagar here, police said on Monday. Roy Barman, a former minister and a five-time MLA, has been admitted to hospital and his condition is stated to be out of danger, a party leader said. Also Read | SpiceJet Fire Case: Airline Chief Lauds Pilots, 'Captain Monica Khanna' & 'Officer Balpreet Singh', As the Flight Hit by Bird Lands Safely in Patna. The incident took place late on Sunday when he visited the house of Congress worker Alok Goswami, whose house came under attack by a group of youths on Sunday night, a police officer said. The youths had gathered outside the house of Goswami, a BJP worker who had recently joined the Congress, Officer-in- Charge of Abhoynagar Outpost, Uttam Paul, said. Also Read | Rajasthan BJP to Make Youth Aware of Draconian Emergency Chapter, Says State BJP President Satish Poonia. A scuffle ensued between the group and the personal security guards of Roy Barman after he reached Goswami's residence, the OC said. Before we could reach the place, the former MLA was hit by bricks and he fell to the ground. One of the police officers also suffered injuries, he said. Roy Barman, who switched over to the grand old party from the BJP earlier this year, suffered a fracture in his nasal bone due to the impact of the bricks, said Sikha Deb, a Mohila Congress leader. We have not received any written complaint yet regarding the incident involving the former MLA, Paul said. Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Birajit Sinha condemned the attack on Roy Barman, alleging that the situation turned worse after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's visit to the state on Sunday for the by-election campaign. I appeal to voters to give a befitting reply to the BJP-sponsored gundaraj' through ballots in the June 23 by-polls, he said. Meanwhile, the BJP (Agartala Mandal) has lodged a complaint with police, alleging that a group of Congress supporters damaged its flags and festoons at Ujan Abhoynagar on Sunday night. By-polls to four assembly segments are scheduled to be held on June 23. Counting of votes will take place on June 26. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight from Guwahati returned to Guwahati airport due to a suspected bird hit after the takeoff on Sunday. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Delhi and the aircraft was inspected. Also Read | Smriti Irani, Union Minister, Tests COVID-19 Positive for Second Time. "IndiGo Airbus A320neo (VT-ITB) operating flight 6E 6394 from Guwahati-Delhi returned to Guwahati airport, due to a suspected bird hit after takeoff. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Delhi. The aircraft is being held on the ground for necessary inspections," the IndiGo said in a statement. This was a third such incident in a day when a flight made an emergency landing. Also Read | Bharat Bandh: Punjab Police Directed To Remain on High Alert Ahead of Protest Against Agnipath Scheme on June 20. Earlier on Sunday evening, a Jabalpur-bound SpiceJet flight landed back at the Delhi Airport after it failed to regain the cabin pressure differential even after attaining a height of 6,000 feet. According to a statement by the spokesperson of the airline, the cabin pressure differential was unable to be built up as the altitude of the cabin rose from the ground. Earlier, in another incident concerning the airline, a SpiceJet Boeing 737 with about 185 people on board passengers returned safely to Patna soon after an emergency landing on Sunday afternoon following the reports of a fire in one of the engines. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials said that the plane (VT-SYZ), prima facie, was involved in air turnback as the cabin crew informed PIC about sparks coming out of the engine. During the rotation, the cockpit crew suspected a bird hit on the engine. Later, the crew did not observe any abnormality and the flight resumed further climb. "The flight returned back after a bird hit and due to one engine shut in the air, all on-board passengers safe," the officials added. On Sunday afternoon, a Delhi-bound Spice Jet aircraft made an emergency landing at Patna airport after there were reports of a technical glitch which prompted fire inside the plane. All the passengers were safely rescued. "The Delhi-bound flight had returned to Patna airport after locals noticed a fire in the aircraft and informed district and airport officials. All 185 passengers were safely deboarded. The reason is a technical glitch, engineering team analysing further," said Chandrashekhar Singh, Patna District Magistrate told media persons. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, June 20: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for the fourth day of questioning in the National Herald money laundering case. A day after his 52nd birthday, Gandhi arrived at the ED headquarters on the APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi at 11.05 am with his "Z+" category CRPF security escort. Rahul Gandhi ED Probe: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Gives Rahul Gandhi Supporter Lift To Protest Site (Watch Video). A huge contingent of police and paramilitary personnel was deployed around the federal agency's office even as Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been imposed in the adjoining area like last week. Leaving the ED office for over an hour-long break, the former Congress chief re-joined the questioning around 4:45 pm. Senior Congress leaders and workers held a protest at Jantar Mantar here against the ED action and the Centre's Agnipath defence recruitment scheme. Gandhi, the Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad, has spent around 35 hours at the ED office during these four days, where he was questioned over multiple sessions and his statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The fourth day of questioning was deferred from June 17 to Monday after Gandhi requested the agency for postponing it as he wanted to be with his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is in hospital for post-Covid issues. The probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper. The ED is understood to be asking Rahul Gandhi about the incorporation of the Young Indian Private Limited, operations of the National Herald, the loan given by the party to the newspaper's publisher Associated Journals Limited (AJL), and the transfer of funds within the news media establishment. Sonia Gandhi has also been summoned by the agency for questioning in the case on June 23. The Congress has accused the BJP-led Centre of targeting the opposition leaders by "misusing" investigative agencies and has termed the entire action "political vendetta". Agency sources said the role of Gandhi and his detailed statement in the case is vital as he is a "major shareholder" (38 per cent) in Young Indian Private Limited and an "important person" in the affairs of AJL and the National Herald. It is understood that the agency has put across questions to him about the assets owned by AJL. According to sources, Rahul Gandhi was reportedly asked about a loan of Rs 1 crore taken by Young Indian Private Limited from a Kolkata-based company in February 2011 and the rationale behind it. The questions put to Gandhi, the sources indicated, cover a period starting from 2011 when Young Indian Private Limited was incorporated. It has also been learnt that the questions cover the changes that took place in the shareholding pattern of the company thereafter, the procedures followed, and the salaries and VRS were given to journalists working in the organisation among other issues. The Congress has denied any wrongdoing in the case, saying Young Indian Private Limited is a non-profit company established under Section 25 of the Companies Act. It said that AJL, which was established in 1937, faced huge debts and the Congress, from 2002 to 2011, gave Rs 90 crore to the National Herald newspaper, out of which Rs 66 crore was used to pay the salaries and VRS of journalists and staffers. The rest of the money was given to the government as a pending lease amount for the assets held by AJL, its electricity and building expenses and house tax, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had said. Party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal were questioned in this case recently, and Kharge said he gave "evidence" to the agency during his questioning. The ED recently registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax department's probe against Young Indian based on a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders of Young Indian Private Limited. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholding. Swamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian Private Limited paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress. In February last year, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response to Swamy's plea, seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court. The Gandhis had secured separate bails from the court in 2015 after they furnished personal bonds of Rs 50,000 and one surety. They, however, had contended in the high court that Swamy's plea was "misconceived and premature". The other accused in the case filed by Swamy are close aides of the Gandhis -- Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda. They have denied any wrongdoing. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Sangrur (Pb), Jun 20 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said every single pre-poll promise made to the people of Punjab will be fulfilled and asserted that work on some has already started. He said as announced by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, 300 units of free electricity will be given to every house per month from July 1. Also Read | Delhi: Water Supply Situation Improved Marginally, Say Jal Board Officials. Kejriwal also talked about giving jobs to the youth on a big scale and said the process for this has already started. "All promises we made to the people, every single promise will be fulfilled. AAP will fulfill every single guarantee (promise)," he said. Also Read | Congress Appoints Supriya Shrinate As New Social Media Head. To clean the "mess" which the previous regimes had created for the past 70 years may take some time but slowly we will once again make Punjab rangla (vibrant), he said. Kejriwal, along with Mann, was addressing a gathering during his roadshow held in the evening here in support of Gurmail Singh, who is AAP's candidate for the June 23 Sangrur Lok Sabha bypolls. The bypoll was necessitated after Mann, who became the chief minister of Punjab following the Aam Aadmi Party's landslide victory, resigned as Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur. Kejriwal, who is also the Delhi chief minister, reiterated that the Mann-led dispensation has zero tolerance towards corruption and said anyone found indulging in wrongdoing will be dealt with sternly as per law. Ahead of the February Punjab Assembly polls, the AAP had made a slew of 'guarantees' (poll promises) including free power of 300 units and transferring Rs 1,000 per month into account of every woman in Punjab. Mann had earlier announced that 300 units of free electricity each month for every household in the state from July 1. "We have started work on our guarantees. Mann sahab has announced that from July 1, 300 units of free power will be given in the entire Punjab. I was discussing with Mann sahab that in this budget (Mann govt's first budget to be presented next week), work to set right government schools will start, like we did in Delhi. Mohalla clinics will also be set up. All works will start, but it may take some time," Kejriwal said. Speaking in Jalandhar last week, Kejriwal had said people of Punjab gave the party overwhelming mandate and I know that there are high expectations from us. All the promises we made to the people will be fulfilled, keep faith in us, he had said. Kejriwal alleged that corruption had flourished under previous regimes in the state but the AAP was strictly against it. He also referred to state Health minister Vijay Singla being sacked from the Cabinet recently over graft charges, and later sent to jail, to assert that the AAP government will not tolerate any act of wrongdoing even if it involves its own leader. Never before has it happened in India's history that a government sacked its own minister and sent him to jail. "...We will not spare anyone who indulges in corruption," he said. Both Kejriwal and Mann appealed to people of Sangrur to elect Gurmail to the Lok Sabha and make him "your voice" in Parliament. Addressing the gathering, Mann said people of Sangrur are famous for starting a new revolution and like they had elected him as an MP in 2014 and 2019, they will now send Gurmail to Parliament so that "people's voice" is strongly raised there. He said he toured the entire Sangrur parliamentary constituency and people told him that his government has the right intent and they have seen the work done by it in just three months of coming tom power. Hitting out at the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre on the Agnipath issue, Mann said it brought demonetisation, Citizenship Amendment Act, now-repealed farm laws "which were opposed by the youth, farmers and general public". "The situation is such that when the BJP makes laws, a curfew has to be imposed first," he said. Mann alleged that the BJP is a friend of only big corporates but the AAP promotes small traders, industrialists, farmers and labourers. The AAP's goal is to work for the welfare of people and improve their standard of living to make the state as "rangla (vibrant) Punjab" once again. The AAP has fielded Gurmail Singh, who is the party's Sangrur district in-charge, while the Congress has placed its bet on former Dhuri MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy. The BJP has fielded former Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon, who joined the party on June 4. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann is also contesting the election. Kamaldeep Kaur, sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassination case, has been fielded by the Shiromani Akali Dal. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 20 (ANI): Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Monday attended the 75th-anniversary celebrations of LD College of Engineering, Ahmedabad. The event 'Samarpan' saw the participation of college students, faculty, staff and alumni of the institute. The event will continue for two more days. Also Read | Jharkhand Board Result 2022: JAC Class 10, 12 Science Stream Results To Be Declared Tomorrow. Addressing the event, Patel said that he was proud of the students and recalled memories of his college days. "The graph of LD College so far makes us feel proud," said Patel. Also Read | EPFO Adds 17.08 Lakh Net Subscribers in April 2022. The chief minister said Gujarat has made rapid strides in education under the guidance of PM Modi. "Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi, Gujarat has made great strides in the field of education and the foundation of education has also become very strong," he said. LD College of Engineering is one of the oldest institutes in Gujarat. The engineering college is marking its diamond jubilee celebrations. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda on Monday will meet senior leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Van Nen (Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Secretary, Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee) at BJP Head Office in the national capital. The meeting is scheduled for 12 noon on Monday. Also Read | Smriti Irani, Union Minister, Tests COVID-19 Positive for Second Time. This meeting is the continuation of the BJP's outreach program "Know BJP" through which the BJP President is interacting with foreign dignitaries. The "Know BJP" campaign was started on the party's 42nd Foundation Day on April 6, 2022. Its second phase was held on May 16, 2022, while the third meeting took place on June 4 2022. Also Read | Bharat Bandh: Punjab Police Directed To Remain on High Alert Ahead of Protest Against Agnipath Scheme on June 20. "Know BJP" campaign is the BJP's initiative to introduce the party's vision, mission and work culture to different countries of the world. Under this program, Nadda has so far interacted with Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Minister for Foreign Relations of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan and also envoys of 47 countries. General Secretary (Organization) BL Santhosh, BJP National Secretary Rituraj Sinha and Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, the party's in-charge of the Foreign Affairs Department will join Nadda in this meeting. The Foreign Affairs Department, in its newest avatar, was launched by the then BJP President Amit Shah in November 2014 with Chauthaiwala as its Chairman. Earlier on June 11, Nadda met the envoys of 13 foreign countries and said that is a need for better communication between the political systems and political parties of different countries to understand the vision of each other. Nadda interacted with "Head of Missions" from 13 countries at the party's central office in the fourth phase of the "Know BJP" campaign. Addressing the visiting diplomats, Nadda said, "It is our belief that there should be better communication between the political system and political parties of different countries so that we can understand the vision of each other." The BJP firmly believes in a healthy democracy and shared cultural ties, he said. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) The Congress on Monday alleged that two MLAs of the opposition BJP cast their votes in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls with the help of assistants and submitted a complaint to poll officials. Also Read | The Factional Fight in #TamilNadus Opposition @AIADMKOfficial Has Peaked with the Group Latest Tweet by IANS India. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. Voting for the elections to 10 MLC seats was held between 9 am and 4 pm at the Legislature Complex here. All 285 eligible MLAs cast their vote, including some ailing legislators who were taken in wheelchairs inside the Legislature complex, an official said. Senior Congress leader and Maharashtra minister Ashok Chavan said two legislators of BJP--Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap- signed on the ECI's register. If they could sign on the register, there was no need for an assistant to be with them to fill in the preferential ballot paper during the election". Tilak and Jagtap have allegedly taken assistance to cast their votes. "The objection is raised by Congress party's candidates for the MLC election,'' said Chavan. He said a written application objecting to the votes cast by Tilak and Jagtap has been submitted to the returning officer of the Election Commission of India. "Officials concerned will take a call on the objections raised by the Congress candidates," he added. Tilak, who is suffering from a serious ailment, arrived in a car at the Vidhan Bhavan building after travelling from Pune. She was then taken inside the Legislature Complex in a wheelchair to cast her ballot. Jagtap, who has been bed-ridden for a long time, arrived at the Vidhan Bhavan from Pune in an ambulance. He was also taken in a wheelchair to the central hall of the Vidhan Bhavan building to cast his vote. However, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, said, "We (BJP) had taken proper permission from the ECI to allow them (Tilak and Jagtap) to cast their votes with an assistant. It is highly insensitive to raise objections regarding the legislators who are unwell. It is an attempt to waste time." It is to be noted that Tilak and Jagtap had taken similar permission from the ECI for casting their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. Both the MLAs had cast their votes with assistants but no objections were raised on that day. Former principal secretary to Vidhan Bhavan, Anant Kalse, said, "If a legislator is unwell, he or she can seek proper permission from the ECI to exercise the franchise with the help of an assistant. The assisting person should be above 18 years." A total of 11 candidates are in the fray for the 10 seats, with the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress fielding two candidates each. The opposition BJP in the state has nominated five candidates. In the tight contest, the role of Independents and smaller parties is being seen as crucial since the MVA is trying to avenge the embarrassing defeat handed by the BJP in the June 10 RS polls wherein Shiv Sena's second nominee, Sanjay Pawar, lost to BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) A 40-year-old man and his associate were arrested for allegedly killing the former's wife on suspicion over her character, a Mumbai police official said on Monday. Also Read | Maharashtra | Nine Dead Bodies Have Been Recovered in Mhaisal Village of Sangli District, Latest Tweet by ANI. Satish Zaavle and his associate Swapnil Pawar were held on Sunday night for the killing that took place in Chembur's MG Road area, the Tilaknagar police station official said. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. "Zaavle and Pawar stabbed Deepali, a beautician, several times. Zaavle tried to flee from the spot but was chased by onlookers, and to escape their fury came and sat inside a police patrol van and confessed to what he had done," he said. The woman, who was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital, had been staying with her mother in Chembur due to domestic strife, investigating officer Sandeep Pawar said. Zaavle and his associate have been arrested and charged with murder and other offences, the official said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Agra (UP), Jun 20 (PTI) The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will not charge any entry fee at the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and other monuments on the occasion of International Day of Yoga on June 21, an official said on Monday. Superintending Archaeologist of ASI (Agra Circle) Rajkumar Patel told PTI, "On the occasion of International Yoga Day, there will be free entry tickets for tourists at Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and other ASI-protected monuments in Agra Circle and across India. The entry will be free for the entire day for all tourists, Indians and foreigners." Also Read | Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi Summoned by ED in National Herald Case for 5th Time. Meanwhile, district officials said Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will perform yoga with a large number of people from all sections of the society at 'Panch Mahal' in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur Sikri on the occasion of International Day of Yoga. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bhubaneswar, Jun 20 (PTI) The Odisha government Monday decided to cover eight crops for Kharif season 2022 and nine crops for Rabi season 2022-23 under the Crop Insurance Scheme, officials said. This was decided in the State Level Crop Insurance Coordination Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. While reviewing the performances under crop insurance, the chief secretary directed insurance companies to ensure cent per cent disbursal of all settled amount directly to bank account of the farmers within a couple of weeks. He emphasized, "Farmers' issues cannot be delayed and all their genuine claims must be paid on priority". The chief secretary made it clear to the companies that any delay in this matter would be seriously viewed by the government. Also Read | Maharashtra MLC Elections 2022: Supreme Court Dismisses Pleas of Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh To Cast Vote for MLC Polls. Mohapatra also directed the departments of agriculture and farmers' empowerment, food supplies and consumer welfare and Odisha space application centre to prepare the plan for crop wise area and yield assessment' through space technology. Development Commission PK Jena asked officials to choose from among the proven technologies and customize those as per state's agro-climatic zones. He also said that the satellite imagery would be quite helpful in data sanitization, evidence-based planning and wider coverage of crop insurance. The meeting also resolved that satellite verification of crop area and yield' would be done for all croplands from the coming year. The eight crops - paddy, groundnut, maize, arhar, ragi, cotton, ginger, and turmeric would be insured during the Kharif season 2022, and nine crops - paddy, groundnut, black-gram, green-gram, mustard, sunflower, sugarcane, potato, and onion would be insured for the Rabi season. Generally, gram panchayat and urban local body would be the insurance unit for paddy, and block would be the insurance unit for non-paddy crops. July 31 would be the cut-off date for enrolment of Kharif insurance, said Special Secretary Agriculture SK Chadha. Director Agriculture Muthu Kumar said: Crop insurance in the state is being done under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana ( PMBSY) with funding support from both the state and central government. Around 98 per cent of the premium amount against each crop is provided by the central and state government on an equal basis, and about 2 per cent is contributed by the concerned farmer. About 12.30 lakh farmers with 10.50 lakh hectares cropland were enrolled during Kharif season of 2021 while the enrolment in Rabi season of 2021-22 was around 0.34 lakh farmers and 0.41 hectares of cropland. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime minister on Monday sought a wider panel of names for the post of director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, official sources said. The tenure of the incumbent AIIMS director, Dr Randeep Guleria, which was set to end on March 24, was extended by three months. Also Read | 20th Folk Fair 2022: Promoting Indias Tribal Culture Read Here: Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services. Earlier in March, the names of three doctors, short-listed by a search-cum-selection committee and subsequently approved by the Institute Body, the top decision-making body of the AIIMS, were sent to the ACC for final approval. The three AIIMS doctors whose names were recommended earlier were Nikhil Tandon, head of the department of endocrinology; Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and the head of the department of orthopaedics; and Pramod Garg, professor in the gastroenterology department. Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Man Buys Car With 60,000 Rs 10 Coins in Dharmapuri. "...the Competent Authority in the ACC has directed to return the instant proposal with the request to send a wider panel of names for consideration of the ACC," an official source told PTI, quoting an office memorandum sent to the Union Health Ministry by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Personnel and Training on June 20. The four-member search-cum-selection committee tasked with short-listing names for the AIIMS director's post is headed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. Apart from Bhushan, the committee includes Secretary of Department of Biotechnology Rajesh S Gokhale, Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K Vijay Raghavan, and Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Sangrur (Punjab) [India], June 20 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal conducted a series of roadshows in Sangrur constituency's Barnala and Sunam on Monday. The Delhi CM was accompanied by his Punjab counterpart CM Bhagwant Maan and candidate Gurmail Singh. Both the AAP CMs sought Sangrur's votes for Gurmail. AAP has chosen one of its sitting Sarpanchs for a seat in the Parliament, who is also the current Sangrur district president of the party. Also Read | COVID-19 Cases Rising in India As People Are Not Following Appropriate Behaviour, Says Health Expert. Arvind Kejriwal began road show by lauding the efforts made by the Mann Government for working with a sense of urgency on pressing issues in Punjab. He said, ''It was your love and faith which made us win the Punjab assembly elections. You chose Bhagwant Mann as your CM and his government came into action immediately after coming to power.'' ''The previous governments created a huge mess in Punjab in the past 75 years. They have looted the state when they were in power. It's been only three months. We have started working to take Punjab on the path of development but it will take some time to see results," said Kejriwal. Also Read | Pune: Woman Who Claimed To Be Second Wife of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde Booked for Hurling Casteist Abuse. He also highlighted Punjab CM's attempts of providing electricity in his home state. "Bhagwant Mann has already announced that 300 units of electricity will be provided to every household of Punjab free of cost from July 1. This is the first of the many promises which we have fulfilled. I was discussing with Mann Sahab where he told me that the upcoming budget will pay special attention to the quality of education imparted in government schools in Punjab,'' he added. He also stressed that various schemes are in the pipeline and requested the citizens to be patient. He also said, ''We are working tirelessly to uproot corruption from Punjab. One of our ministers was found to be indulging in corruption. Mann took action against him on his own as the media and the opposition did not have any clue regarding this. He was sent to prison, which happened for the first time in India. Our stand on corruption is clear.'' He concluded by saying ''Bhgwant Maan was the only MP in Lok Sabha from Aam Aadmi Party and he used to raise issues affecting Punjab in the house. Now he has become the Chief Minister. We have to ensure that Punjab has a credible representative in the Lok Sabha who makes sure that their voice gets heard there. I am requesting you all to send Gurmail Singh to the Lok Sabha so that he can take up your issues and raise them in front of the country. Press the 'Jhaadu' and ensure that we win the election by a double margin than what we got last time.'' Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann also spoke on the occasion. ''The people of Sangrur have to break their own record this time. You have supported us a lot. You elected us as your representative from the Sangrur constituency twice and sent us to the Lok Sabha. You have to make sure that the Aam Aadmi Party scores a hat trick of victory here by voting for us in heavy numbers. We have to work together to make Punjab 'Rangla Punjab' again,'' concluded CM Mann.(ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 20 (ANI): Amid protests against the Centre's new Agnipath recruitment scheme, security has been beefed up in many places including Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur. Speaking to ANI about the situation preparedness, RPF IG Tarique Ahmad said, "We have made full arrangements. Everyone including GRP, RPF and civil police has been deployed...I appeal to the students not to get misled by anti-social elements." Also Read | Realme C30 With 5,000mAh Battery Launched in India at Rs 7,499. "Timely announcements are being made, and there is a help desk for the public. Passengers can get all the information at the help desk," added RPF IG Tarique Ahmad on trains' cancellation amid Bharat Bandh calls over the Agnipath Scheme. After the policy, which allows Indian youths to serve in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces for a period of four years, was announced on June 14, protests erupted in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. As the agitation intensified in some places, protestors went on the rampage setting trains on fire, torching vehicles and damaging both private and public properties. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: 8 Months On, Woman Held for Husband's Murder in Satna. Meanwhile, over 80 trains have been cancelled on Monday amid the protests in various parts of the country against the new recruitment scheme in the Armed Forces. A total of 18 East-bound train services scheduled from different Northern Railway terminals have been cancelled today, according to Northern Railways. It further informed that as many as 71 Delhi area-bound commuter trains (including return services) have also been dismissed for today in the wake of the protests against the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme. Train services of the Western Railway zone were affected yesterday as well. Security has been beefed up in several states on Monday amid protests against the Centre's new Agnipath recruitment scheme. After the policy, which allows Indian youths to serve in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces for a period of four years, was announced on June 14, protests erupted in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. As the agitation intensified in some places, protestors went on the rampage setting trains on fire, torching vehicles and damaging both private and public properties. Congress will also hold "peaceful" protests across the country on Monday against the "anti-youth" Agnipath recruitment scheme. Taking to Twitter, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday, "Tomorrow lakhs of Congress workers across the country will continue peaceful protests against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme and against Modi government's vendetta politics targeting its MP Rahul Gandhi." Several organisations will stage protests against the Agnipath scheme at Jantar Mantar in the national capital today. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai too will join the protest."A joint movement will be organized at Jantar Mantar in Delhi at 11 am on June 20 against the Agnipath scheme," Rai had said in a tweet on Friday. A total of 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year but a top military officer said it will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future. The entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been fixed as 17.5 to 21 years of age. However, following protests, the Central government announced an increase in the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022 as it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years. In Rajasthan's Jaipur, prohibitory orders under section 144 have been imposed from 6 pm on Sunday till midnight of August 18 in the view of the possibility of disturbance to law and order due to the protests. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) The three service chiefs are likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately on Tuesday to brief him about the Agnipath scheme as well as their plan for its implementation. The meetings are being planned amid widespread protests in several states against the new military recruitment scheme. Also Read | Pune: Woman Who Claimed To Be Second Wife of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde Booked for Hurling Casteist Abuse. It is learnt that the chiefs would apprise the prime minister about various aspects of implementation of the scheme. There was no official word about the meetings between the prime minister and the service chiefs. Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Man Buys Car With 60,000 Rs 10 Coins in Dharmapuri. Several parts of the country witnessed violent protests after the new military recruitment model was announced on June 14. The Agnipath scheme provides for recruitment of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Days later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022. The personnel to be recruited under the new scheme will be known as 'Agniveers'. Several opposition parties as well as military veterans criticised the scheme questioning the four-year-tenure for 75 per cent of the recruits. The government has been strongly defending the scheme, saying the "transformative reform" measure for recruitment into the armed forces will provide an opportunity to the youth to serve the nation. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jaipur, Jun 20 (PTI) A 16-year-old tigress was found dead in Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan's Alwar district on Monday, officials said. The tigress codenamed ST-3 was almost 16 years old and the carcass was found in the afternoon in Baghani area of Sariska, a forest department official said. Also Read | Pune: Woman Who Claimed To Be Second Wife of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde Booked for Hurling Casteist Abuse. He said that the tigress was unable to move around much in the area and was getting weakened due to old age. With the latest death, the number of big cats, including cubs, has reduced to 24 in Sariska, the officer added. Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Man Buys Car With 60,000 Rs 10 Coins in Dharmapuri. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Traffic in parts of central Delhi will be affected on Monday due to the Congress' protest against the Centre's Agnipath scheme and "vendetta politics" against Rahul Gandhi, according to traffic police. Gandhi is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald money laundering case and will appear before the agency for the fourth time on Monday. Also Read | Realme Narzo 50i Likely To Debut on June 22, 2022: Report. In a series of tweets on Monday, the Delhi Traffic Police informed commuters about road closures. Due to special traffic arrangements, inward movement of buses will be restricted in New Delhi beyond Gol Dak Khana Junction, Patel Chowk, Windsor Place, Teen Murti Chowk and Prithviraj Road, it said. Also Read | Maharashtra Legislative Council Election 2022: Voting Begins for 10 Seats in State Legislature Complex. "Kindly avoid Gol Methi junction, Tughlak Road Junction, Claridges Junction, Q-point Junction, Sunehri Masjid Junction, Maulana Azad Road Junction & Man Singh Road Junction between 0800 hrs & 1200 hrs. Due to special arrangements there will be heavy traffic movement on these roads," it added. The traffic police also advised commuters to avoid Motilal Nehru Marg, Akbar Road, Janpath and Man Singh Road between 8 am and 12 pm. The ED probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper. The newspaper is published by the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Private Limited. The Congress, which has accused the Centre of targeting opposition leaders by misusing investigative agencies, has announced that it will hold peaceful protests on Monday against Gandhi's questioning by the ED. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Guwahati, June 20: Two policemen, including the officer in-charge of a police station, who had rushed with two other personnel to help people marooned by flood waters in Assam's Nagaon district were washed away and their bodies were found on Monday, police said. Kampur police station officer in-charge Sammujal Kakoti had led a four member team of personnel in a boat to Pachonijar Madhupur village after receiving information about the flooding late on Sunday night, state special director general of police G P Singh said. Maharashtra Rains: Toddler Killed in Lightning Strike After Heavy Rainfall in Palghar. But the policemen fell into a waterbody and were washed away. Two policemen were rescued and SDRF personnel fished out two bodies, including that of Kakoti early on Monday after searching for several hours, he said. The other policeman was identified to be Rajiv Bordoloi. "We salute the courage and bravery of sub-inspector Samujjal Kakoti and constable Rajib Bordoloi. Their selfless act will be an inspiration to future generations of Assam police personnel," Singh said. ''We stand with our men and families in this time of grief and salute the courage shown by the brave policemen,'' he added. Assam Floods: Heavy Showers Wreak Havoc in State, Rivers Overflow, Normal Life Affected (See Videos and Pics). Nagaon district has been severely affected by the ongoing devastating flood Assam, with 3,64,459 people impacted by river Kopili which is flowing above the highest flood level at Kampur. A total population of 42,28,157 have been affected in the current wave of floods which has hit 34 districts and claimed 71 lives, officials said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Indian Youth Congress workers on Monday stopped a train at the Shivaji Bridge railway station near Connaught Place here to protest against the questioning of party leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED and to push for their demand for a rollback of the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme. The track was cleared by police and security personnel and train movement resumed after about half-an-hour disruption, sources said. Also Read | Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi Summoned by ED in National Herald Case for 5th Time. Police said a group of IYC protesters had gathered at the Shivaji Bridge railway station They stopped a train there after coming on the railway tracks from where they were removed later. Initially, 16 protesters were detained as police personnel tried to remove them from the tracks and the station, a senior police official, adding they were arrested later. Also Read | COVID-19 Cases Rising in India As People Are Not Following Appropriate Behaviour, Says Health Expert. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Harendra K Singh said on Monday, train number 12439 Nanded Express was stopped at Shivaji Bridge Railway station at about 11.18 am by Youth Congress Workers to protest against Agniveer Scheme of the government and interrogation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate. "ACP Railways and SHO New Delhi Railway Station along with staff reached at the spot, and in coordination with RPF, the agitating people were removed from the track. The train resumed thereafter. However, other trains were moving on the other tracks without any obstructions," he said. "Fifteen males and one female have been arrested and a case has been registered by RPF under section 174 A (by squatting or picketing or during any rail room agitation or bandh) and 147 Railway Act at New Delhi railway police station," Singh added. In a tweet, the IYC said, "Members of the youth Congress stopped the train at Shivaji Bridge while demonstrating against illegal investigation of Shri Rahul Gandhi by ED and ''Agnipath Scheme'' of Central government." The organisation's national president, Srinivas B V, said the IYC will keep fighting for the unemployed youth of the country. "The government needs to rollback the Agniveer scheme. Youth Congress will fight for the unemployed youth of this country who want to serve the country. The IYC stopped the train in Delhi to attract the attention of the autocratic government," he said. IYC members also staged a protest at the nearby Connaught Place. Gandhi on Monday appeared before the ED for the fourth day of questioning in the National Herald money laundering case. Protests have erupted in various parts of the country after the Centre unveiled the Agnipath scheme last Tuesday to recruit youngsters aged between 17.5 and 21 in the army, navy and air force, largely on a four-year contractual basis. It later relaxed the upper age limit for this year's recruitment to 23. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday said all demat accounts of stock brokers, which are untagged, need to be appropriately tagged by June-end. Credit of securities will not be allowed in any demat account left untagged from July 1 onwards. However, credits on account of corporate actions will be permitted, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular. Also Read | Stagflation Risk Low in India Amid Slowing Growth, Says Finance Ministry. Tagging of bank and demat accounts reflect the purpose for which those bank/demat accounts are being maintained and the reporting of such accounts to the stock exchanges/depositories. Sebi further said that debit of securities will also not be allowed in any demat account left untagged from August. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. The stock broker will have to obtain permission from stock exchanges to allow tagging of such demat accounts from August 1 onwards and in turn exchanges need to grant such approval within two working days after imposing penalty as per their internal policy. "All demat accounts of stock brokers which are untagged need to be appropriately tagged by June 30, 2022," Sebi said. The framework will not be applicable for the demat accounts which are used exclusively for banking activities by stock brokers which are also banks. At present, stock brokers are required to maintain demat accounts only under five categories -- proprietary account, pool account, client unpaid securities, client securities margin pledge account and client securities under margin funding account. Under the rules, naming proprietary demat accounts of the stock broker as 'Stock Broker Proprietary Account' is voluntary and accounts which are not tagged would be deemed to be proprietary. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Kochi, Jun 20 (PTI) A 44-year-old Navy officer was found dead in the Naval Hospital here on Monday, the Southern Naval Command (SNC) said. Also Read | LIC Housing Finance Ltd Raises Lending Rates by 60 Basis Points; EMIs To Rise for Borrowers. Lieutenant Commander Santosh Kumar Patro, a native of Odisha, was found dead in the Naval Hospital in the early hours of Monday, a Navy release said. Also Read | EPFO Adds 17.08 Lakh Net Subscribers in April 2022. The Navy said a post-mortem is being conducted and a case has been registered with the local police. The SNC has ordered an inquiry into the matter. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) Chennai-based Shriram Group, which is in the process of merging its two non-banking financial companies, is planning to hire additional 2,500 people for the proposed entity over the next 18-24 months, a top company official said on Monday. Last year in December, the diversified financial group announced the merger of Shriram Capital Ltd (SCL) and Shriram City Union Finance Ltd (SCUF) with Shriram Transport Finance Ltd (STFC). Also Read | Stagflation Risk Low in India Amid Slowing Growth, Says Finance Ministry. The merged entity, to be known as Shriram Finance Ltd, will be the largest retail finance non-banking finance company (NBFC) in the country. SCUF's Managing Director and CEO YS Chakravarti said that currently, the combined employee strength of SCUF and STFC is 51,000. Also Read | Poco X4 GT Confirmed To Be Powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. While STFC has branches in Bihar, Rajasthan, North-East, West Bengal and Odisha, SCUF doesn't have much presence in these states, he said. "Once the merger happens, we will recruit people to sell SCUF's products in these states. We will be adding 2,500 people over the next 18-24 months on the sales, credit and collection sides," Chakravarti, who is also the Managing Director and CEO-designate of the proposed entity, said. SCUF offers two-wheeler, commercial vehicle, passenger vehicle, MSME, gold and home loans, whereas STFC has a presence in the commercial vehicle financing business, consumer finance, life and general insurance and stock broking. In the back offices of SCUF and STFC, he said that there will be the rationalisation of some of the employees, who are going to be re-skilled and moved to the back offices of other group entities. Chakravarti said that post-merger, the group plans to divide the business into five different geographical areas, each being led by a joint managing director (JMD). Last week, the group said it received approval for the merger of SCL and SCUF with STFC from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is now awaiting approval from the insurance regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) and Competition Commission of India (CCI), Chakravarti said. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has called for the voting of creditors and shareholders of STFC, SCUF and SCL, which is expected to be over by July 7, he added. "From there, we expect the NCLT to come back to us with an approval anywhere between 60-90 days," the official said, adding that the merger process is expected to be over by October this year. The merged entity will have a combined asset under management (AUM) of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore and a distribution network of over 3,500 branches, the group had said in December. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea's board is scheduled to meet on June 22 to consider a proposal for raising funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore from Vodafone Group. The fundraising will be through the issuance of equity shares or convertible warrants on a preferential basis to one or more entities belonging to Vodafone Group (one of the promoters of the company). Also Read | EPFO Adds 17.08 Lakh Net Subscribers in April 2022. "... A meeting of the Board of Directors of the company is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, 22nd June 2022... to consider proposal for raising of funds aggregating up to Rs 500 crore, by way of issuance of equity shares and / or convertible warrants on a preferential basis to one or more entities belonging to Vodafone Group (one of the promoters of the company)," VIL said in a filing to BSE on Sunday evening. Over the last few months, Indian telecom operators have been adding more firepower to their arsenal as the market gears up for rollout of 5G services that will usher in ultra high-speeds and spawn new-age offerings and business models. Also Read | Stagflation Risk Low in India Amid Slowing Growth, Says Finance Ministry. The Cabinet, last week, approved the auction of airwaves capable of offering fifth-generation or 5G telecom services and gave its nod for setting up of captive 5G networks by the tech firms. The auction of over 72 GHz of the spectrum will commence on July 26, 2022. The Cabinet has approved 5G auctions at reserve prices recommended by the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). TRAI had recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of 5G spectrum for mobile services. The 5G services will usher in ultra high speeds, nearly 10 times faster than 4G. Icra has estimated that telecom industry is likely to shell out around Rs 1-1.1 lakh crore on the 5G auction, despite telcos' reservations over high spectrum prices, and that sector debt level is likely to rise with upcoming auctions. After experiencing a prolonged bout of financial stress, the telecom service providers - particularly Vodafone Idea - got a shot in the arm with the government, last year, approving a blockbuster relief package that included a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid, and 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route. Following this, debt-ridden Vodafone Idea (VIL) opted for converting about Rs 16,000 crore interest dues liability payable to the government, into equity. This will result in the government holding about 33 per cent stake in the company. Sources at the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently said VIL's equity conversion proposal is in final stages, and required approvals on the same are expected as early as 7-10 days. In March this year, Vodafone Idea board had approved raising up to Rs 14,500 crore, including Rs 4,500 crore from promoter entities -- Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Washington [US], June 20 (ANI): Apple had introduced AirTags as a way to keep track of items, but latest reports have suggested that Apple has progressively expanded shipments of the AirTag since its debut, according to a tweet by TFI International Securities. Gadgets like AirTags use a wireless connection to notify users when they leave their current location. The devices can be put wherever because of the size of a huge coin, as per Mashable. Also Read | Congress Leaders Meet President Kovind to Discuss Agnipath Scheme, Police Atrocities Read Latest Tweet by ANI Digital. In April 2021, Apple launched AirTag, a gadget that allows users to track lost personal items using their iPhone. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts AirTag shipments will reach 20 million units in 2021 and 35 million units in 2022, a 75 per cent increase over last year. "I believe Apple if AirTag shipments continue to grow," the analyst said. While it's difficult to see how the original AirTag might be improved upon, Apple releases updates to all of its other hardware products regularly, so it'd be unusual if the AirTag were to be left out. Apple wasn't the first business to release a small monitoring device, but, as with other hardware categories, it improved on what was already available. The AirTag is appealing in terms of both aesthetics and ease of use. Apple's gear is designed to operate together flawlessly, and the AirTag is no exception. It's all really easy and clear, from connecting it to one's phone in the first place to locating it, if it goes misplaced, reports Mashable. Also Read | How To Kiss? Hottest Tips To Keep in Mind Before You Smooch Your Partner This National Kissing Day 2022. But Apple might not be happy to hear that AirTags are being used to spy against the people's will. The company quickly developed anti-stalking features to make this type of abuse more difficult. Ming-Chi Kuo said that AirTag sales haven't surged yet, but they're starting to gain momentum as iPhone buyers find AirTags useful and easy to set up and use. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Lahore, Jun 20 (PTI) Twenty Indian fishermen who were released by the Pakistani government in a goodwill gesture crossed Wagah Border on Monday evening as they were repatriated to their homeland. The 20 fishermen from Gujarat, languishing at Malir district jail in Karachi's Landhi area for the last five years for allegedly fishing illegally in Pakistan's waters, were released on Sunday. Also Read | UK PM Boris Johnson Undergoes Sinus Operation at London Hospital. They were sent to Lahore on their way to the Wagah border. "The 20 Indian fishermen who were released from the District Prison and Correctional Facility, Malir, Sindh province on Sunday were brought to Lahore by a special bus. On their arrival on Monday at the Wagah Border, each of them was provided with food, new clothes and PKR 5,000. After immigration, they were handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF)," a Rangers official told PTI. Also Read | Kabul Gurdwara Blast: Hardeep Puri Meets Family of Deceased Savinder Singh, Presents PM's Letter to Afghan Sikh Community. The Indian fishermen were seen wearing colourful beaded necklaces and bracelets around their necks and wrists they had made in prison. Most of them were imprisoned after crossing over to Pakistani waters four years ago with some also leaving after five years. Ravendra Govind, a fisherman, told reporters that he was glad that he is going back to India, however, at the same time is sad about leaving behind several other Indian fishermen in jail who had also crossed over to Pakistan unknowingly like him. Please release the other Indian fishermen also so that they can be with their families, he requested the Pakistan government. Govind said he would also ask the Indian government to release the Pakistani fishermen languishing in Indian jails for years for the same offence. The fishermen who were released include Ranveer Maoo Jee, Babu Naran, Bhupat Bhagwan, Naran Parbat, Bhavesh Shara Bhai, Rukhad Arjun, Dana Bhupat, Ransi Bachu, Pola Sahur, Meepa Aama Bhai, Biso Naga, Parma Haresh Kumar, Paresh Bhai, Taba Bhai, Vaju Lakhman and Juseb Moosa. Ravendra Govind, Makwaran Bhawesh Kumar, Arjun Babu and Himat Balal Babu are also among the 20 fishermen released. Meanwhile, the Pakistan high commission in India said the fishermen were repatriated through the Wagah-Attari border transit point. "Pakistan has released & repatriated 20 Indian prisoners (fishermen), who had completed their sentences, via Wagah/Attari Border, today," it said on Twitter. The issue of prisoners is of humanitarian nature and Pakistan expects the Indian side to reciprocate the gesture in the same spirit," the high commission said. Pakistan and India regularly arrest rival fishermen for violating the maritime boundary which is poorly marked at some points. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Colombo, June 21 (PTI) Australia will provide a 22 million Australian dollar for emergency food assistance to economic crisis hit Sri Lanka, a release said. This was revealed during the visit of the Australian Minister of Home Affairs Clare O'Neil on Monday. She met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Also Read | UK PM Boris Johnson Undergoes Sinus Operation at London Hospital. We will contribute an immediate $22 million to the World Food Programme for emergency food assistance to help three million people in Sri Lanka meet their daily nutritional needs. Australia will also provide $23 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka in 2022-23," a release said. It will support health services, and economic recovery with a strong emphasis on protecting those at risk, especially women and girls, the release said. Also Read | Kabul Gurdwara Blast: Hardeep Puri Meets Family of Deceased Savinder Singh, Presents PM's Letter to Afghan Sikh Community. "These contributions are in addition to $5 million recently provided to United Nations agencies for Sri Lanka, the release said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Melbourne [Australia], June 20 (ANI): Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will be on a visit to India from Monday to hold a bilateral meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to strengthen defence and security cooperation between both the countries. His visit marks the first high-level visit from Australia after newly-elected prime minister Anthony Albanese took office on May 23. Also Read | The Inside Story of Recovery: How the Worlds Largest COVID-19 Trial Transformed Treatment and What It Could Do for Other Diseases. During his visit from June 20-23, Defence Minister Marles will hold his first bilateral Defence Ministers' meeting with Union Minister Rajnath Singh. "Australia and India are Comprehensive Strategic Partners. I am committed to strengthening Australia's defence and security cooperation with India," said Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles. Also Read | Washington DC Shooting: Several People Including Police Officer Shot at Near Site of Juneteenth Music Concert (Watch Shocking Video). "I am looking forward to meeting with my counterpart, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and holding our first bilateral Defence Ministers' Meeting," he added. "Minister Singh has been instrumental in advancing India-Australia defence ties and I look forward to working with him to enhance the defence pillar of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," Deputy Prime Minister Marles said. The Minister also noted that India is one of Australia's closest security partners and the Government is focused on revitalising Australia's historically deep engagement with our partners across the Indo-Pacific. "The rules-based international order that has brought peace and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific for decades is experiencing pressure, as we face shifts in the geostrategic order," Deputy Prime Minister Marles said. "Australia stands ready to work closely with India in support of an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific". During the visit, Deputy Prime Minister Marles will also meet External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and engage national security and defence policymakers and personnel. Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2022, Defence's flagship engagement activity, returns to India this year. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of India's independence. Earlier, the Australian PM Albanese said that the relationship with India is very important and ties between the two countries have never been closer. Speaking to ANI, the Australian PM said, "Our relationship with India is a very important one and it was a great honour to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi." PM Modi congratulated Prime Minister Albanese on his election victory. Both leaders reviewed the multi-faceted cooperation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defense manufacturing, renewable energy, green hydrogen, education, science and technology, agricultural research, sports, and people-to-people ties. Both Prime Ministers affirmed their desire to continue the positive momentum in the bilateral relationship. Bilateral discussions with PM Narendra Modi focused on Australia and India's full strategic and economic agenda, including clean energy technology. The momentum of the bilateral relationship intensified with regular high-level exchanges, despite the pandemic-induced disruption. Prime Minister Modi held the first in-person bilateral meeting in the post-pandemic period with former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on September 23, 2021. Prime Minister also met Morrison in Glasgow on the sidelines of CoP26 Climate Summit on November 1, 2021. Together with other leaders, they jointly launched the 'Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS)' at the World Leaders Summit at COP26, Glasgow on November 2, 2021. Former Prime Minister Morrison and Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne participated (virtually) in the Raisina Dialogue in April 2021. Prime Minister delivered the keynote address at the Sydney Dialogue, on India's technology evolution and revolution on 18 November 2021. EAM participated in the Sydney Dialogue session on "Democracies and Global Technology Governance" with Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Nick Clegg, VP, Facebook on November 19, 2021. EAM virtually delivered the prestigious annual JG Crawford Oration at the Australian National University. Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne visited Delhi and co-chaired the First India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with EAM and Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh on September 11, 2021. The Dialogue reflected the growing convergence between India and Australia on security issues and a shared commitment for a free, open, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jerusalem [Israel], June 20 (ANI/Xinhua): Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid plans to visit Turkey on Thursday, his office announced Sunday, amid months of thawing ties and Israeli fears that its tourists could become a target for Iranian attacks. During his upcoming snap visit, Lapid is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Lapid's office said in a statement, without providing further details. Also Read | Chinas 3 Military Aircraft Intrudes on Taiwans ADIZ. Cavusoglu visited Jerusalem in late May to boost bilateral economic ties, the first of its kind by a Turkish minister in 15 years. In a joint press conference then, Lapid hailed Cavusoglu's visit as the opening of a "new chapter" in the relations between the two countries. Lapid's visit will take place amid concerns by Israeli security agencies that Iran could attack Israeli nationals in Istanbul and possibly other cities in Turkey. Also Read | Ex-Amazon Web Services Engineer Convicted of Hacking Data of 100 Million Customers. On June 13, Israel's National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a "level 4" travel warning for Istanbul, the highest level possible, citing concerns of "revenge attacks" over the killing of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps colonel on May 22 in Tehran. Iran believes he was assassinated by Israeli forces. Turkey and Israel have been working to mend their ties after a decade of enmity, with discussions on cooperation in exporting natural gas from Israel to Europe via Turkey. Ties between the two countries have been strained since Israel's deadly assault on a Turkish-led flotilla to the besieged Gaza Strip in 2010. (ANI/Xinhua) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Dallas, Jun 20 (AP) After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth this weekend, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said it's important that people learn the history behind it. We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again, said Lee, whose 2 1/2-mile (4-kilometer) walk through Fort Worth symbolizes the 2 1/2 years it took after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the Southern states for the enslaved people in Texas to be freed. Also Read | Washington DC Shooting: Several People Including Police Officer Shot at Near Site of Juneteenth Music Concert (Watch Shocking Video). A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 the nation's 12th federal holiday, people across the U.S. gathered at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about history and addressing racial disparities. Many Black people celebrated the day just as they did before any formal recognition. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the state two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War. Also Read | Chinas 3 Military Aircraft Intrudes on Taiwans ADIZ. Great nations don't ignore their most painful moments, Biden said in a statement Sunday. They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do. A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with Juneteenth than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew a lot or some about the holiday compared with 37% a year ago in May. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of school history lessons increased from 49% to 63%. Yet many states have been slow to designate it as an official holiday. Lawmakers in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off. Celebrations in Texas included one at a Houston park created 150 years ago by a group of formerly enslaved men who bought the land. At times, it was the only public park available in the area to the Black community, according to the conservancy's website. They wanted a place that they could not only have their celebration, but they could do other things during the year as a community, said Jacqueline Bostic, vice chairwoman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy and the great-granddaughter of one of the park's founders, the Rev. Jack Yates. This weekend's celebration included performances from The Isley Brothers and Kool & The Gang. In the weeks leading up to Juneteenth, the park hosted discussions on topics ranging from health care to policing to the role of green spaces. Participants included Robert Stanton, the first African American to serve as director of the National Park Service, and Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, who grew up in the historically Black neighborhood where the park is located and whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer two years ago sparked protests worldwide. As more people learn about Juneteenth, we want to harness that and use this moment as a tool to educate people about history and not just African American history but American history, said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy. In Fort Worth, celebrations included the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, named for the Black cowboy who is credited with introducing bulldogging, or steer wrestling. The rodeo's president and CEO, Valeria Howard Cunningham, said children often express surprise that there are real Black cowboys and cowgirls. More young people have become involved in planning Juneteenth events, said Torrina Harris, program director for the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the holiday's birthplace. Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on the different practices or norms that are contradicting the values of freedom and consider how to challenge those things, Harris said. Some of the largest city celebrations from Los Angeles to Chicago to Miami not only touched on the history of slavery in America, but also celebrated Black culture, business and food. In Phoenix, hundreds of people gathered for an annual event at Eastlake Park, which has been a focal point for civil rights in Arizona. The recently crowned Miss Juneteenth Arizona used her platform to speak about how she felt empowered during the state pageant, which is part of a nationwide competition that showcases and celebrates the academic and artistic achievements of Black women. It's a moment to build up sisterhood, it's not about competing against each other for a crown, it's about celebrating Black women's intelligence and staying true to ourselves, said Shaundrea Norman, 17, whose family is from Texas and grew up knowing about Juneteenth. Kendall McCollun, 15-year-old Teen Miss Juneteenth Arizona, said the holiday is about the fight for social justice. We have to fight twice as hard to have the same freedoms that our ancestors fought for hundreds of years ago, she said. It's important we continue to fight for my generation, and this day is important to celebrate how far we've come." The event featured performances by Kawambe-Omowale African Drum & Dance and speeches from politicians about ways residents could get involved in local politics as children received balloon animals and ran through Eastlake Park's playground. In New York City, Juneteenth was celebrated across its five boroughs, with events drawing crowds that exceeded organizers' expectations. In central Brooklyn, well over 7,000 people attended a food festival organized Saturday and Sunday by Black-Owned Brooklyn, a digital publication and directory of local Black businesses. Although Juneteenth is a Black American holiday, organizers of the festival said they were intentional about including cuisines and flavors from Caribbean and West African countries. On Sunday, long lines formed from nearly every food stall, while a DJ played soulful house music for festively dressed attendees. The idea to celebrate Juneteenth around our food culture is particularly meaningful here in Brooklyn, where we have so many Black folks who live here from across the world, said Tayo Giwa, co-creator of Black-Owned Brooklyn. Paying tribute to it through our shared connection in the (African) diaspora, it's really powerful, he said. The event was held at the Weeksville Heritage Center, which was one of the largest Black communities for freedmen before the Civil War. Attendees were given guided tours of the grounds, which includes historic homes and other structures that were once inhabited by the community's founders. For a day that's about emancipation, it only makes sense to have people gather on this land and feed each other not just with food but also spirit and soul, emotion and love, said Isa Saldana, programs and partnerships manager for the Weeksville Heritage Center. A big part of (Juneteenth) is about learning to be free and feeling okay doing that, she said. Jeffrey Whaley Sr. attended the festival with his three children on Sunday, which was also Father's Day. The Staten Island, New York, native said he was hopeful that federal observances of Juneteenth would increase awareness of the Black American story in the U.S. As each of us grows, we have to grow in the consciousness that we suffered a lot longer than they're telling us we did, Whaley said. It's our duty to our ancestors to make sure we educate ourselves and better ourselves within this country, because this country owes us a whole lot. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Manila [Philippines], June 20 (ANI/Xinhua): A Saudi Arabian Airlines plane from Riyadh veered off the runway shortly after landing in the Philippine capital Manila on Monday, with 399 passengers and 21 crew on board all evacuated. The initial report said the Boeing 777-368 aircraft landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 1:47 p.m. local time and was taxiing to a terminal when one of its landing gears got stuck in a grassy area. Also Read | UK PM Boris Johnson Undergoes Sinus Operation at London Hospital. Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio told Xinhua over the phone that all passengers and crew were safe. He said the accident did not affect the airport's operation, saying the investigation is underway. (ANI/Xinhua) Also Read | Kabul Gurdwara Blast: Hardeep Puri Meets Family of Deceased Savinder Singh, Presents PM's Letter to Afghan Sikh Community. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Colombo [Sri Lanka], June 20 (ANI): Aiming to curtail powers of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan Cabinet on Monday passed the 21st Amendment to its Constitution. "The 21 amendment was tabled and passed in cabinet today and will be tabled in @ParliamentLK soon. Like to thank @RW_UNP and @wijerajapakshe for pushing it through," tweeted Minister of Tourism and Lands Harin Fernando. Also Read | UK PM Boris Johnson Undergoes Sinus Operation at London Hospital. Fernando thanked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Parliament of Sri Lanka and Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe for the amendment bill which will be tabled in the parliament soon. The 21st Amendment is expected to annul 20A to the Constitution, which gives unfettered powers to Rajapaksa after abolishing the 19th Amendment that will strengthen Sri Lankan Parliament. Also Read | Kabul Gurdwara Blast: Hardeep Puri Meets Family of Deceased Savinder Singh, Presents PM's Letter to Afghan Sikh Community. It seeks to reduce the Presidency to a ceremonial position, retaining the powers of the President over all three armed forces. However, almost all other key powers pertaining to governance and cabinet ministers will be handed over to the Prime Minister. It seeks to transfer powers of making key appointments from the President to the Constitutional Council. The President would be required to act on the Prime Minister's advice to determine the scope and functions of ministries and appoint ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers. The PM of Sri Lanka had proposed a constitutional amendment repealing the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, and bringing back clauses of the 19th Amendment as the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. The enactment of the 19th Amendment was done in 2015. It had removed the powers of the President to sack the Prime Minister at his discretion. By amending Articles 46 (2) and 48 of the Sri Lankan constitution, the cabinet ministers could have been dismissed only if the Prime Minister ceased to hold office by death, resignation or otherwise, or only if the Parliament rejects a statement of government policy or the budget or if the parliament passes a vote of no confidence against the Government. The amendment also restricted the President's powers to dismiss Cabinet ministers as he was required to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 2020. The 20th amendment (20A), which replaced the 19th Amendment (19A), had again enhanced the executive powers of the President in an unprecedented way besides abolishing the independent constitutional council for a Parliamentary Council. It had passed a controversial clause that gave electoral rights to dual citizens. The criticisms on 20A were more severe as it was observed as one that could derail the balance between the legislature, executive and judiciary by centralising maximum powers into the hands of one individual. The 20th amendment had removed the checks and balances on the executive presidency - It abolishes the binding limitations on presidential powers in relation to key appointments to independent institutions through the pluralistic and deliberative process of the Constitutional Council. 21st Amendment will remove several key powers of the President, essentially reducing the Presidency to a ceremonial position, like in India. The proposed amendment comes at the time Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic and political crisis since it was liberated from British rule in 1948. A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people. Protesters have been gathering across the island nation, calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation, while his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as Prime Minister. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) London [UK], June 20 (ANI): The UK government on Sunday said that it does not support anyone seeking to achieve political change through violence in Afghanistan and condemns terrorist attacks of all kinds in the country. In an official statement on violence in Afghanistan, the UK government wrote, "The UK does not support anyone seeking to achieve political change through violence in Afghanistan." Also Read | China: Major Floods Hit Pearl River Basin Due to Heavy Rainfall. Hugo Shorter, Charge d'Affaires at the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha said, "The UK does not support anyone, including Afghan nationals, seeking to achieve political change through violence, or any activity inciting violence for political purposes, in Afghanistan, and will not allow UK soil to be used to plan or prepare it, and we strongly discourage others from doing so." "Violence of any kind is not in Afghanistan's interests, nor the international community's, and we deplore terrorist attacks of all kinds," he added. Also Read | Pakistan: 20 Indian Fishermen Released From Karachi Jail, To Be Handed Over to India Through Wagah Border. To promote peace and stability, to deliver essential humanitarian support to the Afghan people, and to address shared concerns on security, there is no alternative to engaging pragmatically with the current administration of Afghanistan, and that is what we are doing, read the press release quoting Shorter as saying. Earlier, the UK's former chief of defense David Richards said that the West will recognize Taliban sooner or later and urged governments to be "magnanimous in defeat." "I think the West is going to end up recognizing the Taliban government. If that's the case, then we'd better get on with it quicker, sooner rather than later. There's a great phrase to be magnanimous in victory. I think this is an occasion for us to be magnanimous in defeat," said Richards to a UK-based media, reported The Khaama Press.Richards warned that it was time to accept that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been lost and that the United States must start working with the new leadership for the sake of the Afghan people. The call for recognizing the Taliban comes as no country has yet come forward and the country is experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis over half of the population in need of assistance and eight million more starving. Taliban, who are desperate to seek international recognition, and have time and again been reminded that respect for women and human rights, establishing an inclusive government, and not allowing Afghanistan to become a safe haven of terrorism are the preconditions for the recognition set by the international community. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Moscow [Russia], June 20 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States is calling on all oil and gas producers, including the OPEC club of the largest oil exporters, to increase their output to rein in soaring gasoline prices, the US secretary of energy said on Sunday. "President Joe Biden has asked for all suppliers around the globe to increase production. That includes OPEC, that includes our domestic oil and gas producers," Jennifer Granholm told CNN's State of the Union show. Also Read | Chinas 3 Military Aircraft Intrudes on Taiwans ADIZ. Granholm said she understood that Biden would also meet one-on-one with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, even though the Saudi royal family is accused of a role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Granholm also said she would be meeting with chief executives of oil and gas companies in the coming week to discuss the lack of processing capacities at US oil refineries. (ANI/Sputnik) Also Read | Ex-Amazon Web Services Engineer Convicted of Hacking Data of 100 Million Customers. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Panaji, June 20:c The Goa Police on Monday seized ganja weighing 6 kgs, worth Rs 6 lakhs and arrested one person for allegedly possessing it. Nidhin Valsan, Superintendent of Police (crime branch) told IANS that one Om Prakash (29) from Rajasthan has been arrested for the alleged illegal possession of ganja. Delhi: 305 kg Ganja Valued at Rs 2 Crore Seized; One Arrested He said that seized ganja was worth Rs 6 lakhs in the international market. The Goa Police are further investigating the case. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2022 10:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). New Delhi, June 20: Over 80 trains have been cancelled and massive traffic jams are being witnessed across Delhi-NCR on Monday as some organisations have called for a "Bharat Bandh" to mark their protest against the Agnipath recruitment scheme unveiled by the Central government last week. This comes a day after Tri-service chiefs ruled out the withdrawal of the scheme. The commuters in the national capital experienced difficulties in commuting as heavy traffic jams were reported in various parts of the city including at the Delhi-Gurugram expressway as Delhi Police installed barricades at various checkpoints in wake of the Bharat Bandh against the Agnipath Scheme. Agnipath Protest: Check List of Trains Cancelled Today Amid Protests Against the Recruitment Scheme Across Country Precautionary measures are being taken at various railway stations in many states as several stations were vandalised and many trains were set ablaze by agitators. Over 80 trains have been cancelled on Monday amid the protests in various parts of the country against the new recruitment scheme in the Armed Forces. SpiceJet Fire Case: Airline Chief Lauds Pilots, 'Captain Monica Khanna' & 'Officer Balpreet Singh', As the Flight Hit by Bird Lands Safely in Patna. A total of 18 East-bound train services scheduled from different Northern Railway terminals have been cancelled today, according to Northern Railways. It further informed that as many as 71 Delhi area-bound commuter trains(including return services) have also been dismissed for today in the wake of the protests against the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme. Train services of the Western Railway zone were affected yesterday as well.Security has been beefed up in several states on Monday amid protests against the Centre's new Agnipath recruitment scheme. States including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and others have increased security, considering the widespread violence that happened last week as thousands protested against the Centre's decision. "Police force has been deployed at multiple locations. We are ready to tackle any kind of situation that may arise. We also urge the youth to not get involved in any untoward activity," Anupam Singh, DCP North, Howrah told reporters. In Delhi's neighbouring areas Faridabad and Noida, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which prohibits the assembly of four or more persons, has been imposed. Uttar Pradesh Police said that strict action will be taken against those found involved in jeopardising peace. "Amid protests against Agnipath Scheme, anti-social elements may jeopardise peace. Section 144 imposed in Gautam Buddha Nagar and strict action will be taken against those found involved in such incidents," said Ashutosh Dwivedi, ADCP, Law and Order, Noida. Heavy traffic jams on the Sarhaul border had also been witnessed at the Delhi-Gurugram expressway as Delhi Police began checking vehicles in wake of the Bharat Bandh protest. Earlier today, passengers at Gorakhpur Railway Station were troubled after trains got cancelled amid the Bharat Bandh call. "We have been waiting for three to four hours. When we checked train status last night, it didn't say cancellation, but on reaching there we found out about it," they told media persons. On the other hand, all the schools in Jharkhand will remain closed today. "JAC exams for class 11 were scheduled for today. New dates will be announced for today's exams," Sister Mary Grace, Principal, Ursuline Convent School and Inter College told ANI. According to an official order by the district administration, schools in Bihar's Muzaffarpur will also remain shut today. In Rajasthan's Jaipur, prohibitory orders under section 144 have been imposed from 6 pm on Sunday till midnight of August 18 in the view of the possibility of disturbance to law and order due to the protests. Punjab Police's ADGP Law and Order has directed the CPs and SSPs across the state to be on alert and asked them to monitor the activities of social media groups which are actively mobilizing or spreading instigating information about the scheme. Meanwhile, the train services of the East Coast Railway zone were affected amid the protests in various parts of the country, informed the railways' officials on Monday. A total of 18 East-bound train services scheduled from different Northern Railway terminals have been cancelled today, according to Northern Railways. It further informed that as many as 71 Delhi area-bound commuter trains (including return services) have also been dismissed for today in the wake of the protests against the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme. On Sunday, train services of the Western Railway zone were affected amid the protests in various parts of the country against the new recruitment scheme in the Armed Forces. The train services had cancellations, partial cancellations and a few diversions of trains. As the protests continue, a senior Army officer on Sunday clarified that the scheme will not be rolled back and said that it is the "only progressive step to make the country young". (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) World Refugee Day is the annual observance which helps people understand the importance of opening our doors to refugees, having a humanitarian relocation program in place and how much refugees can contribute to not only their own betterment but also the betterment of the country. World Refugee Day 2022 will be celebrated on June 20. This annual celebration was initiated by the United Nations and aims to honour refugees and shower them with the love and respect that they deserve. As we prepare to celebrate World Refugee Day 2022, here is everything you need to know about this celebration, World Refugee Day 2022 theme and how to celebrate World Refugee Day. Powerful Quotes and Sayings With Images to Raise Awareness on Refugee Crisis Around the World. When Is World Refugee Day 2022? World Refugee Day 2022 will be celebrated on June 20. The United Nations initiated this annual observance in 2001. June 20 was chosen to be the date of this celebration as it marked the 50-year commemoration of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees. This convention was a landmark international treaty for providing security and rights to refugees in the wake of the end of World War II. World Refugee Day 2022 Theme & Significance Every year, the celebration of World Refugee Day is focused on a dedicated theme that helps have a uniform topic of conversation around the need for a reliable and helpful refugee policy in countries that are able. World Refugee Day 2022 theme is New Ipsos survey shows greater compassion for forcibly displaced as the war in Ukraine wears on. The celebration of World Refugee Day is more important than ever this year. Not only due to the continued war on Ukraine which has displaced millions of refugees who called Ukraine their home but also because of the impact that this war has on the already displaced refugee population. From Afghanistan, which faced a forced takeover leading to the desperate fleeing of millions to several war-struck countries in the Middle East, millions of refugees are in desperate need of help. And World Refugee Day 2022 is surely going to help us have the difficult conversations on how we can ensure that all the refugees have equal access to the basic needs of life. Heres wishing everyone a Happy World Refugee Day 2022! (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 20, 2022 08:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). The Rajasthan BJP will make the youth aware of the "dark chapter" scripted under the Congress government to mark the 47th anniversary of the "Emergency" on June 25, state president Satish Poonia said here. In a shocking turn of events, Kannada actress Swathi Sathish's face got swollen after root canal surgery went wrong. As per reports, "Swathi underwent the medical procedure at a private hospital. She experienced severe pain and a swollen face after the surgery. While doctors assured her that the swelling on her face will go away in a few days, the actress's condition only worsened with time." Root Canal Isn't The Worst Procedure, Patients Say Other Dental Treatments are Equally Bad. Check Out The Post Below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani) (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.) Hollywood actor and Goodwill Ambassador Ben Stiller visited the devastated town of Irpin in Ukraine and called for compassion and support for all refugees around the world. Read more: https://t.co/qmqGdHwRVc pic.twitter.com/9e2X50kYx8 Reuters (@Reuters) June 20, 2022 (SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.) Will Smith showed how much she cares for his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, when he slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about her bald head at this year's Oscars. However, this incident led him to receive public backlash, and many urged him to return his Oscars, which the Academy claimed could not be done. Talks on how much Will Smith loves his wife circulated after the slapping incident, with many being curious about how their marriage prospered throughout the years. READ NEXT: Will Smith' Devastated' After Slapping Chris Rock During Oscars, per Tyler Perry The Beginning of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's Relationship Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith first met on the set of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" in 1990 when the actress auditioned for her role in the show. However, Jada did not get the part. Will said he also saw Jada on the set of "A Different World," but he was not able to connect with her. Then, he noticed Sheree Fletcher Zampino, who later became his wife. Jada might not have been Will's princess at the time, but she later became his queen. According to Cosmopolitan, after Will and Sheree split, the actor straight-up called Jada and asked if she was seeing anybody, and the actress said no, prompting them to go out. On New Year's Eve of 1997, Will and Jada got married while she was pregnant with their son Jaden. But in a 2019 interview with People, Jada said she did not want to make their relationship "official" on paper. "I never wanted to get married. But my mother was like, 'You have to get married' - she's so old-school - and Will wanted a family. So I said, 'Alright, maybe it's something I should do," the actress noted. Jada gave birth to their first child, Jaden, on July 8, 1998. They then welcomed their second child, Willow, on October 31, 2000. Jaden showed that he also has a talent for acting as he appeared in several films, including "The Karate Kid" and "The Get Down." On the other hand, Willow shares the gift of music with the rest of her family. She released her latest single, "Transparent Soul." Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's marriage is not perfect. In 2011, there were rumors of Jada hooking up with Marc Anthony. But Jada's representative said the rumors were false. In 2013, The Sun reported that rumors about an affair between Margot Robbie and Will surfaced. However, Robbie denied the allegations, tweeting that "there's absolutely no truth to the ridiculous rumour" and "it's disappointing that goofing around on-set could be taken so out of context." In 2015, Jada Pinkett Smith was introduced to rapper August Alsina. The duo attended the BET Awards together in 2017. Jada revealed in 2020 that she had an "entanglement" with the rapper and that she had a relationship with him when her marriage with Will had a difficult time. In that same year, August claimed that Will Smith gave their relationship a blessing. However, Jada's representative asserted that this was not true. Here's What Keeps Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith Together In April 2013, Jada Pinkett Smith did a sit-down interview on Huffington Live, where viewers assumed that she and Will Smith were in an open marriage. This was because she shared in the interview that she told Will about doing whatever he likes. She later clarified in a Facebook post that they could do whatever they want because they trust each other. But in his 2021 GQ interview, Will Smith admitted that their relationship had evolved beyond monogamy. He noted that their open marriage was essential for them to stay together as they believe that marriage "can't be a prison." Will said: "For the large part of our relationship, monogamy was what we chose, not thinking of monogamy as the only relational perfection... We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way." The actor added that he believes the "unconditional" support they show each other while experiencing freedom was "the highest definition of love." READ MORE: Vince McMahon Wife: Is the WWE Chief Still Married with Linda McMahon Amid Affair Allegations? This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: Jada Pinkett Smith Breaks Silence on Will's Oscars Controversy - From Entertainment Tonight The cause of death of Dom Phillips, the British journalist who went missing alongside indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, was identified by the authorities days after their remains were discovered. According to Brazil's police, the two sustained gunshot wounds. Reuters reported that Pereira was shot in the head and twice in his abdomen by hunting ammunition, while Phillips suffered a gunshot wound in his torso. Phillip's remains were identified last Friday, while Pereira's remains were identified on Saturday. READ NEXT: Brazil Police Arrest 2nd Suspect in Case of Missing Pair in Amazon Rainforest Eight Suspects Linked to Dom Phillips Murder Brazil's police had already linked at least eight suspects to Dom Phillips' murder in the Amazon rainforest. According to BBC, three of said suspects were already under the custody of Brazil's law enforcement. Jeferson da Silva Lima, also known as Pelado da Dinha, turned himself in on Saturday after going on the run. Sa Silva Lima surrendered himself in a police station in Atalaia do Norte in the Javari Valley. They said it is a remote area bordering Peru and Colombia. "The detainee will be questioned and referred to a custody hearing," police said in a statement. The two suspects who were also in the custody of Brazil's police were known to be Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira and Oseney da Costa de Oliveira. The two suspects are brothers, but Oseney remains to deny any involvement in Phillips' murder. Brazil's police noted that the remaining five suspects helped hide the bodies of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. The suspects were identified by law enforcement. However, officials have not announced their names or released other details about the new suspects. Police said the suspects in the killing of the British journalist acted alone. However, the local indigenous group Univaja noted that they repeatedly told officials about a criminal organization operating in the Javari Valley. Deaths of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira in Brazil's Amazon Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were last seen on June 5 on their boat in a river near the entrance of Javari Valley Indigenous territory in Brazil. One of the suspects in custody, Amarildo, reportedly confessed to burying their remains and led the police to a spot deep in Brazil's Amazon where their remains were found. Phillips' wife, Alessandra Sampaio, said the discovery of the duo's bodies "puts an end to the anguish" of not having any idea about the whereabouts of the British journalist and the Indigenous expert. Dom Phillips was a freelance reporter who had written for several news outlets, including Guardian and the Washington Post. On the other hand, Bruno Pereira was a former head of isolated and recently contacted tribes at the Funai, which is Brazil's federal indigenous affairs agency. READ MORE: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith: Here's Why the Hollywood Couple Is Still Inseparable Even After More Than 2 Decades of Marriage This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: 'Defenders of Nature': A Tribute to Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips - From Guardian News Some sad news from the Baja California Sur peninsula in Mexico, as the two actors from the upcoming Netflix original series, "The Chosen One," died when their van crashed in the area. Six cast and crew members were also injured in the crash. Netflix told USA Today in a statement that the incident did not occur during filming and that the car crash near Mulege happened on June 16 when the van carrying cast and crew members was in transit from Santa Rosalia to the local airport. The Baja California Department of Culture said the two actors who died were identified Friday as Raymundo Garduno Cruz and Juan Francisco Gonzalez Aguilar. Local media reported that the van flipped after running off the road in a desert area. As the crash happened, the crew was apparently working in the nearby Santa Rosalia area at the time. READ NEXT: El Chapo and His Rival Cartel Leader El Mochomo of Beltran Leyva Now Together at ADX' Supermax' Prison in Colorado Friends of 'The Chosen One' Victims Complained About Poor Transportation and Logistics After the accident, Liliana Conlisk Gallegos, a friend of Juan Francisco Gonzalez Aguilar, told The Daily Beast that she was both heartbroken and outraged. She also told the outlet that she heard about "The Chosen One" actors' complaints about poor transportation and logistics. She noted that she heard reports of abuse and exploitation shared by people in the production, and she demanded that this be further investigated. She added that if nothing was wrong, there should not be an issue in providing information. "It pains me to think he was taken advantage of, that he was being forced to work in subpar conditions, especially for a multimillionaire company like Netflix," Gallegos said. Gallegos also talked about her friend, stating that he was a great actor who touched everyone's hearts. She described Aguilar as someone who loved acting and playing music and had dedicated himself to the craft despite suffering from economic hardships. "I am not accusing Netflix of anything. I just demand that there is further investigation," Gallegos noted. The Daily Beast reported that Netflix declined to comment on Gallegos' statement. But it was not only friends and family of the car crash victims who criticized the production. Novelist Rick Zazueta also demanded an investigation. In a Facebook post on Friday, Zazueta blamed the Mexican film industry for the incident and said those close to the production had known that the logistics had been terrible. He noted that actors have complained about how badly they are being treated, with the film crew and actors "transported like cattle to save a few pesos." Zazueta called for a change in the Mexican film industry and told "The Chosen One" producers Everardo Gout and Stacy Perskie to face the issue themselves. Netflix's 'The Chosen One' Was Supposed to Be Based on Mark Millar's American Jesus Comic Book According to Netflix, "The Chosen One" is based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Peter Gross titled "American Jesus." It's about a 12-year-old who learns that he is the return of Jesus Christ and it is his destiny to save mankind. Netflix announced plans to produce a TV series based on the comics in 2018. Production company Redrum is producing the show, but they have temporarily paused it due to the incident. READ MORE: El Chapo's Wife Emma Coronel Aispuro Could Be an Influencer Earning up to $10,000 per Publication Once She Gets Out of Prison This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Netflix "The Chosen One" Actors Die In Car Crash During Production - From Rama's Screen A Florida mom has prevented a kidnapping incident in the Sunshine State after following her maternal instinct. Fox News reported that the incident unfolded when two elementary school age girls on bikes were followed by David Daniels, 37, from Cherry's Bar and Grill in Fishhawk's park square last week. The Florida man reportedly told the two girls he would supervise their way home. According to Daily Mail, Daniels followed the two girls under the age of 12 at around 6 p.m. on June 12. As the man followed the girls past a church, a good Samaritan spotted them and felt something was wrong as she saw Daniels hit one of the girls over the head as he continued to follow behind them. "One of the little girls was mouthing to me, 'Please help me, this is not my dad," the Florida mom said, adding that Daniels placed one girl in a chokehold and then whispered something to her ear. The woman, who was standing outside the church that night, noted that she started conversing with Daniels, prompting the suspect to share that they had just moved into the area and wanted to help. The Florida mom said she felt Daniels was not telling the truth, prompting her to invite the three to the church, where she had the chance to call the authorities. Police said they found the Florida man walking back to the downtown area when they arrived after the woman requested their presence. Daniels was arrested on two counts each of false imprisonment of a child and child abuse. He is currently being held at the Hillsborough County Jail on a $104,000 bond. READ NEXT: Texas' Greg Abbott Slams Joe Biden Over Treatment of Horse-Riding Border Patrol Agents Florida Mom Does Not Want to Take Credit for Saving the Girls From 'Kidnapping Attempt' The Florida mom who saved the two girls from attempted kidnapping said she does not want to take any credit for what she did. "I don't want to be a hero... I just did what I hope anybody would do for my own kids," the woman said. The Florida mom further noted that moms like her "are going to recognize the signs, and they are going to know what to do." She admitted that at that moment, she did not know if she "was going to have the right answer." "But [the children] are fine, and they are home today," the woman added. Florida Man Previously Arrested in Alabama Days before David Daniels was arrested in Florida, KIRO 7 reported that the Foley Police Department in Alabama had already arrested him after he trespassed into a home. Police said Daniels told the homeowners who found him that he was looking for an abducted child, whom he claimed was injured and was locked in a shed. However, investigators noted that they searched the home and determined that the Florida man was under the influence of drugs when he made the claim. Police said no child was also found. READ MORE: Dead in Armed Attack at Family Restaurant in Mexico's Chihuahua State Plagued by Mexican Drug Cartels This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: How to Survive Being Kidnapped - From How to Survive Billionaire Elon Musk is regarded as one of the richest people. However, he and his two largest companies, Tesla and SpaceX, may lose around $258 billion; thanks to a lawsuit regarding Dogecoin. The $258 billion lawsuit was filed by Keith Johnson, who claims that Musk and the two companies are involved in a racketeering scheme about the now-infamous cryptocurrency. According to Bloomberg, the pyramid scheme led by Musk was designed to control the price of Dogecoin, and it helped convince people online that it was a legitimate investment. Johnson filed the lawsuit on June 16 in Manhattan's Southern District Court of New York. Elon Musk May Have Artificially Inflated the Price of Dogecoin Court documents from the lawsuit claimed that Musk illegally and artificially inflated Dogecoin's price. It also alleges that Musk's "Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme" defrauded Johnson out of his money. It also adds that the scheme was false and deceptive in claiming to be a legitimate investment. They have also claimed that it was named after a 2013 internet joke and had "no value at all." Kotaku reports that Johnson is now seeking $86 billion in damages. In addition, he also wants the sum of $172 billion, as well as seeking the court to block Musk from promoting Dogecoin. This all sums up to $258 billion, plus Musk ceasing the promotion of the cryptocurrency. READ MORE: Kim Kardashian Accused of Ruining Marilyn Monroe's Iconic 'Happy Birthday Mr. President' Dress After Wearing It at Met Gala 2022 Elon Musk To Continue Supporting Dogecoin Despite Lawsuit With the potentially large amounts of money that he might lose in this lawsuit, including paying Johnson damages as well as legal fees, Musk has remained resolute in his support for Dogecoin. In a recent tweet, Musk wrote he will "keep supporting Dogecoin." I will keep supporting Dogecoin Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2022 Musk also tweeted that he would continue buying Dogecoin, and this has gotten investors in the cryptocurrency excited. The tweet has garnered replies stating that they were also going to buy more Dogecoin. But there were also plenty of sarcastic replies from critics as well. I am Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2022 Cryptocurrency news website Decrypt reported that following Musk's tweet, the price of Dogecoin also went up by 8% to $0.058. The rise was only a meager increase compared to its huge increase when Elon Musk hosted "Saturday Night Live" and mentioned Dogecoin. It went up in value to 72 cents before dropping once again. Musk has been very vocal about his support for Dogecoin, stating that it is his favorite cryptocurrency. Every time Musk mentions the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, searches for the coin on Google have spiked. However, Musk is not the only high-profile billionaire Dogecoin supporter, as Dallas Mavericks owner, entrepreneur, and reality show judge Mark Cuban has also advocated using it for making payments. Cuban has told CNBC that Dogecoin is the strongest cryptocurrency that might be used as a method of payment. READ MORE: El Chapo's Wife Emma Coronel Aispuro Could Be an Influencer Earning up to $10,000 per Publication Once She Gets Out of Prison This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Investor Sues Elon Musk Over Alleged Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme Latin America's third most populous country, Colombia, recently held its runoff elections, and a winner has been decided by a narrow margin. Former rebel Gustavo Petro has triumphed over millionaire real estate mogul Rodolfo Hernandez, taking 50.47% of the votes, according to the South American country's election authorities. Petro, currently a senator in Colombia, would become the country's first-ever leftist president. He will be officially declared the winner of the elections after a formal count concludes. That formal count is expected to last a few days, though historically, the preliminary results have always coincided with the final results in Colombia. Hernandez has conceded, and outgoing president Ivan Duque, a known conservative, has congratulated Petro on his victory. READ NEXT: El Chapo and His Rival Cartel Leader El Mochomo of Beltran Leyva Now Together at ADX 'Supermax' Prison in Colorado Gustavo Petro Win Signals A Change in Colombian Politics Colombia has long been a country that marginalized its political left due to its association with rebel-led armed conflicts in the country's long history. However, Huffington Post reports that Petro's victory signals a shift in the country's politics, as a little over half of the voters have gone with a leftist, who is also known as a former rebel. Petro thanked voters for his victory, with his election headquarters in the capital, Bogota, playing a message on the screen saying, "Gracias Colombia." The projected President-elect has also taken to Twitter to say that it was a day of celebration for the country. The tweet also hopes that his victory may cushion the sufferings of many. The 62-year-old was a former mayor. But before that, Petro was also a known member of the M-19 rebel group, which started as a Colombian guerrilla organization movement before demobilizing and then going on to become a legitimate political party. Gustavo Petro Wins Only by a Narrow Margin While main rival Rodolfo Hernandez has conceded to Petro, the race to be Colombia's next leader was a tight one, as the country had to hold runoff elections to decide who was the true winner. Although Hernandez had 47.27% of the votes, Petro had a little more, taking 50.47% of the votes. Both candidates ran on populist agendas, both blaming corruption for Colombia's woes. Both candidates were seen as opposition to the current and unpopular Duque government. Many Colombians who still distrust Petro and the Colombian left have flocked to the side of Hernandez. But as the votes were tallied, it became clear that the majority of Colombians opted for a brand-new path. According to the New York Times, after Petro is officially declared president, he will take office in August. He will face plenty of problems as he takes over, with rising violence, deforestation, and lack of opportunity within the country being some of the major ones. The New York Times also reports that Petro views the current economic system as broken, as it is overly reliant on oil export, as well as the cocaine industry, which is illegal in the country officially. He is calling a halt to oil exploration, shifting to other industries, and imposing higher taxes on the rich. This platform has drawn much criticism, however, with a former Colombian finance minister calling his strategy an "economic suicide." READ MORE: El Chapo's Wife Emma Coronel Aispuro Could Be an Influencer Earning up to $10,000 per Publication Once She Gets Out of Prison This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: People celebrate Gustavo Petro's victory as they await his speech Feature: Mainland pop culture gains traction among young Hong Kongers Xinhua) 13:32, June 20, 2022 HONG KONG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- For more than two years, Hong Konger Au Ka-ki has not traveled to Shenzhen for weekends as she used to before the COVID-19 pandemic. But she is still able to buy a cup of milk tea from her favorite mainland drink brand at a shop nearby. In Times Square, one of the most bustling business hubs of Hong Kong, Au and her husband ordered a cup of mango tea from HEYTEA, a popular drink chain that often sees long queues in the mainland. "I used to drink it a lot back in college in Guangzhou. It's really a joy to be able to also find it here in Hong Kong," she said. Since its return to the motherland in 1997, Hong Kong has seen increasing cultural, business as well as people-to-people exchanges with the mainland. A growing number of mainland brands started branches in the city, while many mainland lifestyles and trends are also impacting the lives of Hong Kong citizens. While studying in Guangzhou, Au had gotten used to buying daily necessities through e-commerce. Now as a young mother, Au still chooses to buy milk powder and diapers through mainland e-commerce sites. "Groceries from the mainland are usually cheaper and of more variety, and I can save a lot of time placing orders online," she said. After payment, the goods would be first shipped to a warehouse in Guangzhou before being packaged together and delivered to a post station near Au's home. Rex Lin, a senior logistics advisor with Cainiao, the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, told Xinhua that since the opening of Cainiao's first flagship post station in Causeway Bay last year, order volume of the station has been on the rise, indicating a soaring demand from Hong Kong citizens. "At the beginning, Hong Kongers turned to e-commerce only for things that were not available at local brick-and-mortar stores. But as delivery gets faster, now many Hong Kong residents tend to buy daily necessities from the mainland as well," Lin said. The online shopping bonanzas on the mainland are also well received by Hong Kong consumers. Lin said that during shopping festivals such as the Single's Day shopping spree in November, logistics volume often skyrocketed. Indeed, the shopping habits of many Hong Kongers are gradually changing. According to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, in the first four months of this year, online retail sales in Hong Kong were estimated to be 36 percent higher than a year earlier. Along with the rise of online shopping is the growing popularity of cashless payment. More and more Hong Kongers joined their mainland compatriots in scanning QR codes on their smartphones to pay at supermarkets, restaurants as well as on buses and other transportation systems. The Internet is not only changing the shopping and travel habits of Hong Kongers, but also facilitating the understanding of traditional Chinese culture among many Hong Kong citizens. A fan of Chinese history and culture, 24-year-old Miffy Wong loves to watch videos and read posts on the popular Chinese short-video platform TikTok and social media platform Xiaohongshu. "Every time I read posts about classical Chinese poetry and the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese people, I was just amazed by the wisdom of ancient Chinese," she said. When the Chinese war epic "The Battle at Lake Changjin" was released in Hong Kong last November, Wong went to the cinema with friends. Set in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953), "The Battle at Lake Changjin" tells the story of Chinese People's Volunteers soldiers fighting bravely in freezing weather in a key campaign at Lake Changjin, also known as Chosin Reservoir. "I was so touched that I cried several times during the screening. What the older generations fought for peace should really be appreciated," she said. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the so-called "golden age" for Hong Kong cinema, Hong Kong movie stars were among the most sought-after cultural icons by many young mainlanders. Over the years, as the mainland cultural industry develops, many popular films and TV series from the mainland are also gaining traction in Hong Kong. While browsing social media, Wong found a post that triggered her interest: the Hong Kong Palace Museum will open to the public on July 2. As part of the celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, more than 900 treasures from the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing will be put on display on rotation at the opening exhibitions. Wong was excited about the opening. But when asked if she would queue up for tickets to get the very first glimpse of the exhibitions, she shook her head. "I'm not going there to get a shot only for social media posts. I really want to spend a little more time appreciating Chinese art and culture," she said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) The women of the Laois ICA Federation are uniting in support of an international campaign against domestic violence. Ladies in ICA guilds across Laois have been quietly busy for months weaving colourful paper stars, as part of the One Billion Stars Stars Ireland campaign to end violence. This week their combined creations will be launched in an uplifting exhibition at Portlaoise library, in partnership with Laois Domestic Abuse Service. The Laois group was inspired to support the campaign that begun in Australia after the death of an Irish woman. Anne Payne, Laois Federation Vice President and member of Portlaoise ICA Guild explains further. "This is a major event for Laois Federation ICA. We will have Guest speakers Siobhain Mc Quillan from the Amber Refuge in Kilkenny who brought the project to Ireland from Australia. That is what caught my interest in the beginning. Marna Carroll from Laois Domestic Abuse Office will also speak about the situation in Laois. "ICA is supporting the project as we are the largest women's organisation in the country. Laois ICA Federation is very pleased to be supporting the One Million Stars Project in partnership with Laois Domestic abuse," Ms Payne said. Laois ICA Federation came together and started weaving the stars in many different colours and have created many different displays. Each star woven represent hope light and solidarity with person experienced any form of abuse or violence. Their County Exhibition is in Portlaoise Library from Tuesday 28 June from 2.30pm. The exhibition is in partnership with Laois County Library, Healthy Ireland Offaly, Mental Health Ireland and Laois Domestic Abuse Service. The One Billion Stars worldwide project aims to increase awareness of the presence of domestic abuse and violence in local communities. The project began in Australia when Maryann Talia Pau began weaving stars as a response to the rape and murder of an Irish woman living in Melbourne and is now a global movement. It was brought to Ireland in 2019 by Siobhan McQuillan, an Art Therapist with Amber Womens Refuge in Kilkenny, with the aim of getting people in Ireland to make one million stars to contribute to the one billion stars goal. Follow Laois Federation's Facebook page to help raise awareness. For more on One Million Stars to End Violence Ireland, follow irelandstarweavers on Instagram and Facebook or visit www.onemillionstarsireland.ie Anyone in distress can contact Laois Domestic Abuse Service on 057 86 71100. Email: lina@laoisdomesticabuseservice.ie Website: www.laoisdomesticabuseservice.ie. National Helpline 1800 341 900 Laois communities are being invited to submit applications to the Department of Rural and Community Development for the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme which is bigger this year. The Town & Village Renewal Scheme, funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development, is part of a package of national and local support measures to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Following the launch of Our Rural Future, and subsequently the Town Centre First Policy, there has been some amendments to the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The 2021 scheme saw four Laois projects sharing 766,652. The maximum grant available in 2022 is 500,000 to permit projects of additional scale to be funded. The 2022 Scheme will prioritise tackling vacancy and dereliction in towns and villages. Other projects which will be welcomed include regeneration projects that support active and vibrant town or village centres, remote working, upgrading shopfronts and street facades, and green spaces and parks, etc. The 2022 scheme will be targeted at two categories of Towns/Villages as follows: Category 1: Towns and villages with a population of up to 5,000 people. Towns and villages with a population of up to 5,000 people. Category 2: Towns with a population of 5,001 to 10,000 people. Towns with a population of 5,001 to 10,000 people. Larger towns with a population of up to 15,000 people may be eligible under certain circumstances. The primary focus of the scheme will be on villages and towns with a population of up to 5,000 (Category 1). These towns/villages will receive at least 60% of funding available. Grant Levels For the 2022 Scheme, the minimum grant which is available is 20,000. The maximum level of grant funding available is 500,000 in respect of one application from each Local Authority. A maximum of 250,000 will apply in respect of 5 applications. The maximum grant level has been set at 90% of the total cost of a project under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The remaining 10% match funding must be contributed by the Local Authority and/or the community and/or Philanthropic contributions - this can take the form of 5% cash contribution (minimum level) and 5% in-kind contribution (maximum level). Project Development Measure: The Project Development Measure (up to 50,000) is being included again this year, with Local Authorities now able to submit 2 applications under the measure. The Project Development Measure is similar in nature to Category 2 projects under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF). The purpose of this Measure is to assist Local Authorities to contribute to a pipeline of significant, well developed projects which might be subsequently progressed to construction stage, subject to the availability of further funding. It is proposed that applications would involve: Development costs for one strategic large scale project, per application, that may be subsequently progressed with funding from the TVRS e.g. detailed design, preparation for the planning and/or procurement, appropriate assessment etc. Funding of up to 50,000 at a 90% rate of aid Maximum of two proposals to be submitted by any Local Authority (increased from 1 last year) The approval of funding under this category does not automatically guarantee future support under the TVRS for delivery of the emerging project the resulting projects will need to be submitted as normal under the competitive TVRS process. All Expressions of Interest should be received no later than 4pm on Friday 24th June 2022, by post or email to ptynan@laoiscoco.ie. Further information, including the Scheme Outlines and Expression of Interest application form can be downloaded from https://laois.ie/departments/ community/town-and-village- renewal-scheme-2022/ or please contact: Town and Village Renewal Scheme, c/o Pamela Tynan, Community Development Section, Laois County Council, Aras an Chontae, Portlaoise, Co Laois. Email ptynan@laoiscoco.ie telephone 057 8664107. All applications will be subject to a selection process using national criteria. Selected expression of interest applications will be developed into detailed bids for consideration for the 2022 Town & Village Renewal Scheme. Please note Expressions of Interest applications and follow up bids may or may not receive funding. With Covid-19 making a summer comeback in Ireland latest figures show that Laois has the fourth highest incidence of Covid-19 in the country while the county's hospital continues to treat people who have tested positive. Weekly figures published on June 16 shows that the incidence is 166.5 per 100,000 population in Laois on the back of 141 new cases in the previous seven days. The median age of people testing positive is 44. Laois sits behind Limerick, Clare, Louth and Galway for counties reporting the highest infection rates according to the figures published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The HPSC also reported that in week 23, between June 05 and June 11 2022, there were 6,839 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on CIDR. This is an increase of 46.4% compared to week 22 when there were 4,672 confirmed COVID-19 cases notified. The highest number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in week 23 was in the age group of 35-44 years with 20.4% of notified cases in week 23. Meanwhile, HSE figures there were seven people with the virus being treated at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise on Sunday, June 19. None were critically ill according to the COVID-19 COVID-19 Daily Operations Update for Acute Hospitals. There were two available general beds and one ICU bed available at the hospital during Sunday. The General Secretary of the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation has urged mask wearing be brought back on public transport to deal with the surging number of COVID-19 cases in Ireland. There are very real reasons why masks have been shown to slow down transmission and that is what we need now because our hospitals are overcrowded to a level that we normally dont see in winter - and its June, General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha told Virgin Media News. A total of 593 people were in Irish hospitals with the virus on Sunday evening. Of these, 79 had tested positive in the previous 24 hours. There were 23 people in ICU with the virus on June 19. The death has occurred of EVELYN MARIE RYAN (GRIFFIN) Whitethorn, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Kildare / Waterford City, Waterford Evelyn Marie Ryan (Griffin) Whitethorn, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Co. Kildare Formerly of Convent Hill, Waterford Tuesday 10th May 2022 Predeceased by her infant sister Catherine Will be sadly missed by her loving husband Mark, her beloved parents Mary and Richie, sister Laura, brother Aidan, nephews and nieces Conor, Alex, Sophie, Sam and Sadie, aunts, uncles, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law Owen, sister-in-law Cathy, extended family, relatives, neighbours, work colleagues and friends. Especially her close friend Marie. May Evelyn Rest In Peace ...................... Perseverance is my Engine And Hope is my Fuel Reposing on Sunday (19th June) in Thompsons Funeral Home, Barrack Street, Waterford from 3 pm to 5 pm Requiem Mass on Monday at 12 noon in St. Marys Church, Ballygunner followed by burial in the adjoining Cemetery. Evelyns Mass will be live-streamed at 12 noon by following the link below: Mass Link Family flowers only, donations if desired to Multiple Sclerosis by following the link below: Donation Link Book of Condolence: A message of sympathy can be left in the condolence section below. Evelyns family appreciates your sympathy, support and understanding at this difficult time. Mass cards can be posted to Robert Thompson Funeral Directors, Barrack Street, Waterford. The above link is provided and managed by an independent Media provider. The Funeral Home accepts no responsibility for its functionality or any interruption to live transmission. The death has occurred of Paddy O'Connell Kilcullen, Kildare Paddy O'Connell Gormanstown, Kilcullen, (W91 TVY3) & formerly of Mullamoy, Suncroft, Co Kildare. Who died on 18th June 2022 at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown, Co Dublin. Beloved husband of the late Kathleen, deeply regretted by his loving son Padraig and his partner Evelyn, sisters Trish, Nancy and Kathleen, brother Mick, sister in law Margie, nieces, nephews, neighbours, relatives and friends. "May He Rest In Peace" Reposing at his residence from 5pm on Monday 20th with prayers at 7.30pm, removal from there on Tuesday 21st at 7pm to St Joseph's Church Gormanstown arriving for 7.30pm, funeral Mass on Wednesday 22nd at 11am followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery. A message of sympathy can be left in the condolence section below. The death has occurred of Michael (Mick) Fields Kilmurry, Clane, Kildare Fields, Michael (Mick), Kilmurry, Clane, Co. Kildare, June 17th 2022, peacefully surrounded by his loving family in the excellent care of the staff of Maynooth Lodge Nursing Home. Pre-deceased by his loving wife Mary. Sadly missed by his loving daughter Lorna, son-in-law Alan, granddaughter Aoibhe, brother Jim, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and many good friends. Rest In Peace Mick will be reposing at his residence on Sunday from 3pm - 7pm, concluding with evening prayers at 7pm. Removal from his residence on Monday at approx. 11:30am to arrive at St. Benignus' Church, Staplestown for 12pm Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Mainham Cemetery, Clane. Those who are unable to attend the funeral, please leave a personal message for the family in the condolences section below. Family flowers only please, donations can be made in memory of Mick to the Friends of St. Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh by clicking on the following link : https://friendsofstbrigidshospice.ie/ways-to-donate/. The Fields family would like to thank the staff of Maynooth Lodge Nursing Home and also the palliative care nurses from St. Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh for the excellent care and compassion they gave to Mick. For all enquiries, please contact Oliver Reilly Ltd. Funeral Directors on (045) 868230 The death has occurred of Tommy GRACE 118 Coill Dubh, Coill Dubh, Kildare, W91 R9W6 Peacefully surrounded by his loving family at St. Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh. Predeceased by his wife Judy, son Patrick, stepson Bill and son-in-law Eddie. Tommy will be deeply regretted by his loving family; Mary, Rose, Thomas and Ann, grandchildren Darren, Rachel, Sinead, John, Mark, Christine, Julia, Anthony, Donal, Lily, Sarah and James, great-grandchildren Amelia, Emma, Jack, Tommy, Willow, Harley, Jack, Ava, Clodagh and Charlie, brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. May Tommy Rest in Peace Reposing at his home this Sunday with Rosary at 8pm. Reposing on Monday with removal at 5.30pm arriving to Christ the King Church, Cooleragh at 6pm. Funeral Mass on Tuesday at 11.00am, followed by burial in Derrinturn Cemetery, Carbury. You can also take part in Tommy's Funeral Mass on the Cooleragh Parish Webcam via the following link: https://www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/christ-the-king-church-cooleragh Personal messages of condolence can be left using the link at the bottom of this page. The family would like to thank you for your kindness and support at this sad and difficult time. The death has occurred of Bridie Murphy (nee Dunne) Meath Bridge, Kilcock, Kildare / Meath Peacefully at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. Bridie, predeceased by her infant son Eamonn and sister Lily. Beloved wife of George. Sadly missed by her son Brendan and daughters; Mary, Olive and Georgina, daughter-in-law Mary, sons-in-law and partners; Nicolai, Eugene and Sean, grandchildren; Niall, Anna, Alison, Oonagh and Gemma, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, relatives and friends. May She Rest In Peace. Reposing at William Ryan & Sons Funeral Home, Church St. Kilcock, (W23 XC90) on Sunday from 5pm to 7pm. Funeral Mass on Monday morning at 11am in The Little Chapel, Kilcock, Co. Meath followed by burial in St. Josephs Cemetery, Kilcock. For those who would have liked to attend the funeral but are unable, you can leave a personal message for Bridie's family in the condolences section below. Please continue to respect and follow Public Health advice, to ensure the safety of all. House Private Please. Donations if desired to Blanchardstown Hospital Society. Sadistic killer Graham Dwyer's appeal against his conviction for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O'Hara could be heard in the autumn of this year, the Court of Appeal said this morning. Dwyer (49) was handed a significant boost in April when the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the indiscriminate retention of mobile phone data for use in criminal investigations is a breach of EU law. Phone data was a crucial part of the evidence against Dwyer as it was used to track his movements and contacts with Ms O'Hara in the lead-up to and aftermath of her disappearance in August 2012. Remy Farrell SC, for Dwyer, told Mr Justice John Edwards at the appeal court this morning that submissions on behalf of Dwyer will be filed by July 15. He suggested the case is a priority because a number of other cases are awaiting the outcome. Mr Justice Edwards said the Director of Public Prosecutions will require time to respond to the submissions and said it is unlikely the appeal will be heard before the court term beginning in October. The case will be mentioned again in July to allow lawyers to update the court on what progress has been made. Dwyer, a Cork-born architect with an address at Foxrock in Dublin, was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in 2015 of the murder of Elaine O'Hara on August 22, 2012. His victim had been discharged from a mental health hospital hours earlier. Dwyer fantasized about stabbing a woman during sex and used Ms O'Hara to fulfil his desires. After murdering her, he disposed of some of her belongings in the Vartry reservoir in Wicklow and tried to make it look like she had committed suicide. He dumped her body in a forest where it was found in 2013. Evidence was heard during his trial that he was sexually obsessed with stabbing a woman and had been in an abusive relationship with the vulnerable child-care worker. Much of the evidence focused on text messages between a "slave" phone used by Ms O'Hara and a "master" phone used by Dwyer and on the movements of those phones. Dwyer appealed his conviction and argued that the use of mobile phone metadata at his trial was a breach of EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has previously ruled that the indiscriminate retention of mobile phone traffic and location data is a breach of citizens' rights in the EU. In his action, Dwyer claimed that data gathered from his phone, using the 2011 Communications (Retention of Data) Act, should not have been used at his trial. The Act allowed gardai to access mobile phone data from service providers who were obliged to retain all data for two years. The data that gardai could access showed incoming and outgoing calls and texts and also what mast a phone pinged off at any time. The data could therefore be used to show who a mobile phone was in contact with and the approximate location of the phone at any given time. Dwyer's lawyers argued the 2011 Act was introduced to give effect to a 2006 EU directive concerning the retention and use of data. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) found in 2014 that the directive was invalid and that position was further strengthened in subsequent rulings by that court in 2016. The use of the data, Dwyer claimed, was unconstitutional and breached his rights under the EU Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights, including his right to privacy. The Irish High Court ruled in Dwyer's favour but the State appealed that decision and the Supreme Court referred the case to the European Court. In April of this year, the CJEU ruled that Ireland's system of retaining metadata and allowing gardai to access it breached EU law. The decision gave the green light for Dwyer's appeal against his conviction to go ahead. That court will hear arguments as to whether the mobile phone data should have been given in evidence at his trial and whether his conviction should be quashed. By Aodhan O Faolain Over 30 caravans that had allegedly been illegally trespassing at a computer chip maker facility in South Dublin have vacated the property, the High Court has heard. Lawyers for Xilinx Ireland, part of the AMD group, which employs 350 people at its campus at Logic Drive Citywest Business Campus, Saggart in Dublin 24 told the court on Friday that the caravans departed shortly after it commenced proceedings against the alleged trespassers last Wednesday The company which makes semiconductors or chips, and software products for various industries claimed that on June 8 last between 25 and 30 caravans were towed onto its lands. The caravans and other vehicles, it claimed were illegally and without the company's permission on internal road, green area and carparking area within the campus. It claimed that the occupants interfered with a water pump that forms an important part of its fire safety system, to obtain access to running water. It also claimed that some of the occupants have been "joyriding" on quadbikes around the car parking area. It further claims that the trespassers have deposited large quantities of material, believed to have come from landscaping activities off campus, refuse on the site. Animals allegedly brought onto the site by the occupiers has resulted in animal waste being deposited on the company's lands, it was further claimed. The court heard that the Gardai have been called, and negotiations with those allegedly illegally occupying the lands were held. Represented by Stephen Byrne Bl the company launched High Court proceedings where it sought an injunction requiring the persons in occupation to immediately vacate, and cease interfering with, the lands. The Court granted the company permission to serve short notice of the proceedings on the occupants, whose identities were not known to the company. When the matter returned before the court on Friday Mr Byrne told Ms Justice Siobhan Stack that the occupants had left the property between 7pm and 10 pm on Wednesday Counsel said that the occupants had following various discussions with his client had promised to leave the site on two or three occasions but had failed to do so. Counsel said that the occupants had indicated they would move on by Wednesday evening last, but his client was somewhat sceptical of that promise given that prior undertakings given by the occupants to leave had not been fulfilled. Counsel said that arising out of their departure on Wednesday his client no longer needed to pursue the injunction. However, the company did have a concern over the large amount of material that had been left on the site by the occupants, and the possibility the occupants may return. The judge, following an application by counsel, agreed to adjourn the action generally with liberty to re-enter the proceedings at a future date should the need arise. Counsel added that his client was grateful to the courts and the Gardai for their assistance in dealing with the matter. Four people have been charged with the assault of a man. in addition to criminal damage of a car. Gardai told the court on Thursday, June 16, that the four defendants allegedly assaulted a man using weapons including a crowbar and a knife at Oaktree Avenue in Kildare on March 9, 2021, and later fled the scene in a car. It was also heard that the defendants allegedly threw one of the weapons out of their car and over a bridge, causing cars below to engage in evasive action. Daniel Kelly, 24, with an address listed as 59 Cedarwood Park in Newbridge, was accused of three dangerous driving offences, one criminal damage offence, one assault causing harm offence and one weapons charge. Eoin Murphy, 22, with an address listed as 28 Rosconnell Square in Newbridge, was accused of one criminal damage offence, one assault causing harm offence and one weapons charge. Paddy McDonagh, 21, with an address listed as 136-137 Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7, was accused of one criminal damage offence, one assault causing harm offence and one weapons charge. Bridget McDonagh, 19, with an address listed as Willows Gate, Naas Road, Newbridge, was also accused of one criminal damage offence, one assault causing harm offence and one weapons charge. SEVERITY Gardai told the court that the injured party received a broken nose which required eight stitches. They also claimed that the injured party may need skin grafts due to the severity of the injuries. The case was adjourned to November 17 for a hearing. Bail was granted for the defendants. Support from Leitrim to Ukraine continues with a photographic exhibition at Osta at W8 in Manorhamilton from June 30 to July 2. Photographer Bradley Staffords aim is to raise much-needed funds for the victims of war from one of Ukraines up-and-coming coastal cities which now lies in complete ruins after more than a hundred days of devastation and destruction. Local volunteers have worked tirelessly since late February to deliver aid to the besieged city as well as evacuating women and children to other cities in Ukraine and beyond, putting their owns lives at huge risk in doing so. Help-Mariupol is a voluntary organization run by Mihail, a resident of the city and to whom the proceeds from the sale of photographs will go. Bradley Stafford, originally from Wexford, has lived in Kyiv, Ukraine since 2017. He first picked up a camera in 2019 and set about traversing Europes largest country to document the sheer beauty and contrasting variety that has lay almost hidden from the rest of the worlds eye since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Overnight train journeys, bumpy bus rides and hitching lifts took him from Kyiv in the north to Odesa on the Black Sea in the south, to the historical region of Bessarabia bordering Moldova, to the tranquil landscapes of Volhynia next to Belarus and to the majestic Carpathian Mountains of Zakarpattia in the west. Bradleys aim was to bring Ukraine to the world but in late February that all changed. He was forced to flee after Russias invasion of the country. Together with his wife Ana, their Labrador Bailey, and their friend Katya, they reached the border of Poland after 43 hours of travel. Over the next month they travelled across Europe by land and by sea until they reached their new home here in Rossinver, Leitrim. Bradleys beautiful photos, capturing cityscapes and rural life documenting life in pre-war Ukraine, are available to buy at Osta during the exhibition. Photos are available mounted and framed or framed only. Pop in and have a browse and meet Bradley to have a chat about his time in Ukraine, The exhibition will be open 9.30 -6pm. He has chosen his favourite photographs from his work in Ukraine to exhibit and sell but more are available to view and purchase upon request. Sligo Chamber of Commerce has warmly welcomed the news of the acquisition of Hazelwood Demense Ltd by the Sazerac Company, one of the worlds largest distilled spirits companies, whose brands already include Paddy Irish Whiskey. Commenting, Sligo Chamber CEO, Aidan Doyle said: Not only is it a great day for the owners of Lough Gill Distillery and Hazelwood House, it is a significant development for the future of Sligo and we congratulate director David Raethorne and his board for all their hard work and endeavour. The Sazerac Company plans to fully develop the extraordinary 100+ acre Hazelwood site, one of the most beautiful in Sligo. This is a hugely positive development for Sligo which will mean more local employment through the creation of jobs at the Distillery and also through the new tourism-related offerings. In creating a world-class whiskey facility and visitor attraction for up to 15,000 annual visitors, Sligo will continue to become one of the most important tourism centres in the West of Ireland. We are delighted to see this recognition of Athru, a world-class brand created here in Sligo and the realisation of its potential for an Irish and global audience. Proposals on new targets for cutting carbon emissions in key sectors of Irelands economy are likely to be put to Government in the coming weeks. It is hoped ministers will be able to agree so-called sectoral emissions ceilings ahead of the summer recess. While economy-wide carbon budgets came into effect in early April, the process is currently under way to set emissions ceilings for the likes of the electricity, transport, industry and agriculture sectors. The Government can decide to accept or adjust them but once they are approved they become legally binding on the sector. Ministers responsible for the various sectors are likely to be accountable each year before the Oireachtas, with the committee able to make recommendations for further action if the sector is falling behind in its efforts. Factors considered in setting emissions ceilings are likely to include the relative cost across the sectors, the technical feasibility of what can be done, and the fairness of the process. Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said urgent implementation of all climate plans and policies, plus further new measures, would be needed for Ireland to meet a 51% emissions reduction target by 2030. At the time, its director general Laura Burke warned there is a significant gap between the ambition in the Climate Act and the realisation of the necessary actions to deliver on that ambition. She said: All sectors have work to do, in particular the agriculture sector. As the largest contributor of national emissions, more clarity is needed on how and when it will implement actions to reduce methane within the ever-shortening timeframe to 2030. The Government has previously been accused of mixed messaging over planned turf restrictions, with heated exchanges in the Dail over such a move at a time when fuel bills are rising sharply. In April, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there would be no ban on turf sales for the remainder of the year despite restrictions having been earmarked to come into force in September. Environment minister Eamon Ryan insisted the Government would not walk away from a plan to restrict sales, saying there was an urgent need to tackle the health damage caused by the burning of smoky fuels and warning of the lives lost every year as a result of air pollution. He said what was being proposed for the future was not an outright ban, indicating it would relate to larger-scale commercial sales rather than small-scale cutting and sharing of turf among neighbours within rural communities. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, has announced that Scoil Naisiunta Mhic Diarmada in Kiltyclogher will be awarded the Discover Science and Maths Award. Led by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the programme aims to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) among primary school students, parents, and teachers, nationwide in a fun and engaging way. Commenting on the awards, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, said: I want to congratulate all the students and the teachers in Scoil Naisiunta Mhic Diarmada on winning an SFI Discover Primary Science and Maths Award. The projects this year covered several important topics that will inevitably impact every one of us including climate change, plastics, and technology. I know the last few years havent been easy for children but yet again, we have seen their imaginations remain alive and they are working together to help us solve the big challenges we all face. I really hope students and their teachers will keep engaging with programmes such as this one and developing science, technology and maths within the school. Because we need so many big ideas and bright people to help us navigate our way through the big problems we are all dealing with. The awards celebrate and recognise the participation of schools in hands-on, inquiry-based learning in the areas of STEM. This year, students focused on issues such as climate change, plastics, technology, and using STEM to solve everyday problems. Congratulating the schools, Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, said: It is great to again get the opportunity to celebrate and reward Scoil Naisiunta Mhic Diarmada for their excellent contribution to the SFI Discover Primary Science and Maths programme. We are committed to breaking down barriers and finding ways to make learning both accessible and engaging. I hope that dated, stereotypical views of the types of people who work in STEM will soon be a thing of the past; as we look forward to the next generation of STEM workers and enthusiasts, we need to ensure that the full diversity of our society is reflected. There already is evidence of increasing levels of diversity amongst our research community, but more can still be done. Engaging with primary school students and their families is a key component to achieving this. The awards offer three categories for applicants: The Certificate of STEM, is aimed at schools starting out on the STEM journey and involves a minimum of two classes. The Plaque of STEM, which is for schools further along their STEM journey, involves at least half of the classes in the school. The Badge of Excellence is for schools that have already achieved the Plaque and have continued to demonstrate excellence in raising awareness of STEM in their communities. This year, Scoil Naisiunta Mhic Diarmada received the Plaque of STEM. The virtual award ceremony was attended by teachers and students from over 200 schools all over the country and included a live science show marking the close of this years programme. SFI, in conjunction with the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO), offers free continuous professional development (CPD) in STEM for primary school teachers. The programme explores the topics of biodiversity, insulation, and space through inquiry-based learning. The three workshops will provide teachers with a framework and planning tools to deliver hands-on STEM learning in the classroom. This CPD can be carried out virtually via Zoom. Registration for the 2022/2023 Academic Year Awards and the DPSM/ESERO CPD will open in September 2022. For more information about the DPSM programme, the Awards and CPD, please visit www.primaryscience.ie or contact the team on primaryscience@sfi.ie. LIMERICK people are being urged to support a new fundraising initiative which has been launched by a life-saving organisation. Last month, the Irish Community Air Ambulance responded to the highest number of road traffic incidents in a single month - including a number in Limerick. The Air Ambulance, which was tasked to 15 separate collisions during May, says the overall number of call outs increased by 14% last month compared to April. The service, which is based in Rathcoole, North Cork, has launched a new fundraising drive given the increase in fuel costs and its plans to expand its ground-based Volunteer Doctor service. The charity works in partnership with the National Ambulance Service and is tasked to serious and life threatening emergencies. The helicopter responded to 205 incidents in the first five months of this year with 48 taskings in May alone, up from 42 during April. The call outs during May related to incidents in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Kerry, Waterford, Wexford and Carlow. Six of the incidents were farming or equestrian-related and, in total, 17 people were airlifted to hospitals in Cork and Limerick during the month. In addition, ground teams were tasked to 221 incidents between January and May this year As part of its new 'Brew for the Crew' fundraising initiative, which is supported by broadcaster John Creedon, The Irish Community Air Ambulance is encouraging people to host a BBQ or coffee morning during July. Speaking at the launch, John Creedon said the charity has had a huge impact right across the country since it first launched almost three years ago. "However, its rural communities in Munster, places that are some distance from the nearest hospital that have benefited most. The figures for May speak for themselves and show that the demand for the service is increasing. Nobody sets out on their day thinking that they will need the services of the Air Ambulance but we know that life can change in an instant and when trauma strikes, it's vital to know that help is on the way. Thats why this charity service is so important," he said. CEO of the Irish Community Air Ambulance, Micheal Sheridan added: The summer is the busiest time of the year for us and were already seeing the number of calls increasing. To be tasked to 15 road traffic collisions in one month is concerning and equates to a serious crash every second day. Our helicopter responded to 40 separate collisions in the first five months of the year which is a significant number. The cost of fuel is also continuing to rise which is why community fundraisers like Brew for the Crew are so important," he said. Head of Community and Donor Engagement, Lorraine Toner says the latest fundraising initiative is simple. Were asking people to use their imaginations. It can be as simple as having a few friends over for a cuppa, hosting a BBQ or even holding a street party. It is really easy to register on our website and we will send you a kit with everything you need. Our crews are on duty every single day of the year and this event is about raising a glass or cup to say thank you as well as raising vital funds for our organisation. FINE Gael councillor Olivia O'Sullivan has been elected as the new chairperson of Limerick's metropolitan district. The City North area member, who is a marketing and communications consultant by trade, secured the chain of office after winning 13 of the 20 votes available at the annual general meeting of the metropolitan district this Monday. The only absentee was Green councillor Sean Hartigan. Labour's three members, Cllrs Conor Sheehan, Joe Leddin and Ellena Secas all abstained. It marks the third year in a row members of the metropolitan district have elected a woman to the top role, Cllr O'Sullivan following in the footsteps of Cllrs Catherine Slattery and Sarah Kiely. The Caherdavin local's election comes as part of a Fianna Fail-Fine Gael power sharing pact, which will likely see City East councillor Jerry O'Dea become Mayor of Limerick next week. Cllr O'Sullivan was nominated by party colleague Mayor Daniel Butler, and seconded by Cllr Kiely. #BREAKING: @oliviaos has been elected as new leader of Limerick's metropolitan district, securing 13 of the 20 votes available. She beat off challenge of @shrnbenson. Full story on @Limerick_Leader shortly. pic.twitter.com/pIoiKbhTHj Nick Rabbitts (@Nick468official) June 20, 2022 As well as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, she won the backing of Independent councillors Fergus Kilcoyne and Frankie Daly. At today's meeting, there was also a nomination for Sinn Fein councillor Sharon Benson, who was backed by her own party, Cllr Sasa Novak of the Green Party and Cllr Elisa O'Donovan, Social Democrats, who nominated her. She received four votes. Meanwhile, fellow Fine Gael councillor Dan McSweeney has been elected as deputy chairman, beating off competition from Social Democrats councillor Elisa O'Donovan. It's the second term the City West councillor has served as deputy - and interestingly, he was elected without being in the chamber, with members allowed to contribute to proceedings virtually. Speaking upon taking the chain of office, Cllr O'Sullivan said she is "hugely honoured, and humbled, for myself and my family." "I assure you I will serve the position to the best of my ability in the coming year," she added. "Our city has faced its hurdles, and continues to work to overcome them, but we must endeavour to leave our city in a better place for the young people coming after us. Doing the right thing for the next generation, those not yet of voting age, must be considered in every decision we make as a council body," she said. .@cllrmcsweeney elected Leas-Chathaoirleach for the Limerick Metropolitan District Limerick Council - Comhairle Luimnigh (@LimerickCouncil) June 20, 2022 "Cities in themselves represent progress. Of course progress is defined in different ways by different people, but, as the third largest city in Ireland, the metro should rightly be the most progressive district in our county, and one of the most progressive in the country," added the new metropolitan district leader First elected to City North at the 2019 election, Cllr O'Sullivan is very active in the promotion of local food, festivals and events, Olivia has worked extensively in the cultural and tourism space. She was joined in the chamber by her chidren Edon, 8, and Ollie, 5, who enjoyed the day off school, alongside her parents John and Kitty, brother Sean and family including niece Millie and her mother-in-law Eleanor. Our photographer was out and about at the Limerick Garda station open night on Friday night, see more below - For more pictures, click next Henry Street Garda station was a hive of activity on Friday night, for all the right reasons. Hundreds of people attended the 'Open night' at the City centre station, where visitors were treated to an evening of fun. The Limerick station opened the doors to the public later this week as part of the force's centenary celebrations. The free event was similar to what happened during Culture Night in 2018 when more than 1,000 visited the garda station. Those who attended on the open night got a tour of the garda station which is the headquarters of the Limerick garda division and one of the busiest garda stations outside Dublin. In addition the visitors got to see custody suite, administration areas, members of specialist units such as the Drugs Unit, the Roads Policing Unit and the Armed Support Unit. All the units showcased some of their equipment and vehicles and to explain what they do on a daily basis. Stars of the night were AJ and Buddy from the canine unit, while the armed response unit fielded many, many questions on the 'gear' they were in the field. The evening, which was a massive success, also featured Limerick Marine search and rescue as well as the Fire Brigade who brought an engine into the yard behind the station for kids to view. The evening ran from 5pm, well past the 8pm cut off time, with those lucky enough to have pre-booked their slot, adament that if the event was to take place again, they would 100% return. THE NATIONAL Lottery has revealed this Monday afternoon that Saturday nights winning Lotto Plus 1 top prize ticket worth 1 million was sold in Limerick city. The winning quick pick ticket was purchased on the day of the draw with the store location due to be confirmed tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21. The winning numbers in Saturdays (June 18) Lotto Plus 1 draw were: 03, 09, 14, 32, 38, 41 and the bonus was 44. A National Lottery spokesperson urges Limerick Lotto players to check their tickets carefully. "The Limerick winner has become the seventh Lotto Plus 1 top prize winner of 2022 following wins by players in Dublin (2), Wexford, Cork, Louth and Waterford. "The National Lottery have continued to appeal to Limerick players to check their tickets carefully as a Treaty County player now has a ticket worth 1 million. Saturday nights Lotto Plus 1 top prize winner is advised to sign the back of their ticket and keep it safe. "The biggest winner from the weekend draw should contact the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and arrangements will be made for them to claim their life-changing prize," said the spokesperson. The Limerick winner has also taken the title of 20th National Lottery millionaire of 2022. COUNCILLORS will urge the Justice Minister to cease her challenge against a bid to stop the transfer of Kevin Sheehy's murderer to a British jail. At the end of this morning's metropolitan meeting of Limerick City and County Council, outgoing district leader Cllr Catherine Slattery saw a motion passed calling on Helen McEntee to change course. It came after news emerged that Mc McEntee will contest a High Court challenge brought by Tracey Tully, the mother of the slain sportsman aiming to prevent her son's killer from being transferred cross-channel. The 20-year-old boxer died after being repeatedly struck by a vehicle driven by Logan Jackson of Longford Road Coventry, England. Jackson was convicted of Sheehys murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last December and sentenced to life imprisonment. But following his conviction 31-year-old Jackson successfully applied for a transfer from Ireland to a prison in Britain, where he will serve out the remainder of his sentence. Now, members of Limerick's metropolitan district will write to Ms McEntee to formally lodge their opposition to this. Speaking at the meeting today, Cllr Slattery said: "I couldn't leave the chamber without raising this. It is a disgraceful decision [to move Jackson]. It's disrespectful to his family, disrespectful to his family, to his mother, daughter and father. We as a council need to put pen to paper and let her know we do not agree with her decision." "I cannot comprehend what the Tully and Sheehy family are going through. If Helen McEntee has a heart, reverse this decision," said the Fianna Fail councillor, "There's a family here who will never get over losing Kevin, but if this decision is reversed, it will give the family some comfort knowing that this animal is locked up in an Irish prison." Her party colleague, Cllr Jerry O'Dea formally seconded the motion. "I know the familes for a long number of years, and it is incredibly disappointing that his sentence won't be served in Ireland. We feel it should be served out here where the crime was committed. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families, and we will do everything we can to ask Helen McEntee to reverse her decision to transfer the culprit to Britain," he pledged, "It was the most horrific of crimes. We find it difficult the Minister for Justice would seek to transfer him to Britain where his sentence may be served out more leniently." And Labour councillor Conor Sheehan added: "I find it disgusting that a career criminal gets to be transferred. He will get visits from his friends and family. While Kevin's family and friends will only have his grave to visit." Michelle ONeill has warned that the British Governments plan to enact legislation to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol will have colossal political and economic consequences. The Sinn Fein Stormont leader said that Boris Johnsons plan to override parts of the protocol has sounded alarm bells across Europe and America. Speaking at the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Co Kildare, the first minister designate told the crowd that it was an irrefutable fact that the protocol is working. Boris Johnson is incapable of accepting in a straightforward, honest and truthful way that this is the case, Ms ONeill added. The attempts this week by Boris Johnson to sabotage the protocol in plain sight have sounded the alarm bells right across Ireland, Britain, Europe and America, awakening all those who value the Good Friday Agreement and who care deeply about safeguarding our peace and progress of the past quarter century. It is not taken lightly that this British Government discards international law at a whim in such a reckless way, and only ever in their own selfish interests. Boris Johnson knows that to gamble the protocol is to jeopardise the British Governments agreement with the EU on their withdrawal and future trading relationship with colossal political and economic impact. The Tories have no mandate on this island. However, a majority of those MLAs recently elected do and there is a majority in the Assembly who support the protocol because it is working, giving us continued access to the European single market, creating jobs and economic benefit. Ms ONeill called for all Northern Ireland to re-enter the EU and said the Irish Government must plan for constitutional change. We need re-entry back into the EU for all of Ireland, she added. We need an Irish national health service, free at the point of entry. We need to tackle the climate crisis on our island. We need to end the duplication of public services. We need to maximise the full economic potential and opportunities for everyone who shares this island. For many people the frustration, impatience and urgency for change is growing. There is a direct challenge and responsibility on the Irish Government of the day to plan for constitutional change. In order to avoid the dangers, jeopardy and pitfalls of the Brexit referendum in Britain. Ms ONeill also told the crowd that Sinn Feins recent success at the Northern Ireland Assembly elections reflects the changing public attitudes. Sinn Fein is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time, winning 27 seats. The DUP has blocked the establishment of a new ministerial executive following last months Assembly election in protest at the protocol, which has created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Ms ONeill repeated her calls to the DUP to form an Executive. Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, our commitment is to make politics work through partnership, co-operation and delivery working with others who want progress, Ms ONeill added. Sinn Fein wants to work together with others to deliver for people. We are ready to form an Executive now. We need to put over 400 million into peoples pockets to help deal with the cost of living, and an extra one billion euro into the health service to reduce waiting lists, support cancer and mental health services, and recruit more doctors and nurses. Workers and families are struggling. They need our help. The DUP need to stop blocking an Executive, so we can give people that help right away. NEW DELHI : India's top steelmaker Tata Steel imported about 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia in the second half of May, two trade sources and one government source said, weeks after pledging to stop doing business with Russia. Tata Steel had said in April all its manufacturing sites in India, the UK and the Netherlands had sourced alternative supplies of raw materials to end its dependence on Russia, adding it was taking "a conscious decision to stop doing business with Russia." Still, in May, Tata Steel shipped about 75,000 tonnes of PCI coal, used in steelmaking, from Russia's Vanino port, out of which 42,000 tonnes were offloaded in a port in Paradip on May 18 and 32,500 tonnes in Haldia, said the two trade sources who wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak on the matter. A spokesman for Tata Steel said the deal to import coal from Russia was made before the company's announcement to cut business ties with Russia, without providing further details. "There has been no other PCI Coal purchase by Tata Steel from Russia after the announcement," the spokesman said in an emailed statement to Reuters. India has refrained from condemning Russia - with which it has longstanding political ties - over what Moscow describes as its "special operations" in Ukraine. India has instead defended its purchase of Russian goods as a bid to diversify supplies and argues that a sudden halt would boost prices and hurt consumers. Tata Steel was the only major steelmaker to announce it would stop doing business with Russia. Other Indian steelmakers have been importing bulk quantities of coal from Russia, trade data reviewed by Reuters showed. The PCI coal was imported in a vessel named Panamax Ostria, the trade sources said. The government source confirmed Tata Steel had imported 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia in May, but did not give more details. Details on Tata Steel's Russian coal imports have not been previously reported. Purchases of Russian coal by Indian buyers including steelmakers have spiked in recent weeks despite Western sanctions on Moscow, as traders offer discounts of up to 30%, Reuters reported on Saturday. Cheap coal supplies are especially crucial to Indian steelmakers now, as they are reeling from export duties imposed by the Indian government last month to curb local inflation. The Nifty metals index has fallen over 20% since the decision to levy export taxes on May 21, with Tata Steel falling about 26%, JSW Steel declining 12% and Jindal Steel and Power's shares losing 21% of their value since the announcement. Click here to read the full article. Comedian Aida Rodriguez is stepping behind the camera to direct two installments of the comedy special series Entre Nos for HBO Max, Variety has learned exclusively. Rodriguez will direct a standalone special featuring comedian Ian Lara as well as a special featuring both Ralph Barbosa and Gwen La Roka. Barbosa and La Roka are the two winners of the HBO & NYLFF Latino Stand-Up Comedy Competition. The two specials will be Rodriguezs directing debut. Directing both specials represents a homecoming of sorts for Rodriguez. She previously appeared in an earlier edition of Entre Nos in 2018. HBO Max is also currently streaming Rodriguezs stand up special Fighting Words, which was released in 2021. Topics in the special included being worn out by political comedy as well as her attempts to get back into dating. Rodriguez has appeared in front of the camera in both scripted and unscripted projects. In addition to her own specials, she is known for appearing in the eighth season of the NBC competition series Last Comic Standing and for her appearances on the news program The Young Turks. As an actress, she has been in shows like Illegal, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Latino 101, and Pause With Sam Jay. Rodriguezs comedy takes on issues of the day as well as stories from her personal life. In Fighting Words, she explored both her Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage through an on-camera look at her travels to both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for a celebration of the cultures as well as a reunion with her estranged father. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Actor Ben Stiller met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, during World Refugee Day. Stiller is currently visiting Ukraine in the role of a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Since Saturday, Stiller has traveled through Poland and Ukraine, where he has met with people forced to flee their homes due to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, he visited occupied settlements in the Kyiv Region, including the residential areas of Kyiv. According to a press release from the official website for Zelenskyy, Stiller and Ukraines UNHCR representative Karolina Lindholm Billing visited Zelenskyy on Monday after their visit to Irpin to discuss their meetings with refugees. Its one thing to see this destruction on TV or on social networks. Another thing is to see it all with your own eyes, Stiller said during the meeting. Thats a lot more shocking. What you saw in Irpin is definitely dreadful, Zelenskyy said, according to the press release. But it is even worse to just imagine what is happening in the settlements that are still under temporary occupation in the east. Steller and Zelenskyy spent the meeting discussing the needs of those in the Ukraine and Poland who have been displaced by the Russias invasion of the country, as well as how the UNHCR and the Ukrainian government can work together to solve the refugee crisis. Since Russia began its invasion of the neighboring Ukraine in late February, a reported 7.7 million people have been displaced from their homes, with women and children constituting 90% of those forced to flee. Additionally, according to Ukrainian authorities, roughly 400,000 Ukrainian citizens have been forcibly deported to Russia since the invasion began. Stiller and UNHCR also posted a video statement on Instagram regarding World Refugee Day, featuring Stiller speaking from Kyiv. Im meeting people who have been impacted by the war, and hearing how its changed their lives. War and violence are devastating people all over the world, Stiller said in the video. Nobody chooses to flee their homes. Seeking safety is a right and it needs to be upheld for every person. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@refugees) Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Lincoln Center has announced a musical tribute to Greg Tate, a veteran music writer and musician and a godfather of hip-hop journalism who died in December at 64. The performance will feature more than 30 members of Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, the group that Tate founded (head here for more information). For this homecoming concert, curated and presented with The Tate Family at one of his favorite venues, more than thirty BSAC members will perform in celebration and tribute to one of the most essential voices in the history of 21st Century Avant Groidd music and thought, the announcement reads. Titled More Than Posthuman: Rise of the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Mojosexual Cotillion An Oh the Utter Negrocity of It All, the tribute is one of three in Tates honor being held this summer: one last week at the New York Public Librarys Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and another, also featuring Burnt Sugar, on August 20 at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem as part of New Yorks SummerStage concert series. While Tates writing touched on many aspects of African-American culture, he is probably best known as a vital early hip-hop writer, particularly in his many years at the Village Voice. He was also an active musician, a founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and the leader of the Burnt Sugar ensemble, which has featured dozens of musicians and issued more than 20 releases in its two-decade history.. Born and raised in Ohio, Tates family moved to Washington, D.C. when he was a teenager and he immersed himself in the citys music culture of the era; one of his first articles for the Voice was about D.C.s pivotal, all-black punk quartet the Bad Brains. He studied journalism and film at Howard University in D.C. and moved to New York in 1982, quickly establishing himself as a music writer; he was a co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition three years later. He was hired on-staff at the Village Voice in 1987 and became one of the influential publications most distinctive and recognized writers, bringing a cerebral edge to his writing about hip-hop that was rare at the time and connected the music with the wider culture; the long-running hip-hop publication The Source called him one of the godfathers of hip-hop journalism. His 1986 essay Cult-Nats Meet Freaky Deke is often cited as a milestone in black cultural criticism. Over the years he was published in virtually every major music magazine as well as the New York Times and the Washington Post. He remained a Voice contributor until 2005; he also wrote several books, including Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture, (2003), Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience and Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis was arrested Sunday in Italy on charges of sexual assault. The Crash director was detained in southern Italy after a young foreign woman told investigators that she was forced to seek medical care following non-consensual sexual relations with a man Italian authorities identified as Haggis. According to a statement by prosecutors in Brindisi, Italy (via the Associated Press), the woman whose name, age and nationality wasnt revealed was dropped off at a nearby airport early Sunday morning following an alleged encounter with Haggis that lasted two days. Airport police and staff found the woman in precarious physical and psychological conditions and in a confused state, prosecutors added. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital for examination. Following that, she told authorities of the alleged sexual assault, formalized her complaint and cited circumstances which were subsequently looked into for confirmation by investigators. The victim then filed formal charges against Haggis, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury. Haggis lawyer Priya Chaudhry told Rolling Stone in a statement, Under Italian Law, I cannot discuss the evidence. That said, I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent, and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly. Haggis was in southern Italy to take part in the inaugural Allora Fest, where the filmmaker was booked to hold master classes. In a statement to Variety, Allora Fest organizers said they learned with dismay and shock the news that Paul Haggis is in custody for alleged violence. The fest also immediately proceeded to remove any participation of [Haggis] from the event. The themes chosen for the festival are, among others, those of equality, gender equality, and solidarity, organizers continued. As professionals and women they are dismayed and hope that the festival will help foster more information and awareness on such a topical and increasingly pressing issue. In late 2017 and early 2018, several women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Haggis, including publicist Haleigh Breest, who filed a civil lawsuit against the Million Dollar Baby screenwriter. Following Breests lawsuit, three more women came shared their accusations against Haggis. One of the accusers said she was 28 when the alleged attack took place in 1996. She claims she was working on a television show that Haggis produced when he asked her to review some photos from the show. When they met in a back office, she claimed he tried to kiss her. He said, Do you really want to continue working? she claimed. He then allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him and pushed her onto the floor and raped her. Breests lawsuit against Haggis remains pending, as the Covid pandemic has delayed the trials state date. Click here to read the full article. The Tennessee secretary of state was arrested on charges of driving under the influence late Friday night after leaving the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Tre Hargett, a Republican who has served as the secretary of state since 2009, was booked into Coffee County Jail around 1:30 a.m. and released six hours later on $2,000 bail, the Associated Press reported. On Friday night after leaving the Bonnaroo Music Festival, I was stopped by the Tullahoma Police Department and subsequently arrested for DUI, Hargett said in a statement. Driving Under the Influence is a serious matter, and I regret the circumstances that led to my arrest. I respect law enforcement and will trust the legal process as we move forward. Courtesy/UISD In light of the recent events in Uvalde, the United Independent School District is taking extra precautions at all campuses and department offices. With this in mind the district is adding an extra layer of security by creating the position of Director of Law Enforcement Safety/Security. This new position will be assigned to UISDs most experienced veteran law enforcement officer, former UISD Chief of Police Ray Garner, who has nearly 50 years experience working in the field of law enforcement. JERUSALEM (AP) Israels defense minister on Monday said that Israel is helping build a U.S.-led regional air-defense alliance against Iran, and that the partnership has already thwarted attempted Iranian attacks. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he expected the upcoming visit by President Joe Biden to the region to further strengthen this fledgling alliance. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy, citing the country's suspect nuclear program and its support for anti-Israel proxies across the region as threats. In recent years, it has formed a series of partnerships, some in the open and others covert, with Gulf Arab countries threatened by Iran. Monday's announcement by Gantz was the first time Israel has openly acknowledged a regionwide military alliance with Arab partners as part of its budding regional ties. In testimony to parliaments powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gantz gave few details about the Middle East Air Defense Alliance, or MEAD, including what other countries are members or what types of operations it has carried out. He called it the first element of a shared vision in the face of Irans attempts to attack the regions countries using rockets, cruise missiles and UAVs unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. This program is already operative and has already enabled the successful interception of Iranian attempts to attack Israel and other countries, he said. Bidens visit, which includes stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia in mid-July, will support this process, he added. Two years ago, it established full diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two Gulf Arab countries that also feel threatened by Iran. It also is believed to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful Arab country in the Gulf, ties that Israel hopes the Biden visit could strengthen. Israel last week issued a rare warning ordering citizens to avoid travel to Turkey and urging Israelis in Turkey to leave immediately, saying that Israeli citizens could be targets of Iranian attacks. Gantz said he has ordered the military to prepare a powerful response if Israeli citizens are harmed. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters Monday that a joint operation with Turkey succeeded in thwarting several attacks and resulted in the arrest of several suspected operatives on Turkish soil in recent days. He said the aim was to return the situation in Turkey and Israeli tourism to normal as quickly as possible. Israel's foreign minister, Yair Lapid, is expected to visit Turkey this week, in the latest sign of warming ties between the Mideast countries. Israel's national security adviser Eyal Hulata returned Monday from an official visit to Jordan, a day before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was to arrive for a meeting with the king in Amman. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office provided no additional details. Yoel Guzansky, an expert on the Gulf at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said the new partnership mentioned by Gantz is in its early stages and should not be compared to regional mutual-defense alliances like NATO. He said no one expects Israelis and Arab countries to defend one another like NATO, he said. Instead, he said the countries have begun to share information, such as early warning radar intelligence, under the umbrella of the United States. Guzansky said it was unlikely the Arab partners will be publicly identified due to the sensitivities around cooperating with Israel. Nonetheless, he said it was an interesting development. He said the the U.S. decision to move Israel last year from its European Command to its Central Command, which includes Gulf Arab partners, played a key role in establishing the alliance. If we are looking at the bright side, it's the beginning, and from this many things can grow up," Guzansky said. "This is the first phase. ___ Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DALLAS (AP) After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth this weekend, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said it's important that people learn the history behind it. We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again, said Lee, whose 2 1/2-mile (4-kilometer) walk through Fort Worth symbolizes the 2 1/2 years it took after President Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the Southern states for the enslaved people in Texas to be freed. A year after President Joe Biden signed legislation making June 19 the nation's 12th federal holiday, people across the U.S. gathered at events filled with music, food and fireworks. Celebrations also included an emphasis on learning about history and addressing racial disparities. Many Black people celebrated the day just as they did before any formal recognition. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the state two months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War. Great nations dont ignore their most painful moments, Biden said in a statement Sunday. They confront them to grow stronger. And that is what this great nation must continue to do. A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with Juneteenth than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew a lot or some about the holiday compared with 37% a year ago in May. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of school history lessons increased from 49% to 63%. Yet many states have been slow to designate it as an official holiday. Lawmakers in Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere failed to advance proposals this year that would have closed state offices and given most of their public employees paid time off. Celebrations in Texas included one at a Houston park created 150 years ago by a group of formerly enslaved men who bought the land. At times, it was the only public park available in the area to the Black community, according to the conservancys website. They wanted a place that they could not only have their celebration, but they could do other things during the year as a community, said Jacqueline Bostic, vice chairwoman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy and the great-granddaughter of one of the park's founders, the Rev. Jack Yates. This weekend's celebration included performances from The Isley Brothers and Kool & The Gang. In the weeks leading up to Juneteenth, the park hosted discussions on topics ranging from health care to policing to the role of green spaces. Participants included Robert Stanton, the first African American to serve as director of the National Park Service, and Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, who grew up in the historically Black neighborhood where the park is located and whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer two years ago sparked protests worldwide. As more people learn about Juneteenth, we want to harness that and use this moment as a tool to educate people about history and not just African American history but American history, said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board for the Emancipation Park Conservancy. In Fort Worth, celebrations included the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, named for the Black cowboy who is credited with introducing bulldogging, or steer wrestling. The rodeos president and CEO, Valeria Howard Cunningham, said children often express surprise that there are real Black cowboys and cowgirls. More young people have become involved in planning Juneteenth events, said Torrina Harris, program director for the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the holiday's birthplace. Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on the different practices or norms that are contradicting the values of freedom and consider how to challenge those things, Harris said. Some of the largest city celebrations from Los Angeles to Chicago to Miami not only touched on the history of slavery in America, but also celebrated Black culture, business and food. In Phoenix, hundreds of people gathered for an annual event at Eastlake Park, which has been a focal point for civil rights in Arizona. The recently crowned Miss Juneteenth Arizona used her platform to speak about how she felt empowered during the state pageant, which is part of a nationwide competition that showcases and celebrates the academic and artistic achievements of Black women. It's a moment to build up sisterhood, it's not about competing against each other for a crown, it's about celebrating Black women's intelligence and staying true to ourselves, said Shaundrea Norman, 17, whose family is from Texas and grew up knowing about Juneteenth. Kendall McCollun, 15-year-old Teen Miss Juneteenth Arizona, said the holiday is about the fight for social justice. We have to fight twice as hard to have the same freedoms that our ancestors fought for hundreds of years ago, she said. It's important we continue to fight for my generation, and this day is important to celebrate how far we've come." The event featured performances by Kawambe-Omowale African Drum & Dance and speeches from politicians about ways residents could get involved in local politics as children received balloon animals and ran through Eastlake Park's playground. In New York City, Juneteenth was celebrated across its five boroughs, with events drawing crowds that exceeded organizers expectations. In central Brooklyn, well over 7,000 people attended a food festival organized Saturday and Sunday by Black-Owned Brooklyn, a digital publication and directory of local Black businesses. Although Juneteenth is a Black American holiday, organizers of the festival said they were intentional about including cuisines and flavors from Caribbean and West African countries. On Sunday, long lines formed from nearly every food stall, while a DJ played soulful house music for festively dressed attendees. The idea to celebrate Juneteenth around our food culture is particularly meaningful here in Brooklyn, where we have so many Black folks who live here from across the world, said Tayo Giwa, co-creator of Black-Owned Brooklyn. Paying tribute to it through our shared connection in the (African) diaspora, its really powerful, he said. The event was held at the Weeksville Heritage Center, which was one of the largest Black communities for freedmen before the Civil War. Attendees were given guided tours of the grounds, which includes historic homes and other structures that were once inhabited by the communitys founders. For a day thats about emancipation, it only makes sense to have people gather on this land and feed each other not just with food but also spirit and soul, emotion and love, said Isa Saldana, programs and partnerships manager for the Weeksville Heritage Center. A big part of (Juneteenth) is about learning to be free and feeling okay doing that, she said. Jeffrey Whaley Sr. attended the festival with his three children on Sunday, which was also Fathers Day. The Staten Island, New York, native said he was hopeful that federal observances of Juneteenth would increase awareness of the Black American story in the U.S. As each of us grows, we have to grow in the consciousness that we suffered a lot longer than theyre telling us we did, Whaley said. Its our duty to our ancestors to make sure we educate ourselves and better ourselves within this country, because this country owes us a whole lot. ___ Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee, and Aaron Morrison in New York City, contributed to this report. Mumphrey reported from Phoenix and is a member of The Associated Press Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her at https://twitter.com/cheymumph. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Tennessean. Brad Raffensperger, at left, and Gabriel Sterling, at right. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabe Sterling will testify publicly at the next hearing held by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the plans tells CNN. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A teenager accused of being among a seven person gang that committed violent disorder at a Longford secondary school last year has been commended for the way he has attempted to turn his life around since the incident. Angel Miranda (18), 48/49 Lower Main Street, Kilbeggan, Athlone, Co Westmeath first appeared in court last April following an incident that saw a secondary school principal attempt to wrestle an iron bar from a teenage pupil as the gang tried to attack a young boy. Mr Miranda was back in court last Tuesday where it was detailed the south American native had since begun a new relationship and was fully intent on starting a new chapter in his life. I do have the mother of his partner in court and she has taken him into her custody, said defence solicitor Frank Gearty. He has completely and entirely disassociated himself from the people that were involved. He came from Argentina with his mother and was taken into care at the age of 16 and ended up in not the best of company and he has now severed himself from all connections from the company he was getting into. He now has a girlfriend and a mentor,a young law student from the Co Westmeath area and her mother has come to court. She has also been involved in supporting him in getting him on the straight and narrow. His girlfriends mother accompanied Mr Miranda to court and stood patiently beside him during last weeks court hearing. Sgt Darran Conlon, took to the witness box to relay his own take on the conduct of Mr Miranda since the St Mels College incident was first reported. There are seven defendants arrested in relation to the St Mels School violent disorder incident and of the seven defendants and I must say this man would stand out in terms of his level of cooperation and all the efforts he has made in a positive way in disassociating himself from the group, he said. Mr Gearty added that Mr Miranda had initially arrived into Ireland aged just 4, adding there were lingering and substantive issues which could yet jeopardise his association with Ireland. His mother came to Ireland when he was just 4, said Mr Gearty. The matter is of huge regret to be tagging along in the shameful actions of the gang. He would be working if he was allowed but the problem is he is technically illegal in Ireland because he is a citizen of Argentina and the paperwork wasnt regularised. He is desperately trying to get a letter and if he gets a solid offer he will be able to get work and if not he will have to go back to Argentina. The court was further informed of how Mr Miranda had been charged with the theft of a bike from a man in Edgeworthstown on August 26, 2021. Sgt Mark Mahon, for the State, said the incident took place on Main Street in the town at around 2pm. He said Mr Miranda is alleged to have taunted the victim before taking his bike during a skirmish that followed. Sgt Mahon said follow up inquiries soon identified Mr Miranda as the chief suspect with the accused quickly admitting his guilt when officers called to his door. Gardai carried out enquiries and established who took the property and called to Mr Miranda who was very cooperative, he said. He admitted to stealing the bike and showed where he had hidden the bike. Mr Gearty said his client had not technically taken the bike, but due to judicial legislation had no choice but to admit his culpability over what had transpired. He took the bike which was parked outside SuperValu where the incident took place and he hid the bike in undergrowth nearby, he said. Under the old Common Law theft that would maybe not have been theft at all as there was no taking but under the new Theft Act he is absolutely banged to rights because it is to deprive the owner of it which is enough. He is guilty and he accepts that. Judge Bernadette Owens took into account the mitigation presented by Mr Gearty, stating she would be adopting a benign view if Mr Miranda steered clear of trouble between now and the adjourned court date. The case was deferred to December 6 next. Outrage has been expressed at a series of acts of vandalism that has hit the multi award winning village of Ardagh in recent weeks. A number of trees were damaged over the past number of weeks much to the ire of locals. Two of the village's three newly planted crab apples trees on the grounds of the Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre were found to have been snapped in half, leaving local Tidy Towns activists unsure if the trees will be able to recover from the damage. Ann Gerety Smyth, co-owner of the Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre expressed her dismay at the damage. "New life in one of the villages green spaces, which is used by residents and visitors alike, was a lovely surprise and I'm perplexed that anyone would feel the need to destroy newly planted trees," she said. Francesca Pawelczyk, Ardagh Preservation Society Secretary and Longford Public Participation Network (PPN) Environmental Representative, likewise hit out. We are in the midst of an environmental and climate crisis and trees play vital roles in ecosystem services. People doing what they can to protect the futures of our children and our planet for it to be met with ignorance and destruction is appalling and unacceptable. Prior to the alleged act of vandalism on the grounds of the Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre, a sign for the Ardagh Neighbourhood Park was forcibly taken down. It's understood the incidents have been reported to gardai. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: June 20 2022 Will be largest terminal at JFK Airport when complete and will create 10,000 jobs, including 6,000 construction jobs. Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that construction of a $9.5 billion, world-class New Terminal One at JFK International Airport will move forward this summer now that financial and environmental approvals have been secured, including today's financial close for the first phase of the project. "The construction of this new state-of-the-art terminal at JFK is key to our vision for a new era in New York," Governor Hochul said. "This transformative project is moving forward full steam ahead and when complete will provide for a passenger experience that serves as a model for the unparalleled potential of New York. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has put in the years of hard work to make this project possible." In December, Governor Hochul announced that the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners approved an agreement with the New Terminal One consortium to build a world-class terminal that will anchor the south side of JFK Airport. Last week, the Port Authority's Board voted to approve a new lead investor in the project. Ferrovial, a global airport operator with experience building world-class terminals, will acquire 96 percent of The Carlyle Global Infrastructure Fund's 51-percent stake in the New Terminal One, the consortium that was selected to design, build and operate the state-of-the-art terminal. The announcement that the New Terminal One will begin construction this summer comes just 10 days after Governor Hochul, The Port Authority and Delta Air Lines celebrated the opening of a new Terminal C at LaGuardia Airport, marking the substantial completion of a Whole New LaGuardia. Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said, "Today's financial close on the first phase of the New Terminal One project at JFK Airport is an historic moment that has been five years in the making. We look forward to partnering with Ferrovial, JLC Infrastructure Group, Ullico and Carlyle to build a world-class, top-rank terminal that will be the largest international terminal at JFK and whose $9 billion dollar-plus investment will help drive the region's recovery. We want to thank New York Governor Kathy Hochul, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg of the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and the leadership and staff of the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, in Region 2, and at JFK Airport. Without their support, getting this important project to financial close today would not have been possible." Port Authority Chairman Kevin O'Toole said, "With a new LaGuardia Airport substantially complete and a new Terminal A at Newark Liberty Airport nearing completion, today's announcement about moving forward with a New Terminal One at JFK is another demonstration of the Port Authority's commitment to creating world-class airports for our region. The unprecedented level of investment by our private partners is a vote of confidence in the future of our region and our ability to take on and complete extraordinary projects that will serve as an inspiration for generations to come." JFK's New Terminal One will be built on sites now occupied by Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and the former Terminal 3, where it will anchor JFK's south side. At 2.4 million square feet, the new terminal will be the largest terminal at JFK when complete - nearly the same size as the new LaGuardia Airport's two new terminals combined. Construction of the new terminal will take place in phases. The first phase, including the new arrivals and departures hall and first set of new gates, is expected to open in 2026. After completion of all three phases in 2030, the New Terminal One will have 23 gates as well as bright and airy check-in halls and arrival spaces designed to enhance the customer experience and compete with some of the highest-rated airport terminals in the world. Customers will enjoy world-class, New York-inspired dining and retail amenities, as well as space for lounges, an indoor green space and family-friendly amenities. The New Terminal One will incorporate the latest advances in both sustainability and security and be infused a with uniquely New York sense of place. Luke Bugeja, Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovial Airports said, "We are honored to partner with the Port Authority of NYNJ, JLC Infrastructure, Ullico, and Carlyle to bring a world-class airport terminal to life at John F. Kennedy Airport. This transformative project will delight travelers and deliver the intended benefits to the community of one of the world's most popular and important destinations and international gateways to and from the United States" Dr. Gerrard P. Bushell, President and Chief Executive Officer of The New Terminal One said, "I am excited to welcome Ferrovial to the New Terminal One consortium as the lead sponsor. Ferrovial is a critical partner that brings great expertise and experience as a world-class airport developer and operator that will further the capabilities of this project as it expands the notion of what is possible when it comes to the impact of infrastructure projects. From MWBE participation to local workforce development to sustainability enhancements, the New Terminal One project will have a ripple effect for generations to come." The New Terminal One builds on the momentum of the other three major components of the airport's transformation. The $3.9 billion development of a state-of-the-art new Terminal 6, to be built by JFK Millennium Partners, on the airport's north side that will seamlessly connect with JetBlue's existing Terminal 5 and was approved by the Port Authority Board of Commissioners in August, and is expected to begin construction by the end of this year. The $1.5 billion expansion of Terminal 4, led by Delta and JFK International Air Terminal, was approved in the spring and is now under construction. Additionally, work began in December 2019 on the $425 million expansion of JFK's Terminal 8, led by American Airlines, which operates the terminal, and British Airways, which will be relocating to Terminal 8 from Terminal 7, set to be demolished to make way for the new Terminal 6. Combined, the projects represent an $18 billion transformation of JFK International and an extraordinary public-private partnership. The Port Authority capital investment of $2.9 billion is leveraging private investment at a rate of more than five to one when taking into account the full private investment of more than $15 billion that has been committed to the four projects comprising the full JFK redevelopment program. Construction of the New Terminal One will create at least 10,000 jobs, including 6,000 construction jobs. Ferrovial and its partners at the New Terminal One are also committed to the Port Authority goal of 30-percent participation by Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses and a strong focus on developing local businesses. Ferrovial has been part of the aviation industry since 1998 and has more than 20 years of experience investing, developing, and operating 33 airports around the world, including the United States, Australia, and Chile. It currently has four airports in the United Kingdom. With a 25 percent stake in Heathrow Airport, it is the airport's core shareholder and industrial partner, and it owns 50 percent of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Southampton airports. It is also in the process of closing the acquisition of 60 percent of Dalaman International Airport in Turkey from YDA Group. Ferrovial has a deep understanding of the aviation and travel segments and a strong track record of building productive relationships with partners, local leaders, and the community. Ferrovial will complement and add to the impressive work done by NTO and the Port Authority to date. The company has been part of the aviation industry since 1998 and has more than 20 years of experience investing, developing, and operating 33 airports around the world, including the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Chile. Forrovial currently has four airports in the United Kingdom. With a 25 percent stake in Heathrow Airport, it is the airport's core shareholder and industrial partner, and it owns 50 percent of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Southampton airports. In 2020, Ferrovial Airports set up the Ferrovial Vertiports business, with the objective of designing, building and operating the infrastructure required for the operations of eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircrafts. Ferrovial Airports is also in the process of closing the acquisition of 60 percent of Dalaman International Airport in Turkey from YDA Group. Redeveloping JFK Airport in Lockstep with the Local Community In 2018, the JFK Redevelopment Community Advisory Council was formed. It is co-chaired by U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, and is composed of elected officials, community boards, business and nonprofit organizations, civic organizations, and clergy leaders from the targeted local communities of Southeast Queens, Southwest Queens, the Rockaways, and western portions of Nassau County. Since its inception, the Council has been working with the Port Authority to expand community outreach efforts and develop community-focused programs, ensuring that this ambitious project solicits ongoing feedback from local stakeholders and provides meaningful opportunities for local businesses, MWBEs, students, and jobseekers. This includes programming to advance the Port Authority's commitment to a 30 percent MWBE contracting goal in all categories of work, and a special focus on opportunities for local businesses across all aspects of the JFK Redevelopment program, including this terminal project, which will be built by union labor under a full project-labor agreement. Other community development initiatives prioritized by the Council focus on job opportunities and workforce development programs for local residents, small business outreach and development, and educational programming for local students. Long Island Board of REALTORS Partner with Habitat for Humanity of Long Island to Celebrate Homeownership Month Local News, Community, Charity & Cause By Chris Boyle Published: June 20 2022 LIBORs dedicated team of REALTOR volunteers spent the day alongside HFHLI site supervisors, spackling and other finishing work inside the home. In recognition of National Homeownership Month and the 2022 REALTORS Are Good Neighbors Volunteer Days, Long Island Board of REALTORS (LIBOR) recently joined Habitat for Humanity of Long Island (HFHLI) to help build a home for a deserving family in Shirley, NY. As leading advocates for sustainable housing opportunities, Long Island REALTORS work diligently to help families achieve the American dream of homeownership. LIBOR and its members are proud to partner with organizations, such as HFHLI, whose mission is to see these dreams become a reality by breaking barriers and creating affordable housing opportunities for low to mid-income families in our communities. LIBORs dedicated team of REALTOR volunteers spent the day alongside HFHLI site supervisors, spackling and other finishing work inside the home, as well as outside clean-up, to prime the property for the new family of four to come. Both Long Island Board of REALTORS and Habitat for Humanity of Long Island share the conviction that everyone deserves a safe place to call home. Our partnership represents LIBORs commitment to helping to create affordable housing, build strong communities, and encourage the pride in homeownership throughout Long Island, said LIBOR CEO Tessa Hultz. June was designated National Homeownership Month, to celebrate the importance of owning a home and the impact it has on the lives of American families, local communities, and the nation's economic health. This month marks the 20th anniversary of National Homeownership Month, whose national spotlight began in 1995 as a weeklong recognition first proclaimed to last the entire month in June 2002 under former President George W. Bush. We are excited to be part of this years National Homeownership Month celebration and to join forces with LIBOR to help with our mission to strengthen communities and combat the affordable housing crisis on Long Island. Today we are one step closer to completing the future home for Jessica, Zachary, and their children. said Lee Silberman, CEO and Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Long Island. The REALTOR volunteer effort coincided with the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) 2022 REALTORS Are Good Neighbors Volunteer Days, which runs from June 4 - 12. Through this annual program, REALTORS are encouraged to join in on the nationwide philanthropic week-long initiative to showcase the time and effort theyve dedicated to strengthening their communities. Across the country, almost 66% of all REALTORS volunteer monthly in their community. Giving back is part of who we are as both people and as professionals, said LIBOR President Kevin Loiacono. For LIBOR members who have a heart for service and a passion for giving back, it is a natural fit to work alongside HFHLI to support their efforts in advancing homeownership throughout Long Island. In addition to providing volunteer labor, LIBOR contributed $2,500, to help in the construction of the home. For the past 16 years, LIBOR has sponsored the building of Habitat for Humanity homes across Long Island. About Long Island Board of REALTORS Long Island Board of REALTORS, Inc. (LIBOR) is a 30,000-member, not-for-profit trade association that serves real estate professionals throughout Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens counties. Founded over 100 years ago, LIBOR is the fourth-largest local REALTOR board in the United States. About Habitat for Humanity of Long Island Crime By Long Island Published: June 20 2022 On 06/19/22 at approximately 11:02 p.m., Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs stopped a car on Nichols Road near Patchogue Holbrook Road for failure to maintain lane. On 06/19/22 at approximately 11:02 p.m., Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs stopped a car on Nichols Road near Patchogue Holbrook Road for failure to maintain lane. The driver, Jean Louissaint, 40, of Bayport, NY, was found to be intoxicated. Two children, Louissaint's 9 year-old son and 7 year-old daughter were passengers in the vehicle. Louissaint was arrested for DWI and transported to the Sheriffs Office Enforcement Bureau for chemical testing where he refused to consent to a blood test. The Suffolk County District Attorneys Office was contacted and assisted Deputy Sheriffs in obtaining a blood warrant to test the defendant's BAC. At the scene, the vehicle was impounded and the custody of the children was turned over to their adult stepbrother. After the blood warrant was obtained, blood was drawn by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The blood was then transported to the Crime Lab and is pending analysis. Leandras Law (the Child Passenger Protection Act) is a NYS law making it an automatic felony on the first offense to drive drunk with a person age 15 or younger inside the vehicle. It was named after 11 year-old Leandra Rosado who was killed on the Henry Hudson Parkway on October 11, 2009, when she was the passenger in a car accident, driven by a driver who was allegedly driving while intoxicated. Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. commends his deputies. Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs are out patrolling our countys roads to keep the public safe. In this case, they not only prevented an intoxicated driver from causing an accident with another driver or a pedestrian, but they potentially saved the life of two children in the vehicle. I am proud of their ongoing vigilance in protecting the residents of Suffolk County. Uniper SE - Dusseldorf, Germany-based energy company - Inks a framework agreement with Sunnic Lighthouse GmbH, a subsidiary of solar power company Enerparc AG, for the purchase of electricity from solar power plants. The power purchase agreement will allow Uniper to buy 208 gigawatt hours annually from 53 solar parks in Germany. Deliveries to Uniper will start in July and run to the end of 2027. Current stock price: EUR18.09, down 1.2% in Frankfurt 12-month change: down 41% By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - Tullow Oil PLC's Chief Executive Rahul Dhir, said on Wednesday at the company's annual general meeting that the company had seen a strong operational performance in the year. Dhir said that the oil and gas company began the year in discussions to address our debt maturities. He said that now, thanks to asset sales, cost savings and some help from oil prices, the company was able to reset its capital structure with a USD1.8 billion bond issue. Since then, Tullow has recorded strong operational performances in Ghana and Gabon, though it noted some issue as its joint venture project in Kenya. At its operated assets in Ghana, the company noted improvements in floating production storage and offloading uptime, gas offtake and water injection rates. It also notable production growth at its Jubilee well where average daily production climbed to 90,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the year from 70,000 barrels of oil per day at the start. In Gabon, the company said it has continued to deliver stable production and have matured several prospects around the Simba and the Tchatamba South licences that can sustain and increase production. In Kenya, the company said it has been working with its joint venture partner to revise its development to target more resources, higher production and reduce project unit costs. Tullow explained that the plan has been restructured as it was a "commercially difficult" project. It continued that it is working with potential partners to reduce its stake in the project to be "more in line with a company of [its] size". Elsewhere, Tullow said it retains material positions in emerging basins in Guyana and Argentina. It added that it expects to spud a well in Guyana imminently and anticipated to announce the results from the well in the third quarter of 2022. Shares in Tullow Oil were up 1.6% at 55.10 pence on Wednesday morning in London. Phuthuma Nhelko joins the company as non-executive chair, replacing Dorothy Thompson who left the board last year. The company also appoints Jonathan Swinney as its new chief financial officer. Swinney will join from oil and gas company Enquest PLC later this year. Tullow Oil will publish a trading statement on July 13. By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - Deliveroo PLC on Monday named Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC's Scilla Grimble as its new chief financial officer, replacing Adam Miller. Shares in Deliveroo were down 7.5% to 80.02 pence each in London on Monday morning, while Moneysupermarket.com shares were 0.3% higher at 175.00p. Grimble, who is currently chief financial officer at the FTSE 250-listed price comparison site, is expected to commence her appointment by no later than June 2023, the London-based food delivery firm said. Grimble joined MoneySupermarket.com as chief financial office in 2019. Prior to this, she was interim CFO at Marks & Spencer Group PLC, where she was also director of group finance. Moneysupermarket.com Chief Executive Peter Duffy said: "Scilla has made a significant contribution to the group since 2019 and has been a valuable colleague to me since I became CEO in 2020. I am grateful for all she has done and wish her well in her new role." Meanwhile, Deliveroo said CFO Adam Miller will be stepping down on September 17, with David Hancock, currently vice president of Investor Relations, to replace him on an interim basis. Hancock, who will continue in his current role concurrently, will not be joining the board, Deliveroo said. Deliveroo Chair Claudia Arney said: "I am delighted to welcome Scilla to Deliveroo and the board is confident that her highly relevant skills and experience will help us to take advantage of the significant opportunities before us and will be invaluable as we continue to build our business. "The board thanks Adam for all he has done for Deliveroo during his time here, from helping guide the business as vice president of Strategy to taking on the interim CFO role at a critical time, and then as CFO helping us through Covid and navigating the initial public offering", Arney added. Moneysupermarket said the search for a new CFO is underway. By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. This weekend the inhabitants of Helsinki, Finland, were surprised by the visit of a well-known movie star, Johnny Depp. The American actor arrived in the Nordic region to join his friend Jeff Beck's musical team and together they participated in the Helsinki Blues Festival. Enjoys a more relaxed life In this regard, a source close to Deep consulted by PEOPLE magazine says that after the wear and tear caused by the weeks he spent in front of the jury, the 59-year-old celebrity is taking life more calmly and without bragging about how he defeated his ex-wife. "The trial was necessary, but he's happy it's over. Although he is relieved by the jury's verdict, he is not gloating about it," said the person whose identity is being withheld by the media outlet. The insider also made it clear that the histrion's greatest desire is to return to work on some film project to relaunch his career. "Now he is not even talking about the lawsuit. He filed the lawsuit, because he considered it necessary. However, he has already turned the page. He can go back to what he likes to do. He enjoys acting and has a busy summer ahead of him. He's also looking forward to continuing to work. He just wants to get his career back on track. He loves filming," she said. Guest artist What is a fact is that while Amber Heard is still studying ways to re-file another lawsuit against her ex-husband, Jonny Deep continues to enjoy being Jeff Beck's guest artist at his concerts. "It's an extraordinary honor to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I'm privileged to call my brother," the actor mentioned. For his part, the legendary Beck wishes his audience would also recognize Jonny's talent as a musician. "I just hope people take him seriously as a musician because it's kind of hard for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll," he said. Advertisement Many HIV/AIDS Survivors Lack Family Support "I don't think dogs are magically making them better, but dogs are making a difference," said Hart. "The older HIV/AIDS survivors may also have more coping strategies, and dogs are part of that. They take their dogs on walks and meet people in their neighborhood and remain more socially connected."Hart said while, cat owners felt especially alone, isolated and unsupported even though they were universal in saying their cat comforted them.She said supportive pet care service organizations that keep people with special needs and their companion animals together could focus particularly on providing cat owners greater support.The researchers conducted a national survey of mostly older male HIV/AIDS survivors. These long-term survivors are defined as people who developed HIV before 1996. More than 1.2 million people live with AIDS in the U.S., and 300,000 of them became infected before 1996. HIV/AIDS survivors are also 30% more likely to become infected with COVID than the general population.Long-term survivors reported that they felt their experiences living through the AIDS pandemic were more challenging than their experiences during COVID; the AIDS pandemic had major impacts for decades, and the COVID pandemic for only one to two years. Very few of these HIV/AIDS survivors received family support in either pandemic; however, these respondents were connected online with other long-term survivors. Hart said that may partially explain these somewhat surprising results, with older men, especially those with dogs, doing so well."I think it's important to know that long-term survivors of AIDS are resilient and to get to that point, they had to be. A lot of them would say that animals were a big part of that," said study co-author Ken Gorczyca, founding veterinarian for Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS)."Having an animal companion gave many a sense of purpose in life, to take care of them, especially at a time in the 1980s and '90s when AIDS was so bad and there was virtually no support from government or many times from your family."Gorczyca added that experiencing a second pandemic brought many long-term survivors "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) feelings," but the power of animal companionship was now well documented. He said many social and animal support agencies and the government stepped up immediately to keep providing support services.Other authors of the study include Abigail Thigpen and Neil Willits of UC Davis; Aubrey Fine of Cal Polytechnic State University; Raquel Bernaldo and Katherine D'Amato of PAWS/Shanti Project; Stephanie Malzyner of UC Berkeley; and Jesus Guillen of HIV Long-Term Survivors International Network. The research was funded by the Center for Companion Animal Health at UC Davis.Source: Eurekalert Non-communicable and lifestyle-related ailments are on the rise and Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges people to practice Yoga to improve health. The Prime Minister urged the people to practice Yoga for good health and wellness. He has also shared a video on Yoga. Importance of Yoga In a tweet Prime Minister Modi said, "The importance of Yoga becomes even more in the present era when non-communicable and lifestyle related ailments are on the rise, particularly among the youth. Practice Yoga for good health and wellness." BY KATE HESSLING Tribune Staff Writer Article updated 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. UPPER THUMB The Michigan State Police investigating officer confirmed Tuesday that the complaint alleging 84th District State Rep. Kurt E. Damrow filed a false police report has been forwarded to the Tuscola County Prosecutors Office for review. The complaint stems from an investigation the Michigan State Police (MSP) conducted after receiving a five-page narrative written by Damrow that included a laundry list of allegations against several officials and residents in Huron County. Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson was one of the individuals Damrow made allegations against. Hanson made the investigation public after learning he was being investigated for extortion. Damrow alleged Hanson threatened Karrie Diller-Koceba and Melissa Stirrett, the organizers of the Huron Kids Facebook page, to get them to take their site down. Earlier this year, a rally was held by supporters of Damrows wife, Kim, who was sentenced to serve 12 hours in jail for violating a court order allowing the father of her young son visitation. Many supporters expressed support on the Huron Kids Facebook page. The sheriffs office was notified an individual made a threat on Facebook against the judge overseeing the visitation case. After the Huron Daily Tribune ran an article about the investigation of the alleged threat, Diller-Koceba went to the sheriff because she and Stirrett were concerned the matter was spurred by their Facebook page. The site was taken down, then later reopened for a day to feature a message, The Truth About Huron Kids Kim Damrow, that explained Huron Kids was started with the foremost intention of it being an educational tool about child abuse for the community. According to the message, Kim Damrow, who expressed interest in becoming an advocate for child safety, was given login information to the site. However, following her conviction of contempt of court, the group discovered Kim Damrow used the Huron Kids name to post claims of having read her court documents or having witnessed proof her child was being abused. After realizing that Kim Damrow was using this forum for her own personal gain, I personally shut down Huron Kids so it can no longer be misused. After deactivating the Huron Kids page, I went to see (Hanson) to talk to him about Huron Kids and to give him the information to reactivate the page should his department find it necessary to further their investigation into the possible threats made, states the post, which was written by Diller-Koceba. No action followed the investigation of the threat. But the matter didnt exactly fade into the sunset, as Damrows allegations brought the issue back to the forefront. During our proceedings for visitation, we had two women ask to meet with us and appeared very sincere. One was (Stirrett) and the other was (Diller-Koceba), Damrows narrative states. After (Melissa) spoke with us, we felt she understood what Kim was saying about mistreatment in the Huron County Circuit Court and Friend of the Court. It soon took an extreme twist, as Melissa and Karrie contacted the sheriff and suddenly completely turned against Kim and myself. They absolutely attacked Kim in the paper and on a website called, Huron Kids. What really threw us was that Melissa was the person whom recommended our attorney to us. On Saturday, April 10, Melissa contacted our attorney (Nicole Saady), and confessed to Nicole that the reason she said the slanderous things about Kim was that she was threatened by the sheriff. The MSP investigating officer, Det. Brian Ferguson, contacted both Stirrett and Diller-Koceba, and both claimed they were not threatened by the sheriff, and Stirrett denied telling Saady that she had been threatened by the judge, according to the investigative documents the Tribune obtained through a Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Both said they were contacted by Kurt Damrow to put the Facebook page back online. In an interview with Saady, Ferguson asked whether Stirrett had said anything to her about being threatened, coerced or extorted by the Huron County sheriff. Saady advised that no such conversation took place between she and Stirrett, according to the FOIA documents. Saady told the Tribune she could not comment about the situation, per attorney-client privilege. She filed a motion to withdrawal as Kim Damrows counsel on Sept. 27, according to the Huron County Circuit Court Office. Stirrett and Diller-Koceba have been consistent with their accounts of how the events took place. Theyve stressed they have the utmost respect for the police and were shocked by the allegations. This was not a case of two people making a complaint to Damrow and then recanting once things got heated in the press, as some people seem to believe. I did not complain to, nor confided in, Mr. Damrow about Sheriff Hanson because there was nothing to complain about, stated Diller-Koceba on Tuesday. I have never, in any way, talked about, alluded to, nor have I ever written anything that suggests I had been extorted or threatened by Sheriff Hanson. Mr. Damrow either imagined or assumed these things occurred, and then knowingly sent the Michigan State Police on a wild goose chase. I am glad that this (complaint) against Mr. Damrow is being taken seriously because he had no right to fraudulently use myself or Mrs. Stirrett to further his personal or political agenda. To be involved in this situation with our State Representative is incredibly disappointing and somewhat surreal, Stirrett stated. Rep. Damrow and his wife approached me last year, desperately seeking support during their child custody dispute. As a child advocate, I felt compelled to help them in any way that I could. After Karrie and I discovered we were being lied to about the facts in Mrs. Damrows custody case, and after witnessing Mrs. Damrows misuse of the Huron Kids Facebook page, we discontinued our association with them. I believe that Rep. Damrow fabricated his claim that we were coerced by Sheriff Hanson into turning against his wife because he was desperate to explain, to over one thousand of the pages followers, our reasons for shutting down the Huron Kids Facebook page. I sincerely hope that the full truth is exposed in this case in hopes that other people will not be taken advantage of in this way. According to the FOIA documents, the extortion investigation was closed as unfounded. Documents pertaining to the investigation into the false police report complaint have not been publicly disclosed at this time. On Tuesday, Damrow was unavailable to comment by phone about the fact that the complaint alleging he filed a false police report has been forwarded to the Tuscola Prosecutors Office. However, he did respond to an e-mail the Tribune sent him to see if he knew about the situation and whether he has been contacted about the complaint. He responded that he hadnt heard anything. Thats Kellys (Hansons) option. The complaint wasnt forwarded to the prosecutors office by the sheriff, though. It was forwarded by the MSP. Damrow would not clarify whether he meant he was not contacted by the MSP about the complaint being forwarded to the prosecutors or that he was not contacted by investigators whatsoever about the complaint he filed a false police report. Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene told the Tribune on Wednesday that the complaint is in the early stages of review. He said complaints of filing a false police report are not that unusual, though there are some complexities associated with reviewing them to determine whether charges should be filed. One thing that has to be considered, he said, is how the information was reported to police i.e. whether it was first-hand or second-hand knowledge. Thats a large part of what you look into and work through, Reene said. Also, the prosecutor has to consider what was the persons state of mind when they filed the report, and consider whether they did it for a particular purpose. The prosecutor also has to consider intent, whether the individual intentionally reported something they knew was false, Reene said. But the key factor is how the information was relayed to police. Reene said there is no timeline set as far as when the review will be completed. He said the objective is to ensure things are done correctly. An embattled state representative Since he officially took office, Kurt Damrow has been embroiled in a number of controversies, including having campaign finance reporting difficulties and being at the forefront of his wifes publicized visitation battle with her ex-husband over their young child. Damrow also was subject to an investigation by the Huron County Sheriffs Office for driving with a suspended license. The sheriffs office filed a warrant seeking Damrows arrest for driving without a license March 28 because Damrows certified driving record indicated his license was suspended. The Huron County District Court suspended Damrows drivers license March 25 because he failed to pay a ticket he received for not having proof of insurance when he was pulled over for speeding Jan. 15 in Caseville. In May, Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski received information from the Department of State stating Damrows suspension was put on the record, but suppressed until March 30, because he had a five-day grace period to receive notice of the suspension. As a result, he was not charged for driving with a suspended license. Also in May, an effort to recall Damrow was initiated. In late September, the Huron County Democratic Committee announced the number of signatures collected in the petition effort was less than the number needed to get the matter on the ballot for voters to decide whether to recall Damrow. Also in September, Hanson publicly disclosed the MSP was investigating a number of outrageous allegations against numerous Huron County officials and residents. The investigation was closed and no criminal wrongdoing was found. However, a number of individuals who had allegations made against them in a document Damrow gave the MSP to investigate were upset, claiming there was no merit to the allegations. Some, like Hanson, claimed Damrow made the allegations against them because he had a vendetta against them. Damrow denied that claim, and maintained the allegations were concerns that were brought to him from his constituents. But, the documents, which the Tribune obtained through a FOIA request, contradict that claim. In the documents, there is no mention of the allegations being passed on from Damrows constituents, though there are a number of phrases such as, I was told , We all know , It was reported , We heard over the years , and We were told. In other statements, Damrow wrote absolute statements accusing others of wrongdoing. In October, the Huron County Republican Partys Executive Committee voted 18 to 2 to immediately remove Damrows membership of the Huron County Republican Party. The reasons included in the resolution removing him from the party cited the above reported events, as well as other reasons, including that Damrow gave local party members inaccurate information regarding a Personal Protection Order Damrow had in 2009. Steps down as House committee chairman Earlier this month, Damrow made news headlines in the Thumb and around the state for statements he made to veterans in southern Michigan. The Daily Reporter in Coldwater reported Damrow told veterans he was injured while serving in Iraq. Documents obtained from the Air Force Air Reserve Personnel Center through a FOIA request, however, show Damrow never served in Iraq, nor was he injured while serving in combat. Damrow, who was serving as the House Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Committee, denied making the statements and claimed he was misquoted. He told Gongwer News Service in Lansing that there was a statement made from another representatives office that Damrow was injured in a wreck, and Damrow believes the reporter heard it as he was injured in Iraq. The Coldwater paper, though, has stood by its reporting, and it published another report quoting others who were in the audience of having heard Damrow say he was injured in Iraq. On Tuesday afternoon, it was confirmed Damrow has resigned from his position as chairman of the House Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Committee. Ari Adler, House Speaker Jase Bolgers spokesman, told the Tribune that in a verbal conversation with Bolger, Damrow said he had a number of projects within his district that he wants to spend more time on. Adler said Bolger accepted Damrows resignation and appointed Rep. Ray Franz, an Onekama Republican, to oversee the veterans committee. The appointment changes were included in a letter Bolger sent the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives on Tuesday. In an e-mail to the Tribune late Tuesday night, Damrow explained his decision. Ive talked about it for the past couple of weeks with the speaker as it was taking a lot of time that I needed to spend in-district, he wrote. We discussed that I had several large projects, (and) that if they developed Id have to be on top of them every minute over the next couple of months. What I had planned on accomplishing in Military, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security over two years we completed in one year. Ive had meetings around the state over the past two weeks and several telephone conferences and the projects in the Upper Thumb I have been working on have all been given the green light. Meetings scheduled for next year have been moved to December this year. Ill be meeting with Rep Paul Muxlow this week to discuss his districts involvement and introduce him to engineers and investors The excitement throughout the newly formed MEDC Great Lakes Bay Region is long overdue. I enjoy this challenge to keep up the pace or maybe even exceed it with what weve addressed the needs of veterans over the past year. The Thumb region is getting major attention from state, federal and international agencies at this time and we have to take advantage of this. Nothing is a guarantee, but we wont lose any opportunity because we didnt try. MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) New Hampshire police responding to a domestic violence 911 call early Sunday shot and killed an armed man who refused to surrender, state Attorney General John M. Formella said in a statement. Local police responded around 12:20 a.m. to a parking lot near a pharmacy in Manchester, where they were directed to a parked SUV, the statement said. The officers saw an injured woman walking away from the vehicle. A man in the vehicle, identified as Adnan Husejnovic, 33, of Manchester, refused to be arrested, which led to a standoff that lasted until just after 2 a.m., the attorney general said. Police made efforts to end the standoff peacefully, a spokesperson for the attorney general said, before Husejnovic was shot and killed. The initial investigation indicates that six officers opened fire four city officers and two state troopers the attorney general said. No officers or other civilians were hurt. Authorities did not say what kind of weapon the man had, or in what way he used it to make police feel threatened. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. The names of the officers were not released. The first officers to respond to the scene did have body cameras, and the attorney general's investigation will include a review of those cameras, as well as cruiser cameras, and any other video or audio that recorded the standoff and shooting, the statement said. SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) A congressional subcommittee has rejected the Biden administrations proposal to close a training center for military pilots in Georgia. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter said Monday the decision by the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee is a big step toward keeping open the Combat Readiness Training Center in Savannah. Run by the Air National Guard, the center conducts air-to-air combat training missions for reservist and active-duty fighter pilots. This is a major win for the First District, our military service members, and national security," Carter, a Republican whose district includes Savannah, said in a statement. Carter cautioned the fight isnt over. The fiscal 2023 budget still requires approval by the House Appropriations Committee and the full House before moving to the Senate for its consideration. Carter is among a bipartisan group of Georgia lawmakers that has been fighting a White House proposal to eliminate funding for the center. Led by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, the five Georgia legislators sent a letter to congressional budget writers last month seeking $11.5 million to keep the Savannah facility open. The Air National Guard operates three similar U.S. pilot training centers and has said they could absorb the Georgia facility's training functions. They are located in in Gulfport, Mississippi; Alpena, Michigan; and Camp Douglas, Wisconsin. Interview: Expert calls for strengthening people-to-people connectivity between China, U.S. 16:25, June 20, 2022 By Xinhua writer Liu Yanan ( Xinhua NEW YORK, June 19 (Xinhua) -- An important building block in China-U.S. relations should be laid between their people, a U.S. expert on China has said, calling on the two countries to reinforce people-to-people connectivity to nurture warmth and trust toward each other. "The basis for moving forward is built upon respect and understanding of each other and that comes from a human connection," said James B. Heimowitz, president of the China Institute in America, a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to deeper understanding of China, in a recent interview with Xinhua. Calling the two countries "probably the two most important countries on the planet, at least for my lifetime," he said there are bound to be some disagreements between them on some issues, but "the question is how do we better manage our shared future." "I do believe that our whole planet will benefit from more Westerners understanding China," said Heimowitz, who previously worked in business consulting and finance. Having spent over four decades studying and working on China, Heimowitz said he can't think of a better way to do that than through cultural, historical and business exchanges. The life of Chinese people has changed dramatically since his early time in China in the 1980s and the advances are unparalleled, the China hand said. "I don't know any other country that has transformed the way that China has transformed." Many Americans' perception of China lags probably a decade or two behind, Heimowitz noted, expressing his worries about the anger and hatred hurled at Asians and Asian Americans in the United States. The violence towards Asians and Asian Americans is rooted deeply in ignorance, and the solution lies in educating people to increase their comfort level and awareness, according to Heimowitz. "I would hope that we can still nurture that warmth and feeling that we have towards other people's cultures and other people's histories. And this needs to be worked on both sides," said Heimowitz, adding that people from his institute try to help the world better understand China through its language, art, culture and business practices. Specifically, Heimowitz noted a strong appetite in U.S. parents of different backgrounds who want their kids to learn the Chinese language, adding that U.S. adults are also interested in learning Chinese for the purposes of professional development, enriching personal interests and connectivity, or just driven by general curiosity. Heimowitz was first exposed to Chinese culture because his grandmother took cooking lessons at China Institute in the 1960s, he recalled. Up till now, his institute has touched nearly 1 million people through its various programs, and around 700 people signed up for a recent on-line program on the influence of Confucius in today's China, he said. Heimowitz encourages American students to go to China and believes they will learn to appreciate and love many aspects of the Asian country. "What I hope to achieve is to have success through building an institute that really serves as a bridge ... If we constantly only see the differences, it's gonna be a very ugly place," he said. "The human-to-human connectivity is where advances are going to start," Heimowitz emphasized, expressing his hope that the governments of China and the United States will facilitate the creation of more person-to-person links. Founded in 1926, the New York-based China Institute is the oldest U.S. bi-cultural organization exclusively focused on China. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Each month, soldiers volunteer their Saturdays hauling lawnmowers, weed wackers and rakes to two overgrown lots beside a bus stop. They toil under the sun, restoring two of Hampton, Virginia's oldest Black cemeteries. They mow, hack and rake away the 6-foot-tall sea of grass to reveal the concrete and granite headstones of Elmerton and Bassett cemeteries. The lots hold some of the most important figures in Hamptons Black history. But thick underbrush covered nearly every trace of the lands significance before the volunteers started their work. The city of Hampton doesnt maintain either cemetery. Only a handful of volunteer organizations take care of the more than 900 graves dating to the 1850s. On a recent Saturday, 30 volunteer soldiers arrived not to just help, but to honor the sergeant who introduced them to the work. Sgt. 1st Class Israel Lopez took his final turn clearing the cemeteries before being transferred to Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 2020, he began the volunteer group Unity Through Community with the 1st Battalion, 210th Aviation Regiment. This project will probably outlast myself. I take solace in that, Lopez said. We get to share so much of the history of this area with people who otherwise wouldnt have known it. Local volunteer organizations began cleaning the cemetery decades ago. Mary Christian, the first African American woman to serve as a state delegate, began the initiative. She started by caring for her familys graves. Many historic graves around the cemeteries have slipped into disrepair as loved ones aged or moved out of town. Christian called on volunteers, and a network of local organizations including the Do Gooders of Hampton Roads and Serve the City grew around her. Christian was 95 when she died in 2019, but the volunteer groups carry her legacy. We felt compelled to continue this important work, Ghana Smith, who joined Christians work in her final three years, said. The people that find that to be their final resting place. They deserve the respect. Smiths volunteer work is an extension of her family traditions. For Easter and Mothers Day, she cleans her ancestors grave stones and leaves flowers. On childhood road trips, her family stopped in Kentucky to pay respects at her great-grandparents resting place. Smith is working on tracking the history of the Hampton cemeteries, which she considers sacred spaces. Unlike cemeteries today, historic Black cemeteries are often organized into individual family plots, and families maintain their own corners. For Whalan McDew, the president of Do Gooders of Hampton Roads, clearing is about caring for the citys Black history. We should be taking care of our ancestors, he said. Almost like having a grandparent in a nursing home. You want to make sure theyre being taken care of properly. Lopezs regiment wanted to find a way to respond to the police killing of George Floyd two years ago. So he created Unity Through Community, a program to get soldiers involved in volunteer work. He heard about the cemetery cleaning and saw it as the best opportunity to give back. The first few summer months clearing the graves, soldiers could only push their way through half of one cemetery. The rainy season allowed grass to grow faster than the volunteers could cut it. They didnt make it to the corners of Elmerton until winter. Seeing the overgrown plot transform made the work worth it, Lopez said. Every time you cut away a piece of grass, and you expose one of those tombstones, youve essentially fought back against systemic and oppressive racism because thats the reason why those cemeteries look the way that they do in the first place, Lopez said. Soldiers travel from across the country to Hampton Roads bases, so Lopez would offer every new volunteer a tour around the historic block. Maintaining these historic places is an opportunity to learn about their community. As they hacked away at the underbrush, Lopez told volunteers about the historic family plots in Elmerton Cemetery. Mary Peake, the revolutionary educator who taught Black children how to read in a time when it was outlawed, is buried alongside her family in a gated plot. George Washington Fields, the first Black law graduate from Cornell University, rests in his family lot in Elmerton. He defended infamous cases in Hampton, such as that of Virginia Christian, the first female and minor to be executed by Virginia in the 20th century. Lopez would take the volunteers around the block to the house that was once the Federation of Colored Womens Clubs, a social and political organization founded by Janie Porter Barrett. She also founded the Industrial Home School for Colored Girls in 1915, one of the only respites for girls in the Virginia court system. Barrett is also buried in Elmerton Cemetery. Theres just so much history on one block, he said. The Bassett Cemetery hosts graves from the early 1900s, including the burial sites of veterans from World War I to the Vietnam War. Lopez brought his daughter along. She skipped between the gravestones and hung around her fathers neck on his water breaks. He told her the stories of Peake and Porter Barrett. Sharing their history teaches her the resilience of Black women when many were considered property. Each month, a bit more of Bassett Cemetery is uncovered as the volunteers plunge deeper into the trees that crowd the edges. People are still finding families. Sometimes a new volunteer will float in with an elderly family member, asking for help to find their ancestors gravestone. Specialist Anthony Colon from Advanced Individual Training practices the Armys pillar of self-service. He came to clean the graves with his sergeant during his first week in the Hampton area. He finds the unruly Virginia grass a struggle compared to his home in South Florida. As he uncovered fallen soldiers graves in Bassett Cemetery, he kept his mind on learning from the names. History teaches us lessons, he said. I hope someone will do the same for me when Im in the ground. Shatta Wale wishes himself a happy father's Day. Musician teases Baby Mamas of his plans to bear new children and give them the same names he gave the elderly ones. Reggae-dancehall artiste, Charles Nii Armah Mensah, better known as Shatta Wale has complained about being denied by his baby Mamas to see his children. The self-acclaimed dancehall king then teases his baby mamas to continue keeping them because he has plans to give birth to new ones. He added that the new ones he intends to have will be given the same names as his first children. Shatta Wale made this comment while wishing himself a happy father's day on Sunday, June 19, 2022, on his Facebook page. Happy fathers Day to me !! "Tho none of my baby mothers want me to see my own kids ..They should keep them, ago born another ones for myself soonest. And I will give them the same names I chose for them .. Aboooozegey !!!!! Shatta Wales post reads. During an interview on United Showbiz, which is aired on Accra-based UTV on Saturday, February 22, 2020, Shatta Wale revealed he has three children, two (2) males and one female, named Majesty, Papa Nii, and Winnie. According to him, he was staying with the girl at the time, while the other two children were with their mothers. Most streamed artiste in Ghana, Black Sherif over the weekend visited Adisadel college for a show he was billed to perform. Black Sherif performed all his hit songs and also songs he recorded before the spotlight fell upon his career. While performing on stage Black Sherif was joined on a stage by a diminutive student who per sources is the shortest student at Adisadel College. Looking at Black Sherif's stature and the stature of the first year student, the audience has no option than to hail and sing along to the songs being performed. One can conclude that Black Sherif really enjoyed his performance at the Senior High school and would like to replicate it at other high schools in Ghana. Watch the video below: 20.06.2022 LISTEN Emmanuel Andrews Saminni, better known as Sammi, has explained why he wants to be the next President of the Students' Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana Institute of Management of Public Affairs (GIMPA). The reggae-dancehall performer has declared his intention to run for the position in the upcoming campus elections. Speaking on Accra-based GTV's breakfast show on Saturday, June 18, 2022, Samini stated that the situation on campus concerning students' welfare inspired his decision to finally avail himself and become the SRC President. He further stated that he is very optimistic that when he is given the opportunity, he will be able to deliver because of what he has been able to achieve for himself as well as what he has accomplished on campus with the help of GIMPA as an institution. According to the 'Linda' hitmaker, he will use his connections in his musical career to bring a lot of development to GIMPA. I am inspired to lead my generation on campus from where it is now to the time I will leave campus. I know that with what I have been able to achieve for myself on the side and what I have been able to achieve on campus with the help of GIMPA as an institution, I can bring a lot of Change to the plenty of situations on as regard to challenges faced by students. I know what I can do to bring people on board to support initiatives. I can bring companies to support projects with my influence as a brand ambassador for several organizations I know I can do that, he stated When asked if he is overly optimistic about winning the election, he responded that he believes politics can be tricky, so he is campaigning seriously. The Ghana Institute of Management of Public Affairs has commenced another political season after announcing the qualified candidates after vetting onr June 13, 2022. Meanwhile, the election date is not yet available to this portal, but campaigning has begun on campus. Only two candidates are competing for the position, Samini and Theophilus Quartey. Polling stations opened in mainland France Sunday for the second round of parliamentary elections, with recently re-elected President Emmanuel Macron's second-term agenda on the line. Forecasters predict a re-run of last week's low turnout at polling stations, which opened at 8:00 am in mainland France, voters in overseas territories having cast ballots earlier in the weekend. The vote will be decisive for Macron's second-term agenda following his re-election in April, with the 44-year-old needing a majority in order to push through promised tax cuts and welfare reform and raise the retirement age. Projections from polling firms suggest his "Ensemble" (Together) coalition is on course to be the biggest party in the next National Assembly, but possibly short of the 289 seats needed for a majority. New left-wing coalition NUPES is hoping to spring a surprise, with the red-green collective promising to block Macron's agenda after uniting behind 70-year-old figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon. "The vote is extremely open and it would be improper to say that things are settled one way or the other," Melenchon told reporters Friday during a final campaign stop in Paris. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is also eyeing major gains for her National Rally party, which had just eight seats in the outgoing parliament. Macron was left disappointed by results last weekend after a first round of voting saw Together and NUPES finish neck-and-neck on around 26 percent. The first-round vote served to whittle down candidates in most of the country's 577 constituencies to two finalists who will go head-to-head Sunday. The election caps an intense two-month sequence to elect a new president and parliament, with voter fatigue seen as one of the reasons for what is expected to be record-low turnout Sunday. Observers will be keeping a close eye on turnout figures following a historically low level last week of just 47.5 percent. Figures will be given throughout the day by the interior ministry and a higher-than-expected turnout would most likely favour NUPES, which is banking on young people and the working classes voting. In France's Caribbean island of Guadeloupe -- where the poll is held a day early -- Justine Benin was defeated by NUPES candidate Christian Baptiste Saturday, a loss that jeopardises her role in the government as Secretary of State for Sea. A government reshuffle is expected after the election. A past CHOGM meeting. The summit struggles to balance the diverse national interests of member states. Jack Taylor/ - Source: 19.06.2022 LISTEN Leaders of some 54 countries from Africa, Europe, Asia and Southern America are set to converge on Kigali between 20 June and 25 June 2022 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting . Philip Murphy, a professor of Commonwealth history examines the expectations and limitations of the Kigali conference. What is the Commonwealth? The Commonwealth consists of 54 independent member states. Most of them were formerly ruled by the British, although Mozambique, which joined in 1995, and Rwanda, which joined in 2009, do not share that historical link to the UK. There are 19 Commonwealth states in Africa, eight in Asia, three in Europe (including Cyprus and Malta, which are both also members of the European Union), 13 in the Caribbean and the Americas and 11 in the Pacific. They vary widely in size and population. The majority of Commonwealth members (32) are classified as small states with populations of under 1.5 million. By contrast, India the most populous Commonwealth state has 1.4 billion citizens. Of the 2.5 billion people who live in the Commonwealth, over half are based in India. In 2021 the combined GDP of all Commonwealth countries was estimated to be US$13.1 trillion. The Commonwealth is sometimes described as a family of nations and as a mark of their special relationship members call their diplomatic missions in other Commonwealth states high commissions rather than embassies. What are areas of focus for the Commonwealth? The Commonwealth takes an interest in a wide variety of issues . These range from climate change and deforestation to gender equality, international development, good governance, human rights and the rule of law. This represents both a strength and a weakness. It means that it speaks to the diverse national interests of its member states. Yet it finds it almost impossible to focus its activities on one or two major issues where it could make a genuine difference. Whereas the more affluent countries of the Commonwealth have tended to favour a focus on trade and good governance, the less affluent have stressed the need to address global inequality and promote development. The result has generally been warm words on all these issues but a conspicuous lack of concerted action. This is reflected by the absence of a clear and deliverable agenda for heads of governments meetings. Instead, they have 'themes', which are intentionally all-encompasing. The theme of the 2022 Summit is ' Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming '. It has been four momentous years since heads last met. The world has faced extraordinary challenges and the Commonwealth has done little of note to offer solutions. So its supporters hope the meeting in Kigali will give a much needed boost to the organisation's public profile, leadership and sense of purpose. What are some of the organisation's genuine success stories? The issue which kept the Commonwealth focused, energised and newsworthy from the 1960s to the 1990s was the struggle to dismantle white minority rule in southern Africa. This tended to place British governments in an uncomfortable position, as they were often accused of obstructing attempts by the rest of the Commonwealth to put pressure on the governments of Rhodesia and South Africa. But while the organisation was rarely united in its approach, it can certainly claim a prominent role in the international fight against apartheid. More recently, the Commonwealth has pointed to its success in promoting democracy among its member states. Yet while the organisation is no longer prepared to tolerate military dictatorships or one-party states, a number of members, including the host of the 2022 Summit, have poor records in terms of allowing opposition movements to operate freely. How does it enforce its decisions? This is another area where the Commonwealth struggles. It is not a treaty-based organisation and members are not legally bound by its decisions. Because it emerged from the dissolution of the British Empire, there has never been any willingness on the part of members to transfer powers back to its coordinating body, the Commonwealth Secretariat. From the 1990s, the Commonwealth has increasingly portrayed itself as a body united by shared values rather than a shared history, and in 1995 it created the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to monitor adherence to those values. The group's powers include the ability to recommend the suspension or even the expulsion of member states. But because it is so easy for members simply to withdraw from the Commonwealth without immediate negative consequences, the group has proved reluctant to hold them to account except in the case of the most flagrant violations of the organisation's norms. How will the success of the Kigali meeting be judged? A perennial problem for the organisation is that although it issues statements about a wide range of international issues, Commonwealth heads of government meetings tend in practice to be dominated by purely internal affairs. The 2022 meeting will be no different. The media are likely to focus on the future of the Commonwealth secretary-general, Patricia Scotland, who is seeking a second term in office. Normally, secretaries-general serve two four-year terms, and it is unusual for the incumbent to be challenged at the end of their first term. Scotland's first term was due to come to an end in 2020, but because of COVID, the heads of government meeting due that year has twice been postponed. Hence, she has already served for six years. She is being challenged by a Jamaican nominee, Kamina Johnson Smith , who has the backing of some major member states including the UK and India. Indeed, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has made no secret of his desire to deny Scotland a second term in office. This has led to a very public row in the run up to the summit, with accusations from Scotland's supporters that the Johnson administration's colonial agenda risks wrecking the Commonwealth. Press attention is also likely to focus on the human rights record of Rwanda, where the meeting is taking place. Since 1999, the leader of the host country becomes the Commonwealth's chair-in-office until the next heads of state meeting, which usually follows in two years' time. In 2013 the decision to allow Sri Lanka to host proved extremely contentious due to the human rights record of its government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. In 2022 attention is likely to focus on the regime of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, which is accused of suppressing opposition and freedom of speech and destabilising the country's neighbours. The British government's highly controversial scheme to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda has put the country's domestic and foreign policy under even greater scrutiny. Neither this, nor the increasingly bitter campaign for the post of secretary general, is likely to give the Commonwealth the sort of positive re-launch some of its supporters were hoping for. I have received research grant funding from the AHRC I am a member of the European Movement UK. By Philip Murphy, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Professor of British and Commonwealth History, School of Advanced Study 19.06.2022 LISTEN The latest loose and feeble argument by some NDC element to take credit for the Phase 2 of the expansion of the Tamale Airport won't go unchecked. The monotonous feature of the an NDC social media member is to take credit for all projects executed by all regimes and even projects which were constructed before the formation of NDC. We will one day wake up to the news that NDC created Adam and Eve. Back to the the main argument of this write up. It is trite that the Upgrading, Expansion and Construction of Tamale Airport has passed through almost 4 regimes and each government has played critical roles in the realisation of that dream. The bone of contention herein is " Which Government facilitated the current phase (Phase 2) of development and expansion of the Tamale Airport? There are no ifs, and, or buts about this question when answering. It is as easy as reciting ABCD or 1234 as a kindergartener. It is the current NPP who facilitated this. The History of Tamale Airport Expansion (Phase 2) On Thursday, 3rd November, 2016 a motion for the approval of a Commercial Contract Agreement between Government of Ghana (GoG) and Queiroz Galvao Construction UK Limited was moved and approved for the construction of the Tamale International Airport Phase II after the Committee of Road and Transport had submitted their report on the contract. HOWEVER, the financing of the project was intended to be done by Banco Santander but they failed to put together a loan syndication so on Tuesday, 24th July 2018, a motion was carried in Parliament for the approval of a new Commercial Agreement between GoG and KfW IPEX-Bank of Germany as the original lender with Export Credit Guarantee from the United Kingdom Export Finance. Under the NPP Government's agreement with KfW IPEX-Bank of Germany, a new project scope was conceived with an expanded specification compared to what was conceived under the NDC but the same cost (USD 70,000,000.00) was maintained. The Contract Agreement under the NDC which failed was planned to have a 3000m square Airport Terminal with an undisclosed size of a Hajj facility but that of the NPP which saw success was drafted to have a 5000m square Airport Terminal with a 1000m square Hajj facility among other facilities that featured in all two contacts. Hansard doesn't lie. Can the NDC MPs and their appendages tell us if the loan facility is added to NDC's debt portfolio or that of the current NPP? This is where the rubber meets the road if they answer this. Attached are Hansard of 2016 of their fruitless agreement and Hansard of 2018 of the fruitful agreement which has brought about this state-of-the-art Tamale edifice and also the Cabinet Memo of 2018 which was sent to Parliament by Ministers of Finance and Aviation for Parliament's perusal before the approval of the loan facility. I will therefore urge inquiring minds to read all the relevant information and make a succinct conclusion. The NDC cannot escape Tamale Airports' facts and reality, as much as they want to. God bless Ghana! Keskine Osei Poku, Ashanti Regional NPP Comm. team member. Source: Kwabena Danso-Dapaah 20.06.2022 LISTEN The Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Nyarko Osei, has called on the Ghanaian men to rise up and embrace the role of fatherhood. In a Fathers Day Celebration message, the lawmaker said, fathers are pillars in the development of childrens well-being; a symbol of security- physically, emotionally and financially; role model; maintain a healthy marriage; create a safe and loving environment for the family; and an agent of growth in society. He believes that, on this special occasion of Fathers Day, fathers and persons who assume fatherhood must be acknowledge and recognized. The MP used the opportunity to extend Fathers Day celebration to President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia , all men in Parliament and fathers in general. On this special occasion of Fathers Day Celebration, I want to add my voice to the million voices to wish President Akufo-Addo a happy Fathers Day." According to him, Fathers Day is celebrated in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Ghana and a number of other countries globally on the third Sunday in June each year to look at the significant roles fathers play in the lives of children, women and the world at large as well as honour men who have embraced the essential role of fatherhood. When fathers begin to assume their responsibilities of ensuring that their children become responsible people to take up leadership positions in future, we will begin to see significant reduction in the number of street children. As fathers, we owe it a duty to go beyond all odds to see to the well-being and survival of children, so let us not fail them. I therefore congratulate all the fathers who have done the great service of taking good care of their children; and to all men who do not have biological children but have and still contribute to the well-being of children. Keep up the good work. To all young men out there, i encourage you to live up to expectation as you embrace virtues on your journey to fatherhood and as future leaders. Once again, I celebrate all Ghanaian fathers and all men, Ghana celebrate you; let us all rise up to our divine assignment of fatherhood. And let all men play their parts right starting from homes; immediate environment; workplaces and places of worship for the benefit of our children and the society," he stated. 19.06.2022 LISTEN Moscow (Russia) June 19, CDA Consult - On May 19 this year China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired a videoconference dialogue between foreign ministers of BRICS countries and their counterparts from emerging economies and developing countries. This was the first BRICS Plus dialogue at the level of foreign ministers. Participants in the dialogue came from BRICS countries as well as invited countries such as Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, and Thailand. According to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the dialogue is of significant importance to further expand cooperation between the BRICS countries and other emerging economies and developing countries. As a BRICS Plus participant country, Argentina has on several occasions expressed its interest in joining this mechanism. The Argentine president, Alberto Fernandez, considered that BRICS represents for Argentina "an excellent alternative for cooperation in the face of a world order that has been working for the benefit of a few." Understandably some leaders are advocating for multipolar system. Primarily due to geopolitical tensions, rivalry differences and competition to lead the world, Russia is currently pushing an initiative for creating a group. In June 2022, Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on Telegram that the United States and its allies are destroying economic ties by their sanctions policy, but at the same time creating new points of growth in other countries, as captured by Kester Kenn Klomegah, Moscow Special Correspondent, Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult). "The move by Washington and its allies to cut the existing economic ties has created new points of growth in the world," he pointed out. According to the parliament speaker, Western sanctions are leading to the establishment of another group of eight nations - China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran and Turkey - that is 24.4% ahead of the old group of developed countries in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and purchasing power parity. "The United States, with its own hands, has created conditions for countries willing to build an equal dialogue and mutually beneficial relations to actually establish a new G-8 group with Russia," Volodin noted. Understandably, there is a Group of Seven (G-7), an inter-governmental political forum, that includes highly developed countries. These are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, the European Union is a non-enumerated member. Its members are the world's largest IMF advanced economies and wealthiest liberal democracies. According to reports, the group is officially organized around shared values of pluralism and representative government. As of 2020, the collective group accounts for over 50 percent of global net wealth (which is US$418 trillion), 32 to 46 percent of global gross domestic product, and approximately 770 million people or 10 percent of the world's population. Its members are great powers in global affairs and maintain mutually close political, economic, social, legal, environmental, military, religious, cultural, and diplomatic relations. From 2022, Germany has taken over the rotating presidency of the G-7, following the presidency of the United Kingdom. Russia dismembered itself from the group. This prompted the U.S. President Donald Trump's reiteration that Russia should be readmitted to the group, instigation of a trade war with China, increased tensions in Iran, Trump's alleged reluctance to attend the conference and a number of international crises made the 2019 G-7 meeting in Biarritz, France the most divided since its inception. Following Trump's previous rescinding of his signature to a joint communique agreed in 2018 due to an alleged slight from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that the group would not issue a joint communique at the Biarritz conference. Since then, Russia has remained critical about the group, basing its argument that the G-7 has no relevance to exist as there the members meet at Group of Twenty (G-20). Similarly to the above argument, if the establishment of another new Group of Eight nations - China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran and Turkey - and compared to BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, it follows that BRICS will have to be absorbed by the new Group of Eight organization, and thus pushing out South Africa. Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, a Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, argued that the already established BRICS may have better chances of enticing new members. The new members could be Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Thailand that participated in recent consultations. In fact, UAE along with Bangladesh and Uruguay became the first expansion members of BRICS' National Development Bank (NDB), last September. But the timing makes parties cautious. With no permanent secretariat and a fixed hub, at least the NDB fixed its headquarters in Shanghai, and further establish its regional offices in South Africa (Johannesburg). As the world is facing massive challenges, it also requires international collaboration and cooperative solutions, importantly not to grossly endanger the economic prospects of poor and underdeveloped countries. Here live millions and millions of impoverished population. Indonesia is hosting the G-20 summit in Bali this November and is doing its best to insulate the meeting from politics. Whether Indonesia is capable to arbitrate between angry clashing superpowers is simply unpredictable. The chances of a sudden rapprochement between the United States and China let alone between the US and Russia are exceedingly low. Russia and China's strategic alliance is strengthening and China has resisted so many attempts for excluding Russia from international organizations. Both are staunch members of BRICS. On the other hand, China's push for expanding BRICS's roster may alleviate external pressures on its relations with Russia and its own actions in disputed spaces with neighbours. The author of this article has contacted several experts on this question. But for Dr. Pankaj Kumar Jha, an Associate Professor at O. P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, China and India border conflict will continue influencing BRICS. However, India and China are cooperating to develop alternate financial structures, cohesive guidelines within Asia and the global south on many issues such as trade, investment and developing an understanding so that dominance of the of west could be reduced to a minimum in global financial architecture, he said and added, "the foundation of cooperation in BRICS brings potential resources and critical development requirements under one umbrella." Questions about the future of BRICS are bound to be there especially when a new world order is being discussed. Drawing insipration from Quad plus, BRICS countries are also discussing BRICS plus format. The formation of new grouping G-8 is primarily a fusion of BRICS and VISTA (Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina). The formation is primarily to connect BRICS to middle income and middle power countries, according his explanation. Dr. Pankaj Kumar Jha concluded his argument: "This geopolitical configuration is in exploratory phases, undoubtedly meant to bring a new axis of Russia-China but inclusion of Mexico , Indonesia and Turkey has its own strategic baggage. How much successful this grouping would be is still a matter a conjecture. From geopolitical point of view, much would depend on how sanctions on Russia shapes up and the post-coronavirus recovery of China." Professor Aslan Abashidze, Head of the Department of International Law of the Russian University of Peoples' Friendship and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to the author of this article that in general, international associations in the form of international intergovernmental organizations or integration associations emerge on the basis of prerequisites that may be of a different nature: political, defensive, cultural, et cetera. The emergence of such "para-organizations" as the Group of Seven (G-7), the Group of Eight (G-8), and the Group of Twenty (G-20) is associated with the inability of international institutions of the global level to meet the increased needs of modern development in the face of growing challenges in the form of pandemics, financial crisis et cetera. The invitation and then exclusion of Russia from the Group of Seven (G-7) and similar unilateral restrictive measures of the "collective" West headed by the United States control all institutions of global control, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, force other states that are not inferior in their raw material, human and intellectual potentials to the United States and the European Union to seek their own development path. Therefore, it does not matter whether BRICS, or the unification of China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran and Turkey, will be more viable or not. The main thing is that the process of searching for new models by the states dissatisfied with the United States policy has started, which means the end of the dominance of the United States in all spheres of international relations. At some point, the West, headed by the United States, will have to negotiate new models of international economic and other relations, based on new international treaties that ensure equality of all states. According to Professor Abashidze's conclusion is that "until this is achieved at the global level, Russia, China, and India will establish trade relations on national currencies and therefore it will be attractive and beneficial to other states, not only from the Asia-Pacific region but also from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa." Whether Russia, China, India, and a number of countries, there are arguable variations in political, economic, and cultural capabilities. Russia's President Vladimir Putin last year explained in one of his speeches that after the collapse of the Soviet era, Russia has to begin from the scratch. It was the ideological confrontation between the West and the East that gave birth to the Soviet era. Lenin spoke about the birthmarks of capitalism, he reminded and added that "It cannot be said that we have lived these past 30 years in a full-fledged market economy. In fact, we are only gradually building it, and its institutions. Russia had to do it from the ground up, starting from a clean slate. Of course, we are doing this, taking into consideration, developments around the world. After all, after almost one hundred years of a state-planned economy, transitioning to a market economy is not easy." On other way round, it is necessary to take a closer look at approach, economic capability and the services by the Chinese. China has such a diverse landscape, with investment and trade around the world. According to the World Bank, China has the largest economy and one of the world's foremost infrastructural giants. China is the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China holds 17.7 percent of the world's total wealth, the second largest share held by any country. It has the worlds largest banking sector, with assets of $40 trillion, and the world's top 4 largest banks all being in China. In 2019, China overtook the US as the home to the highest number of rich people in the world, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse. It has the highest number of rich people in the world's top 10 percent of wealth since 2019. There were 658 Chinese billionaires and 3.5 million millionaires. China's Belt and Road Initiative has expanded significantly over the last six years and, as of April 2020, includes 138 countries and 30 international organizations. Along with Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS group of emerging major economies. Nearly all the experts contacted for this article have arguable points. They acknowledged the fact that the countries seeking a multipolar system have to address problems of the less developed world. In addition, judging from their lengthy discussions, one key factual description is given - the western dominance and imperial approach of the United States. These imperialist endeavors aimed at maintaining the political and economic domination of the world's population has created enormous difficulties for peoples globally including the working class, nationally oppressed and impoverished living within the western capitalist countries. The emerging new coalition group is feasible and coming up at the crucial time when over the last two decades, the United States, Britain, the European Union (EU) countries and their allies globally, have been embroiled in numerous imperialist interventions resulting in destabilization, military interventions, proxy wars and the expansion of western imperialism throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. David Ayornu, a 31-year-old resident of Lufenya, near Kasseh in the Ada East District, who allegedly slashed the belly of his wife and killed her on June 3, this year reportedly died in police custody at Ada. Ayornu popularly known as Rapper Bee was arrested by the Kasseh Police Command for allegedly stabbing his wife with a sharp object in the belly resulting in her death. Confirming his death to the Ghana News Agency in Ada, Chief Superintendent Atsu Dzineku, Ada Divisional Commander, said Ayornu had not been well after allegedly killing his wife. He noted that the suspect was sent to the Ada East District Hospital, where he was treated and discharged, and brought to the police station at Kasseh, where he was detained pending further investigations. Chief Supt. Dzineku noted that Ayornu was also processed for court after which he was remanded to assist in further investigations. He said on Sunday, June 12, around 0500 hours, Ayornu's other inmates realized he was unconscious and quickly prompted police officers on duty. He was subsequently sent to the Ada East District Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He stated that the body had been deposited at the Sogakope Hospital morgue for preservation and further investigations. Nene Glover Ayornu, the acting Chief of Lufenya near Kasseh and the uncle of the deceased also confirmed the incident to the GNA. He said the family would collaborate with the Police to undertake the necessary arrangements. GNA There seems to be contradictory reports over the death of a middle-aged man who travelled from the United States of America to Accra. The deceased was reported to have arrived in the country on Friday June 17 on board United Airlines from Dulles International Airport Washington DC. Immediately, he touched down, he complained of tiredness and difficulty in breathing, according to a statement from the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) and he was offered a wheelchair and given medical aid. But he unfortunately died at the Airport Clinic, where he was rushed to for medical attention. However, one Emelia Van Eck who on Facebook claimed to have witnessed the last minutes of the incident has challenged the account of the Ghana Airport Company Limited. Emelia said she witnessed the last 10 minutes of the fatality and stressed that the man could have been saved if there was proper First Aid at the airport when the man was made to sit down without any proper treatment. According to her, the nurse who showed up after SOS calls only brought a medical bag filled with Paracetamol and plaster without oxygen, defilbrillator and first aid kits contrary to report of the man rushed to the clinic when he was alive. We have the most expensive cars and houses in Ghana and no first aid kit to save a life? she wondered. Read below Emilias post on Facebook and Airport Companys statement with files from DGN online: Prof. Ransford Gyampo 20.06.2022 LISTEN A political science lecturer at the University of Ghana (UG, Legon, Professor Ransford Gyampo has urged the government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive to tackle the countrys age-old unemployment challenge. According to him, if the government wants to create jobs for the unemployed populace, then it must introduce properly thought-through interventions that transcend propaganda and focused on favouring party boot-lickers. Its about time we got serious as a nation in appreciating the fact that, employment generation requires real, properly thought-through, and practical interventions that transcend propaganda and the politics of ticking box. We must begin to fully fashion out and implement deliberate interventions that enable both indigenous businesses and their foreign counterparts to fully thrive and largely expand to generate proper employment for the youth, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has shared in a statement. The UG Lecturer adds, For this, inter alia, is a potent counter-insurgency strategy that will make the mention and thoughts of unorthodox means of government removal, non-receptive and laughable among the generality of the population, and in particular, the vibrant youth. Ghana continues to struggle with unemployment issues with the government past and present failing to make any significant change. Prof. Gyampo believes that if private sector players including Dr. Sarfo Kantanka and Ibrahim Mahama are given the same support offered foreign-owned businesses, it will make a significant change. Read more from the statement by Prof. Ransford Gyampo below: We Cannot Deal Fully Deal With Youth Unemployment By Our Attitude of National Hatred of Our Own, and Love For Outsiders 1. Unemployment continues to plague our country and it is decidedly clear that no government can fully tackle this challenge to the core alone. Indeed governments since 1992, governments have performed abysmally or failed to deal with this challenge frontally and effectively in a manner that improves the physical quality of life among the youth. What they have often reported as job creation, have always been severe cases of under-employment to partisan boot-lickers and propagandistic mini jobs meant to show off and tick the boxes in terms of employment generation. 2. But these modes of job creation arent what young people want. They are not what will make us develop. They only create a pretense that jobs have been created and hence no meaningful taxation can be taken from the under-employed for national development. It is the proper operationalization of the cliche of creating an enabling environment for local and foreign businesses to thrive that will confront the teaming unemployment among young people frontally. 3. Recently its been noted nationally that the mere mention of coups sends shivers down our spine as a people. No sane Ghanaian would support coups at our level of democratic progression. But we must not also pretend we are ignorant that all over Africa, supporters of coups are usually the unemployed. We dont want coups and there is a certain unanimity or elite consensus on this. But we must also tackle the kind of unemployment in our country, that creates a state of praetorianism candidly, and without propaganda, as a proactive counter insurgency strategy. 4. How we do this, as indicated earlier, is to create the enabling environment for the private sector, both local and foreign, to thrive, expand and to absorb more young people in employment. But it does appear our excessive partisanship that makes us politically mad, stands in our way to achieve the full potential of the private sectors role in generating employment that eases the burden of government and safeguard our peace. 5. We are filled with National Jealousy and Hatred For Indigenous Businesses in a manner that only points to our childish immaturity in our quest to fight the quagmires of poverty and underdevelopment among the Ghanaian people and the youth. Foreign Investors in Ghana are given tax Holidays ranging from 5 to 15 years from the start of operations. This is to afford the opportunity to recoup their investments before paying taxes. This is meant to also protect new companies into maturity and to outbid other countries in the sub-region in the fierce competition for FDI. In their state-assisted operations, they generate some employment for young people. 6. But we are always unsupportive of our own indigenous or local businesses entities. Governments, since the days of Rawlings, to date, have childishly harbored the fear that tax waivers and tax holidays to local businesses will make them strong in their operations and position them as financiers to opposition political parties. But they lose sight of the fact that, the local businesses when supported, will also augment the efforts of their foreign counterparts in creating job openings that develops the youth and eases pressure on government. 7. It must bluntly be pointed out that every political party in Ghana, in the absence of a law on public funding of political parties, attract support from indigenous businesses and the smart business owners tend to support parties across the divide. So whats the basis for the childish paranoia and national hatred for our own local business entrepreneurs? 8. We pretend to celebrate Katanka but in reality, the guy is suffering and thats why the kinds of things hes locally manufacturing, are being out-competed. He is however an employer of the youth and with more tax waivers, he may expand to employ more people. Samuel Afari has created the Safari Valley Resort that has employed some young people on the Akuapim Ridge. Why cant he receive some tax waivers and more state assistance to enable him expand to pick up more young people in the area for jobs? Ibrahim Mahama has recently launched his local Dzata Cement which compares with all others. Why cant he be given some tax waivers to enable him expand to employ more? Government officials, and party officials go to these guys to take money in the lead up to elections and yet look on while they suffocate as a way of denying the opposition sources of money. What anti-democratic tendency and national hypocrisy is this? 9. Its about time we got serious as a nation in appreciating the fact that, employment generation requires real, properly thought-through and practical interventions that transcends propaganda and the politics of ticking box. We must begin to fully fashion out and implement deliberate interventions that enable both indigenous businesses and their foreign counterparts to fully thrive and largely expand to generate proper employment for the youth. For this, inter alia, is a potent counter insurgency strategy that will make the mention and thoughts of unorthodox means of government removal, non-receptive and laughable among the generality of the population, and in particular, the vibrant youth. Yaw Gyampo A31,Prabiw PAV Ansah Street Saltpond Suro Nipa House Kubease Larteh Akuapim Even though thousands of Ghanaians claim to be Christians, many people are unaware of key biblical texts against inappropriate leadership. If true Christians in Ghana read their Bibles on a regular basis to gain understanding, they would not waste their time on an unworthy government that will not supply them with anything better than pain, suffering, fear, and uncertainty. Proverbs 29:2 is the headline of today's article, and this text on leadership reflects what we are seeing in Ghana today. If you are a Ghanaian who is happy with this regime and believes that everything is normal and that, as a result, Ghana has a bright future, I regret to inform you that you require a psychiatric exam or checkup to see whether your brain is functional or dead. Probably, whatever they see reflected in the NPP government is gold to many tribal people in Ghana and those in the Diaspora. I don't think so since, to be honest, Ghanaian politics today aren't even suitable for animals in the developed world, let alone humans. I worked extremely hard to earn over 400 Euros every week, and I hope the same for every Ghanaian. Africa has abundant resources, but weak leadership, widespread corruption, poor decisions, and lack of accountability, are the major difficulties affecting our beloved Ghana. So, if Ghana has been driven to this terrible destination after more than five years of frustration, enormous hardships, a high rate of unemployment, and a collapsing economy, please, you don't need God to make decisions; you can make them on your own. Like the Mafia, Akufo Addo and his family, Ken Ofori-Atta, acquired control of Ghana's funds and spent them in a variety of ways, resulting in massive debt with no accountability, amid a devastated economy and high unemployment rate. The more I sought to inform Ghanaians about how Akufo Addo's lifestyle and faulty intentions will damage the country when he became president, the more I was insulted. Many tribal racists insulted me, as well as my late mother and father. Today, it makes no difference whether they attack me or not since I have proven to my committed readers that the NPP government was not the proper political party for Ghana. There is no need for me to repeat what went wrong with the NPP government; but, I will do so for Ghanaians to understand the fundamental blunder that led to the NPP's demise. Any team's strength comes from its leader, thus if the NPP as a government has failed, it is because of Akufo Addo. I'm not a tribal bigot to support something that isn't good for a tribe. You won't find any results if you Google "which country in the world has a Finance Minister who is connected to the president?" Even though there is a little nepotism in developed country politics, it is odd to find someone in charge of the country's finances who is related to the president. This type of government will never succeed. This is one of the reasons I said "Akufo Addo selected Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister to facilitate his corruption." As we all know, Ken Ofori-Atta has been one of Ghana's worst Finance Ministers, but Akufo Addo is powerless to remove him since doing so would expose the NPP government's deep chasm of corruption. More astonishing is when I read articles claiming that the NPP would end the eight-year cycle with witchcraft, a hammer, or a combined harvester? The most concerning aspect is the reluctance to recognize the additional challenges that Ghanaians would face in the months ahead under Akufo Addo's leadership. In Ghanaian politics, a tribal bigot is like a pig; no matter how clean the animal appears, it will eventually return to the mud. This demonstrates how tribalism affects tribal people's mental health. It will always be difficult for tribal bigots to recognize the devastation Akufo Addo has done to our darling nation, Ghana, just as it is impossible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Physically and spiritually, our country is dead. Mahama's inefficiency is Akufo Addo's efficiency; otherwise, Ghana would not have been in such a big debt if there had been no accountability. Ghanaians, even leaders of churches, are silent not just because they are frightened to speak out against Akufo Addo, but also because they are ashamed of what they did to Mahama when the country was not in such a dreadful state. One thing I will tell any serious Ghanaian is that the country's damage has already been done. Whether Ken Ofori-Atta is replaced or remains Finance Minister, Ghana will experience nothing remarkable because the country has been run like someone's property, without talents, and as a result, nothing profitable will be realized under this regime till they are no longer in office. If the bitter experience the ordinary Ghanaians have passed through is not enough and they still want this administration to come to power in 2024, I believe it would be a period when many mass Ghanaians will decide to commit suicide and depart from this world. If you are a Ghanaian and do not recognize Ghana's current hazardous position, then you are not a normal human being. I write as a Ghanaian who cares about his country and wants to see it succeed; I don't write as a tribal bigot who supports a bad government or a political party. As a result, despite the attacks and insults, I shall continue to write. My only fear is that it would be too late before these tribal bigots and inept NPP ministers realize how Akufo Addo has wrecked Ghana. However, I am aware that they are aware, but just pretend they don't know what is happening around them. Writers trash and write against John Mahama, but no one attacks them or accuses them of being anti-NDC. However, as soon as a writer reports on the devastation that Akufo Addo's government has caused in Ghana, he is accused of being anti-NPP, morons. Bad leadership is like cancer that eats away at the victim's flesh. You can give a woman all the ingredients she needs to make food, but she still won't be able to prepare it since she doesn't know how to cook. Akufo Addo is the type of leader Ghana has now. Regardless of how much money we give our president, Ghanaians will continue to suffer because he is incapable. Votes influence not only who leads the country, but also the future of the next generation, including your children. As a result, think carefully before selecting the correct leader for our beloved Ghana. The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has taken a swipe at the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) over what he described as the current excruciating economic conditions in the country. Speaking to the media after addressing a retreat of all their 16 regional chairmen and some party stalwarts in Wa, Mr. Ofosu Amposu said most Ghanaians can no longer cope with the current economic situation in the country due to poor management and wanton corruption under the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government. The NDC chairman accused the ruling government of poorly managing the country's resources, thereby putting Ghanaians under an all-time economic hardship. We believed that as a government, in situations such as this, you need to provide leadership and provide interventions that will let the people know that indeed, the government has empathy for the people, he said. But Mr. Ampofo said the government was rather nonchalant and lacked empathy. He called on Ghanaians to hold the NPP in check and show them the exit in the next general elections. He said the NDC is determined to form the next government and provide cutting-edge governance that will bring Ghanaians out of the current economic hardship. The challenges that we are facing now call for deeper reflection and to look for an alternative that has the experience and capabilities to manage the economy. You cannot look further than the NDC, he said. The three-day retreat is a monthly program that brings together all the regional chairmen of the NDC to strategize and interact with key stakeholders of the party. It was also to galvanise support from the grassroots and to drum home the need for unity within the rank and file of the party. The meeting in Wa also brought together various constituency executives, former appointees, sitting members of Parliament in the region, as well as some branch executives to deliberate on issues affecting the party and to plan on winning the 2024 general elections. citinewsroom The first flight of Ghanaian pilgrims to perform this year's Hajj is expected to depart the country today, June 20 from the Tamale Airport to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Over 3,000 Ghanaians are expected to embark on the one-month spiritual exercise, which forms part of the five pillars of Islam. Already, some members of the Hajj Board are currently in the two main cities of Saudi Arabia to ensure all logistics and facilities are in place before the arrival of the Ghanaian Pilgrims. The preparations involve getting visa and meeting the standards set by the Saudi Minister of Hajj. Pilgrims must not be aged over 65 years old and must also have a COVID-19 vaccination card and a PCR test taken at most 72 hours before departure. Dr. Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Ahmed, the Director of Communications for the Hajj board, noted that the manifest for travel was ready ahead of the departure and a smooth transit was anticipated. They have met all the necessary requirements and God willing, they will take off, he said to Citi News. The 2022 Hajj period will be from July 7 to July 12. By Citi Newsroom Yilo Krobo Municipal Security Council has given an indication that the military detachment currently accompanying engineers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the ongoing prepaid meter installation exercise in the Krobo enclave may be withdrawn. 50 armed military personnel have been deployed to assist workers of the ECG to undertake the exercise in the Krobo enclave. Although the ECG says the armed military personnel are only providing technical support, residents and some traditional leaders of Lower Manya Krobo have raised concerns over the soldiers. In an interview with Citi News, the Municipal Chief Executive for Yilo Krobo, Eric Tetteh indicated that the military deployment may be revised only if the safety of ECG workers can be assured. The Krobo Foundation and the ECG agreed that the solution to the unrest was a prepaid meter where nobody will come and read your meter. The issue about the involvement of the military was because, during the demonstration in 2017 which led to the death of someone, people said it was the police who shot those people. And so people also have problems with the police, and because of that, we decided that the military should come and support. But as we speak, we realize that especially the chiefs believe that it is not dignified that just fixing of prepaid meters is done with the military with guns and other things, and it makes people see us as difficult people and if that's what the chiefs feel then at least we have to do something about it. He added, I am meeting the chiefs on Tuesday so that when we all agree that, we are going for the prepaid, but it's the military that we don't want. Then all that the ECG people want is the assurance of their security so that the chiefs and the clergy can vouch for their security to make the exercise peaceful. So if that is the worry of the chiefs, and they can also guarantee that they as chiefs and church leaders can ensure that the ECG workers are not attacked in any way, why not [we can recall the soldiers]. citinewsroom President Nana Akufo-Addo left Ghana on Sunday to attend the 15th Edition of the European Development Days Forum in Brussels, Belgium, as well as the 26th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations in Kigali, Rwanda. President Akufo-Addo is one of eleven leaders speaking at the opening ceremony of the European Development Days Forum. Organised by the European Commission, the forum brings key actors together to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. For its 15th edition, the EDD will focus on Global Gateway: building sustainable partnerships for a connected world. Global Gateway is the new European Strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport and strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. President Akufo-Addo will on Wednesday, 22nd June, travel to Kigali to attend the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Commonwealth leaders are traveling to Rwanda to reaffirm their common values and agree actions and policies to improve the lives of all their citizens. The President is also expected to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an mRNA vaccine factory in Kigali. BioNTech is setting up modular turnkey mRNA vaccine facilities to produce the vaccine in Rwanda and Senegal with a fill-and-finish collaboration in Ghana as well. He was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, and officials from the presidency and foreign ministry. President Akufo-Addo will return to Ghana on Saturday, 25th June, and in his absence, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, shall act in his stead. Nuumo Kofi Okassa Diaka II Wolomor Ga Asere Traditional Area, ABESSE joined the Sunday school service of the Faith Evangelical Mission Worldwide -Accra Central, Akoto Lantey to celebrate this year's Father's Day. Nuumo Kofi Okassa Diaka II who also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nuumo Okassa Foundation said, the gesture is to give back to the community by celebrating the day with the children. "As we celebrate the 2022 fathers day, it is imperative to note that, it is a day to celebrate the man whose influence in our individual lives cannot be measured. This man doesn't have to be your biological father, it could be a man you perceive as a father figure or mentor in your life. "I chose to mark this august occasion with these kids whom I believe are also my children; especially to those that don't have fatherly love, I want them to feel that they have a father despite being abandoned by their fathers. I believe in giving back to the community that is why I'm here today", he explained. He said the foundation has embarked on several charity works and will continue to do more to help the less privileged in society. Conservationists in the central African nation of Chad have discovered a new population of critically-endangered Kordofan giraffes, best known for their plain white knee-high 'socks'. Thirty-four Kordofan giraffes were counted in an aerial survey conducted by French conservation NGO Wild Africa Conservation, the Netherlands-based Wings for Conservation and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) with support from the Chadian government. Finding the tallest mammal on earth still in areas that are unknown to us is always surprising, Julian Fennessy, the co-director of GCF told RFI. With their distinctive absence of lower leg patterns, it is still a mystery as to how the giraffes ended up in Koundjourou. They represent the northernmost population found so far. There are only around 2,300 Kordofan giraffes a subspecies of the Northern giraffe left in the wild. Up to 60 percent live in Chad's Zakouma National Park and the Siniaka Minia Wildlife Reserve, far to the south. Small populations exist in neighbouring Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Remnant population While elephants and tiang, a type of antelope, are known to migrate into the Koundjourou area, there have been no records of giraffes migrating there, Fennessy explained. It could be a remnant population from a much larger distribution historically. While there had been anecdotal reports of giraffes and other wildlife living in Koundjourou, there was no evidence. Then, two years ago, Wings for Conservation founder Jaime Dias was flying over the area and spotted a lone bull giraffe. It was very satisfying to finally have confirmation, he told RFI. Plans were made to conduct an aerial survey of the entire area, but had to be put on hold after Covid-19 and its travel restrictions hit. The survey finally took place in March this year. The GCF, which works to protect giraffes in 17 African countries, announced news of the find this month. We still know very little about their range or how they survived, Dias explained. There are very few villages or human settlements in the area, and I believe that is mainly due to the lack of water during the five months of the dry season. It just goes to show how resilient giraffes are, and how adaptable they are to harsh environments. Satellite tags Other wildlife found during the March survey included lions, hyena, North African ostrich, and red-fronted gazelle a small antelope that was once abundant but has now been reduced to a few scattered remnants across the Sahel. A number of nesting sites of endangered lappet-faced vultures were recorded across Koundjourou a land that consists of large plains, dense savanna woodland and some rugged mountains. The Chadian government and potential donors have expressed interest in creating a new wildlife reserve there on the back of the giraffe discovery, Fennessy said. An action plan for its development and management is already being worked on. Early next year GCF and its partners plan to put satellite tags on some of the newly-discovered giraffes to record their movements to help work out the extent of the future reserve. And because Koundjourou is used seasonally by pastoralists, the reserve will not exclude nomadic herders and their livestock. Sadly, the discovery of the new population doesn't make Kordofan giraffes any less endangered, but it is exciting, the GCF director said. It does give one hope that there are more populations out there that we can work with partners to better conserve, and that in time population numbers grow as protection gets better. 20.06.2022 LISTEN Some seventy seven officers at the the Ankaful Prisons in the Central region have been displaced after their official residence got submerged in water following the floods that occurred in the Ankaful enclave and its adjoining communities in the region. The bungalows that housed the officers and their families got submerged after the water from the Kakum River overflew its banks following the heavy downpour from Friday evening. They lost personal belongings, uniforms and other house hold items. Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Patrick Asiedu the officer in charge of the main Ankaful prisons who spoke on behalf of the director of prisons recounted how the havoc the floods caused the officers with over 70 officers displaced and keeping up with other colleagues. He said an assessment of the situation had been made and the management of the prisons led by the director of prisons have scheduled a meeting to find an immediate support for affected officers. He also revealed that the authorities of the Ghana prisons service have in touch with NADMO who are also liaising with them to assist with relief items. Unforyunaley, three of the rivers we have link up around Jukwa area and it cause the flood because now the water has to find its onw course and also the natural way by which the water could have flown was through downstream into the sea. About 77 so far officers have been affected. The various officers in charge had to quickly mobilize and give them shelter. Source: 3news.com|Ghana The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Nana Agyeman Prempeh has advised the public to brace themselves for more rains and ensure they do not build on water ways to cause any floods. He made the call when he visited some flood affected areas and deployed some relief items to to flood victims inn the central region. Mr Agyeman Prempeh visited Abaye, Simiw , Nkotoado and and adjoining communities in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abbrem (KEEA) municipality as well as Ankaful where hundred of people had been displaced. He said the NADMO officials have been deployed to the grounds and have begun data collection for swift action. He said some relief items have been dispatched to support victims while cautioning the public to be careful of where they construct their building to avoid floods. The Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan said the regional coordinating collaborating with relevant agencies to resolve the issues bedeviled the flood victims. The Member of Parlaiment for Twifo hemang Lower Denkyira , Bright Wereko Brobey urged the affected persons in the constituency to be calm as authorities work hard to resolve the issues issues. Some of the flood victims at Jukwa where a portion of the road was cut and several homes destroyed shared their frustration and called for help. Source: 3news.com|Ghana The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG) has written to acknowledge and accept the apology of the Executive Director of the National Cathedral, Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah, over his recent comments on GTVs Talking Points. Dr Opoku-Mensah was accused by the Muslim organisation of peddling falsehood while on the national broadcaster on Sunday, June 12 for indicating that the state offered financial support for the building of the National Mosque at Kanda. But he later denied making such a statement and indicated that he rather used the phrase state facilitation. In a statement on Tuesday, June 14, Dr Opoku-Mensah apologised for the use of that phrase and indicated that he had called the President of COMOG, Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, on phone over the matter. In a response on Friday, June 17, COMOG wrote: Having analysed the circumstances under which you made that statement, we have come to a firm conclusion that, you meant no harm to the sensibilities of Muslims in that statement but perhaps, got carried away by the euphoria of the moment. We therefore unreservedly accept the apology on behalf of the entire Muslim Ummah hoping that such, or similar comments will not be made by anybody subsequent to this banter. Meanwhile, the National Cathedral Secretariat on Friday indicated that the project, though personally proposed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo , is state-owned and has been registered as such under the Companies Act. 3news.com|Ghana The Deputy Majority Leader in Ghanas Parliament, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin has disclosed that the Government of Ghana is retooling state security and intelligence institutions to deal with the threat of terrorism. Delivering the Country Report of Ghana at the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament Abuja Nigeria, the Effutu Member of Parliament noted that the countrys north in particular is at risk of an attack by terrorists. He told the ECOWAS Parliament that the government is keen on dealing with the threat and as a result, key measures are being taken. Amongst the measures, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin indicated is that state security and intelligence institutions are being retooled and resourced. The government of Ghana through the Ministry of National Security continuous to adopt the following measures aimed at effectively dealing with the threat of terrorism. One, intensification of ongoing counter-terrorism operations along the various frontiers of the country, two, implementation of Ghanas framework for preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism, three, retooling of the various state security and intelligent institutions, and four, the adoption of soft approach by expediting development and providing employment for the youth and those particularly those in vulnerable border communities, the Ghanaian lawmaker told the ECOWAS Parliament. He further shared that the government of Ghana is committed to contributing meaningfully to the sub-region and will continue to uphold the values of ECOWAS high. Ghana shall continue to contribute meaningfully to sub-regional peace and security. Ghana is a committed member of ECOWAS and will continue to uphold the values of ECOWAS and contribute its quota to the realization of the ECOWAS agenda, the Effutu MP assured as a representative of Ghana. Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin attended the ECOWAS Parliamentary session last week when he led a delegation from Ghana. Listen to Hon. Afenyo-Markins full address below: Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan, the Member of Parliament for the Cape Coast South constituency and a ranking member of the privileges committee of Parliament, has expressed his amazement at Akufo-Addos inaction toward absentee Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya. Speaking on Accra-based TV3's KeyPoints show on Saturday, June 18, 2022, the ranking member said it is very surprising that the executive has failed to trigger the process on Adwoa Safo who is still holding herself as Gender Minister. What baffles me is that; let's take the parliamentary role of Hon. Adwoa Safo out of the whole thing, supposing she was just a Minister appointed by the President; we know in our constitution if you can't do the work resign, fine, but what would have been the procedure at the Executive end in dealing with this matter? "The Executive is silent on this, it's as of now the Executive is waiting for Parliament to bring some finality to this for them to be able to act, and I find it quite baffling, he added. Mr. Hagan then wonders what would have happened if she (Adwoa Sarfo) was only a minister without being a parliamentarian. So I'm saying if she wasn't a Member of Parliament, what are the laid downs? Because the Executive don't have Privileges Committee or Privileges Ministry, maybe they should think of having one in the future. I'm really wondering what's going on at that end, but it's been going on for some time now. I would like to know what sort of excuse leave if any, that the honourable has submitted to the Executive which I'm not privy to?" he intimated. Mr. Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament tasked the Privileges Committee, led by Mr. Joseph Osei-Wusu (Joe Wise), to investigate complaints of absenteeism lodged against Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey, all Members of Parliament of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). Meanwhile, Adwoa Safo told Joy News in a previous interview that she was in the United States caring for her sick son. The Community Water System under Ghana Water Company Limited supplying water to the Bimbilla Government hospital has reconnected water to the facility after almost a month of cutting supply over non-payment of bills. The hospital was disconnected by Ghana Water Company for owing over GH230,000. The situation at the time disrupted health delivery at the facility to the extent that emergency cases were referred to other hospitals. Patients seeking medical care at the hospital had provided their own water for the hospital to use. According to one resident, even persons referred from outside Bimbilla had to find their own water when going to the hospital. They had to buy water from outside and we from Bimbilla, we had to get to our house to bring water to the hospital in order to do anything that required water, the resident said. Dr. Abena Asare, a doctor at the facility, welcomed the reconnection to the water grid. She noted that some persons who had been referred to other hospitals because of the lack of water are sometimes reluctant to do so. Some of them go home and come back with complications that could have been avoided, she recalled. But for the past three days, everything is moving smoothly. We have been able to handle all the cases that are not beyond us, Dr. Asare said. By Citi Newsroom Blessed Godsbrain Smart, Known publicly as Captain Smart has asked the board of trustees in charge of the National cathedral to return his donations. He said the slow pace of the project doesn't worth the amount he spent. Is this the representation of the money given you so far? Where is my cement? What did you use it for? Can this represent the money spent so far? he asked. During the project's launch, Captain Smart pledged to donate 100 bags of cement to the project every month which according to him, he has been delivering as promised. Speaking on Accra-based Onua TV's Morning Show on Monday, June 20, 2022, he asks the National Cathedral Secretariat to account for monies spent on the project so far. He is also asking for proper accountability of the account that was established for public contributions and the GH200 million government injected into the project so far, including the GH32 million paid to Sir Adjaye and Associates as consultancy fees. This comes after he paid a visit to the project site following the recent revelations by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu constituency Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa Ablakwa. Where is the money? Whoever is in possession of any of the money should bring it. The government says they dont disburse the funds but rather the Board of Trustees. Im asking the Board of Trustees because the government says the money is disbursed by you," he stated. The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has lamented the inadequate support given to farmers by commercial banks in the country. Speaking to the media while touring the Eastern Region on Saturday, June 18, 2022, the Minister said the government as part of its commitment to boost the agriculture sector is doing its bid by continuously subsidising inputs and fertiliser. To compel banks in the country to make more investments in agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto disclosed that a legislation would be introduced soon. We are making a whole lot of efforts to ensure that we bring in the commercial banks including possibility of introducing legislations so that commercial banks would have to lend a portion of their portfolio to farmers and those in the value chain, the processers, and others. We wouldnt be the first country in the world to do that, India has been practicing that for 30 years. So definitely you are going to hear something in Parliament about this issue, as a way of making sure the commercial banks plays their role because government is playing its role by subsiding inputs and fertilizer, the banks should be able to lend to agriculture, the Minister in charge of Food and Agriculture told journalists. While on his tour, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto rubbished claims that there is a food shortage in the country as well as the allegations that Ghana will experience famine next year if nothing changes. According to the Minister, there is food in stock and more coming with farmers set to make bumper harvest in the coming months. He noted that the high cost of food in the country is due to factors beyond the control of farmers including the high cost of fuel which comes into play when transporting food from the produce area to the marketplace. Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia today, Monday, June 20, welcomed to the Jubilee House, a United States business delegation, led by the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Don Graves. Their discussion focused on key areas for partnership and investment, such as youth development, education, agriculture, climate change, commerce and digitisation. Dr Bawumia said Ghana and the United States have enjoyed strong ties and cooperation for years, and as the world finds a pathway to navigate the stormy economic situation it finds itself in, it is even more important for the two countries to strengthen cooperation, especially in many critical areas for mutual benefits. Source: Classfmonline.com 20.06.2022 LISTEN Ghanas Deputy Ambassador to China Madam Akua Afriyie is asking Ghanaians to stop complaining too much of hardship arguing that the economic situation in Ghana is 90 percent better than many foreign countries. In the view of the former MP for Ablekuma North Constituency, in spite of the global hardship, the Akufo-Addo administration is working to improve standards of living. Citing China as an example, the Deputy Ambassador observed that the huge taxes and poor salary remuneration in China has worsen their economic situation insisting that Ghana is even better than China. Theres hardship in Europe. I am the deputy ambassador for China and I can say things are difficult in China and Ghana is better than many other foreign countries including China. The citizens in China pay huge taxes and they do not earn any better salary too. Five small fishes can cost about GHS1,200, she stated. She also added that People are committing suicide and others are being arrested for engaging in criminalities so I can say that Ghana is better. The former MP in an interview with Kumasi based Oyerepa TV asked Ghanaians to tone down on the criticisms against the government. Stop complaining of hardship and ask God to give President Akufo-Addo the needed wisdom to govern. President Akufo-Addo is doing very well, she told the host Kwesi Parker-Wilson. Her comment comes on the back of series of complaints by a cross section of Ghanaians who are lamenting the harsh economic conditions. Source: Classfmonline.com 20.06.2022 LISTEN Evans Oppong Kyekyeku, the father who attempted to use his 11-year-old for money ritual has been denied bail by the District Court [Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit] in Accra. The Ghana Police Service on June 3, 2022, confirmed the arrest of the 47-year-old man. The arrest was executed after a herbalist reported the businessman and exposed his plans to use his own daughter for money ritual. Having been arraigned before court, Evans Oppong Kyekyeku is on a provisional charge of Preparation to commit crime to wit; murder, and his plea has been reserved. Today, the court presided over by Her Worship Ama Adomako Kwakye declined the bail request of the accused and his representatives, noting that there has not been any unreasonable delay in the matter. She argued that the court does not see that the facts do not support the charge as per the prayer by counsel for the accused Ralph Agyepong. The case has been adjourned to July 4, 2022, with the accused having the chance to proceed to the High Court to make a case for the request for bail. In a development, Starr News has reported that its reporter Murtala Inusah who was in court to cover the proceedings was nearly attacked by the accused, Evans Oppong Kyekyeku. Why are you taking pictures of me. Are you stupid, the accused person is quoted to have said while trying to free himself to attack the reporter. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and its counterpart in Lesotho, the Petroleum Fund, are collaborating to improve efficiency in the petroleum downstream in both countries. In furtherance of the collaboration, a team from the Petroleum Fund, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Thato Mohasoa, paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive of the NPA, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, in Accra. The partnership between the two entities will, among other things, share experiences of mutual benefit in the petroleum downstream industry especially in the management of the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) which ensures that prices of petroleum products are the same across the country. The team were here to also understudy Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) regulation in Ghana. Welcoming the delegation, the NPA Boss said he was elated to have such a delegation to study the downstream regulations of LPG. It is important that Africans go to each other for solutions to Africa Problems rather than travel abroad to seek solutions which are not feasible, Dr Abdul-Hamid added. On his part, the Petroleum Fund CEO of Lesotho, said he was happy for the warm welcome and that they were in anticipation to learn the successes of the NPAs Unified Petroleum Price Fund and the ground breaking role the downstream sector of Ghana has achieved in regulating LPG. The four-member team from Lesotho also included Mohloko Lepamo; Finance Manager of PF, Lebohang Makhoali; Operations Manager of PF and Thato Kolisang; Corporate Affairs Manager. The team also visited the Ghana National Gas Company and the Tema Oil refinery as part of their working visit. 20.06.2022 LISTEN In January 2022 a jointly published reportfrom the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations warned that acute food insecurity in 20 countries, identified as hunger hotspots, was likely to deteriorate in the months ahead. Demographically, a whopping majority of the hunger hotspots are located in Africa with the continent also accounting for 3 out of the 4 countries; Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen where immediate humanitarian actions are needed to prevent starvation and death. Without mincing words, this has been the part of Africa the world knows too well For decades, Africa has been plagued with high incidence of hunger, a condition that could certainly be prevented, if germane measures are undertaken. Africa is home to abundant agricultural resources that could produce more than enough food to feed the regions bulging population; but sadly, the reality on the continent has been gut-wrenching a report(2021) from FAO shows that as of 2020; more than one-third of Africas population, representing 282 million people were undernourished, an uptick of 46 million over 2019. In other words, one in five people in Africa are experiencing hunger. Evidently, the region has been characterised by hunger for decades, with actions intended to ameliorate this condition yielding minimal progress. But with Africas population growing rapidly, perhaps this should be the opportune duration to right the wrongs. What is the reality on the ground? Countries across the continent have repeatedly indicated that they are not up to the task when the goal is to unlock the full potential of agricultural resources in the region, a deficiency that has pushed Africa, a continent that has more than enough natural resources to be food sufficient to become a net importer of food. With 60percent of the entire worlds unused arable land, in fact, it is quite astounding that Africa is a net importer of food. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), from 2016 to 2018, Africa imported nearly 85percent of its food from outside the continent, an increasing food import bill that could exceed US$110 billion by 2025. Obviously, Africas excessive reliance on food imports has been anything but the solution to ending hunger and clearly, food aid to the region has also not been the panacea. Why so? While the region depends on food aid significantly, it is interesting to know that postharvest losses in Africa far exceeds the food aid the continent receives in 2011, the World Bank and FAO jointly published a report that estimated that the value of grain postharvest losses alone in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) amounted to US$4billion a year out of an annual grain production of US$27 billion for 2005 - 2007. To put this into perspective; the monetary value of the yearly grain postharvest losses exceeded the total food aid SSA received from 1998 to 2008 (10 years) which was US$6.1 billion. Again, the US$4 billion grain postharvest loss equates to the annual value of cereal imports of SSA, which ranged from US$3-7 billion per year from 2000 to 2007 period and lastly, the postharvest grain loss could have met the minimum annual food requirement of 48 million people in Africa. While this ample empirical evidence is limited to losses for grains in SSA, one could only imagine the entire value of postharvest losses for livestock, fruits and vegetables which are not included here. To further delve into this subject, in 2014, FAO indicated that losses for SSAs essential staples such as cassava, banana, plantain and yams were 30 to 40 percent and 40 percent for vegetables In fact, while this situation is worrying, the COVID-19 pandemic has made matters even worse. Several restrictive measures such as lockdowns and travel restrictions adopted by African governments to curb the spread of COVID-19 has been a blessing and a curse as it has contributed significantly in increasing postharvest losses as farmers are not able to transport their harvested foods to the markets In 2020, the FAOrepresentative in Senegal reported that nearly a million chickens and about 18,000 tonnes of vegetables, including, 550 tonnes of cabbages, 566 tonnes of carrots, 13,000 tonnes of onion, had piled up in the country due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Similar concerns were raised in Guinea and Nigeria where postharvest losses for potato was between 20 and 50 percent. Pineapple, potato and cashew nut growers in Guinea had to destroy their unsold harvests because these farmers could not access adequate storage facilities. Cash crop growers have also experienced their share of postharvest losses In Ivory Coast, the worlds leading kola nut exporter, about 500 tonnes of kola nut losses were attributed to COVID-19 travel restrictions (border closures). All this evidence points to the fact that the sustainable solution needed to end hunger in Africa does not lie in soliciting for more food aid or increasing food imports but rather addressing postharvest losses which includes strengthening agriculture development and building climate-resilient infrastructure to tackle food losses across the value chains in the region. For example, in February, 2022 the WFP announced that 13million people are experiencing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia), as severe drought clutches the peninsula. With the Horn of Africa currently facing the driest conditions recorded since 1981, the area has now experienced three consecutive failed rainy seasons which has annihilated crops and livestock widespread water and pasture shortages are compelling people to flee their homes, a situation that has increased conflicts pushed many into poverty and increased hunger substantially. Similarly, in other parts of the continent, climate change, poverty and conflicts, the primary causes of hunger now exacerbated by COVID-19, could be largely addressed via agriculture development. What is the way forward? Certainly, the solution to these challenges requires building colossal climate-resilient infrastructure and enhancing agricultural development, all of which demands massive funding and technical expertise that unfortunately the continent does not have at the moment. The success of this pathway is partly dependent on African countries engaging reliable partners that have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they are committed to the development of the continent. Current infrastructureinvestment trends in Africa, shows that China is by far the continents largest foreign investor; these investments which are mostly skewed towards energy and transport infrastructure projects are addressing the regions power and transport challenges. With more investments in renewable energy projects in Africa, Chinas contributions are essential for promoting an inclusive and efficient agricultural value chain. While this is a step in the right direction in the fight against hunger, additional efforts should be directed towards building affordable and accessible food storage facilities to mitigate postharvest losses in both rural and urban areas and providing adequate infrastructure to support climate-resilient agriculture. About the Author Alexander Ayertey Odonkor is an economic consultant, chartered economist and a chartered financial analyst with a masters degree in finance and a bachelors degree in economics and finance together with a stellar experience from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Alexander holds postgraduate certificates from Harvard University, New York Institute of Finance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Adelaide, Curtin University and Delft University of Technology. Alexander is also an author and columnist for the China Global Television Network (CGTN), The Brussels Times, The World Financial Review, China Daily, The Diplomat, The Business Standard (Bangladesh), Pakistan Today, The Peoples Daily, Daily News (Sri Lanka) and the Business and Financial Times (B&FT). Some of his articles have also appeared in NTS Bulletin(Nanyang Technological University), NextBillion (University of Michigan), and several other top-notch publications. 20.06.2022 LISTEN Comerades of The Press, We are very much grateful for your time. Leviticus 18 and 20 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." Chapter 18 verse 22. "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them according to the christian Bible. Quaran 25:165 FOR all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)!" They said: "If thou desist not, O Lut! thou wilt assuredly be cast out according to the Quaran. Going forward, We the discerning youth of Nzema both home and abroad want to put on record that we are against Homosexuality of all forms and disagree with Lawyer Fredie Blay who is an astitute person and doubles as our grandfather and father to allow Homosexuals to operate. It very Unfortunate. Nzema if care to know redeemed Ghana and is still doing so through its vast oil and natural gas resources. Take a look at Chief Biney of Kikam who buit Ghana Port and Ghana Commercial Bank with his pocket money, Paa Grant, Ayikumi, Boye Moses, Wilhem Anton Amoo was was the first black philosopher from Awuku in Axim and Our hale and hearty Kwame Nkumah all never made or sympathise with with Homosexuals. They preach wise and practice wise not vice. Emphatically. Homosexuality is a bane in every society with emphasis on Mr.Blay's backyard, which is Nzemaland willingly going against this unnatural Act. Nzemaland and it's youth are against this act of Homosexuality and thus call on Mr Blay to retract his words at the Time that all is against this unlawful act. We are opening the flood gate if we allow them to operate. We hate their act not their personality. So Mr. Blay was overboard in his submission because It Is Against God. If We care to know, In an atmosphere of gratitude Chains are broken, We have tried Lamentations as a people. Let speak and talk about gratitude and not Homosexuality that is going to burden us as a nation economically. We are sad to hear Mr. Blay Freddy pushing for us to allow Homosexuality. We should always preach wise and not practice vice. We strongly saying that Mr.Blay 's comment is unfortunate and should stick to himself. In as much as we disgree with Mr Freddy Blay on allowing Gays, we acknowledge the Fact that he openly said that, personally he does not subscribe to gayism. Homosexuality, comrades of the Press. Homosexuality is against God and we must do well to resist this shameful act. We the youth of Nzema speak to appeal to our father and grandfather that, We are sorry , We cannot grant audience to this uncalled for act as he suggest we allow them. Mr.Blay as we all know is a respected personality and a role model to many of us in Nzema. We are therefore appealing to our Dear Members of Parliament to expedite reforms to pass this bill as soon as possible. There has been growing despondency and regret among the youth in Nzemaland. We have the blessings of all discerning leaders on our land to reject Lawyer Freddy Blay's call for homosexuality to be allowed. As a country, Mr blay should be talking about Human capital development and not this PR for homosexuality audience. Our culture as we all know, frowns on homosexuality because its disgusting and against Nature. Comrades of the Press, Justin Imagine The Sky God created adam and adam. You and I wouldn't be here enjoying the beauty of Nature. So on a more serious note, Treat Mr. Blay's statement as his personal thought and not a stance for any youth to glorify.particularly Nzema. Comrade, 10 of 10 people from Nzema are against the activities of homosexuality. Its a fact. Our Natural laws tell us to emulate the ideals of the creator. These are man made agenda to suppress our lives. This life is man and woman. Anyyhing else is unacceptable. Humbly we are saying that, as courteous as we are, we are not granting audience to Homosexuality. We presume Mr. Blay should have suggested for Psychological Support for them other than creating an impression that we must allow them in the name Human Right. We all know Mr. Blay and what his influence in the eyes of the Youth. We strongly disagree with him so far as our culture frowns on it. Mr.blay has to note that, the issue of homosexuality is filthy and so disheartening to hear renowned men sympathising with them. So as a leader of the Governing NPP, we urge him to use his high office to push the legislature to fast track the passage of the Anti-Gay bill. In a nutshell, We hope Mr Blay will come out apologise assidously for taming the image of the good people of Nzemaland. We appreciate him alot but this comment, We are sorry to say we are not in support and sympathise with any homosexual. Even animals emulate nature how come we Humans are rather doing the contrary. Longlive Kwame Nkrumah Longlive Ghana Presented by: Patrick Ekye Kwesie (PHD) Leader-Western Nzema Youth league. 0202023898 20.06.2022 LISTEN Societies that have enough money to provide a good life for their people have the moral opportunity to spend extra money to taste. Countries in financial turmoil see spending to taste as a betrayal to their generation and future. Public interventions (hospitals, roads, factories, funds to support the development, etc.) are not the brainchild of a politician but of individuals and groups picked up by politicians in power or the once to reach power. The financing comes from the public money purse. In Democratic societies, the race is on to be seen as a hero, the nation's savior at the top of the nation ready to go for the next round in the office. Notably, the Presidents of such nations do not launch an e.g. completed hospital with the words that due to the contribution of society and the taxpayers the intervention was made possible, and the office holder humbly launches the hospital. The President instead expects to be praised for the new hospital under his watch and patronage. Sod cutting and launching ceremonies are needed to make a project work for the nation? Or only a "nice to have" event? JD Mahama, former President of Ghana stood high on the tarmac of the Kwame Nkrumah interchange. A stage was put up, many dignitaries by his side, and was life broadcast on TV to launch the interchange. All these cost money including the loss in productivity of the participants and viewers. Certainly taking the barricades aside to let the traffic freely flow would have been possible and a powerful sign of a responsible leader that understands the needs and situation of his people. Traveling with an enormous entourage up North or West or East of Ghana consumes state funds unnecessary that can create jobs and even eradicate poor SHS education and make hospitals function and function well. The current President is enjoying himself at the expense of the nation equally as many of his predecessors did. The thinking of Ghanaians in the categories of party politics as a do-or-die affair instead of a better nation to be built is more than astonishing and concerning. Trapped in these rivers of thinking and the youth not ready to take over, angry but not prepared with a great vision and a detailed plan to make the vision a reality, the well-established mess under the state of mind of the good people of Ghana will linger on under all political parties. The white man struggles like a drowning frog in a dirty and dead pond to find a solution to the upcoming mess of African overpopulation and the consequences of exploited natural resources and future increase in food production due to the effects of climate change (cost of irrigation). The taxpayers back in Europe get more and more nervous wondering why Aid support for generations now did and does not bear lasting positive results but pushed unwanted economic migrants into their societies with so many more to come. White politicians behind the scenes enjoy African poverty of mind and in real life knowing a poor corrupt man is easier to control than a rich, independent free mind. But the population of Europe is about to think against the political establishment of their nations. When the problem on the ground can't be solved from far and standing with advice on the sidelines of the history of Africa is not helping as being powerless history will repeat itself but in a different form. Among the youth of Europe today clear signs are to be witnessed that they know about the threat to their future marching from Africa into their territory. They look desperately for answers as they well know the youth of Africa is not prepared for the takeover of Africa. The youth in Europe can easily be brainwashed by fake solutions seen past weekend in France and the gains of votes for the French Parliament. All these shifts in politics are only because in Ghana Presidents break the oath of office unpunished. 20.06.2022 LISTEN In a world of corporations and industrialised economies, it is easy to loose sight of the value that culture holds as a resource. This is particularly true in Africa, which is probably the continent with the highest cultural diversity. Colonial borders has created a situation where most African countries are homes to multiple cultures each. Developing this cultural reservoir has the potential to create a booming industry as tourists and pilgrims are attracted to cultural centres. Culture is also a resource that can give poor people an opportunity to achieve self-dignification, since participating in cultural development programs will give them skills that can be used in the tourism industry. In this way, the preservation of heritage and the production of new heritage becomes a means of uplifting the poor. The influence of history on poverty is not an obstacle since actions in the present have a direct impact on the future. Solving poverty relies on our actions in the present day, the legacy that we build for our descendants. In the arguments that follow the basic premise is that the only thing that is needed to trigger an African Renaissance is the establishment of mother-tongue universities for every cultural group in Africa. However, in order to couple cultural development programs with income from the tourism industry, I propose that these universities be surrounded by cultural hubs that house art schools, museums and most importantly a festival square for celebrations. By creating these cultural campuses you promote behaviour like tourism and pilgrimage because there are centralised locations where the cultures can be experienced or reconnected with. The aim is as much to attract pilgrims to reconnect with their culture as it is to attract tourists to witness the African Renaissance. We live in the age of mixed cities, where it is easy to loose sight of one's culture. The cultural centres I envision are imagined as places where people can go to reconnect with their cultures, and therefore pilgrimage is an integral factor in my vision of an African Renaissance. Cultural resources in the battle against poverty When you look at poverty as a problem in Africa, there are certain causes of poverty that can be addressed via an African Renaissance. Lack of skills can be addressed by involving the poor in the cultural development programs using bursaries or other funding initiatives. Poor quality education arises when students are forced to learn in languages that are foreign to them, mother-tongue universities can set new curricula for schools. Economic troubles can be circumvented if a large portion of the funding for these cultural programs comes from tourism and donations. I am not claiming that the African Renaissance will cure poverty on it's own, but neither will corporate jobs. In order to eliminate poverty it needs to be addressed on multiple fronts, and developing cultural heritage is one of these fronts. The main importance of an African Renaissance in the battle against poverty is that it will give people a sense of hope and cultural pride, and this might be enough to push Africa out of its long depression. A vision of an African Renaissance I have given much thought into how an African Renaissance might be triggered and have developed the following system out of the principles of custodial multiculturalism. Custodial multiculturalism states that a multicultural society can only be stable if it has stable cultural centres, and that custodial organisations need to be created to preserve cultural heritage while developing new heritage for the future. The motto is "modernise, not Westernise". Please note that what follows is only a suggestion, and I encourage you to think about your own version of an African Renaissance. Therefore, the foundation on which my vision of an African Renaissance is built is what I call the Cultural Dignity Fund, or simply the Dignity Funds. These are NGOs involving the traditional leaders of a particular culture that are set up for every culture with a mandate to preserve and produce cultural heritage. Donations to this fund will be used firstly to construct the cultural hubs, but will also be used to provide bursaries to students using poverty as the main criterion. Donating to the Dignity Funds can be marketed as a matter of cultural pride: a contribution to the future of their culture. They are called Dignity Funds because they provide the poor with an opportunity to achieve self-dignification by participating in cultural development programs. The first task of the Dignity Funds will be to establish mother-tongue universities around which the cultural centres will be built. The initial task of these universities will be to translate and publish books in their mother tongue. Particular emphasis should be placed on translating children's books so that reading stories to your children in mother tongue can be marketed as a source of cultural pride. Over time these mother-tongue universities will help expand the languages so that the universities can take on more subjects and become prober tertiary education facilities. Next on the priority list is cultural arts schools, which will include art schools, dance schools and films schools. These will be tasked at studying traditional arts and dances, and using these to inspire modern forms. If every culture engages in this project it will produce a high volume of entertainers that use cultural arts to attract tourism money. The film schools are also important because they will document the progress of the cultural development programs and produce video and footage that further attracts tourism. In association with these cultural art schools, a festival square needs to be built. The edges of the festival square should be markets were tourists and pilgrims can purchase the arts produced in the art schools and the main festival square provides a place where celebrations and festivals can be held to showcase the performing arts of each culture. These festival squares can also be used for ceremonies involving pilgrims, since such ceremonies can provide a sense of reconnection through participation. In order to complete the cultural campus as a centralised site of cultural development, museums and monuments need to be built around the festival squares. The museums will provide an anchor and a reservoir for the history and lore of each culture while the monuments will provide a source of cultural pride. Both will also attract tourists and pilgrims from the cities. All of this activity in the cultural campuses will also necessitate hotels and restaurants as well as other spin-off industries. As such, these cultural campuses represent an opportunity to create a lot of jobs outside of the tourism industry as well. The past is not an obstacle when you build a future When I think of the potential impact that an African Renaissance can have on the future, it becomes clear to me that the challenges of the past are not an obstacle to inspiring an African Renaissance. The challenge lies in building the infrastructure, not in overcoming the legacy of the past. True reconciliation is to be put on the same footing, and the African Renaissance will give African cultures that which Eurasian cultures have: mother-tongue universities that serves as centres of culture. Honestly, it is shocking that this hasn't been done already... Kigali, Rwanda Young people are critical to the post-pandemic recovery and for addressing the serious social, economic and environmental challenges that are now facing countries, young leaders have said. Hundreds of youth from all corners of the Commonwealth came together for the opening of the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) in Kigali today, which kicked off with an electrifying and inspiring performance from the Rwandan performing arts and media company, Mashirika. Held ahead of the main Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the three-day forum is a unique opportunity for young leaders to bring policy recommendations to their governments - asserting their role in shaping the future of the Commonwealth. This years forum focuses on the adverse impacts of climate change, conflict and Covid-19, which disproportionately hit young people by cutting employment, training and education opportunities. Approximately 60 per cent of the unemployed in Commonwealth countries are young people. With the World Bank warning of a looming global recession, it has never been more important to ensure that young people are prioritised in Commonwealth policies. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Chair of the CYF taskforce and Chair of the Rwanda National Youth Council, Alodie Iradukunda (pictured below), said: As the Chairperson of the Rwandan National Youth Council, I have had the opportunity to witness the will and drive that young people have in building our future. I am in awe of the spirit of service and duty that prevailed more than ever throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Young people across the Commonwealth played an integral role in the handling of this crisis, demonstrating yet again the great value that lies within the drive and brilliance of young people. I am here to reassure our leaders that we have not waited to be called upon. We understand what is at stake when it comes to the numerous issues that our world faces today. Newly appointed Chair of the Commonwealth Youth Council, Kim Allen, (pictured below), echoed these sentiments. He said: Today's challenges and issues are more complex than decades ago. The world is slowly coming out of the pandemic, a crisis that affected our lives in many ways. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, hate and discrimination, economic turmoil resulting in high unemployment rates, the digital divide, mental health, inequalities in education and health, conflicts, and political instability, to name a few, all happen due to human actions and certain situations beyond our control. Amid these challenges arise the opportunities to create a positive change. Fellow youth delegates and partners, your creativity, skill sets and abilities are needed to drive the change we want. Now is the time to act. We have to progress the efforts taken in the past through strategic and transformational approaches. Delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony, Rwandas Minister of Youth and Culture, Hon. Rosemary Mbabazi, praised the commitment, ingenuity, and hard work of the youth. She said: I encourage you to build networks that will turn into the markets needed for your innovations, create innovations that responds to and solves challenges for our communities. I am sure you will leave here with more knowledge and transformed mindsets. Also speaking at the opening ceremony Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Dr Arjoon Suddhoo repeated the call for young people to be included in policy decisions across the Commonwealth. He said: Given the huge potential and ingenious proclivity of our young people, we simply cannot afford to exclude young people from the development agenda or equate youthfulness with inexperience and ignorance. This dangerous and damaging discrimination will hold all of us back from achieving our full potential. During the forum young people will agree to a set of policy recommendations which will be recorded and presented to Heads of Government in a Youth Declaration on the final day of the forum. They will also have an opportunity to meet heads of governments during an intergenerational dialogue. This years forum will address thematic areas such as governance and the rule of law, technology, skills, innovation, sustainability, health and trade. It will also include the launch of an historic collaboration between the Commonwealth and the worlds largest youth organisations to create the Commonwealth Alliance for Quality Youth Leadership. This meeting supported by the Government of Rwanda and co-ordinated by an International Youth Task Force, made up of 21 young people from around the Commonwealth, co-chaired by Darrion Narine of Trinidad and Tobago and Alodie Iradukunda of Rwanda. It is supported by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Rwanda. More photos from day one of the Forum can be found here. CHOGM background: The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has announced the end of the refugee status given to Ivorians who fled political crises in their country to reside in neighboring Liberia. To mark the occasion, the human rights organisation's Chief Filippo Grandi was in the northeastern town of Buuto on World Refugee Day. The High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi was in Buuto northeastern Liberia, located about 377 km away from the capital, Monrovia to witness the repatriation of the last batch of 268 Ivorian refugees from Liberia. "On Monday, June 20, 2022, in Abidjan, on World Refugee Day, together with the President of Cote d'Ivoire, I will announce the cessation clause for Ivorian refugees in Liberia," he said on the eve of his visit. In October 2021, he recommended that asylum countries end refugee status for Ivorians following the peaceful resolution of two decades of civil conflict and instability in Cote d'Ivoire. The announcement will end the UN's assistance and protection for Ivoirians who decide to continue to live in the host country. Multiple crises According to the UNHCR, since 2011, some 310,000 Ivorian refugees 96 percent of those living in West Africa, mainly in neighbouring Liberia and Ghana have been able to return home following an improvement in the political situation. This includes some 14,000 who have returned since the start of this year with the help of the agency. The Ivorian refugees came over in two waves, during two crises. During the first civil war (20032007), Cote d'Ivoire was effectively split in two with the government in charge of the north, and rebels holding the south. During the second conflict (20102011), forces loyal to then-president Laurent Gbagbo fought the supporters of internationally recognized president-elect Alassane Ouattara, causing Ivorians to flee. A difficult choice for some Tony Wempie, 48, teaches French and English in a Liberian school since he arrived in Liberia in 2012. He was among the last batch of refugees to leave. Three of Tony's brothers were executed during the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. As such, he had opted to remain in Liberia, but with the cessation clause coming into effect, he has no option. "I am leaving my students behind. They cried when I told them I was leaving.The freedom I have in Liberia, I will not have that in my own country," he told RFI sadly. Like Tony, Enmily Dayu, 53, is a single mother with five children who is fearful about a possible flare-up of the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. "I did not want to leave Liberia because of what I experienced during the war, but my children's advice is to go back home, so I have no choice," she noted. Some want to stay "A small number of them are opting to stay in Liberia and Liberia has agreed that those who opt to stay here will remain here and the agreement has been made," Grandi said, adding that, unless there was a specific reason, they will no longer be considered refugees. However, some Liberians, especially the host communities, are angry that the UN is not providing assistance to them. James Bardea is an elder in Buutuo. He expresses his disenchantment with the UN's withdrawal. "When the refugees came here, we hosted them, we used our resources." If you were eating a cup of rice and you received a refugee, the cup of rice will increase, so almost all of the food will be used up," he told RFI. "It is our surprise today to see them just leave the community like that. There is nothing for us! We are disappointed." Sixty-one years after Belgian mercenaries and separatists murdered Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, Belgium officially returned his tooth, his only remains, in a televised ceremony on Monday. "I think it will provide solace for the family and the Congolese people," Lumumba's eldest son Francois told Belgium's RTBF broadcaster, adding that the family had been waiting more than 60 years for the event. "We are opening a new page in history," he added. Relatives, including his son Francois, were given a bright blue box containing the tooth, which was placed in a casket, draped by the Democratic Republic of Congo flag. The casket will be flown back to the DRC for an official interment. Belgium's chief prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw, who handed over the relic, said that the legal action the family had pursued against a number of Belgian officials and diplomats had finally delivered justice. Francois filed a legal complaint in Belgium in 2011. Saying that the country's authorities turned the other way and did not act to stop the killing, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, apologized to his family at the ceremony on behalf of Belgium. "I would like, in the presence of his family, to present in my turn the apologies of the Belgian government," he said. "A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals." This is the second time the government apologized; a Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium had a moral responsibility for Lumumba's assassination. It apologized in 2002. First prime minister Patrice Lumumba became the Congo's first prime minister after over 100 years of brutal rulefirst under Belgian King Leopold II, then under the Belgian government, until what was then known as the Congo Free State gained independence in 1960. Congolese at that time were forced to labour in the numerous rubber plantations. Belgium also plundered the numerous minerals, timber, and ivory. Many groups rose up and were killed. Those who were forced to work had their hands cut off if they did not make their quota, were directly killed by the their overseers, or died of disease. Historians, including Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost who investigated the atrocities in his book, indicate that 10 million Congolese perished under the hands of the Belgians. As the newly-independent country's first prime minister, Lumumba was a fierce anti-colonialist. Both Belgium and the United States originally worked with him, but he fell from favour with his pro-Congolese policies. Shot by separatists and Belgian mercenaries in the southern Katanga region on 17 January 1961, they dissolved Lumumba's body in acid. The 35-year-old was never found. However, Belgian police officer Gerard Soete, who was involved in the murder, kept Lumumba's tooth as a trophy. Belgian police seized the tooth in 2016 from Soete's daughter. A hero The Democratic Republic of Congo considers Lumumba as the anti-colonialist hero and father of the country. This assassination and the cruel Belgian past has remained a source of pain for the Congolese. The casket is slated to receive a hero's welcome and will be officially laid to rest at a memorial for Lumumba. The DRC will hold three days of national mourning from 27 to 30 June to mark the burial ceremony. Its 62nd independence day, 30 June, will coincide with the ceremony. Although there is an ongoing investigation into "war crimes", only two of the targeted officials are still alive. Lumumba's children were received by Belgium's King Philippe on Monday. He had gone to the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month to express his deepest regrets over Belgium's past, but did not apologize to the people of the DRC. The Domestic Violence and Support Centre Court in Accra has declined to admit Evans Kyekyeku Oppong, the Netherlands-based Ghanaian businessman who allegedly took his daughter to a priest at Oyibi Kom, in Accra for ritual purposes to bail. He has been provisionally charged with preparation to commit crime, to wit murder. The Court on Monday, 20 June 2022 denied Mr Oppong bail noting that it did not have jurisdiction to grant bail in the matter. He has since been remanded into Police Custody to reappear on Monday, 4 July 2022. The 42-year-old businessman had sought the help of a herbalist, Nana Adu-Boafo, for the sacrificial job. However, the herbalist alerted the police and caused his arrest. The herbalist, who recorded the entire arrest as it unfolded, is heard in the video saying: The girls father came to see me; he told me he just landed in the country after staying overseas for a while and it hasnt been easy for him. He told me he is a father of 12 and is offering two of them for money rituals. He offered me GHS 10,000 and other good surprises when the job is done. Sadly, he had just picked the daughter up during school hours and told her he was going to get her a new dress, the herbalist narrated. Yes, I am a herbalist but I am also a military man. I am very disciplined. I dont engage in any sinister activities. I want to prove to the world that herbalists are not as evil as they are painted. We are not killers as is portrayed in movies, we are healers. I have the little girl he brought for me to kill. Source: classfmonline.com Cultural managers from The Gambias Banjul and Georgetown, Fort Bullen Barra and Stone Circle sites, completed the Heritage Management Organizations 3-day workshop in Heritage Interpretation for Site Managers. The workshop was held online and is part of the Organizations HerMaP Gambia project which is being realized in partnership with the Gambias National Centre for the Arts (NCAC). NCAC Director General, Hassoum Ceesay, said the workshop was a success. The training series offered by HERITAGE enables participants to communicate our country's extremely diverse and important heritage, supporting tourism and the creative industries, Hassoum Ceesay pointed out. The workshop on Heritage Interpretation offered me and my fellow participants, useful insights and guidance on aspects like turning phenomena into experiences, provoking resonance in visitors, drawing a stakeholder and conservation-led map of heritage sites, and many more, said participant Aba T. Hydata, an independent artist and President of the Fort Bullen Festival. The Heritage Management Organizations HerMaP Gambia program is aimed at developing the business skills of heritage and cultural managers to enable them to establish and better support heritage and cultural enterprises. Supporting The Gambias heritage sector will promote greater community solidarity and provide high-quality opportunities for local talent, hopefully helping the country address brain-drain by providing better employment opportunities. The program is co-financed by the European Union with funding partly matched by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. It is being realized in partnership with the National Centre for Arts and Culture. East African leaders met in Kenya on Monday to discuss the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo's violence-torn east. The meeting comes as heavy fighting revives decades-old animosities between Kinshasa and Kigali, with the DRC blaming neighbouring Rwanda for the recent resurgence of the M23 militia. Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing the rebels, while both countries have accused each other of carrying out cross-border shelling. After weeks of sabre-rattling, the leaders of six of the seven nations in the East African Community (EAC) met in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to discuss the way forward. Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi joined the leaders of Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda as well as Tanzania's ambassador to Nairobi. "The crisis in Congo need(s) a collective approach from all regional members of the East African Community," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Twitter after the meeting got under way. "We must insist on working together because these people have suffered a lot," said Museveni. His government has sent in troops to help Congolese forces fight the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia group blamed for thousands of deaths in eastern Congo and a string of bombings in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Call for British pressure After M23 rebels captured the border town of Bunagana, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called for the deployment of a regional EAC force in eastern DRC to restore peace, but Kinshasa said it would not accept Rwanda's participation in the operation. Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda of seeking "to occupy our land, rich in gold, coltan and cobalt, for their own exploitation and profit" and urged the international community to condemn Kigali. He has urged Britain particular to "pressure Rwanda to withdraw its troops from our land", noting London's controversial agreement to send asylum seekers to Kigali. "Given the UK's recent $150 million immigration deal struck with Rwanda, we hope that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to leverage his influence," Tshisekedi said. Rwanda is due to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this week. The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups in the east of the vast nation, many of which are a legacy of two regional wars a quarter of a century ago. A primarily Congolese Tutsi militia, the M23 or "March 23 Movement" leapt to global prominence in 2012 when it captured Goma. It was forced out shortly afterwards in a joint offensive by UN troops and the Congolese army. The group took up arms again in late November, having accused the Kinshasa government of failing to respect a 2009 agreement that involved incorporating its fighters into the army. Relations between Kinshasa and Kigali have been strained since the mass arrival in the DRC of Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Hon. Gizella Tetteh-Abgotui, the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya West constituency has facilitated a 3-day subsidised license acquisition program for over 200 drivers and riders. The DVLA officials took these unlicensed drivers and motor riders through training, testing and all the necessary processes to regularise them at the Jei Krodua Assemblies of God Church. Successful applicants were given license cover notes after training awaiting official license cards yet to be ready. During the presentation of the official license cards, the Member of Parliament assured constituents of her support for human capacity building and empowerment. She also pledged to do everything possible to put the constituency back to shape in terms of human development and accessing their share of the national cake. "Perhaps, I consider this support as a form of scholarship to drivers just as I have done same for students", she said. Hon. Gizella Tetteh-Abgotui assured to organise the program at least once every year as a means of supporting potential drivers and riders in her constituency to create employment opportunities. As the value of E-commerce grows across the globe, young individuals in Ghana are being encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities that would emerge within the sector to create sustainable jobs and wealth. This was made known at a stakeholders' meeting on E-Commerce held in Bolgatanga organized by Dansyn ISO in partnership with Ghana Tech Lab, the MasterCard Foundation Young Africa Works and the Ministry of Communications Digitalisation. The meeting intends to help formulate local actionable, relevant policies and strategies to further policy advocacy and strategic engagement with regional policy makers while helping to inform and identify the current market needs of industries, companies, job markets, and skills gaps. This will help single out the needed intervention to help bridge and eliminate the gap. During the meeting, some focus groups were also formed to assess the various pillars, state the key challenges, and recommend policies to rectify them. Speaking to this reporter in Bolgatanga, a representative of Dansyn ISO, Stephen Maldima disclosed that, the meeting focused on creating relationships between the various stakeholders while creating a collaborative and consultative platform for them to drive the digital transformation of the local economy to achieve sustainable development through digital skills and entrepreneurship. Richard Azunre, a Lecturer at the Bolgatanga Technical University speaking at a stakeholders meeting under the theme, The Role of E-Commerce in Transforming Local Economy for Job Creation and Economic Development said as Ghana begins to join the world to increase its volume of e-commerce, young individuals with digital technology skills are expected to come up with innovative solutions to the everyday problems in societies. Abdul-Rahim Ahmed, a Fashion Designer, speaking in the area of Market encouraged young people, to through the digital spaces sell crafts, products and services that may only be available in the Upper East Region of Ghana. He said this provides the competitive advantage they would need to survive. Zubeiru Rufai Mohammed who spoke on Human Capital encouraged young individuals who participated in the meeting to continually better themselves as this would allow them to be strategically placed to take advantage of the many opportunities that abound in the ever-growing digital space. A 23-year-old Uber driver who stole a passenger's bag containing both local and foreign currencies and other personal effects has been sentenced to three years imprisonment by an Adentan Circuit Court. Emmanuel Safo is said to have stolen his client's bag containing an iPhone 11 cell phone, cash of 5,000 Euro's, $5,000, GHS7,000 bank cheque book, bunch of keys, a Netherlands plane ticket, three foreign and local ATM Bank Cars among others on January 31, this year. Charged with stealing, Safo pleaded guilty. The Court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah convicted accused on his plea and sentenced Safo accordingly. Prosecution led by Police Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo said the complainant Rudolf Teeper, a was a businessman from Netherland and lived in Takoradi. Chief Inspector Lanyo said the accused now convict was an Uber driver residing at Teshie Camp 2. On January 31, this year at about 6:10 pm, the complainant engaged the services of the accused to drive him to the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to depart to the Netherlands. Prosecution said upon their arrival at the KIA, Safo tried to assist the complainant to offload his luggage at the Check point. In the process, prosecution said Safo took the complainant's bag, containing the various items and sped off. Prosecution said when the complainant was going through departure formalities, he detected that the said bag had been stolen. He quickly rushed to the car park but accused was nowhere to be found. On April 11, this year, a report was made to the Police and based on intelligence, the accused was arrested and he admitted stealing the bag and its contents. Prosecution said Safo told the Police that after taking the monies, he abandoned the bag at a spot between Action Chapel and Accra Shopping Mall. GNA Former Minister for Energy, Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko says he would never accept an appointment from President Akufo-Addo even if offered one. The former Minister was relieved of his position in August 2018 following the controversy surrounding the review of the Ameri power deal. A press statement signed and issued by Mr. Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Presidency on August 6, 2018, announced the sacking of Mr. Agyarko. President Akufo-Addo has asked Mr. Boakye Agyarko to hand over his office to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu, who will act temporarily as Minister of Energy, until a substantive appointment is made. "The President wishes Mr. Boakye Agyarko well in his future endeavours," the statement confirming the sack said at the time. Opening up on his fall out with the Akufo-Addo government in an interview with Asempa FM on the Ekosii sen programme today, Mr. Boakye Agyarko has disclosed that it was the work of people who wanted him out because of his ambition to become president. My sacking as a Minister was an orchestration. All claims against me were hoaxes. Those who orchestrated my sacking just wanted me out. I didn't do anything wrong. I was hounded out because of my presidential ambition, the former Energy Minister stressed. According to Mr. Agyarko, he still has the dream to become Ghanas President one day and as a result, has no desire to accept an appointment from President Akufo-Addo. I don't talk to President Akufo-Addo. I've decided to move on. I don't begrudge President Akufo-Addo for sacking me as minister. My focus is to be president. I wouldn't take any appointment from President Akufo-Addo if he calls, the former Energy Minister stressed. Prof John Egbeazien Oshodi 20.06.2022 LISTEN America celebrated Juneteenth on Sunday, June 19 and Monday, June 20 as public holidays, Nigeria, as other parts of Africa, should be reminded of the poisonous ideologies of inferiority and inter-conflict that came into the various surroundings of the place named Nigeria by a British journalist, Flora Shaw, who later married Baron Frederick Lugard. Juneteenth is a portion of emancipation and freedom celebrations by people of African descent throughout the Americas, especially now that it is a federal holiday. A combination of the words "June" and "Nineteenth" led to the word Juneteenth. President Abraham Lincoln officially signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which stated that all enslaved people in America were free, but the news that slavery had come to an end reached Texas on June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Nigerians needed to see why Juneteenth, deserved their attention since the transatlantic slave trade by the Portuguese and other Europeans, beginning in the 16th century, bought many Africans as slaves from West Africa, especially the kingdoms of the Yoruba and Benin, and the lands of the Igbos and Hausa. While the Yorubas started wars that led to snatching and capturing individuals for the slave trade, amongst the Igbos, the slave trading markets were established by individuals who had become very prosperous. It should be known that contact with Arabian Muslims and Europeans heightened the popularity of racialized and commercialized slavery across Africa, including Nigeria, as West Africa was highly associated with agricultural produce, gold, liquor, and the ivory trade. It is important to know that Africans had practiced slavery for hundreds of years before white people came but only worked as servants, not as bondage or for oppression, as they were free to choose their own families and other engagements. For over 300 years, more than 11 million enslaved people were transported across the Atlantic from Africa, especially to America and the West Indies, and Britain. When the Europeans, which included Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British merchants, turned to Africa to capture slaves there, they used the same methods used by Africans on their own peopleraids, war, deception, and trade. Most of the Africans, including Nigerians, made up of adults and children, were enslaved after being kidnapped, snatched, stolen, and captured in clashes; other methods used included being sold into slavery for debt or as punishment by their people. The stealing and selling of adults and children by African heads, in exchange for getting guns, liquor, and other European or Oyibo products, served as motivation. Europeans also used foreign drinks to softly alter the minds of chiefs and tribal heads who, under some alcohol influence or intoxication, enjoyed the fun of selling their own people. The enslaved blacks from various parts of Nigeria who did not commit suicide while under way from their respective locale continuously received beatings, whippings, and brandings until they reached Europe and the Americas. Enslaved Africans, including Nigerians, were continuously abused once they arrived in America, because slaves were frequently viewed not as humans but as property, and as such, they were routinely raped or forced to have children with other slaves and their controllers, and sold on slave markets in the southern United States in particular. Because of jealousy and hatred, kings and chiefs in Nigeria enslaved men, women, and children from rival tribeschoking and jamming them into boats bound for the United States and the Caribbeans. It could be the same moral failing that allowed white people to enslave Africans that affected Africans as they used forceful, commercial, and tricky ways to communicate with each other, which triggered feelings of indifference, distrust, marginalization, internal conflict, and falsehoods. This has resulted in an extraordinary love for greed, tyranny, conspiracy, and corruption. The systematic forms of dehumanization, as in the experiences of fragmentation, divisiveness, brutality, predatory neighboring politics, wickedness, pretension, exploitation, and intolerance, continue. Nigeria is a land full of people of different backgrounds with untreated intergenerational disturbances that have resulted in on-going nonbeneficial symptoms of ethnic or communal conflict, kidnapping business, terrorist insurgency, political instability, human trafficking, religious conflict, crime and insecurity, drug abuse, and environmental ruin. Like Ghana and Liberia, where Juneteenth is acknowledged, Nigeria, as the United States of America, should think of its own Juneteenth remembrance in the form of a Memorial or Reminiscence Day, not necessarily as another additional holiday. Slavery was officially abolished in all British colonies, including Nigeria, in 1893, except in Igboland, where slavery continued up to 1945 or so for reasons best known to them. Nigeria could decide to commemorate its own Juneteenth commemoration on the Fourth of July, a free day when most enslaved Africans in America, performed their own personal work. Or Nigeria could use October 1st, also known as Independence Day in Nigeria, as a Memorial Day across Nigeria that will allow for collective reflection on the grievous and ongoing legacy of slavery. Reflect on its indicated patterns, effects, and consequences as in systemic tribalism, violence, dishonesty, and denial that continue to plague the Nigerian environment. A commemorative and Memorial Day to observe how Nigerians were treated with cruelty and injustice from the 16th to the 19th centuries; how they treated each other; and how they are striving to remove general bitterness from their hearts, replace the pain, and deliver meaningful stability within Nigeria for Nigerians. Prof. Oshodi wrote in via [email protected] 20.06.2022 LISTEN Studying history from 'what' happened is just a starter, 'why' adds significant value with limitations, 'how' is crucial to the real learners. When, who, and where are all vital aspects. If President Abraham Lincoln declared the end of slavery on January 1, 1863; but Delaware and Kentucky Refused until December 18, 1865; and Texas Refused until June 19, 1866. It demands 'how' it happened or it may repeat on other wrongs like 'marijuana legalisation'. The forwarded excuses by Historians may be fractional facts at times, so thinkers must dig deeper for the full facts, at least for learning purpose. How and why did the Federal government allowed the delay, and how other blacks In other states fought or under fought for fellow blacks in Resisting states then and now? Every generation have wrongs to rectify, but the 'stupid' may not see present wrongs, and 'cowards' may prefer collecting 'reparations' of past wrongs than fighting present wrongs. I like using marijuana laws as example, because it is the most vivid wrong of our time, or please tell me which group are in prison most and/or denied working opportunities than marijuana users? The term 'guilty victims' is real beyond blacks and is never to give pass to 'guilty culprits', its instead help prevent future wrongs. Fractional facts: Questionable Historians will claim there were not enough Federal troops in Texas as excuse, but Kentucky is a small state and Delaware is a super small state that a Determined Federal government or even 'black panther' spirited type group of few thousands can conquer within days. The will was not there or even Texas could have been subdued by force or financial pressure. Some Questionable black Americans like to ask why Africans did not come rescue them from slavery, but did freed African Americans fought enough and on time to free Texas+? Don't ask me why my grandparents did not come help your grandparents, go to the graves and ask them. What are African Americans doing to force even a Federal legalisation of cannabis, and in Africa? I am one of the Africans who helped legalisation in u.s more than your FarraKhans, Jesse Jacksons, Jay Zs, and others. They are busy thinking about 'financial reparations' of past wrongs, thus blinded from seeing top present wrongs to fight for God's Reparations and human reparations for present wrongs? Slavery+ in cause and allow: slavery is vivid cruelty that was allowed for too long due to 'stupidity'. The root of cruelty is often greed, but the root of stupidity is often fear. Our present black generation must ask why do we largely have intolerable level of fear above other races, then and now? We over value life! Once you are ready to die for reasonable standard, you will fight and probably gain life, as the Bible hinted. It is good to tolerate and negotiate, but it must have limits. Devils in all races like to use fear to control people. Black devils like Yahya Jammeh used fear to control fearful Gambians, many of whom sadly justify their cowardly behaviors as 'smart' or loyalty. The same greed that led to cruel slavery is very vivid in u.s cannabis laws and other countries. Gradual Freedom due to mindsets+: The brave or semi brave who fought for freedom in Texas were happy to be segregated and live under other wrongs? Pass on the baton of burden? The cruel whites have mastered giving breadcrumbs 'freedom' and giving excuses work, at least temporarily. When you deeply oppressed million blacks+, it may take decades or centuries for half of them to know enough, and only about a quarter of those who know will be willing to fight? 'Let others fight', we enjoy or ask for reparations is sick, it is a combination of fear and greed. Even though most of the marijuana law victims are blacks and males, the top organiser/fighters for legalisation were mainly whites until recently. Singing millions of weed songs without calling for regular mass demonstration, referendum organising, etc was just baiting kids for the cops, while enriching self. NormL existed before I was born, but blacks neither joined in droves or started something similar and with different tactics. Considering the number of blacks in marijuana versus crack or cocaine, it's pathetic to cry over sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine as racist. You do not have to like marijuana to fight the injustice, I started the fight when I thought marijuana users are 'mistaken' , but the laws as cruel and hypocritical. It was later I was accepted into marijuana and discover many blessings that comes with it. When the burden of slavery is off your back, you can take a break, but when will you resume, urge your children to fight or stop them as not wise, 'I don't want to lose you'? When ten or so states legalize marijuana with relative success, why can't you mass demonstrate in every state every Sunday or last Sunday of the month to force our Abraham Lincoln or Joe Biden+ understand his/their excuses are insulting? State by state started cannabis criminalisation, but the federal government jumped in and pressured other states and countries; legalisation demand similar and is less controversial because you are not forcing anyone to take marijuana, you are just telling arrogant neighbors that drunkards, cigarette users, and LGBTQ folks are not better neighbors or co-workers than average cannabis folks. You can regulate reasonably to avoid public smoking or disturbing. Forcing everyone to stop marijuana then, versus allowing only those who want to use it, now? Reparations and Conflicts: I like consistency and hate being a culprit, not just being a victim. I have publicly opposed Barrack Obama on many things, but I agree with him on reparations for slavery, perhaps on different grounds. I prefer timely fights, not late fights, but late is another problem blacks are intolerably guilty of than other races. The blacks who suffered slavery or segregation+ had the opportunity to fight and ask for reparations. Yes, ' legacy victims' is real, but minimal and deferrable to God for payment. Claiming 'white' legacy or benefit warrant forcing all whites to pay does not sit well with my conscience, considering the good whites I know do me no wrong, or may have helped in other ways. I see way beyond race and gender, despite the fact that I strongly fight for my gender and race where I deem fit. Blacks who argue Jews and others got reparations failed to calculate timely asking and the dangers of copying. I am not yet forgiving the possible wrongs some dead whites+ did to me indirectly , but I do not like wasting time on the past, I rather spend such time on the present and future. I do not want to pay for the possible wrongs of my grandparents or even a president I voted for to do good (not wrong), so I cannot ask a good White or Arab to pay for the wrongs of their grandparents. Imagine the grandchild of a White who died while fighting for black freedom, while some blacks cowardly abstained, and I take money from such? I confront the present guilty white, Arab, Black, and beyond. Another way to see race is gender, both are groups: I do not want to pay for the crimes of Rapists+ and will crucify any girl or boy who think I should pay through association. My task is to help eliminate or minimize wrongs between the genders, races, humankind+ of my time and beyond my immediate surrounding. Part of that is due to gratitude, care, and seeding for God to pay beyond human reparations. The billions black America paid in marijuana fines, property seizures, lawyer fees, prison time, work denials, etc are present age wrongs that guilty companies should pay Reparations, trillions, for. Who will spearhead the timely fight and what percentage for the worldwide activists? Instead of reward and honoring, U.S is actually over punishing White Marc Emery of Canada for helping free blacks+, build billions for u.s cannabis industry, or for helping destroy private prison robbery and other questionable industries they prefer? Our Children or your grand children cannot demand our dues, I and others deserve the pay and even against some blacks+ who cowardly and arrogantly fight me and others. Guilty Obama+ does not have the guts to legalize marijuana or publicly urge Biden to stop the excuses, sign executive order, end Federal arrests and urge states, or try other means. How many times Biden, Obama, and others spoke up for LGBTQ versus marijuana users around the world? Will and Excuses: Abraham Lincoln reluctantly subdued, he may be better than some whites, but he did not have the strong will to see Blacks free beyond slavery. Joe Biden is reluctantly subduing on marijuana, but he does not have the will to see blacks+ free to choose marijuana over beer or other products. Many people do not prefer drunkards or LGBTQ as neighbors, we legalized such and ask others to conquer fear and arrogance. So forwarding excuses like 'some people do not want cannabis in their neighborhood' is very insulting. The cannabis plant in my house or center of my back yard is not disturbing my closest neighbor; when I use cannabis oil or vape in many public spaces, zero to two meters is enough regulation to tame fears. Some need it for medicine+, but the wants of fearful minority are echoed or valued over needs? Shame on the mainstream media that sold the lies and fractional facts against cannabis for decades, under fight for us off late, claiming Biden is empathetic to thousands while denying millions natural safe medicine, and will they pay Reparations and my writing time and energy? I will take money, but certain that God will pay me lot more if I remain truthful. I thank and pray for the past fighters even where I partially criticise them. May God bless Showlove Trinity: Let's learn, let's work,let's have fun. By Jarga Kebba Gigo An Activist and Transformer Twitter: [email protected] Note: over identifying with a group is actually the chief culprit, even though under identifying can be problematic. Life is a distinctive test from collective tests. Since you cannot know or defend everyone In your groups, you must focus on teaching and demanding evidence before punishment. Black America may understand some of the evil tactics by the worst of whites, compare to Africans in Africa; but Black America must also understand good whites exist, plus bad blacks exist beyond tribalism and even Racism. Even on the present day wrong we identified on cannabis laws, black Africa is still terrible. When majority of blacks think it is OK to oppress a minority of blacks, due to fear+; it is not much different from when a white majority oppress a black minority due to fear. The few African countries that minimally legalised cannabis did so for money, greed. We must learn how fear, greed, and arrogance are the real enemies and may pitch us against each other until we understand personal rights are as important as public rights. Kentucky over resisted freeing slaves and the home state of Mitch McConnell, the Terrible Republican senate leader? Delaware, the home state of Biden also seems to have long history of Devils, from Resisting the abolition of slavery, a governor stopping/vetoing marijuana legalisation in 2022, and Joe Biden fooling how many from the 90s to date? Although we have a collective responsibility to help each other, we must fight for home countries/states going forward. Do what you can at town/county level, state/country level, and keep pushing for worldwide marijuana legalisation. We have the right to travel around the world and without fear, we also have the responsibility to help sick people in every country know the wonders of marijuana when God wills. Social media is a huge blessing that black people continue to under utilize. Prayers are among the good deeds, sharing photos can be good or bad, gossip is bad, but where and how often you fight for justice or 'exhorting each other to Truth... ' as per ch.103? Some of our hypocritical religious leaders are cowards like many old blacks we must dissociate with, at least on some ways. When you have cruel leaders like Jammeh and IMAMS+ feared him or bank on prayer, the young must understand responsibilities or be guilty like many parents. There are good things we learned from our parents, but we cannot repeat their shortcomings, expect a different outcome or God will still love us? We can pray for our parents, acknowledge their good deeds, but never defend their wrongs. Whites or Arabs+ who dare defend the wrongs of their parents, especially on sins between creatures, will heavily clash with my type or much stronger ones. Biden is trying to take credit in relatively important things, but failing on the most important ones? He has ended private prison contracts at Federal level, which helps reduce greed and dangerous lobbying. Shifting those taxed dollars to where? Not culture of cameras for civilians. He is still sending our people disproportionately to prison over marijuana, which promotes arrogance and cruelty, worse than a dent on greed? He recognised juneteenth as holiday, a past wrong, but he is repeating worse than How Abraham Lincoln allowed Texas to do evil until juneteenth is now seemingly more vital than January 1, 1863? He successfully nominated a questionable black woman to the supreme Court, but how does that compare to countless black+ mothers whose children or partners are in prison to satisfy the fears of individuals, the greed of companies+, and the arrogance of individuals and politicians? Our media personnel must learn to rectify some mistaken minds among ourselves. We cannot justify any wrong to whites or Arabs due to past wrongs, but we must fiercely fight present wrongs until they feel a new black race is on the rise and God's curse be upon anyone who dare try to stop us, including blacks. Historian Mitch Kachun is credited in saying 'the celebration of end of slavery have three goals: to celebrate, to educate, and to agitate'. We celebrate the minor+ achievements as gratitude; we must honestly learn before we can educate; we must link to agitate. Peace and blessings be upon all the great freedom fighters, regardless of tribe, race, gender, or nationality. Peace and blessings be upon the Angels and every good spirit. And Praises be to the Lord of the universe. 20.06.2022 LISTEN Mr. Jerry Kofi Hinson, the Managing Director (MD) of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) which has been comatosed and saddled with huge debts has apologized to six (6) workers who were accused and interdicted for causing financial as well as product losses in excess of GH20 million. This comes after the six workers out of the fourteen workers who were interdicted have been exonerated of any wrongdoing after a series of investigations by management of Ghanas only oil refinery. A letter dated 17 th June, 2022 and signed by the MD, Mr. Hinson to the cleared staff sighted by this portal stated that You are hereby declared fully exonerated from the incident and are being requested to report to work on Tuesday 28 th June, 2022. We apologize for every inconvenience caused, and we wish you all the best as you return to work, part of the letter reads. The exonerated workers include Mr. Emmanuel Tetteh Doku, MOP Unit; Mr. Joseph Akuure of the Finance Unit; Mr. George Kweku Gaisie also Finance; Edmund Kojo Baiden, MOP; Mr. Victor Dekayie, Import and Export Unit who are all senior staff and a junior staff, Mr. Abu Osman of Distribution Unit. Another letter to a senior staff from the Finance department in our possession stated, By a copy of this letter, the Acting General Manager (GM) for Finance is requested to restore your full salary and benefits from the date of interdiction to date, as per the Human Resource Management, Administrative Policies, Systems and Procedures Manual Section 6.3.1 and Article 55 Section 7 of the Collective Agreement between Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF). "Management recognizes the inherent difficulties you have encountered in having to stay away from such anxious circumstances and is appreciative of your patience. It is recalled that TOR has not been operational for some time now due to a myriad of challenges. Early this year, the refinery queried and interdicted some of its staff pending the conclusion of investigations into the disappearance of fuel, product storage and transfer losses at the refinery. This was part of recommendations by an Interim Management Committee (IMC), which was inaugurated in June 2021 to oversee the affairs of the company as part of the governments efforts to restructure the company. The investigations by the IMC revealed a number of incidents related to product storage and transfer losses, including but not limited to the disappearance of 105,927 litres of gas oil on 4th September 2021, which belongs to a BDC client. According to the IMC, there was also the disappearance of 18 drums of electrical cables worth GHS 10.4 million from the Technical Storehouse of TOR, discovered in April 2021 as well as the disappearance of LPG belonging to a client between 2012 and 2015, as a result of which TOR became indebted to the client to the tune of $4.8 million. The IMC recommendations which led to the interdiction of fourteen (14) staff also alleged loss of Naphtha to a BDC client, and the wrongful loading of 252,000 litres of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), instead of regular Kerosene into BRV Trucks at the loading gantry between 21st and 25th September 2021. TOR after interdiction urged all staff to remain calm and be rest assured that investigations were being conducted in accordance with the due process of law and anyone cleared in the process will be recalled from interdiction, while any form of liability will be dealt with in accordance with the law. The IMC which was chaired by Mr Nobert Cormla-Djamposu Anku, with Messrs William Ntim Boadu and Okyere Baffuor Sarpong as members, was put in place in June this year, after the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, had relieved the substantive management members of their positions. It was tasked to, among other things, ensure smooth transfer from the outgone directors, undertake technical and human resource audits, as well as receive and assess viable partnerships for TOR, if any. Our reliable sources at the Refinery indicate that the fate of some of the remaining interdicted workers as well as other top General Managers and managers will be determined by the Board by the close of this week. 20.06.2022 LISTEN Dear Mr. Osafo-Maafo, First, I think congratulation is in order on your induction into the Hall of Fame of ethnic chauvinists in our beloved country. This is a major achievement and I am proud of you as a nephew. Your recent meeting with a group of NPP members in the Eastern region during which you allegedly attacked Asantes, and by inference, other ethnic groups in the country, has reference. You see, Uncle, it does not take just a single utterance or action for a person to join the pantheon of ethnic chauvinists in a country that is still struggling to build a nation. This is not the first time that you have betrayed your hatred for ethnic groups other than your own in the country. Recall that in the heat of the 2016 campaign, you expressed a similar sentiment to a group of party stalwarts in the same Eastern region to the effect that the distribution of the countrys development projects must be skewed towards communities in cocoa-growing areas. Your reasoning was that these so-called cocoa areas produce the bulk of the countrys wealth so they must be favoured at the expense of least-resourced areas. You would agree with me that the only reason why your verbal diarrhea in 2016 did not attract any significant attention was that cocoa-growing areas are, by definition, Akan areas so your ethnic chauvinism then included all Akan groups, who, out of self-interest, remained quiet. Mr. Adviser, since your ethnic diatribes have far more broader implications beyond any hidden or open animosity you seem to suggest between Asantes and Akyems, I wish, in this maiden letter, to set the record straight on the issues raised by your unsavoury utterance at the said meeting of the NPP faithful. Allegedly, you told the gathering that Ghana is synonymous with the Eastern region because of the historical role the region played in wrestling political independence from the British colonialists. According to your narrative, the Asantes (My undergraduate History Professor, Kwamena Poh, hated the anglicized term Ashantis) were never part of this gargantuan achievement chalked by the Akyems. You also said that the supremacy of the Eastern region is demonstrated by the fact that it has always been the site for piloting every major socioeconomic policy and programme before it is rolled out to the rest of the country. Wofa, either wittingly or unwittingly, by these incessant statements, you always seem to be suggesting that some sections of the country must suffer discrimination on some primitive or non-rational grounds. Mr. Honourable Presidential Adviser, for those of us who have been following your ethnic politics, you always exude the posture of a person who knows it all in the whole country. However, the fact of the matter is that you are a mere Jack-of-all trades but master of none in your knowledge of what makes a country ticks. Despite your self-elevated view that you are an erudite par excellence, you failed woefully to realize that your infamous diatribe against Asantes in front of the members of a party that draws its largest support from the region you were berating was inherently counterintuitive. So much for your intellectual prowess! Mr. Adviser, in case you and your fellow ethnic chauvinists do not know, the history of the NPP cannot be revised to suit any particular narrow ethnic agenda as you are wont to do with this mantra of yours. The NPP rose from the ashes of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) which was born in the Ashanti region at the behest of the Asante Monarchy at the height of the independence struggle. All the other precursors of the NPPThe Northern Peoples Party, the United Party, the Progress Party, the Popular Front Party, and NPP 1.0were led by party greats like S.D. Bombo of the Northern region, K.A. Busia of the Bono region and Victor Owusu and J.A. Kufuor of the Ashanti region. Yet, to my knowledge, no citizen of these regions has either historically or contemporaneously claimed ownership of the party. Indeed, Mr. J.A. Kufuor is credited with making our otherwise elitist party attractive to the masses of Ghanaians with his myriad Centre of Left policies during his tenure but this man has never created any impression of owning our party! On the contrary, it is people from your region and in fact, from your ethnic group (most of whom were CPP anyway), who have captured the party and created the impression that you own the party of Dombo and Busia. We were all in the country when, beginning from the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, word went round within the party that (Nana) Akufo Addo had decreed that he couldnt work with certain individuals in the national executive of the party. Whaat? Does the party belong to Nana or any individual for that matter? This is the sort of hubris that is gradually eating away at the fabric of the party and culminating in the party shedding its parliamentary majority and a near-miss with regard to the presidency. Interestingly, we are told, it was the same Nana doesnt want this person as chairman. Nana wants this as chairman etc. sentiment that led to that meeting where you made those divisive ethnocentric utterances about Asantes. Mr. Adviser, the partys history can never be silent on the fact that in 1979 the same group that has captured the party today broke away to join the United National Convention (UNC) under Mr. William Ofori Atta, an action that cost us the election that yea. Mr. Adviser, when in March 2001, I hosted you and your wife in my house in suburban Cape Town in South Africa, after you had attended a conference in nearby Stellenbosch to come and meet our fellow Ghanaians and party faithful, I did not do so because I was from the Eastern region. When in 2016, as Vice Chairman of the South African Branch (SAB) of the NPP, I led a fundraising drive to support four constituencies (the party won two out of the four constituencies the SAB adopted), I did not do so because I was from the Eastern region or I was an Akyem. When in January 2017 I wrote an article in the Daily Guide Newspaper to vigorously defend the indefensible plagiarizing of the Presidential inaugural address, I did not do so because I was from the Eastern region or I was an Akyem. Unfortunately, for your thesis, I am neither from the Eastern region nor an Akyem by ethnicity. No, I am neither of those two Holy Grails of inclusiveness; I am from the Bono region and an ethnic Bono. Mr. Adviser, your revisionist history of the countrys fight for independence lacks traction at the very least. The struggle against colonial rule is a non-starter because that struggle did not start in the middle of the 20th century but rather from the turn of the 18th century onwards until the height of the Asante resistance prowess in the middle of the 19th century (The Sargrenti war was 1874, while the Yaa Asantewaa war was in 1900). As a country, our political history is replete with accounts of the myriad so-called Anglo-Ashanti wars that portray the heroics of the Asantes in resisting the imposition of colonial rule in the country. Even a ten-year old Ghanaian child knows about the story of the legendary Ashanti Queen mother who led her fellow Asantes to resist colonial rule. So once again, your use of history to justify your hegemonic views has failed miserably. In conclusion, my humble advice to you is that you have passed your sell by date in our politics so simply go quietly into the night and leave the countrys politics to the modern ones. You have become disdainful and toxic in our politics. After all, you have replaced yourself two or three times over by placing your children--who never toiled like some of us in bringing the party to power--in the present administration. Good riddance, Uncle! Yours truly, Acheampong Yaw Amoateng, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Sociology based in the US In response to the call for Africans and African-Americans in the diaspora to return home and invest in the continent, a delegation of Commissioners and business people from Miami-Dade has visited Ghana to explore investment opportunities here. The visit forms part of the delegations four nation trip to selected African countries including Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. Miami-Dade County is a province located in the southeastern part of the American state of Florida. It has a population of about 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in the whole of the United States of America (USA). The Coordinator of the Mission, Desmond Alufohai, explained that the objective of the Miami-Dade Countys official mission to Africa is to foster closer bilateral relations, cultural exchange and explore economic opportunities for Miami-Dade County and the African continent. The delegation was hosted to a roundtable discussion in Accra on Tuesday June 14, 2022, where representatives of key government institutions took turns to explain the numerous investment opportunities available in Ghana for direct private investment and in the areas of public-private-partnerships (PPP), among others. The Miami-Dade County officials from the aviation, maritime and tourism sectors also took turns to highlight their Countys attributes and unique assets as a world-class community, a global gateway, logistics hub, leisure and tourism capital of the world to a cross section of stakeholders who represented economic development agencies, NGOs, public and private sectors in Ghana. Also in attendance were high ranking representatives of Chiefs and traditional leaders in Ghana who also marketed the rich culture of Ghana to the appreciation of visiting diasporans. Already, some members of the delegation have expressed interest in investing in some aspects of Ghanas tourism sector to boost the countrys tourism growth and further strengthen the relationship between Ghana and the diaspora. Possible areas of investment would be in aviation, maritime, tourism, seaport and harbor. Some of the delegates expressed satisfaction at the benefits that have come to them following the introduction of the Year of Return concept. It has brought back citizens who have their histories linked to Africa to experience the African soil at least once in their lifetime. Vice President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Tourism Private Sector Confederation, Ambassador Nancy Sam, announced to the delegation that Africans in the diaspora have now been given the necessary recognition as the Sixth Region of Africa following the outdooring of their own flag. She said Ghana was the country most hit by the slave trade and that is why most Africans in the diaspora like to patronize here to trace their roots. She advised the Miami-Dade County delegation to connect with the Diaspora Africa Forum (DAF) to explore the tourism sector of the continent. In an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the event, Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioner (District 2) - Honorable Jean Monestime, noted that, the teams visit is to learn at first hand the culture of the people, share ideas and exchange investment opportunities, among others. We are here to foster stronger relationships with Ghana and we believe Ghana and Miami stand to benefit in the areas of airports and seaports, economic partnership, tourism and many other opportunities, we have interest in so many, he added. He reiterated the delegations interest to explore the Tourism, Maritime, and economic investment opportunities to contribute to the development of Ghana and Africa to rub out the negative myth that Africa is a failed continent. Founder and Head of Mission for the Diaspora Africa Forum (DAF), Ambassador Dr. Erieka Bennett, urged the delegation to establish relations, network, and patronize Africa and ensure they come back to establish their roots. The delegation which has already been to Morocco has since left for Nigeria to attend a forum on business and economic development, growth, expansion, and cultural exchanges. They are also scheduled to visit Kenya in the coming days for similar business roundtable meetings. The delegation later donated several school books and bags to the Leadership of the Queen Mothers Association in Ghana for onwards donation to orphanages in the country. Other Commissioners on the trip include Vice Chairman, Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, District 1, Honorable Oliver G. Gilbert III; Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, District 3, Honorable Keon Hardemon; and Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, District 9, Honorable Kionne L. McGhee. The Blue Oasis, a resource like no other. Located in the centre of the Greater Accra district, the Blue Oasis was established in June 2021 as a community centre for urban refugees under the urban program of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It has an ICT centre, a library, training rooms, conference centre and board room. All of these have been set up to aid refugees in their work search and for their skills development, livelihood activities, information exchanges and recreation. The centre is only a year old and according to the Administrator, Ms. Araba Ghansah, it is providing great service to users. The centre is like an event centre where refugees come to for programmes, leadership meetings, English and ICT proficiency programmes, capacity building and training programmes, such as hairdressing, sewing, catering and the likes. Deborah Lawson, a 21-year-old Togolese who has lived as a refugee in Ghana for the past 12 years, is a frequent client of the Blue Oasis. She uses the centres remedial class services to improve upon her high school grades. I find this centre very helpful because without it, I do not think I would have gotten any classes to attend. Thanks to the UNHCR, we have been given a second chance to further our education. Another useful resource available at the centre is career counseling service. As students, when we get to a stage in our education, we need someone to guide us to select our career or what we would do in the future. Some people do not get that chance but at this place, we have a career counsellor who guides us on career choice selection for the future says Deborah, as she beams. World Refugee Day is observed annually on June 20 and is an opportunity to honor and celebrate the resilience and contributions of refugees around the globe. The day also requires for us to intensify our advocacy for the right of refugees everywhere. According to the UNHCR 2021 Global Trends report, the number of people forced to flee their homes has increased every year over the past decade and stands at the highest level since records began. By the end of 2021, those displaced by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuses stood at 89.3 million, up 8 per cent on a year earlier and well over double the figure of 10 years ago. Presently, Ghana hosts refugees from over 30 countries with some 13,695, constituting population of concern according to the UNHCR Fact Sheet March/April 2022. One of them is Abdulrahman Baoud, a 20-year-old Sudanese refugee in Ghana since 2016. Abdul arrived in Ghana with his sister. Although his sister left him in Ghana, Abdul remained. He said the support he received from the UNHCR and the Christian Council of Ghana (UNHCRs Partner organization) sustained him. With the support he received, Abdul was able to further his education from the Junior High School to Senior High School, and currently in his second year. Talking about the Blue Oasis, he said, I have come for classes which was organized by the centre. We are here for the core subjects which are Mathematics, Science and English. In Abduls words, if it had not been for the centre that organized classes for us, I would be at home by this time doing nothing. Considering how beneficial the classes have been to him, Abdul expressed his wish for more electives and other core subjects to be added to the courses offered. The centre also offers skills training such as driving, sewing, makeup artistry. Students also have the opportunity to exhibit their products when there are events here Abdul added. In his concluding comments, Abdul said, So many people were in the house doing nothing and relying on UNHCR to give them money because they did not have jobs to do. Through this Centre, many of these people have been trained and can now make a living without depending on the UNHCR financial support. On World Refugee Day, as we focus on the global refugee crisis and the importance of refugees access to asylum, we are reminded of the right of refugees to seek safety whoever, whenever, wherever. Nevertheless, the issue of refugees ought to be recognized from these three perspectives. First, it is a cardinal principle of international law that nobody should be forcefully returned to where their lives would be in danger instead they should be given access to asylum procedures to ensure they are safe. Secondly, the consideration of non-discrimination in relation to refugees is important so as not to push people back to where their lives would be in jeopardy. Finally, the socio-economic integration of refugees involves their recognition as resourceful and skillful individuals who are capable of contributing to the local economy and not passive recipients of aid. UNHCR works closely with the government of Ghana, principally the Ghana Refugee Board, in ensuring that refugees are able to enjoy their rights and access assistance and services. The Blue Oasis Community Center is a deliberate initiative to reach out to urban-based refugees who are scattered across vast areas, to ensure they are also assisted and informed about their rights and responsibilities. Often you think of refugees as people who may not have skills or may not have education but thats not the case. We have some highly educated refugees here and some with good technical skills says Andrew Ginsberg, UNHCR Ghanas Senior Durable Solutions Officer. Andrew notes that we need to help these refuges support themselves, integrate economically into the economy of Ghana. So, one thing we are trying to do is trying to help them get internships, get jobs and also in some cases, complementary pathways, which is a type of immigration to third countries where that country requires specific skills. With the support received by its partners, UNHCR is keen to make the Oasis stand the test of time in the years to come. With only a year old, the Blue Oasis has become a household name amongst the refugee community and their hosts. The UNHCR Country Representative, Ms. Esther Kiragu says, through the center, together with our urban implementing partner, the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), we will continue with the proactive outreach to as many partners as possible, both traditional and the private sector, to enhance the socio-economic integration of refugees in urban areas. It is important that they are meaningfully engaged so that they are not only able to cater for their own needs while in asylum, but that they can contribute to nation-building when they are able to return back to their home Countries in safety and dignity. This will ease their reintegration back home and make peace more durable.. President of ANAQ Foundation, Mrs Ama Nyarko Attafuah Quainoo, has appealed to fathers not to abandon children with sickle cell disease. She said, instead, they must care for them emotionally and support the mothers financially to keep the children healthy and alive. Mrs. Ama Nyarko Attafuah Quainoo, who is a sickle cell patient, made the appeal during the World Sickle Day celebration at Donyina near Apiedu in the Ejisu Municipal of the Ashanti region on Sunday, June 19, 2022. The day also coincided with the Fathers Day celebration, which was attended by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon Simon Osei Mensah, President of BCI, Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai and the CEO of Donyma Steel Complex, Peter Atta Bimpeh. In attendance were also the Chief of Donyina, Nana Osei Dankwa Braffour II, who chaired the occasion, Consultant Urologist, Dr Samuel Amanamah, medical practitioners and people in and around Donyina community. There were also free screening and education on breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension and prostate cancer by ANAQ Foundation and Peace and Love Hospital. I appealed to fathers not abandoned sickle cell patients and their mothers because the fathers also contributed to childrens sickle cell statuses. They should rather encourage and support we the mothers so that both (parent) together can raise the children, she said. Mrs. Ama Nyarko Attafuah Quainoo, who is a broadcast journalist, also advised sickle cell parents to be vigilant during raining and cold seasons, to avoid crisis. To avoid sickle cell crisis (periodic episodes of extreme pain) among patients, parents must make sure they provide sweater to fight the cold, drink more water, eat more fruits and avoid mosquito bites," she added. The ANAQ president told sickle cell patients to avoid smoking cigars, alcohol and do regular medical checkups, avoid exposing their bodies to cold temperatures, and have enough rest after work. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon Simon Osei Mensah, advised that irresponsible fathers must now do the needful by caring for their children and stop spending irresponsibly. As a father, you are mandated to keep the welfare of your children, no matter what, and stop spending on alcoholics. Even if you dont have money, get closer to them and offer your emotional support," he said. The President of Breast Care International (BCI), Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai, in her speech appealed to men to cultivate the habit of regular medical checkups to know their health statuses. Regular medical checkups will help them know of any irregularities in the bodies for appropriate medication to be applied to avert impromptu deaths, she said. The Chief of Donyina, Nana Osei Dankwa Braffour II, expressed profound gratitude to ANAQ Foundation and BCI for the free medical screening and education for his people. 21.06.2022 LISTEN The Forum began in Kigali with a call from Commonwealth Secretary-General to unleash the potential of all women and girls in the Commonwealth. Speaking at the Opening Session of the Womens Forum today, Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, noted that women and girls had been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 from vaccine inequity to economic insecurity and rising gender-based violence. She said: It is our profound responsibility to place women and girls at the heart of our response to the pandemic not to further marginalise our sisters. We must strive, together, to end domestic, workplace, societal and political violence. We must strive, together, to place our sisters at the heart of our fight against the existential threat of climate change. And we must strive, together, to unleash the potential of all women and girls in the Commonwealth and enhance their opportunities to contribute to every sphere of social, economic and political endeavour. The Secretary-General saluted Rwanda as a champion of gender equality and womens empowerment, adding that the country was a fitting host for Africas first-ever Commonwealth Womens Forum. She continued: Women have been integral to the recovery and transformation of this nation, in its journey from devastation to a powerhouse of development and progress. I recognise Rwandas leadership in building strong policy and legal frameworks and salute her achievements in ensuring women and girls are central to the development of the nation. The Secretary-General added it was a sad reality that the political will and commitment demonstrated by Rwanda was the exception, not the rule. Also speaking at the event was HE Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda, who told delegates that Rwanda is ranked by the World Economic Forum as the seventh best performing country in closing the gender gap. However, she reminded the audience of the importance of this Forum: With less than a decade to go, to achieve the SDGs, the urgency is palpable, particularly on SDG 5 [gender equality and womens empowerment]. The Womens Forum is happening at the crossroads of critical economic and social change, where women, particularly in tech and innovation, may just be that gamechanger that is needed, provided that the nurturing environment, resources and support are available How can we reset the button on womens leadership, agency, engagement and empowerment? For one, womens dialogues, must be in the mainstream of key decision-making structures and processes. Under the theme Delivering a Common Future: Transforming for Gender Equality, the first day of the forum addressed women in leadership, womens economic empowerment and engaging men and boys, as well as different generations, in ending violence against women and girls. Speaking at the session Women in Leadership: Beyond Numbers, Cherie Blair CBE, QC, Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, spoke about the importance of womens financial autonomy so they can make decisions for themselves and their families. For me, financial empowerment is one of the key drivers to give women the choices they should be able to make for themselves about how they see their dreams, how they control their lives, because if a woman controls her money then she can make those choices. So, womens economic empowerment is not only vital but it is one of the indicators that has actually become worse over these last few years with the pandemic - the needle that has slipped back and we need to make sure that we push it forward. So, I would really like to see the Commonwealth embracing the idea that by putting the power in womens hands, by making them economically empowered, we will achieve all the goals whether its the SDGs or the Commonwealths own great gender goals. The Hon Shandana Gulzar Khan, Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, spoke movingly about her father and his belief that social norms could only change when societies believed in the potential of their daughters. Only by educating and supporting his own daughter could he hope to transform womens equality in his community, in northern Pakistan. She said: Political change will always clash with cultural norms. Its hard to change power structures and the status quo on our own; we need the support of our communities. We need to secure womens rights which are naturally ours. At the Womens Economic Empowerment: Breaking Barriers session, panellists spoke about the hurdles women face in entrepreneurship and trade. They highlighted how women working in the informal sector are vital to African countries GDP yet are ignored as a group, even though international trade is dependent on women workers. In the session on Engaging Men and Boys: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) panellists discussed the economic costs of VAWG on countries, where in some instances the costs outweigh what a country spends on education focusing on ending VAWG can make real financial sense for a country. Bafana Khumalo of Sonke Gender Justice, a South African NGO working on gender issues in Africa, gave an example of a transformative initiative engaging men in ending violence and bringing about gender equality: Men who have grown up without fathers dont have role models for when they become fathers, so we started a mentoring programme. The programme has reduced the rates of violence in the homes of those men who have gone through this programme and they are more willing to share in domestic duties. We say to men lets come to the party, so they can be equal partners and share in duties at home. The day concluded with an intergenerational celebration recognising the contribution of women and girls of all ages to community development. The 2022 Womens Forum attracted a record number of participants from across the Commonwealth with over 600 registered. The Forum continues tomorrow with panels on climate change, human capital development, women and peacebuilding and concludes with a special session on conquering cervical cancer. The agenda can be found here. GATESVILLE A former Central Texas minister has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in a plea deal over a 2011 mobile home fire that left his wife dead. David Keith Allen of Gatesville pleaded guilty Wednesday to arson causing death. The 51-year-old ex-leader of New Life Church of Restoration in Gatesville faced trial on a capital murder charge and possible life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty over the fire that claimed the life of 54-year-old Paula Allen. Coryell County District Attorney Dustin Boyd says proving arson against Allen, who had a $250,000 insurance policy on his wife, would have been difficult. Perjury charges against a woman Allen later married were dropped in his plea deal. Allen must serve 15 years before he's eligible for parole. A demonstrator holds a placard while taking part in the March for Our Lives, one of a series of nationwide protests against gun violence, in Washington, D.C., June 11, 2022. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Authorities in India and Bangladesh struggled Monday to deliver food and drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from their homes in days of flooding that have submerged wide swaths of the countries. The floods triggered by monsoon rains have killed more than a dozen people, marooned millions and flooded millions of houses. In Sylhet in northeastern Bangladesh along the Surma River, villagers waded through streets flooded up to their knees. One man stood in the doorway of his flooded shop, where the top shelves were crammed with items in an effort to keep them above water. Local TV said millions remained without electricity. Enamur Rahman, junior minister for disaster and relief, said up to 100,000 people have been evacuated in the worst-hit districts, including Sylhet. About 4 million are marooned, the United News of Bangladesh said. Flooding also ravaged Indias northeastern Assam state, where two policemen involved in rescue operations were washed away by floodwaters on Sunday, state officials said. They said about 200,000 people were taking shelter in 700 relief camps. Water in all major rivers in the state was above danger levels. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Monday his administration is using military helicopters to airlift food and fuel to badly affected parts of the state. Assam has already been reeling from massive floods after torrential rains over the past few weeks caused the Brahmaputra River to break its banks, leaving millions of homes underwater and severing transport links. The Brahmaputra flows from Tibet through India and into Bangladesh, with a nearly 800-kilometer (500-mile) journey through Assam. Major roads in affected regions of Bangladesh were submerged, leaving people stranded. In a country with a history of climate change-induced disasters, many expressed frustration that authorities haven't done more locally. There isnt much to say about the situation. You can see the water with your own eyes. The water level inside the room has dropped a bit. It used to be up to my waist," said Muhit Ahmed, owner of a grocery shop in Sylhet. Bangladesh called in soldiers on Friday to help evacuate people, but Ahmed said he hasn't seen any yet. We are in a great disaster. Neither the Sylhet City Corporation nor anyone else came here to inquire about us," he said. "I am trying to save my belongings as much as I can. We dont have the ability to do any more now." The national Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said on Sunday that flooding in the northeastern districts of Sunamganj and Sylhet could worsen. It said the Teesta, a major river in northern Bangladesh, may rise above danger levels. The situation could also deteriorate in other northern districts, it said. Officials said floodwaters have started receding in the northeast but are posing a threat to the central region, where water flows south to the Bay of Bengal. Media reports said villagers in remote areas are struggling to obtain drinking water and food. BRAC, a private nonprofit group, opened a center Monday to prepare food as part of plans to feed 5,000 families in one affected district, but the arrangements were inadequate, senior director Arinjoy Dhar said. In a video posted online, Dhar asked for help in providing food for flood-affected people. Last month, a pre-monsoon flash flood triggered by water from upstream in Indias northeastern states hit Bangladeshs northern and northeastern regions, destroying crops and damaging homes and roads. Bangladesh is mostly flat and low-lying, so short-term floods during the monsoon season are common and are often beneficial to agriculture. But devastating floods hit the country every few years, damaging its infrastructure and economy. Almost 28% of the nation's 160 million people live in coastal regions, according to the World Bank. One of the worst floods took place in 1988, when much of the country was under water. In 1998, another devastating flood inundated almost 75% of the country. In 2004, more prolonged flooding occurred. Scientists say flooding in Bangladesh has been worsened by climate change. According to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, about 17% of the population will need to be relocated over the next decade or so if global warming persists at the present rate. ___ Hussain reported from Gauhati, India. Associated Press writer Al-Emrun Garjon in Sylhet, Bangladesh, contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate JERUSALEM (AP) Israels weakened coalition government announced Monday that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock. The election will be Israel's fifth in three years, and it will put the polarizing Netanyahu, who has been the opposition leader for the past year, back at the center of the political universe. I think the winds have changed. I feel it, Netanyahu declared. The previous four elections, focused on Netanyahus fitness to rule while facing a corruption investigation, ended in deadlock. While opinion polls project Netanyahu, who is now on trial, as the front-runner, it is far from certain that his Likud party can secure the required parliamentary majority to form a new government. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former ally and aide of Netanyahu, formed his government a year ago with the aim of halting the never-ending cycle of elections. But the fragile coalition government, which includes parties from across the political spectrum, lost its majority earlier this year and has faced rebellions from different lawmakers in recent weeks. Announcing his plan to disband the government during a nationally televised news conference, Bennett said he had made the right decision in difficult circumstances. Together, we got Israel out of the pit. We accomplished many things in this year. First and foremost, we brought to center stage the values of fairness and trust, Bennett said, standing alongside his main partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. We shifted to a culture of we, together. Under their coalition deal, Lapid, who heads the large centrist party Yesh Atid, now becomes the interim prime minister until the election, in which he is expected to be the main rival to Netanyahu. Standing together with Bennett, he thanked his partner for his hard work and for putting the country ahead of his personal interests. Even if were going to elections in a few months, our challenges as a state cannot wait, Lapid said. What we need to do today is go back to the concept of Israeli unity. Not to let dark forces tear us apart from within. Bennetts coalition included a diverse array of parties, from dovish factions that support an end to Israels occupation of lands captured in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians, to hard-line parties that oppose Palestinian statehood. Many of the parties had little in common beyond a shared animosity to Netanyahu. Often described as a political experiment, the coalition made history by becoming the first to include an Arab party. Bennett listed his governments accomplishments, including passing a national budget for the first time in three years and leading the country through two waves of the coronavirus without imposing a lockdown. Under his watch, Israels tense border with the Gaza Strip remained largely quiet, though tensions with the Palestinians escalated in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. His Arab partner, the Islamic Ra'am party, secured unprecedented budgets to fight poverty, neglect and discrimination in Israel's Arab sector. On the international stage, Bennett repaired Israel's bipartisan standing in Washington, which suffered after Netanyahu's close ties with former President Donald Trump. He deepened fledgling ties with Gulf Arab countries, repaired frayed relations with Egypt and Jordan, and claimed to have prevented the United States from reviving an international nuclear deal with Iran. Bennett even briefly emerged as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite its successes, the coalition eventually unraveled, in large part because several members of Bennetts own hard-line party objected to what they felt were his pragmatism and moderation. Netanyahu, meanwhile, whipped up the opposition by accusing Bennett of cooperating with terror supporters a reference to his Arab partners in the coalition. A Netanyahu supporter was arrested last month on suspicion she sent death threats and bullets to Bennett's family in the mail. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the countrys population but are often seen as a fifth column and have never before been part of a coalition. Although Netanyahu himself had also courted the same Islamist party last year, the criticism appeared to make some of the hard-line members of Bennetts coalition uncomfortable. The final blow to the government was the looming expiration of a law that grant Israels West Bank settlers special legal status. The law underpins separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, a situation that three prominent human rights groups say amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects that allegation as an attack on its legitimacy. Parliament had been set to extend the law earlier this month, as it has done for the past 55 years. But the hard-line opposition, comprised heavily of settler supporters, paradoxically voted against the bill in order to embarrass Bennett. Dovish members of the coalition who normally oppose the settlements voted in favor in hopes of keeping the government afloat. But a handful of coalition members, including Arab lawmakers as well as hard-line nationalists, either abstained or voted with the opposition to defeat the bill and cause the coalition to rip apart. Bennett, a former settler leader, said there would have been grave security perils and constitutional chaos if he had allowed the law to expire at the end of the month. I couldnt let that happen, he said. Bennett and Lapid will now present a bill to dissolve parliament in the coming days. Once that passes, the country will head to an election, most likely in October. The settler law remains in effect and will not expire if the government collapses. Netanyahu described the imminent dissolution of parliament as great tidings for millions of Israelis, and he said he would form a broad nationalist government headed by Likud after the next election. But he also vowed to try to form an alternative government before the parliamentary vote by trying to persuade some of his opponents to support him. The odds of that appeared slim, given their past never to serve under Netanyahu while he is on trial. Theres a need to rehabilitate the state of Israel, and we have the ability to do it, Netanyahu said. The dissolution threatened to overshadow a visit by President Joe Biden scheduled for next month. A statement issued by Bidens National Security Council said he looks forward to the visit. Israel held four inconclusive elections between 2019 and 2021 that were largely referendums about Netanyahus ability to rule while on trial for corruption. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing. Opinion polls have forecast that Netanyahus hard-line Likud will once again emerge as the largest single party. But it remains unclear whether he would be able to muster the required support of a majority of lawmakers to form a new government. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said Mondays developments were a clear indication that Israels worst political crisis did not end when this government was sworn into office. ___ Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report. Pike County Sheriff's Department/Provided GRIGGSVILLE A Missouri man was being held Monday following his arrest in a six-month sexual assault investigation. Charles Sonny Ray Martin, 36, of Center, Missouri, was arrested Thursday on three counts of predatory sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to the Pike County Sheriff's Department. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The heads of the Libyan Parliament and the High Council of State are to meet in 10 days to resolve outstanding issues on the constitutional basis for elections after three rounds of talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, ended early on Monday without agreement on vital points Belgium returns Congo independence heros tooth to family View Photo BRUSSELS (AP) Belgian authorities on Monday returned a gold-capped tooth belonging to the slain Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, as the former colonial power continues to confront its bloody past and look toward reconciliation. The restitution of the relic took place after Belgiums King Philippe earlier this month expressed his deepest regrets for his nations abuses in its African former colony, Congo, which is 75 times the size of Belgium. Following a private ceremony in the presence of relatives of Lumumba during which the federal prosecutor handed over a case containing the tooth, Belgiums prime minister Alexander De Croo told Congolese officials and Lumumbas family that the restitution came way too late. It is not normal that Belgium held onto the remains of one of the founding fathers of the Congolese nation for six decades, said De Croo, who also offered apologies for the role played by his country in the assassination. Congolese Prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said the return of the relic will be essential for the countrys national memory. After his assassination in 1961, Lumumbas body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site. The tooth was seized by Belgian officials in 2016 from the daughter of the Belgian police commissioner who said he took it after overseeing the destruction of Lumumbas body. Two years ago, the federal prosecutors office said there is no absolute certainty that the tooth being returned is Lumumbas since no DNA test could be conducted. Lumumbas daughter, Juliana, agreed with De Croo the handover was long overdue. Father, our hearts bled for 61 years. she said during the official ceremony, speaking next to a coffin with a picture of her late father on top of it. We, your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren but also Congo, Africa and the world we mourned your death without an eulogy. Later the coffin was brought outside and draped in a Congolese flag. Lumumba remains for many in Congo a symbol of what the country could have become after its independence. Instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches. After pushing for an end to colonial rule, Lumumba became the newly independent Congos first prime minister in 1960. But historians say when he reached out to the Soviet Union for help in putting down a secessionist movement in the mineral-rich Katanga region, he quickly fell out of favor during Cold War times with both Belgium and the United States. So when dictator Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in a military coup later that year, Western powers did little to intervene as Lumumba was arrested and jailed. Lumumbas assassination by separatists in January 1961 ultimately cleared the way for Mobutu to rule the country, which he later renamed Zaire, for decades until his death in 1997. Even though Lumumbas killers were Congolese, questions have persisted over how complicit Belgium and the United States may have been in his death because of his perceived Communist ties. A Belgian parliamentary probe later determined that the government was morally responsible for Lumumbas death. A U.S. Senate committee found in 1975 that the CIA had hatched a separate, failed plan to kill the Congolese leader. Several ministers of the Belgian government of the time bear a moral responsibility for the circumstances that led to this murder, De Croo said. A man was murdered for his political convictions, his words, his ideals. For the democrat that I am, it is indefensible. For the liberal that I am, it is unacceptable. And for the human being that I am, it is odious. Two years ago, the 60th anniversary of Congos independence reignited calls to put Lumumbas soul to rest. Protesters gathered outside the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa, seeking restitution of his remains along with cultural artifacts taken during colonial rule. In Belgium, the international protests against racism that followed the death of George Floyd in the United States gave a new momentum to activists fighting to have monuments to King Leopold II removed. Leopold had plundered Congo during his 1865-1909 reign and forced many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his own profit. In 1908, he handed it over to the Belgian state, which continued to rule over the colony until it became independent in 1960. Amid the Black Lives Matter actions, protesters took down busts of the former monarch held responsible for the death of millions of Africans, and King Philippe later expressed regret for the violence carried out by the country when it ruled over Congo. None of his predecessors had gone so far as to convey remorse. By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press Chinas 1st Horn of Africa envoy offers to mediate in region View Photo NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Chinas first special envoy to the Horn of Africa on Monday offered to mediate in disputes in the region as Beijing seeks to strengthen its influence and protect its investments from conflict. I myself am ready to provide mediation efforts for the peaceful settlement of disputes based on the will of countries in this region, Xue Bing told a China-led peace conference in Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa. The strategic Horn of Africa region is anchored by Ethiopia, recently shaken by war that spread from its northern Tigray region. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week said the government doesnt want war anymore. He denied reports that negotiations were taking place with rival Tigray leaders but said a government committee would soon present a road map on the issue. Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu didnt immediately respond Monday when asked if the government would take up Chinas mediation offer. Other mediation efforts have been pursued in recent months by the African Union, the United States and Kenya. Others attending the China-led peace conference were foreign ministers or deputies from Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti. Notably absent was Eritrea, which teamed up with Ethiopias forces in the Tigray conflict and was among the African countries visited by Chinas foreign minister early this year. Eritreas information minister didnt immediately respond when asked about the absence. Chinas interests in the Horn of Africa include its first overseas military base, in Djibouti; oil investments in Sudan and South Sudan; manufacturing in Ethiopia; and a range of infrastructure projects. The Chinese envoy in his speech noted complicated and intertwined ethnicity, religion and boundary issues in the region and noted they can be difficult to handle, as many of them date back to colonial times. China, like Russia, has stressed its lack of colonial activities in Africa to contrast with several European nations. Let us take our own share of responsibility for the failure (of regional peace) and commit ourselves to take the destiny of our region into our hands, Redwan Hussein, Ethiopias national security adviser, told the conference, noting the interest in avoiding unwarranted external interference and undue pressure. That was a theme of Ethiopias pushback against criticism from some in the West over the Tigray conflict. Ethiopia also has been at odds with neighboring Sudan over disputed land and Addis Ababas construction of a huge and controversial Blue Nile dam that will be Africas largest hydroelectric power plant. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) Recent attacks by jihadi rebels in central Mali have killed 132 civilians, the government announced Monday. The killings happened when several villages in the Bankass area were attacked on Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement Monday. Three days of national mourning starting Tuesday have been declared by the head of the ruling junta, Col. Assimi Goita. The government said the attacks were carried out by jihadi rebels of the Katiba group. The attacks had earlier been reported by Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass, the biggest town near the attacked villages. The attacks show that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Malis north to more central areas like Bankass. For several weeks extremist rebels in central Mali have been blocking the road between the northern city of Gao and Mopti in central Mali. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali issued a statement about the attacks on Twitter saying it is concerned by attacks against civilians in the Bandiagara region (the area of central Mali) perpetrated by extremist groups. These attacks have reportedly caused casualties and displacement of populations. In a separate incident, a U.N. peacekeeper died on Sunday from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device, the U.N. mission to Mali said in a statement. The head of the U.N. Mission to Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, said that since the beginning of 2022, several attacks have killed U.N. uniformed peacekeepers. He said that attacks on peacekeepers can constitute war crimes under international law and reaffirmed the missions commitment to supporting peace and security in Mali. Since the beginning of the year, several hundred civilians have died in attacks in central and northern Mali. The attacks are blamed on jihadi rebels as well as the Malian army, according to a report by the human rights division of the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali began in 2013, after France led a military intervention to oust extremist rebels who had taken over cities and major towns in northern Mali the year before. The mission now has about roughly 12,000 troops in Mali and an additional 2,000 police and other officers. More than 270 peacekeepers have died in Mali, making it the U.N.s deadliest peacekeeping mission, say officials. By BABA AHMED Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) East Africas leaders have responded to the threat of war between Rwanda and Congo by instructing a new regional force to deploy in eastern Congo and ordering an immediate cease-fire. A statement after the leaders meeting in Kenyas capital, Nairobi, didnt give details on the date of the forces deployment or its composition. Congos presidency later tweeted that the force should be operational in the coming weeks but shouldnt include Rwandan troops. The presidents of both countries attended Monday. The regional heads of state adopted for immediate implementation the status of forces agreement, concept of operations and rules of engagement, the statement said. The heads of state told the force to cooperate with Congolese forces to stabilize the region. There was no direct mention of Rwanda, which Congo has accused of supporting the M23 rebel group that has carried out renewed attacks in recent months. The statement noted the presence of foreign negative elements as a critical issue. Rwanda has long denied supporting the M23 rebels, who captured a key town in eastern Congo last week. Asked after Mondays meeting whether Rwanda would contribute troops to the regional force in eastern Congo, deputy government spokesman Alain Mukurarinda said he needed to check with the presidents office. Congo is not the one who chooses who should deploy or not, he added. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Friday accused Rwanda of trying to occupy his countrys land for its vast mineral wealth, hours after Rwanda said a Congolese soldier had crossed the border and begun shooting at Rwandan security forces and civilians before being shot dead. Congos president has also called on international leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to step up the pressure on Rwanda when it hosts the Commonwealth summit this week. Each side has accused the other of incursions. Congo now seeks to suspend all agreements with Rwanda. Rwandas state minister for foreign affairs in charge of East African matters, Manasseh Nshuti, has said dialogue is the solution to the issues. Dynamics in eastern Congo were already strained by Congo and neighboring Uganda carrying out a joint operation there against another rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces, according to a new report by the U.N. panel of experts on Congo. Both Uganda and Rwanda have long been accused of backing rebels and pursuing some of the regions rich mineral wealth, including gold. ___ Associated Press writer Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, contributed. JERUSALEM (AP) Israels weakened coalition government announced Monday that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock. The election will be Israel's fifth in three years, and it will put the polarizing Netanyahu, who has been the opposition leader for the past year, back at the center of the political universe. I think the winds have changed. I feel it, Netanyahu declared. The previous four elections, focused on Netanyahus fitness to rule while facing a corruption investigation, ended in deadlock. While opinion polls project Netanyahu, who is now on trial, as the front-runner, it is far from certain that his Likud party can secure the required parliamentary majority to form a new government. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former ally and aide of Netanyahu, formed his government a year ago with the aim of halting the never-ending cycle of elections. But the fragile coalition government, which includes parties from across the political spectrum, lost its majority earlier this year and has faced rebellions from different lawmakers in recent weeks. Announcing his plan to disband the government during a nationally televised news conference, Bennett said he had made the right decision in difficult circumstances. Together, we got Israel out of the pit. We accomplished many things in this year. First and foremost, we brought to center stage the values of fairness and trust, Bennett said, standing alongside his main partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. We shifted to a culture of we, together. Under their coalition deal, Lapid, who heads the large centrist party Yesh Atid, now becomes the interim prime minister until the election, in which he is expected to be the main rival to Netanyahu. Standing together with Bennett, he thanked his partner for his hard work and for putting the country ahead of his personal interests. Even if were going to elections in a few months, our challenges as a state cannot wait, Lapid said. What we need to do today is go back to the concept of Israeli unity. Not to let dark forces tear us apart from within. Bennetts coalition included a diverse array of parties, from dovish factions that support an end to Israels occupation of lands captured in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians, to hard-line parties that oppose Palestinian statehood. Many of the parties had little in common beyond a shared animosity to Netanyahu. Often described as a political experiment, the coalition made history by becoming the first to include an Arab party. Bennett listed his governments accomplishments, including passing a national budget for the first time in three years and leading the country through two waves of the coronavirus without imposing a lockdown. Under his watch, Israels tense border with the Gaza Strip remained largely quiet, though tensions with the Palestinians escalated in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. His Arab partner, the Islamic Ra'am party, secured unprecedented budgets to fight poverty, neglect and discrimination in Israel's Arab sector. On the international stage, Bennett repaired Israel's bipartisan standing in Washington, which suffered after Netanyahu's close ties with former President Donald Trump. He deepened fledgling ties with Gulf Arab countries, repaired frayed relations with Egypt and Jordan, and claimed to have prevented the United States from reviving an international nuclear deal with Iran. Bennett even briefly emerged as a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite its successes, the coalition eventually unraveled, in large part because several members of Bennetts own hard-line party objected to what they felt were his pragmatism and moderation. Netanyahu, meanwhile, whipped up the opposition by accusing Bennett of cooperating with terror supporters a reference to his Arab partners in the coalition. A Netanyahu supporter was arrested last month on suspicion she sent death threats and bullets to Bennett's family in the mail. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the countrys population but are often seen as a fifth column and have never before been part of a coalition. Although Netanyahu himself had also courted the same Islamist party last year, the criticism appeared to make some of the hard-line members of Bennetts coalition uncomfortable. The final blow to the government was the looming expiration of a law that grant Israels West Bank settlers special legal status. The law underpins separate legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank, a situation that three prominent human rights groups say amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects that allegation as an attack on its legitimacy. Parliament had been set to extend the law earlier this month, as it has done for the past 55 years. But the hard-line opposition, comprised heavily of settler supporters, paradoxically voted against the bill in order to embarrass Bennett. Dovish members of the coalition who normally oppose the settlements voted in favor in hopes of keeping the government afloat. But a handful of coalition members, including Arab lawmakers as well as hard-line nationalists, either abstained or voted with the opposition to defeat the bill and cause the coalition to rip apart. Bennett, a former settler leader, said there would have been grave security perils and constitutional chaos if he had allowed the law to expire at the end of the month. I couldnt let that happen, he said. Bennett and Lapid will now present a bill to dissolve parliament in the coming days. Once that passes, the country will head to an election, most likely in October. The settler law remains in effect and will not expire if the government collapses. Netanyahu described the imminent dissolution of parliament as great tidings for millions of Israelis, and he said he would form a broad nationalist government headed by Likud after the next election. But he also vowed to try to form an alternative government before the parliamentary vote by trying to persuade some of his opponents to support him. The odds of that appeared slim, given their past never to serve under Netanyahu while he is on trial. Theres a need to rehabilitate the state of Israel, and we have the ability to do it, Netanyahu said. The dissolution threatened to overshadow a visit by President Joe Biden scheduled for next month. A statement issued by Bidens National Security Council said he looks forward to the visit. Israel held four inconclusive elections between 2019 and 2021 that were largely referendums about Netanyahus ability to rule while on trial for corruption. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing. Opinion polls have forecast that Netanyahus hard-line Likud will once again emerge as the largest single party. But it remains unclear whether he would be able to muster the required support of a majority of lawmakers to form a new government. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said Mondays developments were a clear indication that Israels worst political crisis did not end when this government was sworn into office. ___ Associated Press Writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report. Cities recovering as dynamic zero-COVID approach mitigates virus impact Xinhua) 16:59, June 20, 2022 BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Life and work are getting back to normal in China, as it has brought the COVID-19 virus transmission under control after battling the latest flare-ups in cities including the political and economic hubs of Beijing and Shanghai over the past months. The existing dynamic zero-COVID approach has been proven effective in mitigating the impact of the coronavirus on economic and social development to the greatest extent. As the new COVID-19 cases in the Chinese capital dropped to a single-digit over the weekend, Beijing's subway resumed full operation on Sunday, a sign believed by business owners that the resurgence is brought under control, and the hard time will soon be over. The city's renovation contractors are eager to embrace a business boom. The renovation market took a hit as most indoor decorations have been on and off since the epidemic resurgence in April. Manufacturing enterprises across China have sped up operation resumption since May, and the industrial economy has shown signs of stabilizing, said Tao Qing, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Indicators like electricity consumption and employment in many regions back up Tao's words. Monitoring revealed that all the 50 key enterprises in Jilin Province have resumed operation, while 85 percent of Shanghai's automobile companies have reopened. "The decline of total retail sales of consumer goods was greatly eased in May. With the gradual return to normal life, consumption recovery will pick up the pace," said Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Thanks to sustained policy support, China's domestic vehicle market became brisk in May with production and sales up 59.7 percent and 57.6 percent, respectively, from a month earlier, boosting related service consumption such as car maintenance and repair. During the "618" festival, a large online shopping event held in the run-up to June 18, the value of orders on JD.com totaled 379.3 billion yuan (about 57 billion U.S. dollars), up from 343.8 billion yuan in the same period last year, latest data showed. Previously closed scenic spots and parks have also been reopened, with measures such as traffic restrictions and real-name appointments. Beijing and Shanghai have strengthened their capabilities to carry out science-based and targeted epidemic prevention measures to facilitate the resumption of work and production. Beijing organized closed-loop production management training for more than 30,000 participants from over 3,000 enterprises, guiding them to keep core posts operational. China's economy has gradually emerged from the shadow of COVID-19, with major indexes showing a better performance in May. The foreign trade went up 8.3 percent, FDI expanded 17.3 percent year-on-year in the period from January to May, while investment from the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Germany climbed by 52.8 percent, 27.1 percent, and 21.4 percent respectively, NBS data showed. "These specific figures reflect foreign investors' genuine interest in investing in China and confidence in China's socio-economic development," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a press conference. Under the dynamic zero-COVID approach, China does not seek to pursue zero infections. Rather it requires quick, precise measures to cut transmission of the virus in the shortest possible time once an infection is detected to prevent it from spreading to other areas. While the average life expectancy in some developed countries declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, China's average life expectancy has steadily gone up in recent years. "It is clear evidence that effective COVID response provides a good foundation for socio-economic development and an important condition for fostering a favorable business environment," Wang noted. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW YORK (AP) Retailers and marketers have been quick to commemorate Juneteenth with an avalanche of merchandise from ice cream to T-shirts to party cups. But many are getting backlash on social media for what critics say undermines the day, designated as a federal holiday last year to honor the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. A search for Juneteenth items among online sellers like Amazon and J.C. Penney produced everything from toothpicks with pan-African flags to party plates and balloons. Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, apologized last month after getting slammed for a Juneteenth ice cream flavor swirled red velvet and cheesecake under its store label Great Value. Walmart said it's reviewing its product assortment and will remove items as appropriate." As of Friday, Walmarts site was still offering lots of T-shirts and party plates. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Childrens Museum removed a Juneteenth watermelon salad from its menu and issued a mea culpa earlier this week. In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the museum blamed a lapse in vendor oversight, noting the label and salad were not reviewed by museum staff. We are an imperfect institution, but we are committed to improvement and will work tirelessly to regain your trust," the museum wrote on its Facebook page. The backlash comes as companies promised after the police killing of George Floyd in May of 2020 to no longer stay silent and vowed to take an active role in confronting and educating customers and employees on systemic racism. According to the preliminary results of a survey by Mercer of 200 employers, 33% are offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday to their staff. That's up from 9% last year in a survey of more than 400 companies conducted shortly before Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday. At the same time, many have cashed in on a holiday that Black Americans have observed since June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, in alignment with President Abraham Lincolns 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Many experts believe that if retailers and other marketers plan to recognize the day, they should either sell merchandise from Black-owned businesses or invest in campaigns that would help Black communities. Amazon. for instance, does have a Black-owned business storefront that's live all year-round for customers who want to support and shop Black-owned businesses selling on the site. This is a serious and reflective moment I am excited and grateful for the recognition," said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board at Emancipation Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization aimed to restore the park, which was purchased in 1872 by a group of former enslaved people to commemorate the anniversary of their emancipation. However, I feel like it is also brought back everybody else out of the woodwork who are opportunists more so than folks who are looking at the history of this country and looking at where a group of people have come from," he added. Manning, who is also founder and chairman of Ridgegate Capital, a private investment fund, further wondered: Who is this going to benefit?" Sheryl Daija, founder and CEO of Bridge, a group of marketing and diversity, equity and inclusion executives, noted there's a disconnect between the seriousness of the holiday and the merchandise on display. A lot of companies have good intentions, but unfortunately good intentions can go awry, and this is what we have seen," said Daija, who found Walmart's Juneteenth ice cream particularly egregious because it used the holiday moniker to brand a new ice cream flavor. Companies have a long history of commercializing holidays and other moments in order to cash in. Take Cinco de Mayo, which has become in the U.S a celebration of all things Mexican, with companies selling everything from beans to beer to sombrero hats. The holiday has spread from the American Southwest, even though most have no idea about its original ties to the U.S. Civil War, abolition and promotion of civil rights for Blacks. In fact, it's often mistaken for Mexican Independence day. Meanwhile, every October, retailers are awash in pink merchandise to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, but critics say many make misleading claims about supporting cancer groups. And Memorial Day, a federal holiday day designated to mourn the U.S. military who have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces, has morphed into all-day mattress sales at stores. But what makes the move by companies to cash in on Juneteenth worse is that it comes as the U.S. remains fraught with racial tensions, said Darnise Martin, clinical associate professor of African American studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. It is weird to merchandise around it, but thats what America does," Martin said. _____ Follow Anne DInnocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio Click here to read the full article. Bradley Cooper revealed on a recent episode of the SmartLess podcast (via IndieWire) that a famous director once mocked him for having 7 career Oscar nominations. The incident occurred at a party during Coopers A Star Is Born awards season. The music drama boosted Coopers Oscar nomination haul from four (three acting noms and a best picture nom as a producer on American Sniper) to seven (actor, original screenplay and best picture for A Star Is Born). At an awards season party, Cooper met with a famous director who made a joke out of Coopers 7 Oscar nominations. Cooper was joined at the party by a friend, a famous actress, who had three Oscar nominations under her belt. The director told Cooper, What world are we living in where you have 7 nominations and shes only got three? Im like, Bro, why are you such an asshole? Cooper told the SmartLess podcast hosts. I would never fucking forget that. Go fuck yourself. Cooper has since added two more Oscar nominations, bringing his total career haul to 9. Cooper co-produced Joker and Nightmare Alley, both of which broke into the best picture race. Unfortunately, the directors comment was not the first time top Hollywood talent grilled Coopers history of nabbing Oscar nominations. The actor said a hero female actress once made a condescending comment to him after he picked up his first acting nomination for Silver Linings Playbook. Shes like, I saw your movie. You deserve the nom, Cooper said. I was like, What? Im sorry, what? The nom. Then like 10 or 20 minutes later Im not kidding I passed her going to the bathroom and she mouths it, The nom. I remember [thinking], what the fuck is this town? Can you imagine saying that to somebody? Youve got to be fucked up to do that. Cooper is widely expected to pick up even more Oscar nominations with his next directorial effort, the Netflix-backed Leonard Bernstein drama Maestro. Cooper is starring in the title role opposite Carey Mulligan as Bernsteins wife Felicia Montealegre. Theres the movie; a movie about marriage, a movie about family. Thats it, Cooper told the SmartLess podcast about his new movie. Why is it nuclear? Because its this fucking music. Music is nuclear. I had a secret weapon in A Star is Born. It was Lady Gaga. The secret weapon I have in this movie is fucking Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Mahler. The music! Maestro is not expected to be released until 2023. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln, in the heat of the Civil War, on Jan. 1, 1863. However, this proclamation does not free all enslaved people. As the Union Army, some of whom were formerly enslaved people, begin advancing through the southern states to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, they are met with great resistance. Specifically, in Texas. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is set to testify Tuesday at the House Jan. 6 committee about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to "find 11,780 votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Bidens election victory Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizonas state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be the key witnesses when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection resumes on Tuesday. The focus will be on how the former president and his allies vigorously pressured officials in key battleground states with schemes to reject ballots or entire state tallies to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election. Additionally, the panel will underscore how Trump knew his unrelenting pressure campaign could potentially cause violence against state and local officials and their families but pursued it anyway, according to a select committee aide. We will show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldnt go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of the Democratic members of the committee, told CNN on Sunday. The hearing, the fourth by the panel this month, is the latest effort to delve into Trump's unprecedented attempt to remain in power, a sprawling scheme that the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee has likened to an attempted coup." The committee will review how Trump leaned on Raffensperger to invalidate ballots that voters had cast for Biden. And then he tapped state legislators in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other disputed states to reject the election results from their own voters. While the committee cannot charge Trump with any crimes, the Justice Department is watching the panels work closely. Trumps actions in Georgia are also the subject of a grand jury investigation, with the district attorney expected to announce findings this year. Raffensperger, Georgia's top election official, rebuffed Trump's request that he find enough votes to overturn Bidens win in the state a request caught on tape during a phone call days before the Jan. 6 attack. During the call, Trump repeatedly cited disproven claims of fraud and raised the prospect of a criminal offense if Georgia officials did not change the vote count. The state had counted its votes three times before certifying Bidens win by a 11,779 margin. Sterling, Raffensperger's chief operating officer, became a notable figure in Georgias long post-election counting, and recounting, of the presidential ballots, with his regular updates often broadcast live to a divided nation. At one point, the mild-spoken Republican implored Americans to tone down the heated rhetoric. Death threats, physical threats, intimidation its too much, its not right, said Sterling, a Republican. Bowers is expected to discuss the pressure he faced to overturn Arizona's results requests from Trump advisers the Republican state leader on Monday called juvenile. In an interview with The Associated Press after arriving in Washington ahead of the hearing, Bowers said he is expected to be asked about a call with Trump during which lawyer Rudy Giuliani floated an idea to replace Arizona's electors with those who would vote for Trump. Bowers also revealed a second phone call with Trump in December 2020 that he said was mainly small talk, although Trump also referenced their first conversation. Also testifying Tuesday is Wandrea Shay Moss, one of two Georgia election workers who filed a defamation lawsuit in December 2020 against a conservative website. Moss claimed One America News Network falsely spread allegations that she and her mother engaged in ballot fraud during the election. The lawsuit, which was settled in April, also names Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as a vocal proponent of the baseless claim, which the mother and daughter say led to intense harassment, both in-person and online. The select committee also plans Tuesday to untangle the elaborate fake electors scheme that was aimed at halting Biden's election win. The plan saw fake electors in seven battlegrounds Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico sign certificates falsely stating that Trump, not Biden, had won their states. Conservative law professor John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump, pushed the fake electors in the weeks after the election. Trump and Eastman convened hundreds of electors on a call on Jan. 2, 2021, encouraging them to send alternative electors from their states where Trumps team was claiming fraud. The fake electoral certificates were produced and mailed to the National Archives and Congress. But the effort failed in the end, as Vice President Mike Pence refused Trumps repeated demands that he halt the certification of Bidens win on Jan. 6, 2021 a power he did not possess in his purely ceremonial role. The committee says it will also show Tuesday that it has gathered enough evidence through its more than 1,000 interviews and tens of thousands of documents to connect the varying efforts to overturn the election directly to Trump. At least 20 people in connection with the fake electors scheme were subpoenaed by the House panel, including former Trump campaign members, state party officials and state lawmakers. We will show during a hearing what the presidents role was in trying to get states to name alternate slates of electors, how that scheme depended initially on hopes that the legislatures would reconvene and bless it, Schiff said. Schiff told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that the hearing will also dig into the intimate role former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had in the plot to pressure Georgia state legislators and elections officials. The public testimony from Raffensperger comes weeks after he appeared before a special grand jury in Georgia, which is investigating whether Trump and others illegally tried to meddle in the states 2020 election. In retaliation for Raffensperger's refusal to support his election lies, Trump recruited a primary challenger in an effort to remove him from office. But Raffensperger narrowly held back the threat in last months primary, leaving him positioned to compete against a Democrat in the general election. Thousands of Republican activists meeting in Houston this weekend for the state's party convention agreed to a resolution that rejects the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and refers to Joe Biden as an illegitimate president. The delegates also called for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was passed to end discrimination against Black Americans at the polls. Separately, a party platform presented to convention delegates labeled homosexuality "an abnormal lifestyle choice." According to the Texas Tribune, the platform also advocates for children to learn in school about "the humanity of the preborn child," promoting new messaging after the state has taken steps to vastly restrict abortion. And less than a month after 19 children and two teachers were shot to death at a Texas elementary school, convention delegates adopted a formal "rebuke" of Sen. John Cornyn, R, for engaging in bipartisan gun control talks. Attendees also loudly booed him when he gave a convention speech Friday when he tried to explain potential legislation. The convention resolutions and platform carry no force of law but are intended to serve as a mission statement for GOP activities in the state for the next two years. It also offers a window into how the Republican grass roots have been edging further to the right and how the rejection of Biden's 2020 election victory has become a key principle for the party. The rhetoric on gay rights in particular represents a reversal after years of growing comfort within the Republican Party with equal rights for gay Americans and polls showing large majorities of voters now support same-sex marriage while opposing discrimination. It comes amid a surge in hate speech and violence directed at LGBTQ people and a new push among staunch conservative circles to attack even the mere mention of sexuality as somehow "grooming" children. The Texas Tribune reported that party delegates rejected an effort to soften the language on homosexuality from a delegate who said it would not help the party. "We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church," the Tribune reported the delegate said, referring to the extremist church whose members travel the country to hold anti-gay rallies at public events. The Tribune said other delegates at the convention, which lasted from Thursday to Saturday, laughed and booed at the comment. Votes from the more than 5,000 delegates in attendance on whether to formally accept the language into the platform have not yet been tallied, but party chairman James Wesolek said planks presented to delegates are generally accepted. The party also blocked the Log Cabin Republicans, a long-standing group representing gay Republicans, from having a booth at the convention, a decision that drew a rebuke from Donald Trump Jr., who said in a statement to Breitbart that it amounted to "canceling a group of gay conservatives who are standing in the breach with us." Intraparty divisions were also on display in a video circulated by right-wing personality Alex Stein showing Stein and supporters accosting Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, in a hotel hallway, calling him traitor and "eyepatch McCain" - a slur coined by Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. For months, Crenshaw, who wears an eyepatch because of an injury sustained while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan, has been heckled as a Republican in Name Only, or RINO, like deceased former senator John McCain. In response, Crenshaw tweeted, "This is what happens when angry little boys like @alexstein99 don't grow up and can't get girlfriends." Although a wide range of Republican figures stepped forward this weekend to denounce the treatment of the elected official and military veteran, the confrontation was a reminder of internal divisions within the Republican Party and how activists now reject even previously popular and loyal figures. Meanwhile, the party adopted a resolution that declared the 2020 election violated the U.S. Constitution and that "substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results." "We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States," the resolution continued. The move came days after the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 outlined evidence showing that top campaign aides to Donald Trump and other members of his inner circle repeatedly told the former president that claims of fraud were false. But the Texas resolution shows how thoroughly Trump's obsession with the election has become ingrained as a core belief for his party. "It's like these people live in some kind of parallel universe that is hate filled and conspiracy filled and have a twisted view of our democracy and Constitution," said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. "It's almost like these people are on a psychotic, drug-induced trip." Texas faces a key gubernatorial election in November, which will pit incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. As the convention opened Thursday, party chairman Matt Rinaldi predicted the GOP would make gains in the fall. "A red wave is going to sweep across Texas and this nation and begin a new era," he said, calling on the party "to take the fight directly to the left and go on offense." "This means using our state majority to define the debate. This means influencing the public opinion instead of following the polls," he said. The rebuke of Cornyn - a popular figure among Texas Republicans who won the nomination for reelection in 2020 with 76% of the vote - shows the unwillingness of party faithful to offer any concessions on gun rights, even as polls show large majorities of Americans back congressional action. Cornyn is part of a bipartisan group of senators that includes 10 Republicans who have advanced a framework for new gun provisions, including the closing of the so-called boyfriend loophole, federal grants to urge states to adopt red-flag laws that allow authorities to keep guns away from people judged to represent a threat to themselves or others and expanded background checks for gun buyers under age 21. Senators must still translate the broad agreement into legislative language. Aides involved in the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe their status said the talks continued productively over the weekend and that there was no sign the Texas backlash had changed their trajectory. Senate leaders are hoping to hold votes on the deal later this week. The state GOP resolution offers a sense of the pressure being applied to Cornyn from the right as he attempts to navigate the negotiations. It rejects red-flag laws, waiting periods and restrictions on younger gun buyers, declaring "those under 21 are most likely to be victims of violent crime and thus most likely to need to defend themselves." After he was booed Friday, Cornyn retweeted journalist Scott Braddock, who reported that Cornyn had been telling supporters: "I've never given in to mobs and I'm not starting today." - - - The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis contributed to this report. Ken Branca A man was found motionless with his face down on the San Antonio River Walk early Monday morning, according to the San Antonio Police Department. The San Antonio Fire Department pulled the body out of the river when they made the scene. The possible drowning occurred around 3:16 a.m. in the 100 block of North Riverwalk, near North St. Mary's Street and Brooklyn Avenue. First responders were called to the scene after a passerby found the body floating inside the river. He called the authorities immediately, SAPD said. The Republican Party in Texas made a series of far-right declarations as part of its official party platform over the weekend, claiming that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected, issuing a rebuke to Sen. John Cornyn for his work on bipartisan gun legislation and referring to homosexuality as an abnormal lifestyle choice. The platform was voted on in Houston at the state partys convention, which concluded Saturday. The resolutions about Biden and Cornyn were approved by a voice vote of the delegates, according to James Wesolek, communications director for the Republican Party of Texas. The statements about homosexuality as well as additional stances on abortion that called for students to learn about the Humanity of the Preborn Child were among more than 270 planks that were approved by a platform committee and voted on by the larger group of convention delegates using paper ballots. The results of those votes were still pending Sunday, but Wesolek said it was rare for a plank to be voted down by the full convention after being approved by the committee. The resolutions adopting the false claims that former President Donald Trump was the victim of a stolen election in 2020 as well as the other declarations were the latest examples of Texas Republicans moving further to the right in recent months. Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature, the governors mansion and every statewide office, and have used their dominance to push tough anti-abortion legislation, create supply-chain problems by temporarily adding additional state inspections at the border and renominate the Trump-backed state attorney general over a member of the Bush family in a primary runoff in May. Wesolek disputed the notion that the declarations were tied to the state partys rightward tilt. That was the will of the body, Wesolek said Sunday. We pride ourselves on being a grassroots party. State party conventions in Texas have at times been venues for publicly airing internal rifts. In 2012, Gov. Rick Perry was loudly booed at the state Republican convention when he said he was backing the powerful lieutenant governor over Ted Cruz in a contested primary for Senate. On Friday, Cornyn a key negotiator in the gun talks with Democrats was booed by conventiongoers during a speech in which he tried to assure Republicans that the new legislation would not infringe on the rights of gun owners. The state partys resolution embracing the baseless 2020 stolen-election claims stated that substantial election fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results in five key states in favor of Biden. The state party, the resolution continued, rejected the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States. The resolution encouraged Republicans to show up to vote in November, and to bring your friends and family, volunteer for your local Republicans and overwhelm any possible fraud. State Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican who represents part of Montgomery County, a Houston suburb, said he left the convention before voting on the resolutions, but he expressed support for them. He said he hoped the Biden resolution would encourage Republicans and Democrats to come together and to call for a forensic audit of the 2020 election. Jason Vaughn, 38, a Republican delegate from Houston, claimed credit for adding the show up to vote language in the Biden resolution. My fear is that if we keep telling people the election was stolen, theyre going to not go and vote, Vaughn said. Mary Lowe, a delegate from the Fort Worth suburbs who was focused on education issues at the convention, said she was surprised the 2020 election results were a focus of attention by her Republican colleagues. But, she added, I dont know too many people that felt that Biden won. Lowe, chair of the Tarrant County chapter of a group known as Moms for Liberty, said she was among those delegates openly critical of Cornyn. But she added that she was embarrassed by the booing and did not participate in it. I dont believe that booing is polite, Lowe said. I feel elected officials should be treated with proper decorum. Jamie Haynes, 47, a Republican delegate who lives in the Texas Panhandle with her husband and who says that, together, they own a lot of guns, said the boos directed at Cornyn showed there was a resounding strong opinion that Republicans do not want their gun rights shaved not just taken away but even just shaved in any form. The resolution rebuking Cornyn that passed at the convention opposed red-flag laws, which allow guns to be seized from people deemed to be dangerous. Those laws, according to the resolution, violate ones right to due process and are a pre-crime punishment of people not adjudicated guilty. The homosexuality plank passed the platform committee by a vote of 17-14, according to Vaughn, an openly gay member of the committee who voted against it. It does nothing to move us forward as a party and gain voters, he said in a video of the committee meeting. Vaughn said the shift at the convention was the result of a small number of people who make the process miserable because they want to do all this extreme, far-right stuff. Toth disagreed, saying that on abortion, gay rights and the 2020 election, the Republican Party has been consistent in sticking to its conservative principles. Defense of marriage? Abortion? Second Amendment? Where have we moved to the right? he asked. The Republicans have always been strong defenders of constitutional family values. One Texas congressman and Democrat, Rep. Colin Allred, called the Republican Partys actions regressive. The Texas Republican Party is trying to take us back to a time when women couldnt make decisions about their own bodies and when Americans lived in fear that they would be punished for being themselves, Allred said in a statement. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. At least 40 people found dead in back of tractor trailer in San Antonio area, reports AP quoting source. (Natural News) The first 3D-printed house made of fully natural and recyclable raw earth was built in Massa Lombarda in Ravenna, Italy. It was a collaboration between Mario Cucinella Architects (MC A) and WASP, which both specialize in 3D printing. The circular housing prototype is called TECLA from the combination of the words technology and clay. It maximizes the traditional yield of raw earth through digital fabrication. According to Mario Cucinella, this prototype represents a paradigm shift in the field of architecture, meeting the needs of people and finding an answer for the earth within the earth.' For Cucinella, it is a collaboration that becomes the union between empathic architecture and the application of new technologies. Inspired by the potter wasp, the house is made of a double dome solution that acts as structure, roof and cladding. The structural design of the house simplified the building process, minimized the resources and reduced construction time. It lays the foundation for the future creation of increasingly efficient and massive sustainable habitats. The project has required 200 hours of printing, 7,000 machine codes (G code), 60 cubic meters of raw earth and an average consumption of less than 6 kilowatts. WASP used a software capable of optimizing movements and avoiding collisions to allow two printing arms to function simultaneously. This modular and multilevel system can be configured according to each design, opening possibilities to build more complex projects using the technology. (Related: This 3D-printing robot can build an entire home in 6 months for just $300,000.) Each printing unit has a printing area of 50 square meters, making it possible to build independent living modules of any shape and in a few days. 3D-printed house for sale in New York While the TECLA project was the first 3D-printed house made of raw earth, it was certainly not the first 3D-printed house to be built. Many 3D-printed houses had been built over the years around the world. Just recently, SQ4D Inc. (SQ4D) has listed for sale the first 3D-printed house in the United States. The residential property was printed on-site using SQ4Ds revolutionary Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS). The company is a pioneer in the construction technology industry and has developed its patent-pending ARCS technology to robotically build the footings, foundations, interior and exterior walls of 3D-printed houses on site. The house SQ4D is selling is the first 3D-printed house slated to receive a certificate of occupancy. It is listed on Zillow.com for sale as new construction for $299,999. The 3D printed house sitting on acre in Riverhead, New York, features approximately 1,500 square feet of living space and a 750 square-foot 2 car garage. The house has three bedrooms and two full bathrooms and features an open floor plan. It was built with concrete, providing strength and durability that conventional wood-frame construction cannot match. SQ4Ds proprietary hardware and software gave way to a much safer construction site and created eco-friendly concrete homes compared to traditional wood-frame construction. The 3D printing technology could also drastically reduce the cost of new home construction. This technology will change America, the environment, and history. Just like Ford brought vehicles to the masses, SQ4D makes new construction achievable for everyone, said Stephen King of Realty Connect, the Zillow Premier agent who has the listing. At $299,999, this home is priced 50% below the cost of comparable newly-constructed homes in Riverhead, New York and represents a major step towards addressing the affordable housing crisis plaguing Long Island. With more companies dabbling in 3D-printed structures around the world, its nearly impossible to give an exact price for typical 3D-printed houses. But some of them reportedly cost $10,000 or less. Follow Robotics.news for more news and information related to machines and modern technology. Sources include: ArchDaily.com SQ4D.com All3DP.com (Natural News) An evolutionary biologist who recognizes that postmodern gender ideology is perpetuating harmful pseudoscience regarding the nature of biological sex has been banned from PayPal and Etsy, both of which apparently support the transgender mutilation and destruction of children. Dr. Colin Wright tweeted that PayPal reviewed his account and decided to permanently limit it, preventing him from receiving both one-time and recurring donations from his supporters. When I asked why, they said I needed an attorney to submit a subpoena to find out, he added. PayPal claimed there was a change in Wrights business model, or that his business model was considered risky. The company then used this as an excuse to shutter Wrights account permanently. (Related: PayPal has been seizing accounts from people and groups promoting independent thought.) At the end of May, Wright provided an expert declaration for the Womens Liberation Front, which is reportedly working to protect single-sex prisons from being invaded by the opposite sex pretending to be a different gender. The only factual, objective meaning of the words woman and man are as references to adult human females, and adult human males, respectively, Wright wrote in the declaration. From an objective standpoint, a persons subjective feelings do not define or change their sex, which is factually and statically either male or female, determined before birth, and defined by objective reproductive anatomy. Such statements clearly offended the leadership at both PayPal and Etsy, the latter of which similarly decided this occurred at the exact same time as the PayPal ban, it is important to note that Wrights account needed to be permanently closed following a comprehensive review. In a tweet, Wright showed images and descriptions of every single thing he has ever sold on Etsy, including various mugs, t-shirts and other gear. One of them was a shirt read Thought Criminal on the front, while a mug bore the words Realitys Last Stand along with the symbols for male and female. Wright also sold an item containing a cartoon description of Americas changing political landscape, which was shared by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter. I just received an email from @Etsy informing me that my account has been PERMANENTLY closed without warning after a comprehensive review for glorifying hatred or violence towards protected groups,' Wright announced about his Etsy ban. This is totally outrageous. My products do nothing of the sort. Wright will now have to find new platforms for both his finances and his merchandising endeavors online, as many others like him are also having to do after facing similar discrimination and persecution at the hands of Big Tech tyrants. This entire Gender Identity movement is totally whack, wrote someone at Reclaim the Net about all this madness. Humans can never change sex and no individual womens personal medical challenges or baby girls and boys born with DSDs will ever change that fact. Adults need to grow up and stop leaning on kids to validate their mental illnesses. Parents should also pull their kids out of school and start homeschooling for real. Another wrote that in the United Kingdom, a census was recently conducted that allowed respondents to indicate other genders besides male and female. He said he is looking forward to seeing what the percentage is of Brits who identify as something other than their natural biology. Wrights deposition goes against the U.K. legal stuff which allows males to identify as not men, this person explained. More of the latest news about Big Techs tyranny against free thinkers can be found at Fascism.news. Sources include: ReclaimTheNet.org NaturalNews.com (Natural News) The global destruction of food and energy infrastructure is accelerating by the day. The goal is rather obvious at this point: To destroy human civilization and starve as many people to death as possible by any means necessary. Those who dont yet realize this is happening will be destroyed by it. Some of the astonishing highlights of this deliberate depopulation scheme are covered in todays podcast: Western Europes largest fertilizer manufacturer, CF Industries, has announced it is closing down its UK manufacturing plant (in Chester) and moving administrative operations to the USA, following Western Europes green war against natural gas (which is necessary to manufacture nitrogen-based fertilizers). (CFindustries.com) After ordering airlines to mass murder their own pilots through forced mRNA vaccines, the federal government is now threatening to take action against airlines for not having enough pilots. (The Epoch Times) In a similar way, the Biden regime tells oil and gas producers they will all be shut down in 5 to 10 years, but that they should hurry up and produce more fuel right now and shouldnt be making any profits from it because the Democrats dont want to lose the mid-term elections due to people being unhappy about rising gas prices. (CNBC.com) An over-pressurized pipe caused a massive explosion at one of the largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) hubs in America, which sends 70% of its exports to Europe. (EEnews.net) This explosion is eerily similar to what caused a massive explosion at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in 2019, which permanently shuttered that fuel refining operation. (CNBC.com) Now, the Freeport LNG facility is going to be shut down for the entire rest of the year, taking about 20% of the LNG supply in North America offline. (EnergyNow.com) Oil-hating, anti-civilization environmental groups are suing the Biden administration to try to shut down 3,500 oil and gas drilling permits in order to completely collapse all industry and infrastructure, leading to mass starvation and total collapse of society as we know it. (CNBC.com) In the state of Washington, pro-vax, pro-mask, pro-abortion Gov. Jay Inslee is now openly warning his citizens to prepare for a summer of blackouts, destruction and death while moving forward to shut down four hydroelectric dams, depriving the state of 8% of its current electricity supply. (ThePostMillennial.com) Just when you thought you could go green and transition away from oil, the EU is about to declare lithium to be a toxic substance, which would devastate lithium mining, transportation and manufacturing to create lithium batteries that power much of the green economy. Without lithium, there is no green infrastructure. (OilPrice.com) Meanwhile, Union Pacific railroad has ordered a halt to carrying diesel fuel and DEF thats necessary for modern diesel engines, causing fuel outages at Flying J truck stops across the East Coast, including Florida. (NeedToKnow.news) In addition to all this, we have widespread sabotage (arson) of food facilities taking place across the USA, combined with the illegitimate Biden regime continuing every effort to shutter pipelines, refineries and oil exploration, leading to a collapse in domestic oil availability. This is why gas prices are skyrocketing, of course, causing higher prices in food, transportation and consumer goods. It all adds up to the controlled demolition of food and fuel infrastructure for the deliberate purpose of causing global famine, poverty, chaos and death. (And dont forget that those who were gullible enough to take the mRNA experimental vaccine shots are now dying at record numbers from clots, heart attacks and Sudden Adult Death Syndrome). You are watching a global war being waged against humanity in real time, and only those who prepare will survive. Perhaps 95% of the general population remains completely oblivious to all this, which is why I posted a short podcast reminding us that its too late to red-pill the oblivious masses: We anticipate global losses will be in the billions of human beings before 2030, just as the globalists have openly bragged about achieving. Get full details in todays Situation Update podcast via Brighteon.com: Brighteon.com/07ba2e4a-a3e0-461f-b7f2-c653a56dee49 Discover more information-packaged podcasts each day, along with special reports, interviews and emergency updates, at: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/HRreport Follow me on: Brighteon.social: Brighteon.social/@HealthRanger Telegram: t.me/RealHealthRanger Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@healthranger Gettr: GETTR.com/user/healthranger Parler: Parler.com/user/HealthRanger Rumble: Rumble.com/c/HealthRangerReport BitChute: Bitchute.com/channel/9EB8glubb0Ns/ Clouthub: app.clouthub.com/#/users/u/naturalnews/posts Join the free NaturalNews.com email newsletter to stay alerted about new, upcoming audiobooks that you can download for free. Download my current audiobooks including Ghost World, Survival Nutrition, The Global Reset Survival Guide and The Contagious Mind at: https://Audiobooks.NaturalNews.com/ Download my new audiobook, Resilient Prepping at ResilientPrepping.com (Natural News) Edson Fachin, the president of Brazils Superior Electoral Tribunal, has announced that from now on, any person in the country who wins an election but is caught sharing disinformation online will have that win stripped and nullified. As Brazil prepares for upcoming presidential, legislative, and regional elections this fall, Fachin reiterated that only politicians who tow the official line on various issues will be allowed to win elections. Everyone else will be shooed out of politics. We are hugely concerned about the spread of disinformation, especially on the social networks, Fachin is quoted as saying. The court is attentive and weve already adopted some preventive measures with the view that distorted information is fought with correct information. But, if its necessary to get to the point of sanctioning some behaviors, the court will not refuse to exercise its punitive authority. Fachins remarks came after President Jair Bolsonaro was accused of sharing false information on social media about how Brazils electronic voting system is wrought with fraud. According to Fachin, such a claim is fake news and will no longer be allowed. When, as per its jurisdictional function, the court receives a complaint and it is demonstrated that a specific candidate engaged in deeds that he knew were false, he will be subject to the electoral code rule characterizing that conduct as a crime and this can result in the loss of his office as punishment, Fauchin added in a statement. The court receives the complaint, opens the process, listens to the defense and later makes a judgment, just as was done last year with legislators who engaged in that practice and lost their offices after their elections were declared null and void. Just like the U.S., Brazil is exploiting social media platforms to fight disinformation Like many countries these days, Brazil is struggling economically due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. As a major importer of fertilizer, Brazil is not getting enough of it due to sanctions. Candidates for Brazils upcoming election are likely to speak out about the issue from varying perspectives, some of which could be considered disinformation, effectively disqualifying them from winning. The official narrative is that Russia is evil and never should have invaded Ukraine. The unofficial narrative is that Ukraine has been harboring U.S.-NATO run bioweapons laboratories that had to be dismantled by the Russian Federation to protect the country having this blight near its borders. Depending on what is considered true and false in Brazil, one wrong move or statement could render certain candidates wins this October as null and void, based on the new policy, though Fachin says it is primarily targeting untrue statements about the countrys electoral system. The attacks on the electoral process within that disinformation environment concern us, he claimed, adding that the electoral court has launched a campaign to fight disinformation through partnerships with social media networks, digital media groups, and various political parties. We launched an intensive and extensive program to combat disinformation that involves a collection of agreements with about 100 entities, including digital media outlets and social networks that have adopted policies of integrity without threatening the right to freedom of expression. Fachin went on to suggest that his group represents the institutional arbiters for monitoring compliance with the rules, adding that he is not in the corner of any (particular) candidate. Fachin is especially upset about the Telegram app, which he says is highly concerning because it is used to spread fake news. Were discussing integrity measures with the Telegram vice president, Fachin said. It was one of the last platforms to join but the results obtained to date are significant. More related news about Brazils election system can be found at Rigged.news. Sources for this article include: ReclaimTheNet.org NaturalNews.com (Natural News) More and more households, businesses and municipalities in the United States and across the world are opting to transition to using solar as their primary source of energy. But many manufacturers of solar panels that make it possible to harness energy put out by the sun are becoming increasingly concerned about the future of this renewable source of energy. Increasing concerns regarding human rights could slow down the expansion of solar power around the world. Many of the concerns are being directed at the fact that the solar industry is dominated by China and by materials and products coming out of Chinas northwestern region of Xinjiang. The communist regime is being accused of not just using Xinjiangs indigenous Muslim Uyghur population as forced labor, but also of herding them en masse into so-called reeducation camps. It will be difficult for the worldwide solar industry to separate itself from Xinjiang and China. Nearly half of the worlds supply of the materials used to make solar panels comes from Xinjiang. China produces around 70 percent of all solar equipment in the world. About half of all new solar power outlets being installed around the globe are in China. (Related: Green energy components are almost all made in China, and many use minerals from dirty mining operations.) Finally, corporations based in China, many of whom are either heavily influenced by the Chinese Communist Party or are directly-owned by the Chinese state, have made very significant investments in sophisticated solar manufacturing facilities and in solar research and development. It will be extremely difficult for solar companies to quit Xinjiang Experts have pointed out that the solar industry relies heavily on Xinjiang and its cheap coal to produce 45 percent of the worlds supply of solar-grade polysilicon. Polysilicon is the base material for solar panels used around the world. The conductive metal is turned into bricks and then turned into thin slices. These pieces are then wired into cells and patched together into the panels that are installed on rooftops and large fields. Polysilicon requires a labor-intensive refining process to create. Part of this process involves taking 99 percent pure silicon metal and removing the impurities in it until it is 99.9999 percent pure. This process includes the use of highly corrosive chemicals that have to be heated above 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why many solar companies and investors are concerned about Chinas human rights record in Xinjiang. Political pressure is building up within the industry to reconsider the supply chain, said Johannes Bernreuter, head of polysilicon market intelligence firm Bernreuter Research. Its hard to have a supply chain right now without Xinjiang. Massive Chinese solar manufacturers have large contracts with Xinjiang-based polysilicon manufacturers. Four of the worlds five largest factories that produce polysilicon are also located in the region. These four factories combined produce around 230,000 tons of polysilicon per year. Chinese authorities deny all accusations of forced labor The CCP has described all reports of forced labor in Xinjiang as the biggest lie of the century. Its a complete lie to say forced labor exists in Xinjiang and the purpose of the lie is to limit and suppress the development of China and Chinese companies, said the Chinese foreign ministry in response to questions raised by Bloomberg. Analysts have argued that the reason production in Xinjiang is so strong is because of cheap power. According to Yali Jiang, an analyst with clean energy research group BloombergNEF, rates can be as low as 0.22 yuan ($0.034) per kilowatt-hour, compared with 0.6 to 0.7 yuan ($0.093 to $0.11) in central China. Electricity accounts for around 40 percent of the manufacturing costs for the production of polysilicon. Xinjiang is home to some of the cheapest power in China because the region is abundant in coal. This significantly reduces operating costs. Reacting to concerns regarding human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the U.S. has recently banned the importation of tomatoes and cotton from the region. Furthermore, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), an America-based trade body representing the countrys growing solar industry, has gotten 175 companies around the world to sign a pledge to avoid forced labor. While this pledge is non-binding, it was able to get several Chinese solar companies to sign onto it. Forced labor has no place in the solar industry, said the SEIA in a statement. Since the fall, weve been proactively telling all solar companies operating in the Xinjiang region to immediately move their supply chains. Wed like to reiterate this call to action and ask all solar companies to immediately leave the region. It remains to be seen if the pressure put on the industry by the U.S. will be enough to get solar corporations around the world to ignore the allure of cheap prices presented by Xinjiang. Learn more about the process that goes into producing solar panels as well as the current state of the solar industry by reading the latest articles at SolarPanels.news. Sources include: Eco-Business.com Bloomberg.com BloombergQuint.com (Natural News) Last seen trying to find the southern border she was charged with securing, while cackling consistently at inopportune times, Vice President Kamala Harris has once again been set up to fail by the white man in the White House. (Article by Mark Pellin republished from HeadlineUSA.com) President Joe Biden tapped Harris to lead a rejuvenated mini Ministry of Truth, flying under the guise of the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse. The task force is ostensibly charged with addressing the issue of a broad array of harmful and sometimes illegal behaviors that are perpetrated through the use of technology targeting mostly women, adolescent girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals because of their race, ethnicity, religion, and other factors, according to the White House brief. The duties of the new disinformation task force also include developing programs and policies to address disinformation campaigns targeting women and LGBTQI+ individuals who are public and political figures, government and civic leaders, activists, and journalists in the United States and globally, which under the murky code of the new mini Ministry of Truth could include just about anybody. Task Force members include the usual suspects resurrected from the original, but paused, deep state-sponsored Disinformation Governance Board: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Given that level of firepower, the Biden administration is apparently more interested in targeting online harassment of the transgender, bi-sexual, gay population than it is domestic terrorists attacking pro-life groups and abortion activists intimidating Supreme Court justices. Or the cackling, cupcake Veep is the perfect cover stooge to replace former disinformation czar and serial dissembler Nina Jankowicz. Biden formed the task force in the shadow of the Uvalde and Buffalo mass shootings and, as the leftist playbook dictates, was apparently determined not to let a crisis go to waste. The new mini Truth Ministry is also tasked with enhancing and expanding data collection and research across the Federal Government to measure the costs, prevalence, exposure to, and impact of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including by studying the mental health effects of abuse on social media, particularly affecting adolescents. For far too many people the internet is a place of fear, Harris said at a press conference to launch the task force, according to NBC News. The unpaused, regrouped Ministry of Truth is ready to police the internet to protect the public. Read more at: HeadlineUSA.com (Natural News) Israeli and Italian scientists have developed a renewable energy technology that converts solar energy into hydrogen fuel, and according to the team, its nearing the threshold of practical viability. Think of this research as a sort of artificial photosynthesis, said Lilac Amirav, a chemistry professor at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. We start with a semiconductor thats very similar to what we have in solar panels. Taking a page from nature Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy. To develop the technology, Amirav and her fellow scientists studied the reaction that harnesses sunlight to efficiently and cost-effectively peel off hydrogen from water molecules. Hydrogen and oxygen readily recombine once theyre split apart, but the rod-shaped nanoparticles (nanorods) developed by the scientists could shunt the waters two-component elements away from one another. The wand-like rods are 50-60 nanometers (nm) long and 4.5 nm in diameter and all tipped with platinum spheres 23 nm in diameter. The nanorods convert 4.2 percent of the energy of incoming sunlight into chemical bonds. Taking into account the energy in the hydrogen fuel alone, they convert 3.6 percent of sunlight energy into stored fuel which is considerably better than the 1-2 percent range that previous technologies had achieved. According to the Department of Energy, up to 10 percent efficiency is all thats needed to reach what the researchers call the practical feasibility threshold for solar hydrogen generation. (Related: Enormous supply of clean hydrogen fuel can now be tapped for the hydrogen economy.) The new solar tech would offer a sustainable way to turn water and sunlight into storable energy for fuel cells that could feed into the electrical grid or go to fuel-cell-powered trucks, trains, cars, ships, planes or industrial processes. A scaled-up version of the technology could be the basis of solar factories in which arrays of solar collectors split water into stores of hydrogen fuel. The scientists first began publishing papers about the technology in 2010 and theyve been tweaking the design since then to maximize its ability to extract as much hydrogen and excess energy as possible from solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Creating molecular hydrogen out of water also yields oxygen, so the scientists had to figure out what to do with that byproduct. When youre thinking about artificial photosynthesis, you care about hydrogen because hydrogens a fuel, said Amirav. Oxygen is not such an interesting product. But that is the bottleneck of the process. Once liberated from split water molecules, oxygen carries energy away from the reaction, too. If not harnessed, it ultimately represents wasted solar energy which means lost efficiency in the overall reaction. The scientists added another reaction to the process to address the issue. They have enabled the nanorods to use the liberated oxygen to convert the organic molecule benzylamine into the industrial chemical benzaldehyde, which is commonly used in dyes, flavoring extracts and perfumes. Between February and August last year, the scientists published the innovations they made in the journals NanoEnergy and Chemistry Europe. The scientists also presented their research at the fall virtual meeting of the American Chemical Society, where they teased further efficiency improvements courtesy of their collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) data mining experts. Researchers look to improve solar-to-hydrogen efficiency Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) researchers also wanted efficiency improvements in their version of solar-to-hydrogen (STH) production processes, which bypass electrolyzers and avoid AC/DC power conversion and transmission losses. The ANU team has been exploring the potential of a process that Karuturi likens to photosynthesis a process that would convert the suns energy directly into hydrogen in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). The researchers said their world record 17.6 percent efficiency achieved with perovskite-silicon tandem absorbers is open for further refinement. In 2009, the Department of Energy set targets for PEC water-splitting efficiency of 20 percent by 2020, with 25 percent efficiency as the ultimate goal. In a paper published in Advanced Energy Materials, lead authors Siva Krishna Karuturi and Heping Shen wrote that although Photovoltaic (PV) modules have become a commercially viable method for large scale renewable energy generation, achieving [a] global renewable energy transition further relies on addressing the intermittency of solar electricity through the development of transportable energy storage means. Although semiconductors have demonstrated STH efficiencies of up to 19 percent, the high cost of materials has limited their application. STH efficiencies achieved with inexpensive semiconductor materials remained below 10 percent and the materials have been vulnerable to degradation. The ANU researchers pairing of a buried p-n junction silicon/titanium/platinum photocathode and a semitransparent perovskite solar cell is the first deployment of cheaper materials to achieve anywhere near 20 percent efficiency. As revealed by our modeling results, the proof-of-concept demonstration offers immense opportunities to further improve the efficiency and reduce costs through optimization of the performances of the individual components and replacement of precious catalysts with abundant materials, wrote Karuturi. He described his teams solution as an elegant and potentially economical route to storing solar power. Follow HydrogenWater.news for more news and information about hydrogen fuel. Sources include: Spectrum.IEEE.org PV-Magazine.com (Natural News) In a recent speech, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz made the claim that Iran has now accumulated enough enriched uranium to build its first nuclear weapon. Speaking at the Institute of Policy and Strategy at Reichman University, Gantz lamented the situation, which was made possible by the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb, holds 60 kg of enriched material at 60%, produces metallic uranium at the enrichment level of 20%, and prevents the [International Atomic Energy Agency] from accessing its facilities, Gantz said. The Iran nuclear deal was negotiated by Barack Obama and Joe Biden during the formers Oval Office occupation. But Gantz says Iran ended up accumulating 18 times more enriched uranium than that deal allowed. According to Gantz, Iran is also attempting to complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced IR6 centrifuges at its nuclear facilities, as well as build a new underground laboratory near its Natanz Enrichment Complex. Iran has repeatedly claimed that it never had any intention of building nuclear weapons with enriched uranium. But according to the IAEA, that is exactly what Iran is now doing, and with 18 times more enriched uranium than was supposed to be allowed. Former security director says Obama left a more dangerous world As part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Obama lifted economic sanctions that for decades had crippled Iran financially. He also unfroze $150 billion in assets while giving the country $400 million in cash. When Donald Trump, Obamas successor, took office, he almost immediately pulled the United States out of the JCPOA, calling the deal dangerous and stupid, and the single worst deal ever (Related: The Clintons were also involved with helping Ukraine). Its a disgrace that a deal like that was even signed, Trump told the New York Post in May of 2017. It made Iran a power from a country that was ready to fall apart. Iran wont honor its deal, Trump added. Instead of saying, Thank you very much for saving our country, theyve been emboldened. If the new claims by Gantz are true, then Iran has been lying for years about its true intentions for the uranium. Instead of using it for innocuous purposes, the country has instead, apparently, been building nuclear weapons. Around the same time Trump made those comments to the Post, then-Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin told The Washington Free Beacon that Iran essentially played the U.S. for fools under Obama. Iran did much the same thing with the Iran nuclear deal that it did between 1998 and 2005 by profiting from a nuclear trade deal that it established with the European Union. Obama and [former Secretary of State John] Kerry might as well have wired the money directly into the accounts of those seeking to enhance Irans military, kill Sunnis, or sponsor terrorism, Rubin said. Another Pentagon insider agreed, telling the Beacon this: An Iranian military buildup coupled with an offensive posture is a threat to the United States and our allies. This also serves as an important reminder of why the cash infusion to Iran under the Obama-Biden administration was so dangerous. Barry Pavel, the former senior director of the National Security Council from 2008 to 2010, told Fox News that same year that Obama left a more dangerous world, which is true in so many ways, as we can all now see. Iran never stopped cheating, alleged former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in a recent tweet. And, they already have enough uranium to produce a nuclear bomb. When will Biden stop falling all over himself to get into a new Iran deal. More related news about the situation can be found in NuclearWeapons.news. Sources include: WesternJournal.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Two things are certain: The corrupt FBI has become little more than a Gestapo-like force for the deep state; and the mainstream media is still one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. Both of these truths were in evidence this week as we saw media outlets finally step up and start covering some of the eye-opening things presidential daughter Ashley Biden wrote in her diary after the FBI started investigating. The Daily Mails reporting was emblematic of how the rest of the outlets covered the story months after investigative journalism outfit Project Veritas exposed the diary and some of what was inside it: A Florida woman who found Ashley Bidens private diary is being investigated by the FBI not for stealing the journal but for selling it, DailyMail.com has learned. The diarys explosive contents include Ashleys speculation that showering with her father, then-Senator Joe Biden, as a young girl may have contributed to her sex addiction. I remember having sex with friends @ a young age; showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate), she wrote in a January 2019 entry. Probably? How old was she when these showers took place? Does that even matter? Of course, it doesnt, but this explains why Joe Biden constantly acts creepy around young girls. Here I am talking about another man when I am married! It all feels strange, she wrote in February 2019. Started hanging out with a new guy Its been refreshing to be able to kiss another man, she added. Why am I feeling this way and do I need more time to try and figure it out? Does this mean that I am still into my husband? After undergoing a stint in rehab, Ashley Biden, now 41, lived for a brief time in a Palm Beach, Fla., home that is frequently used by people who are trying to recover from drug and alcohol abuse (and in her case, abusive sexual relations possibly). Apparently, when she moved back to Philadelphia, she forgot to take her diary with her in June 2020. Aimee Harris, 39, a single mother of two and also right out of rehab, moved in a few weeks later and found the diary under the bedroom mattress. She then allegedly showed it at a GOP fundraising event and then sold it for $40,000 to Project Veritas. Not long afterward, as Natural News reported, the organizations founder and CEO, James OKeefe, was visited by the FBI at his New York City-area home along with a pair of other journalists for the organization. I awoke to the news that apartments and homes of Project Veritas journalists, or former journalists, had been raided by FBI agents, OKeefe announced on Friday. It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly. The Project Veritas founder went on to say that he had to think long and hard before making any statement because of language contained in the grand jurys subpoena that appears to be an attempt to silence him. In her diary, Ashley Biden wrote that she was hyper-sexualized [at] a young age as she went on to provide details about chronic abuse of drugs, extramarital affairs, how her finances were down to the wire and how she made her father cry worrying about her ahead of a Democratic primary debate. The diary also shows that she may have been using drugs while she was assisting her fathers presidential campaign as it began in 2019. Details were published on a conservative media outlet just a few weeks before the election, but of course, the rest of the mainstream media ignored it as they ignored reporting by the New York Post regarding raunchy, salacious and damning content found on a laptop computer abandoned by another Biden family drug abuser, Hunter. The feds now arent saying it was illegal to find the diary, a source close to the situation and the FBIs probe told the Daily Mail. Nor are they saying Aimee stole anything. But its her selling the property of another that could be considered a crime. And the fact Ashley is the presidents daughter kicks it to a different legal level, the source said. Actually, the crime here is exposing yet again the corrupt, creepy nature of the Biden family. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk NaturalNews.com (Natural News) One of the faces of Americas Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) has been sentenced to prison after she pleaded guilty back in March to a class A misdemeanor. Dr. Simone Gold, we reported back in January of 2021, was arrested after she entered the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and delivered a speech via megaphone about the dangers and ineffectiveness of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines. She further discussed viable remedies such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and ivermectin, urging listeners to protect their natural DNA and immune systems rather than take an experimental injection that could and likely will in the coming years for everyone who took it kill them. For the crime of entering the Peoples building through the neatly positioned velvet ropes that were placed almost as a guide for those herded inside by law enforcement assets, Gold will now have to serve a two-month prison sentence. Her guilty plea in March of this year admitted to entering and remaining in a restricted building. She clearly would have been better off burning down a small business or a target like Black Lives Matter (BLM) terrorists did without penalty. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., also sentenced Gold to 12 months of supervised release following her 60-day prison term and ordered her to pay a $9,500 fine. Judge called it unseemly that AFLDS raised money for Golds salary by telling supporters her arrest was unfair prosecution The judge told Gold that her statements about Fauci Flu shots did not factor in to her sentencing. According to him, Gold was not a casual bystander on January 6, but rather an insurrectionist. Cooper did accuse AFLDS, Golds organization, of misleading supporters into believing that her prosecution was politically motivated and that it trampled her First Amendment rights. Cooper went on to call it unseemly that AFLDS is using the Capitol riot as a means of raising money, including for Golds personal salary. I think that is a real disservice to the true victims of that day, he stated. Gold traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, to speak at Freedom Plaza. Her intent was simply to deliver a medical speech and when the gates were opened, so to speak, into the Capitol building, she simply brought her message inside. Gold never committed any acts of violence, just to be clear. She simply spoke through her megaphone about the scam of the plandemic, and for this she was placed on the FBIs most wanted release. I was paid a visit by the FBI in a Roger Stone kind of takedown moment, which is quite uncalled for, Gold said about her prosecution. You know, if anybody wanted to get a hold of me, they could have picked up the phone and called. Im very easy to find. But there were literally twenty guys with guns blazing, [and they] broke down my door. The FBI essentially raided Golds home, all because she spoke her mind about the plandemic and the serious crimes against humanity that were, and still are, being committed in the name of public health. It was dramatic and what I want to say is that I weep for our country, Gold added about her mistreatment at the hands of the state. If you can pull in a person like me [and] have the FBI break down your door with 20 guns, shackle you [in] handcuffs [and] drag you off, I mean it was really terrible Im telling you, America: this can happen to you. More related news about Golds arrest and sentencing and other acts of government tyranny can be found at Overlords.news. Sources for this article include: TheGatewayPundit.com NaturalNews.com A heat dome has been forecasted to bring scorching temperatures across the Central United States in the coming week, according to US meteorologists. The heat wave is expected to move into the East Coast in the coming days, while residents are still recovering from recently record-breaking heat across the region and other areas nationwide. The dome of heat is reportedly caused by a jet stream over the Great Plains and the Mississippi River Valley by Sunday, June 19. Heat will continuously build up as the week progresses, affecting cities like Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The extreme heat will likely affect other states across the region, including Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Wisconsin. Additionally, high temperatures could also break all-time high records in some cities or towns. Furthermore, the intense heat could add to fire weather conditions in the wildfire-prone Texas, which has been engulfed by fires since the spring season in March. Potential fatalities are also possible amid the heat dome, which has been recently described by the National Weather Service (NWS) as a "dangerous heat." Heat Dome Forecast In the latest US weather forecast, AccuWeather forecasters predicted that an "uncomfortable heat" will strike the region and its surrounding areas from Monday, June 20. The massive heat wave will pass from the Great Lakes through the Mississippi River Valley, Great Plains, and even some areas in the Southeast US. Moreover, the heat dome could bring 5 to 15 degrees in above-average temperatures in multiple locations across the country. The sweltering heat has also been projected to intensity from Tuesday, June 21, which is reportedly the last day of the astronomical spring. AccuWeather also placed emphasis on potential life-threatening risks for tens of millions of Americans in the said regions from Tuesday. In the 2021 summer season, a Pacific Northwest heat wave killed hundreds of people in Washington and Oregon. Isolated yet related deaths were also reported across the US in recent years. Also Read: Heat Wave Update: NWS Issues Heat Alerts for Over 60 Million Americans from California to Louisiana What is a Heat Dome? From the term itself, a heat dome is a hemispherical or circular-shaped formation over a particular area, which is like the roof of a house or an establishment. A heat dome transpires when Earth's atmosphere in certain region traps hot ocean air similar to a lid or a cap, according to the National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Extreme heat waves have become frequent during the summer season in recent decades. In addition, it occurs when strong, high-pressure atmospheric conditions merge with weather conditions influenced by the La Nina weather phenomenon, the NOAA adds. Heat Dome Causes A scientific team funded by the NOAA MAPP Program has discovered that the main cause of a heat dome is a strong alteration in ocean temperatures from west to east over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The researchers found this phenomenon occurs during the preceding winter season. The meteorological condition allows the movement of hot air or hot weather into the east where a jet stream traps the air, sinking to the ground and resulting in heat waves, based on the program. Related Article: Kansas Heat Wave Kills Around 10,000 Fat Cattle as Temperatures Reach over 100 Degrees Fahrenheit Cats were found trapped and alive inside a hot car under scorching temperatures at a rest stop in eastern Minnesota last week. Rescuers were able to retrieve 47 cats and their owner who was responsible for forcing the cats to live with him inside the vehicle within an unspecified amount of time. There were no reported fatalities among the cats but some of them incurred minor medical problems. Initial assessment of the situation, despite its ambiguity, suggested that the man had been living with his feline friends in their automobile home within a short period. The incident came at a time when Minnesota was under a part of a regional heat wave advisory spanning across the United States, wherein some parts experienced over 100 degrees Fahrenheit resulting in heat-related illnesses and even death. Rescued Cats Members of the Animal Humane Society (AHS) confirmed they rescued the cats in the city of Harris, Minnesota, amid extreme heat on Tuesday, June 14, as cited by CBS News. The information of the animals' whereabouts first came to the attention of the Chisago County Sheriff's Office and Minnesota State Patrol. The police officers then called the AHS regarding the situation in the city for assistance, which led to the rescue of the cats. Also Read: Pet Patrols Launched at Canadian Mall to Help Dogs Trapped in Hot Cars Animal Care AHS veterinary and behavioral staff are taking care of the cats after examining and evaluating them. The minor medical issues of the animals were also due to the unsanitary environment inside the car. The non-profit organization said the cats' ages range between less than a year old and 12 years old. CBS News also reported that the cats will be ready for adoption after any behavioral and medical issues have been detected and addressed. After all, the National Adopt a Cat Month falls under June. Hot Cars and Hot Weather There are related cases of toddlers and disabled adults being left or tucked inside a hot car for a prolonged period of time. However, pets are also victims of this practice, where in some result in deaths. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), dozens of children and "untold numbers of pets" left in parked cars die each year from hyperthermia, which transpired when the body absorbs more heat beyond its capability. The NWS said temperatures in a parked vehicle can reach a dangerous level for the mentioned group, especially if temperatures reach the 70s even on a mild day. Related Incidents On June 17, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued its updated list of heat-related animal deaths, where it also presents the deaths of animal companions in hot cars, including the Harris, Minnesota, rescue incident: Officials charged a man with "aggravated animal cruelty" after leaving his dog who died inside a hot vehicle In Fort Myers, Florida, on June 5. Animal protection service members rescued a dog trapped in a hot car in Clark County, Nevada, on June 1. Authorities arrested and charged a man for animal cruelty after allegedly leaving his dog in a parked car in Clearwater, Florida, on May 22. Related Article: Californians Now Allowed to Break Into Cars to Save Pets From Extensive Heat Wildfires in the western United States have become a commonplace over the years. In fact, the drought-stricken region has witnessed frequent and devastating wildland fires affecting California and other areas, especially during the summer season. Some of these fires were previously blamed for causing widespread air pollution, and for posing health threats due to toxic airborne particles that can cause severe or lethal health risks for unsuspecting individuals. Currently, scientists have warned that the wildfire health risks from the western US are no longer confined in the region, but rather, it is already a countrywide concern in the aspect of public health. Wildfire Health Risks Since the spring season in March, several areas across the US, including the states of California, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska, and New Mexico has witnessed multiple wildfire outbreaks. These fires are aggravated by fire weather conditions, which favor their growth and fuel their intensity. Wildfires trigger a variety of health issues, including asthma and shortness of breath. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated approximately 25 million have asthma across the US. Meanwhile, environmental scientist Yang Liu from Emory University in Atlanta emphasized that asthma is a widespread and common health condition, as cited by Science News. Also Read: Raging Wildfires in Canada Impact Air Quality in US, Prompting Warnings Air Pollution In our article on April 20, Natural World News discussed a new study that found that western wildfires caused the highest air pollution level in the Pacific Northwest and unhealthy air pollutants, which can lead to pulmonary or respiratory health complications or even death. One of the focus of the said April 2022 piece was the increasing contribution of global warming to the wildfires in California and its surrounding region. In relation to the research, scientists placed emphasis that smoke from wildland fires and other blazes in in general have threatened millions of live in the region. The natural events also undermined previous efforts to save the climate and environment. The said study was published in the journal Nature Communications by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), as mentioned by AccuWeather. Western Wildfires The "nationwide wildfire health risk" from the Western US only reinforced the previous claims of the increasing impact and threat posed by the ongoing climate crisis. Such threat was issued before by previous research, including from educational institutions, government agencies, and intergovernmental organizations. In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated fire seasons become longer by nearly 20% since the 1980s and future wildfires may increase in frequency by at least 30% by the year 2050. Climate Change Climate change has already increase the number and frequency of wildfires. This growing threat leaves world governments unprepared, according to a UN report in February, which was cited by PBS News Hour from the Associated Press. The report suggested that the said natural disasters all over the world are becoming uncontrollable and catastrophic. In particular, this is because the climate crisis brings more intense drought and hotter temperatures, which makes it easy for the fires to emerge and spread. UN researchers have reportedly stated that the inaction or lack of efforts many nations should be driven towards preventing wildfires, rather than spending money and time to extinguish them. Related Article: Mapping Oil Pollution Data Shows Humans are Responsible for 90% of Oil Slicks This month, an Italian startup announced the successful launch of a newly developed CO2 battery that uses carbon dioxide to store renewable energy on the grid at a utility scale. The innovative technology is now ready for global deployment. Concept to Product Energy Dome began operations in February 2020. Two years later, its development team has succeeded in transforming its concept into full-scale testing of a multi-megawatt plant. The operators completed troubleshooting for the CO2 Battery technology at its first facility in Sardinia, Italy. They are now entering the commercial scaling phase, making it the first commercial long-duration energy storage technology on the market. The product offers a reliable alternative to fossil fuels for dispatchable baseload power to any corner of the world. The CO2 Battery's performance, coupled with its ability to store energy for a long time, has been confirmed during the initial phase of operations. The product also maintained highly competitive round-trip efficiency without site dependency or degradation. The key to this Sardinia demonstration project was the use of off-the-shelf equipment from a globally established supply chain. This method demonstrates that rapid global deployment of the CO2 Battery is now possible with no bottlenecks. Energy Dome Team Claudio Spadacini, Energy Dome Founder and CEO expressed pride in his dedicated team and the results they have presented. He is pleased that their company can now address the world's most pressing issue, climate change. He announced that their breakthrough technology, the CO2 Battery, is now commercially available, allowing for cost-effective renewable energy dispatch on a global scale. CO2 Batteries from Energy Dome can be quickly deployed anywhere in the world for less than half the cost of lithium-ion battery storage facilities of comparable size. Their technology also makes use of readily available materials like steel, carbon dioxide, and water. The company is currently constructing its first full-scale 20MW-200MWh plant. By the end of 2023, the company plans to have its plant and technology operational. Spadacini has assembled a team of process engineers, turbomachinery experts, and energy experts. His hand-picked team has a track record of developing innovative turbines. The Energy Dome process is unique in that it combines well-known components in a novel industrial process based on a CO2 thermodynamic transformation. The Bloomberg New Energy Finance Pioneers 2022 technology competition named the Energy Dome process a winner. Read also: Biobattery for Hydrogen Storage Developed by Microbiologists in New Study Deployment Multiple commercial agreements have already been signed, including one with A2A, an Italian utility, for the construction of a 20MW-5h facility. Ansaldo Energia, a major provider of power generation plants and components, signed a non-exclusive license agreement with Energy Dome earlier this year to build long-duration energy storage projects in Italy, the Middle East, Germany, and Africa. The company, which also has a UK office, plans to launch its Series B fundraising round to fund a rapid commercial scale-up, Good News Network reports. About Energy Dome Energy Dome is a startup based in Milan, Italy, that was founded in 2019 by Spadacini. A group of experts, including innovators, engineers, and business professionals, make up the company. Related article: Road to Renewable Grids: A Hundred Million Dollar Funding for Next-Gen Big Batteries Will Open Next Week According to information published by the Global Times on June 17, 2022, China's second Type 055 large destroyer, the Lhasa, is reportedly holding its first far sea drills by entering the Sea of Japan. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link Chinese Type 055 destroyer Lhasa (Picture source: Chinese TV) Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Monday spotted a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) flotilla consisting of three ships - the Lhasa, the Type 052D destroyer Chengdu and the Type 903 replenishment ship Dongpinghu - as they sailed through the Tsushima Strait from southwest to northeast toward the Sea of Japan, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release late. This was the first time Lhasa has embarked on a far sea voyage since its commissioning into the PLA Navy in March 2021. Since the start of 2022, the ship has conducted a number of realistic combat scenario exercises in the Yellow Sea, with experts saying then that it was preparing for more important operations soon to come. The latest voyage indicates that the Lhasa has reached 100 percent operational capability, and it can carry out military missions in the far sea as the core of a flotilla. About Type 055 destroyer Lhasa Lhasa (102) is a Type 055 destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was the second ship of the class and was laid down and launched on 28 April 2018 at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The ship has a length of 180 m (590 ft 7 in), a beam of 20 m (65 ft 7 in), and a draught of 6.6 m (21 ft 8 in). She can reach a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Having a displacement of more than 12,000 tons, Type 055 is equipped with 112 vertical launch missile cells capable of launching a combination of surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, land-attack missiles, and anti-submarine missiles. Propulsive power is generated by four 28 MW QC-280 gas turbines in combined gas and gas arrangement. Additional power may be provided by six 5 MW QD-50 gas turbines. The maximum speed is estimated to be 30 knots. According to information published by on June 18, 2022, two patrol ships of Project 22160 of the Russian Navy were filmed to the south of Snake Island in the exclusive economic zone of Romania. One of the ships was equipped with a Ka-29 helicopter, and the other with a Tor-M2KM SAM system mounted on the stern. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link Two Russian Navy's in the Romanian Exclusive economic Zone, south of the Ukrainian Snake Island (Picture source: ) Project 22160 is a series of large patrol ships being constructed for the Russian Navy. The vessels are primarily intended for duties such as patrol, monitoring, and protection in open and closed seas. The first ship was laid down in February 2014 and joined the Russian Navy in December 2018. The class's armament includes the Kalibr-NK cruise missile, aerosol camouflage, two grenade launchers, two machine guns, and a 76.2 mm dual-purpose gun (AK-176). The ship also has a helicopter deck and hangar for one Ka-27 or Ka-226 helicopter. The ship also carries a landing speedboat and has provisions for drones, underwater unmanned craft, and unmanned boats. There is accommodation for an additional 60 men. About the Ka-29 helicopter The Kamov Ka-27 is a military helicopter developed for the Soviet Navy, and is currently in service in various countries including Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, South Korea, and India. Variants include the Ka-29 assault transport, the Ka-28 downgraded export version, and the Ka-32 for civilian use. The helicopter was developed for ferrying and anti-submarine warfare. Design work began in 1969 and the first prototype flew in 1973. It was intended to replace the decade-old Kamov Ka-25 and is similar in appearance to its predecessor due to the requirements of fitting in the same hangar space. Like other Kamov military helicopters, it has coaxial rotors, removing the need for a tail rotor. Romanian Exclusive economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the outer limit of the territorial sea (12 nautical miles from the baseline) out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from the coast of the state in question. It is also referred to as a maritime continental margin and, in colloquial usage, may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. Questions this week about illegal parking in Campustown, the most popular specialty license plates in Illinois, a cluttered yard in Champaign, 100-degree temperatures and the Dick Butkus statue. Also, the top addresses in Champaign County for METCAD "calls for service," Urbana-Champaign versus Champaign-Urbana, radio station interference and planned developments in Rantoul. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. In a recent Viruses study, scientists at James Cook University, Australia, describe the global prevalence and significance of the current monkeypox virus outbreak. Study: Travel-Related Monkeypox Outbreaks in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: Are We Prepared? Image Credit: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock.com Discovery of monkeypox virus The monkeypox virus is a rare zoonotic virus that causes smallpox-like symptoms in humans. The virus was first detected in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa. Soon after the outbreaks of monkeypox infections were reported in Nigeria in 2017, several monkeypox cases were detected outside of Africa that have been attributed to travel-related transmission. Taken together, 49, 47, eight, 34, and 21 sporadic cases of monkeypox have been reported in Nigeria in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively. The current monkeypox outbreak The first outbreak of monkeypox infection outside of Africa was identified in the U.S. in 2003. Afterward, no confirmed cases were detected outside of Africa until 2018. Between 2018 and 2022, a total of 11 travel-related monkeypox cases were identified in the U.K., Singapore, Israel, and the U.S. Since April 2022, several countries throughout Europe, as well as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States have reported outbreaks of monkeypox infection. Although these cases do not appear to be directly related to travel from endemic regions, the initial imported case in each nation originated from Nigeria. As of June 16, 2022, over 1,300 cases of monkeypox infection have been reported in 28 different countries across the world. Since the discovery of monkeypox infection in 1970, this is the largest number of cases to ever be reported outside of Africa. Geographical distribution of the ongoing monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreaks. MPXV endemic countries have had sporadic epidemics since 2017. Nigeria (15), Cameroon (3), Central African Republic (8), Democratic Republic of Congo (1238), Sierra Leone (0). Note: Non-endemic countries: Argentine (AR), Australia (AU), Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Canada (CA), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Ireland (IE), Israel (IL), Italy (IT), Malta (MT), Mexico (MX), The Netherlands (NL), Portugal (PT), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), Switzerland (CH), United Arab Emirates (AE), UK (GB), USA (US). Endemic countries: Cameroon (CM), Central African Republic (CF), Democratic Republic of the Congo (CD), Liberia (LR), Nigeria (NG), the Republic of the Congo (CG) and Sierra Leone (SL). Genome sequencing of identified monkeypox cases During the 2017 and 2018 outbreaks, genomic analysis of ten monkeypox-positive samples was conducted to better understand its origin. Specifically, five local cases from Nigeria, four exported cases from the U.K., Singapore, and Israel, as well as one hospital-related transmission case within the U.K., were subjected to genomic analysis. The genomic analysis findings indicated that the exported cases were associated with the West African clade. Furthermore, these cases shared a common ancestor with a local case in Nigeria with a travel history to three Nigerian states of Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers State. Comparatively, the genomic analysis conducted during the current multi-country outbreak indicates that the circulating monkeypox strain belongs to the West African clade. Furthermore, this strain is closely related to that which was exported from Nigeria during the 2018 and 2019 outbreaks. The monkeypox cases that have been isolated in the current outbreak do not have a travel history to endemic regions and, as a result, are not epidemiologically linked to West or Central Africa. This indicates that monkeypox infection has become topical and community transmission of the infection is now possible in non-endemic regions. Impact of COVID-19 on monkeypox outbreak The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was detected in Nigeria in March 2020. Given the severity of COVID-19, researchers and public health agencies worldwide have focused on monitoring the spread of COVID-19. Despite the necessity of these measures to mitigate the current pandemic, this hyperfixation of COVID-19 leads to a lack of surveillance and monitoring of monkeypox cases in Nigeria. Furthermore, the number of people seeking medical attention for monkeypox infection has also declined considerably due to the fear of contracting COVID-19. Collectively, these factors have increased the prevalence and risk of monkeypox globally. Given that most countries are now relaxing COVID-19-related restrictions, the rising cases of monkeypox is becoming a global health concern. Some of the factors that may increase the risk of monkeypox outbreaks include declining cross-protection from smallpox vaccines, increased exposure to wild animals, and consumption of animal meat, as well as a lack of knowledge and information about monkeypox. How to prevent a monkeypox outbreak To manage the current outbreak, the monkeypox virus has been incorporated into Nigerias Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System (IDSR). Nevertheless, expanding current monitoring and detection protocols is required in both endemic and non-endemic countries. To date, there is no treatment available against monkeypox infection. Thus, the JYNNEOS vaccine that is currently approved in the United States for monkeypox and smallpox should be deployed globally as a preventive measure, particularly in high-risk populations. In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers University of Washington, University of Michigan, Duke University, and Veterans Affairs Portland Healthcare System assessed the effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccines. Various studies have reported that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant is more likely to evade the immune system and cause breakthrough COVID-19 infections than the other variants. In order to determine the effectiveness of booster vaccines in at-risk populations of Omicron, further research is needed. Study: Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine boosters against infection, hospitalization and death: a target trial emulation in the omicron (B.1.1.529) variant era. Image Credit: Davide Bonaldo / Shutterstock About the study The present study investigated the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) booster vaccine effectiveness (VE) against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection and related hospitalization and death. The team designed a retrospective matched cohort study to conduct a controlled trial of booster mRNA vaccination with the mRNA-1273 and BNT162n2 vaccines. The enrollment and follow-up for the study were between 1 December 2021 and 31 March 2022. The team employed a matched cohort design comprising eligible individuals who were matched based on their dates of booster vaccination to persons who were not boosted as of that date. The follow-up period for each participant lasted until the first occurrence of either an outcome event, death not causally related to COVID-19, booster vaccination of the comparator, or the end of the study period. The team identified all Veterans Affairs (VA) enrollees who were aged 18 years and above, were alive as of 1 December 2021, and were vaccinated with two mRNA vaccine doses with the second vaccination received at least five months before the study. Almost 30% of the eligible participants had received their booster mRNA vaccine during the study period between 1 December 2021 and 31 March 2022. The cohorts were matched every week of the study period by identifying eligible participants who were alive, not infected by SARS-CoV-2, and had not yet been boosted. Among these persons, the team selected potential individuals to be included in the treatment arm, which comprised persons who received a booster dose during that week and comparators who were not boosted. Baseline characteristics were used to recognize the best-matched comparators corresponding to each boosted participant. The exact matching was performed based on age, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), type of primary COVID-19 vaccine received, and the date when the primary vaccination was completed. The primary end-points of the study included COVID-19 infection, related hospitalization, and death. The team defined SARS-CoV-2 infection as a positive result for the SARS-CoV-2 antigen in a respiratory sample or nucleic acid amplification test. The date of the infection was considered to be the earliest date of SARS-CoV-2 positive diagnosis. SARS-CoV-2-related hospitalization was defined as hospital admission recorded in the VA system or within 30 days of a SARS-CoV-2 positive test and related death. Results The study results showed that almost 99% of the matched cohorts were under follow-up and considered to be at-risk at day 10 since the time of positive SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. While the average follow-up duration was approximately 79.8 days for both the matched cohorts, a total of 6438 and 10,946 SARS-CoV-2 infections were detected in the booster and the no-booster groups, respectively. The team noted that 85% of these COVID-19 infections occurred after 1 January 2022. Moreover, almost 100%, 14%, and 0.5% of the infections detected after 1 January 2022, between 16 December and 31 December 2022, and before 16 December 2022 were caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves comparing persons who received a booster mRNA COVID-19 vaccine versus their matched counterparts who did not with respect to the cumulative incidence (%) and 95% confidence intervals of SARS-CoV-2 infection (a), SARS-CoV-2-related hospitalization (b), SARS-CoV-2-related death (c) and SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first 10 days after time zero (d) (negative outcome control). The team also observed that overall booster VE against Omicron infections was 42.3%, while that for the BNT162b2 booster was 39.0% and the mRNA-1273 booster was 44.6%. Furthermore, the VE of the booster vaccines was higher among persons who had received their primary vaccination more than nine months before the booster as compared to individuals who were vaccinated five to nine months prior. Booster VE was also found to be higher among individuals reporting more comorbidities but lower among the elderly population. A total of 515 deaths were observed in the booster group while 1060 deaths were found in the no-booster cohort. The team also remarked that the cumulative incidence of hospital admission and death due to COVID-19 at 121 days was significantly lower among the boosted persons than the non-boosted individuals. The VE of booster vaccines against hospitalization and death was 53.3% and 79.1% overall and 54% and 85.5% for the BNT162b2 and 52.9% and 75.2% for the mRNA-1273 booster cohorts, respectively. Moreover, VE was higher among individuals who were boosted more than nine months after primary vaccination and persons having a higher number of comorbidities. Overall, the study findings showed that the mRNA booster vaccines displayed sufficient VE against SARS-CoV-2 infection, related hospitalization, and death. Therefore, the researchers believe that booster vaccination should be encouraged to reduce the number of deaths related to COVID-19. *Important notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College assessed the cleavability of the spike (S) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern (VOCs) and related coronaviruses by several proteases of the host. Host proteases cleave SARS-CoV-2 (and other coronaviruses) S at the boundary of S subunits 1 and 2 (S1/S2), thereby exposing peptides for the fusion of SARS-CoV-2 and host cell membranes which facilitates SARS-CoV-2 entry into the host. In a previous study, the authors demonstrated that host proteases, such as coagulation factors, cleave SARS-CoV-2 S and promote host invasion by SARS-CoV-2. Study: Evolution of host protease interactions among SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and related coronaviruses. Image Credit NIAID About the study In the present study, researchers extended their previous analysis by assessing the S1/S2 cleavage of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses by host proteases such as furin, transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), thrombin, and coagulation factor Xa. They used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based assays to explore the impact of SARS-CoV-2 VOC mutations on the corresponding S protein cleavage by proteases of the host. In addition, the cleavage of other coronaviruses S proteins by the proteases was also assessed. Subsamples of databases such as Nextstrain and the global initiative on sharing all influenza data (GISAID) were examined for S codon 681 sequence divergence among SARS-CoV-2 VOCs. In particular, the team investigated the impact of mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants on S1/S2 cleavage by host proteases by comparing the enzyme kinetics [maximum initial velocity (Vmax)] on substrates with P681 and P681H mutations corresponding to the Wuhan-Hu-1 (ancestral) strain and the Alpha VOC, respectively. Furthermore, the activity of nafamostat in inhibiting proteases involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry was assessed. The effect of phosphorylation on host protease-mediated S1/S2 cleavability at serine (Ser) residues located in the vicinity of the S1/S2 cleavage site was determined using phosphorylated substrates corresponding to the S689, S680, and S686, residues. In addition, the impact of post-translational modifications on S1/S2 cleavability was evaluated. Lastly, the evolution of protease-mediated S1/S2 cleavability across other related coronaviruses such as the SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), common cold virus (HCoV-OC43), the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)-Beaudette, and the bat coronavirus (RatG13) was assessed. Results The S codon 681, which resides in the S1/S2 cleavage site, was of the highest entropy sites in the SARS-CoV-2 genome in the samples. The mutations P681H and P681R define the Alpha and Delta VOCs, respectively. While the P681H mutation enhanced the activity of factor Xa, there were no changes in the cleavage activity of furin, thrombin, and TMPRSS2. However, the P681R mutation enhanced the Vmax values of the coagulation factor Xa-mediated SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 cleavage and that of furin-mediated S1/S2 cleavage by 65% and 99%, respectively, in comparison to the Wuhan-Hu-1 strain. In contrast, thrombin and TMPRSS2 demonstrated reduced activity for the substrate expressing P681R. Sequence divergence of SARS-CoV-2 spike-681 among variants of concern. (A) Schematic of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, highlighting position 681 adjacent to the S1/S2 site. Modified from (Kastenhuber et al., 2022). A subsampled collection of 3043 samples from between Dec 2109 and May 2022 from GISAID was obtained and visualized using Nextstrain (https://nextstrain.org/ncov) (Elbe and Buckland-Merrett, 2017; Hadfield et al., 2018). (B) Frequency of viral genomes sequenced with proline (black), histidine (red), or arginine (blue) at spike codon 681 by date of sample collection. (C) Phylogenic tree rendered by Nextstrain. Genotype at S681 of each sample is indicated by proline (gray), histidine (red), or arginine (blue). Branches corresponding to dominant variants of concern are highlighted in the outer ring. Nafamostat inhibited coagulation factors, TMPRSS2, and other transmembrane serine proteases involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry. While factor Xa exhibited elevated Vmax for the variant substrates expressing the P681Rv and P681H and mutations, factor Xa demonstrated equivalent nafamostat sensitivity for cleaving the P681Rv and P681H substrates. Ser 680 phosphorylation at the P6 position located upstream of S1/S2 cleavage site, entirely terminated furin-mediated cleavage and moderately impacted (30% to 50% inhibition) S1/S cleave by factor Xa, thrombin, and TMPRSS2. Ser 686 phosphorylation in the P1 position located near the S1/S2 cleavage site, strongly inhibited the activity of all proteases tested. Contrastingly, Ser 689 phosphorylation at the C-terminal P4 position impacted S1/S2 cleavability such that TMPRSS2 and factor Xa were inhibited moderately whereas thrombin was inhibited strongly, and on the contrary, increased furin-mediated cleavage was observed. Post-translational modifications by phosphorylation significantly affected S1/S2 cleavability. Protease susceptibility was different for all the coronaviruses tested and only the cleavage site of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated cleavage by the four proteases tested. Factor Xa demonstrated marked cleavability for the S1/S2 cleavage sites of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43. Proteolytic fingerprint of diverse coronavirus lineages. (A) Phylogenic relationship of a panel of coronaviruses with the corresponding aligned S1/S2 and S2 cleavage sites. Heatmaps depicting the initial velocity V0 of cleavage of the indicated peptide substrates (rows) and concentrations (columns) by (B) factor Xa, (C) furin, (D) TMPRSS2, and (E) thrombin. Furin showed efficacy against the HCoV-OC43 S1/S2-OC43/Seattle strain, but not against the S1/S2-OC43/ATCC strain of HCoV-OC43. In addition, furin efficiently cleaved the S1/S2 boundary and the S2 cleavage site of the IBV-Beaudette strain. Thrombin demonstrated cleavage of S proteins of MERS, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2, but did not substantially cleave RatG13. TMPRSS2 cleaved the S proteins (at the S1/S2 and S2 cleavage sites) of several coronaviruses, although the cleavage efficacy was relatively low. In addition, the team observed convergence of distantly related coronaviruses to achieve common host protease interactions, including coagulation factors. This indicates that the use of host proteases has probably been a selection pressure through the evolution of coronaviruses. Overall, the study findings showed that while SARS-CoV-2 VOCs exhibited divergent interactions between their S1/S2 cleavage sites and host proteases, convergent evolution of host protease-mediated cleavability was observed among different coronaviruses. *Important notice bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. A new genetic discovery adds weight to a theory that motor neurone degenerative diseases are caused by abnormal lipid (fat) processing pathways inside brain cells. This theory will help pave the way to new diagnostic approaches and treatments for this group of conditions. The discovery will provide answers for certain families who have previously had no diagnosis. Motor neurone degenerative diseases (MNDs) are a large family of neurological disorders. Currently, there are no treatments available to prevent onset or progression of the condition. MNDs are caused by changes in one of numerous different genes. Despite the number of genes known to cause MNDs, many patients still remain without a much-needed genetic diagnosis. A University of Exeter team led by Professor Andrew Crosby and Dr Emma Baple has a long history of research in motor neurone degenerative diseases. The team developed a hypothesis to explain a common cause of MNDs stemming from their discovery of 15 genes responsible for MNDs. The genes they identified are all involved in processing lipids - in particular cholesterol inside brain cells. in the new hypothesis published in the leading neurology journal Brain, describes the specific lipid pathways that the team believe are important in the development of MNDs. Now, the team has identified a further new gene named "TMEM63C" which causes a degenerative disease that affects the upper motor neurone cells in the nervous system. Also published in Brain, their latest discovery is important as the protein encoded by TMEM63C is located in the region of the cell where the lipid processing pathways they identified operate. This further bolsters the hypothesis that MNDs are caused by abnormal processing of lipids including cholesterol. Professor Andrew Crosby, at the University of Exeter, said: "We're extremely excited by this new gene finding, as it is consistent with our hypothesis that the correct maintenance of specific lipid processing pathways is crucial for the way brain cells function, and that abnormalities in these pathways are a common linking theme in motor neurone degenerative diseases. It also enables new diagnoses and answers to be readily provided for families affected by some forms of MND" MNDs affect the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle activity such as walking, speaking and swallowing. There are many different forms of MNDs which have different clinical features and severity. As the condition progresses, the motor neurone cells become damaged and may eventually die. This leads to the muscles, which rely on those nerve messages, gradually weakening and wasting away. If confirmed, the theory could lead to scientists to use patient samples to predict the course and severity of the condition in an individual, and to monitor the effect of potential new drugs developed to treat these disorders. In the latest research, the team used cutting-edge genetic sequencing techniques to investigate the genome of three families with individuals affected by hereditary spastic paraplegia a large group of MNDs in which the motor neurons in the upper part of the spinal cord miscommunicate with muscle fibers, leading to symptoms including muscle stiffness, weakness and wasting. These investigations showed that changes in the TMEM63C gene were the cause of the disease. In collaboration with the group led by Dr Julien Prudent at the Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge, the team also undertook studies to learn more about the functional relevance of the TMEM63C protein inside the cell. Using state-of-the-art microscopy methods, the Cambridge team's work showed that a subset of TMEM63C is localized at the interface between two critical cellular organelles, the endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria, a region of the cell required for lipid metabolism homeostasis and proposed by the Exeter team to be important for the development of MNDs. In addition to this specific localization, Dr Luis-Carlos Tabara Rodriguez, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Prudent's lab, also uncovered that TMEM63C controls the morphology of both the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria, which may reflect its role in the regulation of the functions of these organelles, including lipid metabolism homeostasis. Dr Julien Prudent, of the MRC Mitochondrial Biology unit, said: "From a mitochondrial cell biologist point of view, identification of TMEM63C as a new motor neurone degenerative disease gene and its importance to different organelle functions reinforce the idea that the capacity of different cellular compartments to communicate together, by exchanging lipids for example, is critical to ensure cellular homeostasis required to prevent disease." Understanding precisely how lipid processing is altered in motor neurone degenerative diseases is essential to be able to develop more effective diagnostic tools and treatments for a large group of diseases that have a huge impact on people's lives. Finding this gene is another important step towards these important goals." Dr Emma Baple, University of Exeter The Halpin Trust, a charity who support projects which deliver a powerful and lasting impact in healthcare, nature conservation and the environment, part-funded this research. Claire Halpin, the charities' co-founder with her husband Les said "The Halpin Trust are extremely proud of the work ongoing in Exeter, and the important findings of this highly collaborative international study. We're delighted that the Trust has contributed to this work, which forms part of Les's legacy. He would also have been pleased, I know." The HSP Support Group is a UK charity providing help for people diagnosed with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP). Adam Lawrence, the Group's Chair said "Finding a new type of HSP is extremely important as it helps reduce the uncertainty which people with the condition often have on their diagnosis journey. The work of the team in Exeter investigating HSP and its genetic causes over many years is world-leading and has increased the global understanding of HSP. Their work is important providing much needed answers for people with HSP, and developing treatments." In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers illustrated a rapid response strategy for managing monkeypox (MPX) outbreaks. Background As the MPX outbreak beyond the endemic regions persists, healthcare institutions and public health professionals face the dilemma of quickly identifying and managing persons potentially exposed to MPX. The United Kingdom (UK), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have all produced different definitions of MPX exposure. Yet, the issues of timely reporting of potential exposure, risk evaluation for risk classification, and symptom surveillance within the exposure window are significant. Furthermore, risk classification is crucial because people at greater risk might be offered post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in the form of a vaccine. Nevertheless, the best time to provide the vaccine is within four days of MPX exposure. Additionally, public health authorities suggest monitoring healthcare personnel (HCP) for symptoms upon defined MPX exposures. About the study In the current study, the investigators described the speedy design and implementation of mobile responsive survey systems for reporting potential MPX exposure, risk evaluation and categorization of exposure, and symptom tracking among HCPs. The research was conducted in an academic health institution in Boston, Massachusetts, following the admission of the initial diagnosed MPX case in the United States (US) during the present global outbreak. The study's volunteers included the occupational health, infection control, emergency preparedness professionals, Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) design and programmers, and HCPs with suspected MPX exposure. The study interventions were developing and deploying REDCap techniques to recognize HCP who may have been exposed to MPX, conducting an exposure risk analysis and categorization for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and monitoring symptoms in the exposure window. Dashboards for HCP monitoring and short message service (SMS) text alerts for symptom surveillance were among the project's enhancements. Results Overall, the present study details the quick creation of MPX-specific solutions and the initial experience with deploying the technology, which includes 1) exposure risk analysis and classification, 2) symptom monitoring, and 3) alerting of potential exposure. Additionally, the authors noted that these systems were available to others for use. Moreover, each solution was improved further by clinical support teams offering guidance and counseling for HCPs. In detail, the study results indicated that the tools to enable contact mapping and exposure inquiry were implemented within 24 hours of the recognition of an individual with assumed MPX, with the entire suite in operation within four days of the confirmed MPX diagnosis. Moreover, clinical follow-up of the medical professional was incorporated into the design, and actual-time versioning permitted modifications, resulting in improved HCP symptom tracking compliance and monitoring. The speedy development of MPX-specific solutions employing REDCap allowed flexibility in approach and design, and the incorporation of focused clinical assistance augmented functionality. Assigned team representatives successfully accessed a user-friendly interface to explore HCP data within the REDCap project by employing the previously constructed bespoke MGB REDCap external module. A crucial component of the methodology was the proactive recognition of HCP who might gain from clinical assistance, either associated with technological proficiency, consisting of both email access and familiarity with survey completion, or with language hurdles or those who require PEP counseling. As the tools persist to be implemented, workflows such as clinical assistance could continue to be optimized for effectiveness. Other organizations could use Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Monkeypox REDCap Toolkit and any customized external modules' code. Customization may be required if an institution or entity was adopting local public health criteria of exposure or monitoring, depending on responses. The entire solution development and design strategy were collaborative, with multiple developers concurrently working on different aspects of the solution, focusing on particular areas such as survey question layouts, automatic notifications, reporting, and allowed access. Conclusions In conclusion, the authors noted that it was critical to implement exposure reporting, risk evaluation and classification, and symptom surveillance systems within days of detection of an MPX case. The present research fulfilled this need due to the development team's knowledge in constructing similar devices before and during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic to assist operations and investigation efforts. Further, the modularized characteristics of REDCap, precise and clear communications from the involved parties, including occupational health services (OHS) and infection control on their functional requirements, made this possible. The team believes that sharing the REDCap strategy and tools used might help others in similar situations and lead to developments and improvements. In addition, they mentioned that these technologies were applicable beyond the healthcare context, where several similar demands have been recognized in reaction to the spread of MPX in the community. *Important notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a condition in which kidneys are unable to filter waste from the blood effectively, leading to various health complications. Numerous studies have demonstrated that acute kidney injury (AKI) subsequently leads to long-term renal damage and progresses into chronic kidney disease (CKD)-;a more severe form of kidney failure. The transition from AKI to CKD is dependent on various factors, such as sepsis, type of surgery, and the presence of cardiovascular diseases. At present, the exact mechanisms underlying this multifactorial transition are unclear. Unraveling these mechanisms can contribute to the development of therapeutic strategies to prevent the AKI-CKD transition. Currently, it is known that macrophages, which are a type of immune cell, play a key role in the transition from AKI to CKD. To explore the role of macrophages further, a team of researchers led by Dr. Xiaoming Meng from Anhui Medical University in China, wrote a review article highlighting the impact of different macrophage subtypes on the transition from AKI to CKD. This article, which was published the Chinese Medical Journal, also explored the potential of macrophage targeted therapy in the prevention of the AKI-CKD transition. The source from which a macrophage is derived affects its phenotype and function. In fact, macrophages can evolve into multiple phenotypes, each of which takes up a different role in regulating kidney failure and repair. For example, resident macrophages, which are specific to the kidney tissue, are involved in anti-inflammatory processes during kidney repair, while circulating macrophages, which are derived from blood monocytes, play a pro-inflammatory role upon migrating to the site of injury. Generally, macrophages are categorized into two types: M1 and M2. A few studies have suggested that M1 macrophages, which are pro-inflammatory, play a role in certain early processes associated with AKI development. On the other hand, M2 macrophages have been found to reduce the inflammation and fibrosis associated with AKIs. How do pro-inflammatory macrophages contribute to CKD? Dr. Meng states, "Renal injury which leads to CKD is enhanced by pro-inflammatory macrophages. These macrophages accelerate renal inflammation via the release of several pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines or by triggering abnormal wound healing processes, which eventually lead to renal fibrosis." The unique nature of macrophages allows them to change their phenotype from M1 to M2 in response to kidney injury-;a process known as polarization. Macrophages can also alter the kidney microenvironment through interactions with endothelial cells, immune cells, fibroblasts, and tubular epithelial cells (TECs). For example, macrophages infiltrating the kidney in response to injury promote TEC injury and death, which ultimately blocks the AKI-CKD transition brought about by the TECs. In sepsis-induced AKI, Csf2, which is a cytokine secreted by injured TECs, promotes the transition of M1 macrophages to M2 macrophages. Interestingly, certain M2 macrophages that express CD206 and/or CD163 receptors contribute to subclinical inflammation, tubular injury, and the progression of renal fibrosis-;a stark contrast from their usual anti-inflammatory behavior. Moreover, in case of extreme inflammation, M2 macrophages adopt a 'pro-fibrotic phenotype' wherein they activate myofibroblasts, which are cells involved in wound contraction and healing. "Unexpectedly, we discovered that macrophages can directly trans-differentiate into myofibroblasts, via a process known as macrophage-myofibroblast transition (MMT). These newly formed myofibroblasts increase renal fibrosis, which eventually leads to renal failure.", stated Dr. Meng. At present, the exact role of MMT in the AKI-CKD transition is unclear. The article also discusses three signaling pathways that contribute to the AKI to CKD transition, which include the Notch signaling pathway, the TGF-/Smad signaling pathway, and the Wnt/-catenin signaling pathway. "Targeting the pathways that regulate macrophage and MMT activation or modification of macrophage phenotypes can be a promising therapeutic approach for kidney diseases, by blocking the AKI to CKD transition.", says Dr. Meng, while discussing how the AKI-CKD transition can be prevented. Therapeutic strategies that interfere with the activation and pathogenic role of macrophages in this transition have been widely studied. The article highlights the role of molecules known as clodronate liposomes, which can deplete macrophages and reduce the extent of renal fibrosis. Altering the activation of macrophages and blocking factors that they interact with, can also prevent renal fibrosis and subsequent failure. Moreover, treatment with a compound known as quercetin has been shown to block macrophage infiltration and M2 polarization. Additionally, a receptor known as colony stimulating factor (CSF)-1 influences the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of macrophages. Blocking the gene that codes for this receptor can lead to an inhibition of macrophage proliferation in the kidneys. Moreover, a molecule known as vorapaxar has been reported to suppress macrophages by blocking pathways that are involved in the AKI to CKD transition. The insights from this article will contribute to the development of additional therapeutic strategies against the AKI-CKD transition! (Newser) For three centuries, the Ptolemaic Dynasty worked to gather all the books ever written into one library in Alexandria, Egypt. Then it all burned down. By one account, the untold thousands of manuscripts smoldered for six months. As Laura Spinney explains in the Guardian, nobody today even knows the library's exact location, much less what was lost. Moreover, its just one example of a recurring theme involving the wholesale loss of knowledge and literature, and one recent study substantiates what historians have long suspected: we probably only have a fraction of our forebears written works. Applying a statistical method used in ecology known as unseen species modeling, a team of European scholars estimated what must have existed (and was subsequently lost) based on what remains today. Findings suggest some 90% of medieval manuscripts are long gone, including a third of chivalric stories akin to King Arthur. By no means is the issue confined to English or Western culture. The imperial library of China's Han Dynasty also burned to the ground, and fires claimed many other collections, along with the forces of censorship, incompetence, vandalism, and natural decay. Researchers also say its not safe to assume only the best, most representative works survived. For example, while Shakespeare remains the dominant force in English literature, he existed in a rich and varied literary ecosystem from which hundreds of plays and other works remain lost, many of them every bit as popular and profitable as those by the Bard himself. Read the full piece here. (Read more literature stories.) (Newser) The New York Public Library really wants to help people build their home libraries, and to accomplish that, it is giving away a half-million books this summer. The books, which are also meant to help young people stay engaged with reading over the summer, can be picked up at any of the branch's 92 locations, CNN reports. "New York City students and families have been through so much over the last two years. It's critical that, during this period of recovery and renewal, our ecosystem of learning do all it can to support and engage them," a library director says in a statement. The "Summer at the Library Program" will also offer youth and adult programming, Time Out reports. (Read more library stories.) (Newser) After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to receive national recognition said it's important that people learn the history behind it. "We need to know so people can heal from it and never let it happen again," said Lee, per the AP, whose 2-mile walk through Fort Worth symbolized the 2 years it took for enforcement in Texas of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in the Southern states. Juneteenth became a national holiday last year. Americans across the country gathered this weekend at holiday events filled with music, food, and fireworks. Celebrations included an emphasis on learning about the past and addressing racial disparities. Many people celebrated the day just as they did before any formal recognition. Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to order freedom for the enslaved people of the statetwo months after the Confederacy had surrendered in the Civil War. A Gallup Poll found that Americans are more familiar with the day than they were last year, with 59% saying they knew "a lot" or "some" about the holiday, compared with 37% a year ago. The poll also found that support for making Juneteenth part of the history taught in schools increased from 49% to 63%. One celebration was at a Houston park created 150 years ago by a group of formerly enslaved men who bought the land. At times, it was the only public park available in the area to Black people, according to the conservancy's website. In Fort Worth, celebrations included the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, named for the Black cowboy credited with introducing bulldogging, or steer wrestling. More young people have become involved in planning Juneteenth events, said Torrina Harris of the Nia Cultural Center in Galveston, the holiday's birthplace. In Phoenix, hundreds gathered at Eastlake Park, a focal point for civil rights in Arizona. Kendall McCollun, 15-year-old Teen Miss Juneteenth Arizona, said the holiday is about social justice. "We have to fight twice as hard to have the same freedoms that our ancestors fought for hundreds of years ago," she said. "It's important we continue to fight for my generation, and this day is important to celebrate how far we've come." (Read more Juneteenth stories.) Ex-official of Russian Aerospace Forces jailed for 5 years for corruption MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) The Moscow Garrison Military Court on Monday sentenced ex-head of the Russian Aerospace Forces radar troops Andrey Koban to 5 years behind bars as part of a bribery case, the courts press service told RAPSI. The defendant was deprived of his Major General in reserve rank and banned from holding state service posts for 3 years. The court also seized his assets to the amount of the bribe taken nearly 12 million rubles (over $210,000) The case was heard under a special procedure, without examining evidence because the former military official had signed a plea deal. According to the case papers, Koban has received a bribe totaling about 12 million rubles from the top management of the Nizhny Novgorod radio engineering research and development institute for acquiescence during the execution of a state defense order. (Newser) As Americans celebrated Memorial Day weekend, Eloyse Paquet Poisson was enjoying a sunny day in a Quebec City park, smoking a cigarette and doing macrame, which sounds like it should have been largely uneventful. Instead, she had an unpleasant encounter with local police and her tale about it went viral, prompting dozens of topless women to converge on a Montreal park on Sunday in protest. In a Facebook post from May 30, Poisson describes the "stressful, angry, and worrisome" incident from the day prior, when she'd been quietly sitting on her blanket in the park. She writes she'd taken her shirt off "to get some sun and ... to catch some cool breeze that would cool off my under-boob." Poisson notes there were many men around her who had the same idea and were similarly toplessbut they weren't the ones approached by a police officer. Poisson says the cop watched her from afar for about 10 minutes, then walked over and asked her to cover herself. She notes that she refused and asked the officer why he wasn't asking the men in the park to do the same, at which point he walked away. Then, after another 10 minutes, he was back, with a group of his colleagues for "reinforcement," per Poisson's account. "The five of them are moving on me," she writes. "My heart is beating fast, but I keep my t--s up and my eyes piercing. I am scared but I feel strong." She says that she informed the cops they had no legal standing to make their ask, and that they agreed with her. She also notes that people in the park started standing up for her, including one shirtless man who proclaimed, "Are you going to arrest me?" CTV News and Global News note the police were apparently responding to a citizen complaint about Poisson's toplessness. Both outlets add there's nothing illegal locally or nationally regarding women appearing sans shirts in a park. It seems Poisson didn't get fined, but her post went viral, prompting dozens of topless women to converge on Jeanne-Mance Park in Montreal on Sunday in solidarity. "It's not only about changing people's minds and changing the way people view women's breasts, [but] it's a protest about gender equality entirely," Alice Lacroix, the organizer of the protest, told CTV. She added, per Global News: "I know that what we're doing today is bothering a lot of people. and I say, good ... Because at the end of the day, what we're claiming is our rights to use our bodies the way that we want to." (Read more topless stories.) (Newser) Paul Haggis, filmmaker and well-known former Scientologist, was arrested Sunday in Italy on charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury, according to multiple reports in Italian media as well as a statement from public prosecutors in the region. Haggis, the director of Crash and screenwriter of Million Dollar Baby, was in the tourist town of Ostuni for a new film festival, Allora Fest, set to start Tuesday, per the Hollywood Reporter. Prosecutors say someone identified only as a "young foreign woman" (meaning not Italian) was forced, over the course of two days, to have "non-consensual" sexual relations and that she was "forced to seek medical care," the AP reports. The festival told Variety that following Haggis' arrest, any and all of his participation in the event was removed. Haggis' lawyer says that under Italian law she cannot discuss the allegations, but "I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr. Haggis. He is totally innocent, and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly." Per the police report, the alleged victim was left, by an unnamed man, at an airport at dawn in "precarious physical and psychological conditions" and an "obvious confused state" and was aided by airport staff and police and then taken to a hospital. In 2018, Haggis was sued by a publicist who said Haggis raped her in her New York apartment following a premiere; three more women ultimately came forward, but Haggis denied all the allegations and some said the Church of Scientology could be behind them. That trial has been delayed by COVID and is still pending. (Read more Paul Haggis stories.) (Newser) An early Father's Day barbecue in San Antonio, Texas, turned deadly Saturday night when a drive-by shooting took place as guests were gathered in the front yard of a home. Two men, ages 45 and 46, were killed; five others, ages 19 to 44, were injured, KSAT reports. About 20 to 30 rounds were fired from a dark-colored SUV around 10:15pm, and authorities are still searching for the suspects. Six children were at the barbecue, but none were in the yard when the shooting took place, USA Today reports. "I did hear some of the kids screaming, 'that's my dad, that's my dad' and the mom came over and it was just chaos," a neighbor tells Fox San Antonio. "One of the dad's laying down, you know, I mean it's just, this is a day that they're never going to forget." Authorities do not yet have details on either the suspects or the vehicle, but they say they are working on "a couple of theories" as to a possible motive. Police were sent to the same address for a report of "deadly conduct" last month, Fox News reports, but authorities did not elaborate on what transpired during that incident. (Read more Texas stories.) (Newser) A government attorney for the Philippines was fatally shot in an Uber while visiting Philadelphia, officials said Sunday. John Albert Laylo was heading to Philadelphia International Airport with his mother to board a flight and was stopped in the Uber at a red light near the University of Pennsylvania around 4:10am Saturday, officials said. Several rounds were fired into the Uber from a black car behind it, police said. The black car then pulled up alongside the Uber and fired several more rounds into it, police said in a news release. Laylo was shot in the back of the head and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday, the AP reports. No one was arrested, and no weapon has been found, police said. Authorities did not offer a suspected motive or say whether Laylo, his mother or the Uber driver were intentionally targeted. Homicide detectives are investigating and are looking for surveillance video. The consulate general of the Philippines said the victim was an attorney for its government, Philadelphia's KYW-TV reported. It wasn't clear whether the Uber driver or Laylo's mother were injured, but the latter posted to Facebook on Sunday, indicating she had been hit by shrapnel and saying she had been on vacation with her son, whom she referred to as Jal and said was 35 years old. Never did I imagine or dream that ... the end of our vacation will be like this! Leah Bustamante Laylo wrote in a post accompanied by snapshots of her and her son touring sites in New York, Washington, and Philadelphia. We travelled together and we are supposed to go home together! I will bring him home soon in a box! Philadelphia, along with other large US cities, is experiencing a surge in gun violence. (Read more Philadelphia stories.) (Newser) The Washington Post is out with a lengthy story critical about evangelical leader Franklin Graham's advice to a woman accusing her husband of physical abuse. Religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey draws a parallel between this and a controversy from a few years ago, when a Southern Baptist leader tried to persuade an abused woman to return to her husband. The new incident involves Iranian immigrant Naghmeh Panahi, whose "experience with Graham offers another rare glimpse into how a towering figure in American religious life reacted to an abuse claim." As Bailey reports, Panahi and Graham struck up a friendship in 2013 after Panahi's husband, Saeed Abedini, was imprisoned during a trip to Iran. Graham became a strong advocate for Panahi as she publicly crusaded for her husband's release. However, their relationship abruptly ended in 2015, after Panahi had a change of heart about her husband (still imprisoned at the time) and said he had physically and emotionally abused her all through the marriage. Graham called her when he heard the allegations. Naghmeh, are you cheating on him? he asked, and Graham confirms the exchange to the Post. It was a good question to ask, he says, and I would have asked it again. The story includes a recorded conversation between the two in which he calls abuse a "gray area" as she repeatedly tells him her husband beat her. (Abedini, now free and living somewhere in the Mideast, has denied the allegations.) Panahi has begun speaking publicly about her ties to Graham, and she has advice for women in abusive relationships: "Don't go through the church." (Read the full story.) (Newser) The surprise announcement by BTS last week that they were taking a break to focus on members' solo projects stunned their global fan base, shaking their label's stock price and leaving many questions about the K-pop supergroup's future. HYBE, the company behind the band, denied the group was taking a "hiatus," and in the days since, band members have remained active on social media, continuing the stream of posts, photos, and assurances that the band wasn't breaking up. Still, despite the immediate impactsHYBE's stock initially dropped more than 25% and has yet to fully recoverseveral factors may still affect BTS' future, per the AP. One is looming military enlistment for older BTS members, as well as how engaged the group and their devoted fans, known as ARMY (or Adorable Representative MC for Youth), will continue to be in social issues. In 2020, at the height of BTS' success, the South Korean government revised the country's military law that requires able-bodied South Korean men to perform approximately two years of military service. The revised law allows top K-pop starsincluding Jin, the oldest member of BTSto defer their military service until they turn 30 if they've received government medals for heightening the country's cultural reputation. All BTS members meet the criteria as recipients of government medals in 2018. Jin, 29, is expected to enlist this year unless he receives an exemption. There have been callsincluding from South Korea's former culture ministerfor such an exemption for BTS due to their contribution in heightening South Korea's international reputation. But critics say that such an exemption would be bending the conscription rules to favor the privileged. Military enlistment of members has always been a headache for HYBE; BTS once accounted for 90% of the label's profit. Currently, the group makes up 50%-60% of the label's profit, per a report. Last week's announcement also leaves in doubt the group's social justice efforts, which have included vocal support for the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-violence campaigns. BTS' legions of fans have embraced the causes, matching a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter after George Floyd's death. However, the group has faced mushrooming questions about why it isn't as vocal about discrimination in their own country. "BTS and their business folks know that speaking up in the US is profitable but doing the same back home would be more trouble than it's worth. So they don't," author Jumin Lee recently tweeted, while acknowledging their silence is somewhat understandable. (Read more BTS stories.) (Newser) Is this the week that Roe v. Wade falls? The Supreme Court is poised to release its decision on a Mississippi abortion case that could end the federal right to an abortion. As the world knows, a leaked draft opinion suggests the court's conservative majority is poised to do just that. But it's possible things have changed since that draft opinion leaked in early May, and as an analysis at the Washington Post notes, the main focus is on what Chief Justice John Roberts will do. "The question is, if the justices do strike down Roe, whether Roberts goes along with it but adds his own twist, and then would such an opinion attempt to pitch any guardrails on abortion bans," writes Rachel Roubein. What might this "twist" be? Politico has a long analysis on the subject, noting that some kind of Roberts compromise would be in keeping with his general view that "the court shouldnt issue a sweeping decision when a more modest one would do," writes Josh Gerstein. He notes that during oral arguments in the Mississippi case, called Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, Roberts did indeed seem to be looking for a middle ground. The chief justice "suggested that the essential right to end a pregnancy could be maintained even if states were allowed to sharply limit abortion before viability outside the womb, which is generally considered to be around 22 or 23 weeks." In Roberts' view, the central question may not be the age of the fetus, but whether a pregnant woman "has sufficient opportunity to get an abortion," writes Gerstein. All of which could lead to an "opinion that upholds Mississippis 15-week ban but claims to leave Roe in place," notes Gerstein. The upshot of both pieces is that when the ruling comes down, much will hinge not only on the language of the majority opinion but of the dissents, which will provide a blueprint for future legal fights. And as Tierney Sneed at CNN notes, a ruling that overturns Roe doesn't automatically make abortion illegal in the US. "According to the logic expressed in the draft decision (and with the caveat that it can still be changed before the final opinion comes out), the question of abortion policy would then go to state and local lawmakersand potentially federal lawmakers as well." (Read more US Supreme Court stories.) (Newser) Two deputies in Florida's Orange County have been disciplined for leaking news about Bob Saget's death before his family had been notified. Emiliano Silva, one of the deputies who responded to the Jan. 9 call at Orlando's Ritz-Carlton hotel, where Saget's body was found, had been on the scene for only about a half-hour when his brother tweeted, "RIP Bob Saget," per an internal report by the Orange County Sheriff's Office seen by WESH. The investigation found that Silva had indeed texted his brother with the news, and then, about 20 minutes later, asked him to take down the tweet, reports CNN. Shortly after the tweet was sent out, another deputy, Steven Reed, is said to have received a text from a neighbor who'd seen an "RIP Bob Saget" tweet and wanted to know if the news was true. Reed told investigators he wasn't at the hotel with Silva at the time, but instead was off duty and dining at a restaurant with colleagues, one of whom had just informed him of the 65-year-old's death. Reed confirmed the news to the person texting him, then texted a second neighbor acknowledging the actor had died. Authorities hadn't yet let Saget's family know what had happened. Silva told investigators he'd had "no ill intent" in informing his brother about Saget's death and that he just "really wasn't thinking," per the report. Reed, for his part, said, "Hindsight, probably shouldn't have shared it in the way and the manner that I did." The report notes that the deputies were found to have violated departmental policy, though it's not clear what their discipline entails. Meanwhile, Today notes that Saget's daughter Lara shared a poignant Father's Day message over the weekend. "My dad wasn't just my dad, he was my best friend," the 32-year-old wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. "He wore his heart. He didn't hide it; he wasn't afraid of love." (Read more Bob Saget stories.) (Newser) Update: Facebook on Monday removed a controversial campaign video from Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens in which he hunts "RINOs" (Republicans In Name Only) and urges others to do the same. Per the AP, Facebook said the video was removed "for violating our policies prohibiting violence and incitement." Twitter also said the post violated its rules, but that it was left up (albeit in a restricted fashion, with no sharing allowed) because leaving it viewable was in the publics interest." Our original story from Monday follows: Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens on Tuesday published a video encouraging voters to get "RINO-hunting permits." The 38-second spot shows him on the front porch of a home holding a tactical shotgun and "surrounded by men in US armed forces camouflage uniforms," per the Hill. As though narrating a wildlife documentary, Greitens whispers, "the RINO feeds off corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice." The armed men then batter down the door and toss a flash grenade into the residence. Greitens enters and urges viewers to "join the MAGA crew" and get the permit, adding, "theres no bagging limit ... and it doesnt expire until we save our country." The caption in the accompanying tweet says, "We are sick and tired of Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left." Backlash came quickly from all sides. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego said the video "encourages political violence,"and Rep. Juan Castro, another Democrat, called it "sociopathic." Per the Kansas City Star, Greitens GOP primary opponents also condemned the message. Rep. Vicky Hartzler called Greitens "an abuser" and "a blackmailer." Rep. Billy Long said the ad was "very distasteful," but he also called his other primary opponents RINOs and said, "The only way to beat RINOs is at the ballot box." In response to the Hill, Greitens campaign said, "If anyone doesnt get the metaphor, they are either lying or dumb." Rolling Stone says, "the ad is not subtle. It isnt even metaphorical." It is, however, in keeping with past themes in Greitens career, including a 2016 campaign video of himself "unleashing hell with a heavy machinegun. Greitens is former governor of Missouri but was forced to resign in 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance violations. His then-wife also accused him of physical abuse. He and others are running to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt. Per Real Clear Politics, Greitens leads the Republican field in recent polls. The Missouri primary is in August. (GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger warns that "there is violence in the future.") (Newser) A family in Manitoba, Canada has a message for parents everywhere: "Make sure your kids know they can come to you or another safe adult with any problem, and nothing is too wrong to fix." By itself, the message could apply to any number of troubles teenagers could encounter. In this case, however, the advice applies to sextortion, in which criminals obtain sexually explicit images of a person and then threaten to expose them online or to family members if they don't pay up. Per the Drumheller Mail, it started for Danny Lints at 6:30pm on February 19. Three hours later, he was dead. According to the CBC, someone on Snapchat posing as a young woman befriended Lints and gained his trust, convincing him to send an explicit picture. Within minutes, the blackmailing began. Lints drained his own bank account and paid what he could, but threats continued. His family says he was an excellent student and avid athlete who had never exhibited suicidal behaviors. His father, Derek Lints, told the CBC, "I feel like my son was murdered." Stephen Sauer at the Canadian Center for Child Protection says, Young people specifically are pretty vulnerable to this. He blames it on organized crime rings based overseas who know how to manipulate the developing, impulsive teenage brain. Its hard to catch perpetrators because they can mask their IP addresses; even if they are identified, they cant easily be brought to justice if they are overseas. Canadian authorities received over 52,000 sextortion complaints in 2020, and the problem has only gotten worse. Its a growing concern around the world, including in the US, where Ryan Last of San Jose, California killed himself in a strikingly similar case last February, per CNN. He said goodnight to his parents at 10pm. In the morning, he was found dead; he too had paid all the money he could scrounge, but the threats didnt stop. (Read more sextortion stories.) Russia lodges protest against Lithuanias restrictions of transit to Kaliningrad region MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI) Russia has strongly protested against Lithuania's decision to impose a ban on rail transit through its territory of a large range of goods to the Kaliningrad region, and demands an intimidate lifting of these restrictions, according to a statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The relevant information was brought to the attention of the Charge d'Affaires of Lithuania Virginia Umbrasene, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday, June 20. It was indicated that Russia regards the provocative measures of Lithuania, which had violated its international legal obligations, primarily the Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the European Union on transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation of 2002, as openly hostile, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out. The Ministry also said that in case the cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the territory of the Russian Federation through Lithuania would not be restored in full, Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests. (Newser) Clela Rorex, a former Colorado county clerk considered a pioneer in the gay rights movement for being the first public official to issue a same-sex marriage license in 1975, has died. She was 78. Rorex died Sunday of complications from recent surgery at a hospice care facility in Longmont, the Daily Camera reports. Rorex was a newly elected Boulder County clerk when a gay couple denied a marriage license elsewhere sought her help in March 1975. She told the AP in 2014 that she saw a parallel with the womens movement and found nothing in state law preventing it. The then-31-year-old agreed and, in the end, issued a total of six licenses to gay couples before Colorados attorney general at the time ordered her to stop. State and federal law didnt recognize gay marriage at the time. Rorex recalled that she had little public support and didnt challenge the attorney general. A recall effort was launched against Rorex, a single mother and University of Colorado graduate student. Suffering from chronic migraines and dealing with hate mail, she resigned halfway through her term. Colorado legalized gay marriage in 2014 after a state court and a Denver federal court struck down a 2006 ban enacted by state voters. Jared Polis, Colorados first openly gay governor, paid tribute to Rorex upon learning of her passing, the AP reports. "Her certification of same-sex marriages (until the Attorney General shut her down) was a pivotal moment in the long struggle for marriage equality that led to Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, which legalized marriage equality nationally," Polis wrote on Facebook. "So many families, including First Gentleman Marlon Reis and I, are grateful for the visionary leadership of Clela Rorex, a woman ahead of her time." In later years, Rorex advocated for gay and lesbian rights, speaking in schools and expressing exasperation with the slow pace of change. The county courthouse in Boulder where she issued the licenses has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Read more obituary stories.) (Newser) Saying it's running short of pilots, American Airlines has dropped regional service to three cities. Flights at airports in Toledo, Ohio; Ithaca, New York; and Islip, New York, will end Sept. 7, the Hill reports. A spokesperson said the airline will contact travelers who have a ticket for a flight after that date to make other plans. The three airports are served by regional carriers: American serves Toledo with its American Eagle planes and the other two with Piedmont. American is the only commercial airline that goes into Toledo. All three airports are about an hour's drive from an airport still served by American. The pilot shortage has especially been a problem for regional carriers such as American Eagle, per the Dallas Morning News, as major airlines hire crews away by offering better pay, benefits, and opportunities to advance. Although customer demand is high, the airline said it's had to park about 100 regional planes. Airlines cut jobs when travel dried up early in the pandemic. Now that demand has returnedthe number of passengers going through security on Friday neared a pandemic recordthey're having trouble keeping up. American has increased pay for pilots on regional routes but is still losing them. (Read more American Airlines stories.) (Newser) Lithuania on Monday defended its decision to bar rail transit of goods hit by European Union sanctions from Russia to a Russian Baltic Sea exclave, in a move that drew Moscow's strong anger amid high tensions in the region. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his country was simply implementing sanctions imposed by the EU, of which it is a member. He said the measures implemented Saturday were taken after "consultation with the European Commission and under its guidelines," the AP reports. "Sanctioned goods (will) no longer be allowed to transit Lithuanian territory," Landsbergis added. Anton Alikhanov, the governor of the Russian exclave, has estimated that the ban would affect some 50% of all goods flowing towards Kaliningrad by rail. Goods on the list include steel, but are set to be broadly expanded to cover items from coal to alcoholic drinks. The Kaliningrad exclave, home to some 430,000 people, is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, another EU country, to the south and isolated from the rest of Russia. Trains with goods for Kaliningrad travel via Belarus and Lithuania. There's no transit through Poland. Russia can still supply the exclave by sea without falling foul of EU sanctions. Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lifts the ban, with the Foreign Ministry in Moscow saying that if transport links are not restored in full, "Russia reserves the right to take action in defense of its national interests." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly denounced the "unlawful" ban. "This decision, indeed unprecedented, is a violation of everything and then some. We understand that it is connected to the relevant decision of the European Union to extend the sanctions to transit (of goods). This we also consider unlawful," Peskov told reporters on Monday. The EUs top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Lithuania did not take any unilateral national restrictions and denied that land transit between Kaliningrad and other parts of Russia had been stopped, or banned. "There is no blockade, Borrell said. He added that the transit of passengers and goods that are not sanctioned is continuing. (Read more Lithuania stories.) TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Staff Reporter Motorists are frequently complaining about the defunct parking machines, which they say, have resulted in turning them into traffic rule violators, who often end up paying fines for illegal parking. The parking machines were installed during the past years as part of initiatives to streamline the parking system while putting a full stop to illegal parking, which has been quite prevalent across Manama. They demonstrate the Works Ministrys efforts to provide the best services by enhancing the capacity of the available parking spaces, supporting the commercial activity and helping citizens accomplish the works that require a short time, organising traffic, and alleviating traffic congestion resulting from wrong parking. Speaking to The Daily Tribune, many motorists urged immediate intervention on the part of authorities. As many machines, especially across Manama are defunct, we are forced to park without being able to pay the fee. And traffic cops often find us as violators before imposing fines on us, they say. The installation of parking machines has been carried out by the Works Ministry in association with the Traffic Directorate since 2014. The first parking meters were installed in Manama Souq and areas in the proximity and Muharraq before being gradually implemented across Bahrain. According to the Works Ministry, most of these pay and park machines work on solar energy and dont require electrical connections. One machine has the capacity to serve 20 parking spaces and it can be programmed and tracked through a computer network. The pay and park meters work on solar energy and do not require electrical connections. Also, they have the capacity to serve 20 parking spaces. The meter can be programmed and tracked through a computer network. It is learnt that the ministry has plans to issue special parking cards. Despite the ministry insisting that maintenance of the machines is very limited, many machines have become defunct, according to motorists. Illegal parking is one of the most common legal violations committed by many citizens and residents in Bahrain, who are often slapped with fines by the Traffic Department. In spite of an increasing number of parking violations across the country, many vehicle owners say the authorities have done little to address the issue. The parking crisis is generally attributed to the rising number of vehicles with fewer parking spaces. As many as 450 car parking lots have been provided across Bahrain during the first quarter of this year, according to the Works Ministry. Among the new parking lots provided, 163 were in the Southern Governorate, 120 in the Northern Governorate, 97 in Muharraq and 70 in the Capital Governorate. The ministry said the cost of setting up these parking spaces amounted to BD90,000 while more funds have been earmarked to construct more parking spaces in the future. Posted by Joey on at 05:45 PM CST Greetings,! Our friends at Regal Robot are introducing new items just in time for Father's Day!Today Regal Robot is debuting two great new decor pieces with a Darth Vader twist! Full galleries and order pages for each can be found on their Star Wars Art & Decor page Their latest wood art plaque debuts today with art from the Revenge of the Jedi advance teaser poster . A working title for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, for many fans in 1982 (Regals company founder, Tom Spina, was among them!) this teaser on the walls of their local theaters was the first glimpse into the finale of the original Star Wars trilogy. This is a 16 tall plaque with striking, classic art features the silhouette of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vaders climactic lightsaber battle over a menacing closeup of the visage of the Dark Lord of the Sith.Next up is the final magnetic mini sculpture in the first wave of their SEPARATION COLLECTION. Based on Darth Vaders Hand from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi , straight out of the climactic moments of the original trilogy.Both of these great new items are designed, prototyped and produced in the USA and IN-STOCK and ready to ship so you can add them to your collection, home, office, man-cave or fridge! You can even get discounted shipping when ordering multiple magnets or multiple wood art plaques together, so grab the latest release and add on one of their other many designs to take advantage of that! See the whole collection on their Star Wars Decor page! What do you think about these new Vader items from Regal Robot? Let us know in the forums! Check out Rebelscum.com merch!Be sure to follow us on all of our social media platforms: TDT| Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com The UK has been Bahrains major investment partner on a global scale for more than 200 years. Industry and Commerce Minister Zayed R. Al Zayani said that the growth in trade volume between both countries is witnessing remarkable development in various sectors, reflecting the significance of the distinguished historical bilateral relations. Al Zayani made the statements during his participation as a Guest Speaker in a luncheon organised by the Bahrain British Business Forum (BBBF) in the presence of the British Ambassador to Bahrain, Roderick Drummond, and Khalid bin Rashid Al Zayani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forum, and a number of officials and stakeholders. During the luncheon, several topics and upcoming projects were reviewed by both countries at the Diplomat Hotel-Bahrain. The Minister reviewed a number of important and vital topics, including the results of the meetings of the UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group, most importantly the FTA between the GCC and the UK, which is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive agreements, which will contribute to strengthening relations and economic growth by promoting trade in goods, services and other areas that benefit the public and private sectors of both parties. The Minister discussed Bahrains strategic and ambitious Economic Recovery Plan, launched by the Bahrain government in 2021. The new plan aims to enhance Bahrains long-term economic competitiveness, while achieving sustainability goals, which are based on several pillars that include the labour market reform plan, a regulatory reform package, a strategic project plan, a financial balance programme and priority sector development plan. TDT| Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com The Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) announced yesterday the launch of a service of renewing the passports of citizens living abroad. The service also includes delivering the passports to them. The facility is expected to contribute to saving time and efforts of citizens. Interior Ministry Undersecretary for Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs, Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said that the service would be processed within 10 working days, while it used to take more than two months. He hailed the ongoing cooperation with the Foreign Ministry to provide all possible facilities for citizens living abroad. The NPRA has signed a cooperation agreement with DHL Express to benefit from the companys accumulated expertise in secure and fast delivery of documents all over the world. The agreement comes within the implementation of the 24 initiatives launched by the Cabinet to develop the NPRA services as part of the economic recovery plan that requires taking all procedures for fast processing of applications and facilitating services. The NPRA strives to continue developing services to achieve clients satisfaction with the highest quality level. TDT| Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Staff reporter Bahrains policies to support gender balance are on the right track and this is reflected in the senior leadership of Bahraini women across private companies encompassing many sectors, an assessment by the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) says. As per the latest statistics available, Bahraini women occupy 17 per cent of senior positions in private companies in the Kingdom. Many leading companies in the Kingdom including Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC), Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), Bahrain Airport Company and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (banking sector) have many Bahraini women in the senior roles. GPIC has been keen to attract qualified Bahraini women and provide them with the appropriate qualification to work in the various locations in the companys industrial complex, including leadership positions in the executive management, in addition to other supervisory positions. The company continued its efforts to support the advancement of women, by currently implementing several initiatives to give Bahraini women working in the company more opportunities to prove their worth and ability to lead and excel. The company took the initiative to launch a number of qualitative policies and practices to ensure gender balance and integrate the needs of working women into the work environment and benefiting from the companys gender balance initiatives. Bapco, which earlier won a special award from Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa for the advancement of Bahraini women, has constituted the Equal Opportunities Committee to ensure the principles of gender balance within the workforce. The committee allowed unmarried Bahraini women to benefit from the companys home ownership programme. The Bahrain Airport Company is also considered one of the distinguished private sector institutions in adopting the concepts of gender balance and integrating the needs of women. Bapco has women occupying 15 per cent of its leadership roles, which makes it one of the best women empowering firms of the Kingdom. Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait established the Equal Opportunities Committee in the year 2015 and since then has been supporting the women empowerment initiatives in the Kingdom. The role of the private sector is highly important in the process of activating the National Model for the Integration of Womens Needs due to the number of Bahraini women working in this vital sector. Some economic institutions had taken the initiative of considering the concept of integrating womens needs. The initiative can be seen through the participation rate in the Award of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa for Women Empowerment, which is intended for private sector institutions as well. Also, it can be seen through the institutions efforts in integrating the opportunities equity principle in the policies, information of the staff or the services provided to support the working womens career. The Supreme Council for Womens efforts in the private sector are clear through the interest shown in achieving the integration of womens needs by some private sector institutions initiatives to provide the supporting atmosphere of womens work and how it is positively reflected on their performance. Moreover, the Council is keen to decrease the unemployment rate that faces the Bahraini women by integrating their needs in the field of self-employment and by simultaneously launching initiatives that aim at sustaining their presence in the private sector. TDT| Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Tamkeen has signed a strategic cooperation with Beyon Cyber to provide quality job and training opportunities for 20 Bahraini cybersecurity professionals. They will be able to utilise their acquired knowledge and skills into practice in a real work environment. The signing, following the agreement with the provider of cybersecurity training, SANS Institute, took place during ELEVATE, a major technology forum hosted by the Beyon Cyber entities. This announcement is the first of more planned partnerships with key leaders in Bahrains private sector, designed with the purpose of providing the SANS cybersecurity graduates with quality training opportunities that can support their growth and development and enable them to build sustainable careers in a high-demand field. Cybersecurity professionals are currently among the most sought after in local and global job markets, hence the wide range of opportunities that will be available to Bahrainis attending the SANS Institute training courses. Husain Mohamed Rajab, Chief Executive of the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), emphasised Tamkeens commitment to empowering the national workforce to become competitive both locally and internationally in alignment with the leadership vision and the national economic recovery plan. We are pleased to partner with Beyon Cyber to foster quality opportunities for Bahrainis and we will continue to develop active partnerships within the Kingdoms ecosystem to cater to the growth requirements of both enterprises and individu[1]als, he said. Supporting training and employment for Bahrainis provides our national workforce with sustainable career paths and builds an accessible talent pool for enterprises to tap into and power their productivity and sustainability, fulfilling our mandate of achieving a more productive private sector that drives national economic growth. The Japanese government is set to levy fines against overseas IT giants that have failed to register their overseas headquarters in Japan, Nikkei has learned. A total of 48 companies, including Twitter, Facebook-owner Meta and Google, were asked to register by the end of March, but it is thought that some have still not complied. With more countries stepping up regulations on IT giants to protect users, Japan is looking to enact its own strict measures. In early June, the Ministry of Justice reiterated its request that some companies register their global headquarters in Japan by June 13. The ministry said that it would ask courts to fine the companies if they still have no intention of registering. If IT companies have their headquarters registered in Japan, consumers would have an easier time filing lawsuits when problems, such as defamation on social media websites, occur. The government believes proper registration is essential to protect consumers. Japan's corporate code requires overseas companies doing business in the country on a continuous basis to register a headquarters in Japan. Overseas IT companies maintain that they are providing their services through the internet and are not continuously developing their business by establishing bases in Japan. These companies also appear to have insisted they believe it is enough to register their Japan-based units, such as those handling marketing operations. The companies are also less likely to register because of the small correctional fine of 1 million yen ($7,400). DANBURY July Miliano was inspired to seek a position on the school board after she read in The News-Times that some had called for the board to become more diverse. So I said why not? said Miliano, a mother of three who immigrated with her husband to the United States from the Dominican Republic in her early 20s. This is something important, and its something Im always interested in, helping my community. The Democrat is the newest member of Danburys Board of Education, filling a vacancy left by Joseph DaSilva, Jr., who departed the board in May to run for the open probate judge seat. She was one of five candidates to be interviewed for the position. She said her goal as a board member is to encourage families to get involved in the schools. For me, it's pretty much create a great impact on my community, bring in those parents that don't know anything about the Board of Education and make them aware of whats going on, said Miliano, who usually goes by Julie. Miliano is the third board member to be appointed to fill a vacancy this year. Democrat Brigid Guertin took over after Joseph Britton left to serve on City Council, while Republican Ralph Pietrafesa filled Kathryn Hodgdons seat. Milianos appointment, however, was not without some controversy. The Danbury Democratic Town Committee had endorsed Juanita Harris, a retired Danbury school counselor who had applied unsuccessfully to fill Brittons vacancy. In a 5-4 vote on May 31, the board appointed Miliano, with the Republicans supporting her and the Democrats voting against, according to meeting minutes. All candidates were asked the same set of questions and interviewed separately 20 minutes apart, the minutes state. The Danbury Democrats said in a statement after the vote that Harris is eminently qualified and that they were deeply concerned by the Republican Partys actions and the implications it will have on future decisions not only on the Board of Education, but on all elected positions, boards, commissions, and councils. It was the boards decision not to appoint Harris, a Black woman, the first time that had prompted the concerns Miliano had read about regarding lack of diversity on the school board. Miliano said she wants Hispanic and Latino families to know that they have a voice, while helping those who may struggle to connect with their childs education due to language barriers. She also wants to ensure she is serving the students and city she loves. Im willing to talk and find common ground for everyone for the well being of my community, she said. Background Miliano has learned about the importance of getting involved through a course shes taking called the Parent Leadership Training Institute, offered through Families Network of Western CT, Inc. Its one of the best programs Ive taken so far, she said. Her community involvement includes the Community Action Agency of Western Connecticut and Latinos for Educational Advocacy and Diversity, where she is an administrative assistance. Miliano said she got involved with Latinos for Educational Advocacy and Diversity, a Danbury-based organization known as LEAD, because the group advocates for the proposed charter school to open in the city. She said she wants parents to have more choices of where to send their children to school. She praised the curriculum the school would offer. Once you see the curriculum, theres no question about why not, Miliano said. Thats the main interest, youre always looking for the best educational options for your kids. Miliano joins at least two other school board members who actively support the charter school. This includes Michelle Coelho, another member of LEAD, and school board Chair Rachel Chaleski, who is among the parents who pushed for the state Board of Education to approve granted an initial certificate of approval for Prospect Schools to operate a charter school in Danbury. A different operator, Elevate Charter Schools, has since been named for the school, which cannot open until the state approves that new operator and grants operational dollars. A philanthropist donated $25 million to build the school. Issues facing schools Miliano moved to Danbury around 2007 because she wanted to grow my family here. Now, her oldest, Camila, is 12, her middle child, Cecilia is 9, and her youngest, Enzo, is 5. Its a great community, its a great town and it was growing at the time, she said. Danbury and its schools are still growing, which has led to overcrowding in the buildings. It's difficult because in my perspective that's one of the biggest issues this district is facing, Miliano said. To address rising enrollment, Danbury has been adding classrooms. The addition to Ellsworth Avenue Elementary School is expected to be completed by the fall, while a new middle and high school is scheduled to open in fall 2024. Danbury also plans to add preschool classrooms at Great Plain Elementary School. I just want people to know that Im here to work for the well-being of the community, she said. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. TORONTO, June 20, 2022 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada recognizes the immense challenges faced by those fleeing conflict and is committed to improving access to vital mental health services for vulnerable newcomers. Since 1989, Kids Help Phone has provided free, 24/7, confidential mental health resources to young people across Canada. Today, on World Refugee Day, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced a contribution agreement with Kids Help Phone to provide counselling services for Afghan and Ukrainian youth in Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian and Russian. These new services respond to the urgent need faced by youth fleeing conflicts in Afghanistan and Ukraine. The Minister visited the Kids Help Phone office in Toronto where he saw firsthand how funding provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is being used to expand phone counselling services to Afghan and Ukrainian youth. This funding is part of a larger $2 million agreement that will allow Kids Help Phone to gradually expand its professional phone counselling service via interpreters to 100 languages by 2025 and builds on the previous introduction of Arabic and Mandarin interpretation in 2019. Culturally sensitive, youth-oriented mental health phone counselling is just one of the supports in place for Afghan and Ukrainian families arriving in Canada. There are more than 500 service provider organizations across Canada that are funded by IRCC to deliver settlement services to permanent residents, including resettled refugees, and to Ukrainians arriving in Canada under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel. Many of these organizations offer support directly to youth. These include help during and after school recreational activities leadership and mentorship programs help developing skills and preparing for employment IRCC continues to work closely with provinces, territories and service provider organizations across the country to welcome vulnerable newcomers and help them adjust to life in Canada. Photos from today's event are available in Dropbox. Quotes "Canada has a proud tradition of welcoming and supporting the world's most vulnerable. In order to adjust to life in Canada, we need to ensure that newcomers have access to resources to cope with past trauma and rebuild their lives. Creating this culturally sensitive, accessible safe space is especially important when it comes to vulnerable youth, and this funding will ensure that those fleeing conflictincluding Afghans and Ukrainianshave the support they need to reach their full potential while in Canada." The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship "Kids Help Phone has been providing a safe space for young people dealing with mental health and addictions issues in Canada since 1989. Today's funding will help them continue that tradition by providing young newcomers with access to culturally appropriate and trauma informed mental health supports in their own language, an invaluable asset to youth who have already been through so much." The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health "To make e-mental health support more accessible through language for any young person across Canada is an important step in ensuring equitable access for those who may be most vulnerable. We appreciate the support and the vision of IRCC to enable the expansion of Kids Help Phone's language offerings to meet a critical need today, with a view of further expansion of more languages in the coming months." Katherine Hay, President and CEO of Kids Help Phone Quick facts Kids Help Phone has been providing health services to young people in Canada since 1989. has been providing health services to young people in since 1989. IRCC is providing a total of $1,966,143 under the Settlement Program between 2022 and 2025 to help Kids Help Phone expand its services in multiple languages. under the Settlement Program between 2022 and 2025 to help Kids Help Phone expand its services in multiple languages. Ukrainians who come to Canada as temporary residents under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel have been given access to settlement services usually reserved for permanent residents. as temporary residents under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel have been given access to settlement services usually reserved for permanent residents. The Government of Canada is working hard to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals as quickly and safely as possible. Canada has now welcomed more than 16,000 Afghan refugees, with more arriving every week. Associated links Follow us SOURCE Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada For further information: Contacts for media only: Aidan Strickland, Press Secretary, Minister's Office, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, [email protected]; Media Relations, Communications Branch, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 613-952-1650, [email protected] Partnership model will advance Canada's innovation agenda across multiple sectors TORONTO, June 20, 2022 /CNW/ - Today KPMG in Canada and MaRS Discovery District launched the Climate Impact Accelerator, a collaboration designed to significantly advance Canada's innovation agenda by bridging the gap between Corporate Canada and the country's start-up ecosystem. The program matches KPMG in Canada clients looking for technology-driven climate solutions to cleantech startups in the MaRS ecosystem that are ready to scale up. The goal of the program is to implement climate innovation solutions on a large scale quickly by building stronger networks between startups and corporations and governments. "Often, startups and corporates don't talk to each other, and they tend to operate in silos," says Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS Discovery District. "This collaboration brings together their complementary capabilities and helps bridge the gap in Canada's innovation ecosystem. In today's economy, there's no one stakeholder that has the ability to solve the climate crisis on their own, so together with KPMG in Canada we're creating strong coalitions with the Climate Impact Accelerator. It's time to move beyond pilot projects and towards creating sustainable models that will move Canada's innovation agenda forward." "Canada is home to more than a dozen of the top global cleantech companies, second only to the United States," says Armughan Ahmad, President and Managing Partner, Digital, KPMG in Canada. "It has one of the most highly educated populations in the world, and its technology workforce grew at a rate faster than the U.S. in the past year. Our innovation economy represents 12 per cent of GDP but it's growing three to six times faster than the rest of the economy. Canada clearly has a strong foundation in research and innovation, but we're lagging in commercialization. The Climate Impact Accelerator helps solve that disconnect. KPMG in Canada's collaboration with MaRS Discovery District is a real step forward in bringing Canadian innovations to market." The World Intellectual Property Organization ranked Canada 16th out of 70 countries in its 2021 Global Innovation Index in 2021, but when it comes to business sophistication and knowledge and technology outputs, Canada's ranking falls to 20th and 23rd,, respectively. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada has the highest share of innovative firms, but its projected GDP per capita growth is only 0.7 per cent from 2020-2030 and 0.8 per cent from 2030-2060, placing Canada last in a ranking of 38 advanced and G20 countries. The Climate Impact Accelerator seeks to boost economic growth and advance commercialization in Canada's cleantech innovation economy by combining the client base and advisory expertise of one of Canada's largest professional services firms with MaRS, North America's biggest innovation hub. The collaboration has the potential to be scaled to other areas such as financial services, healthcare, environmental, social and governance (ESG) and retail. "The ventures we have at MaRS are creating solutions to some of our most pressing challenges such as climate change, and they're creating immense value for corporations, governments and Canadians. Our collaboration with KPMG offers a way for startups to partner with large organizations to realize their full potential and take those solutions to market in a meaningful way," adds Mr. Wu. "The innovation economy is driving the future of Canada, and organizations are looking for cutting-edge solutions to achieve their goals in areas like ESG and digital transformation. While large corporations and governments have the will and the financial resources to innovate, they sometimes lack the agility of startups, so that's where we come in by pairing them with nimble partners that share similar visions and goals and can implement technology quickly and at scale. KPMG in Canada's collaboration with MaRS is an impactful new way for us to help our clients commercialize innovations in climate change and beyond," notes Mr. Ahmad. BrainBox AI is a Montreal-based startup from the MaRS portfolio participating in the Climate Impact Accelerator. The company specializes in artificial intelligence software that optimizes HVAC Systems to make buildings more energy efficient and greener. "Partnering with corporations and governments through the Climate Impact Accelerator allows us to demonstrate how our game-changing AI technology can be used on a large scale to help reduce emissions. This program helps us find the right corporate partners quickly and efficiently. We are looking forward to working with governments and companies and help them cut their energy usage by enabling building owners to significantly reduce their carbon footprints," says Sam Ramadori, Chief Executive Officer of BrainBox AI. Jan De Silva, President & CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade notes that initiatives like the Climate Impact Accelerator will help businesses and governments realize their climate goals more quickly while advancing economic growth and competitiveness in regional innovation centres. "It takes everyone, working in unison, to hit go on addressing our global climate crisis and unleashing the economic potential of climate innovation in Toronto Region. Partnerships like this bring together Toronto's strong corporate foundation and start-up community to push forward on real and long-term solutions. I hope the Climate Impact Accelerator model becomes a playbook for other cities. I can also ensure that we, at the Board, will continue to support driving the climate economy." About KPMG in Canada KPMG LLP, a limited liability partnership, is a full-service Audit, Tax and Advisory firm owned and operated by Canadians. For over 150 years, our professionals have provided consulting, accounting, auditing, and tax services to Canadians, inspiring confidence, empowering change, and driving innovation. Guided by our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Courage, Together, For Better, KPMG employs more than 10,000 people in over 40 locations across Canada, serving private- and public-sector clients. KPMG is consistently ranked one of Canada's top employers and one of the best places to work in the country. The firm is established under the laws of Ontario and is a member of KPMG's global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a private English company limited by guarantee. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. For more information, see home.kpmg/ca. About MaRS Discovery District MaRS is North America's largest urban innovation hub. A registered non-profit, MaRS supports high-growth startups and scale-ups tackling key issues in health, cleantech, fintech and other sectors. In addition, MaRS convenes all members of the tech ecosystem to drive breakthrough discoveries, grow the economy and make an impact by solving real problems for real people in Canada and around the world. SOURCE KPMG LLP For further information: For media inquiries: Roula Meditskos, National Communications and Media Relations, KPMG in Canada, (416) 416-549-7982, [email protected]; Andrew Yates, MaRS, Discovery District, [email protected], 647-302-1257 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been summoned to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for the fourth round of questioning on Monday in money laundering case linked to the National Herald case. Congress will hold a countrywide protest against the central government's "vendetta politics". Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been summoned to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for the fourth round of questioning on Monday in money laundering case linked to the National Herald case. Congress will hold a countrywide protest against the central governments vendetta politics. Rahul was questioned by the ED from June 13 to 15, despite fierce opposition from party officials and workers. Notably, the ED had invited Gandhi to appear again on Friday (June 17), but he requested that he be excused from attending tomorrow and that a fresh date be set for Monday (June 20). Later, on Monday, the ED summoned Rahul Gandhi to join the inquiry, granted his plea to the agency to consider postponing his interrogation from June 17 to June 20, citing the health of his mother, party interim president Sonia Gandhi. Regarding his questioning by ED on Monday, as per official sources, the Congress leader, a Z+ category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi familys Special Protection Group cover in 2019, was confronted with several documents collated by the ED as evidence recovered so far in the case to get his version. Congress workers will also hold peaceful protests across the country on Monday against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme. Tomorrow lakhs of Congress workers across the country will continue peaceful protests against the anti-youth Agnipath scheme and against Modi governments vendetta politics targeting its MP Rahul Gandhi. A Congress delegation will also meet Rashtrapati in the evening, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh announced via Twitter on Sunday. A team of Congress leaders is also expected to see President Ram Nath Kovind today and deliver a memorandum on the alleged misbehaviour with party MPs during rallies over Rahul Gandhis ED grilling. Congress held a satyagraha on Sunday at Jantar Mantar in solidaruty with the youth protesting against Central Governments Agnipath Recruitment Scheme. After the announcement of the scheme on June 14, protests broke out in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Bihar where protestors went out setting trains on fire and damaging public and private properties. Multiple individuals were shot, including a police officer and a teenager, at a music event on U Street Northwest in Washington, DC, slightly less than two miles from the White House, according to local media. Multiple individuals were shot, including a police officer and a teenager, at a music event on U Street Northwest in Washington, DC, slightly less than two miles from the White House, according to local media. MPD (Metropolitan Police Department) is responding to the situation in the area of 14th and U Street, NW, for a shooting incident in which multiple people have been shot, including an MPD officer. Media staging at 15th and U Street, NW. Chief Contee to provide a media briefing, said the DC Police Department in a tweet. In a tweet, DC police Union also confirmed that a police officer was shot during the DC shooting. We can confirm that one of our members working in the area of 14th and U St NW has been shot. The member has been transported to the hospital and is in stable condition. According to local media, the shooting occurred near or at the location of a Juneteenth music performance named Moechella on 14th and U Street. There have been unsubstantiated rumours of additional deaths being discovered, and with one MPD officer injured in the leg, police have asked everyone to avoid the area, according to local US media on Monday. With the rise in gun violence in the United States, President Joe Biden has stated that the country needs to outlaw assault weapons to protect children and families, or raise the buying age from 18 to 21. We need to ban assault weapons. if we cant, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Ban high-capacity magazines. Strengthen background checks. Enact safe storage laws and red flag laws. Repeal gun manufacturers immunity from liability, he said. He further said that this is not about taking away anyones rights. Its about protecting children. Its about protecting families. Its about protecting communities. Its about protecting our freedoms to go to school, to a grocery store, to go to church without being shot and killed, he said. This is not about taking away anyones gunswe believe that we should be treating responsible gun owners as examples of how every gun owner should behave, he said. On May 24, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing multiple people, including 19 children. According to CNN, this was the worst incident since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people. When gunshots erupted at a high school graduation ceremony in New Orleans on May 31, one elderly woman was murdered and two others were injured. According to NBC News, the incident occurred outside the Convocation Center on the campus of Xavier University, where graduates of Morris Jeff High School were assembled. According to CNN, at least four individuals were murdered in a shooting incident on a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 1. Shootouts are becoming more common in the United States. Commemorating its 157th anniversary on June 19, the day known as Juneteenth marks one of the earliest moments of liberation of enslaved people in the U.S. While the day has been traditionally marked by prayer services and public memorials, flying the Juneteenth flag is also part of the holidays commemoration. Norwich resident Ben Haith is crediting with designing the Juneteenth flag, according to Connecticut by the Numbers, and worked with illustrator Lisa Jeanne Graf to create the banner while living in Boston in 1997. The flag was revised in 2000 to todays version; seven years later, CNN reports that June 19, 1865 was added to mark the day in 1865 on which a group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned they were freed from the institution of slavery, making them among the last to be freed. The day came two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring enslaved people in states seceded from the Union freed. Haith, who grew up in Stamford, told the Norwich Bulletin that the flag is about humanity and about people who accomplished a lot, even though they went through a lot. Channeling this symbolism into the flags design was a deliberate process, Haith told CNN while breaking down the meaning of the flags components. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Seen in flag-raising ceremonies around the state, the flag is red and white and features a white star framed by a starburst at the center along with the June 19, 1865 date along the outer right side. Haith told CNN the star symbolized both Texas as the Lone Star State and honors Galvestons role the formation of the holiday; it also represents the freedom of African Americans in all 50 states. The burst surrounded the star is inspired by a nova, a term that astronomers use to mean a new star, according to CNN represents a new beginning for those freed from slavery in Galveston and the rest of the U.S. The red and blue background colors are separated by an arc, which CNN notes is indicative of a new horizon and connotes the the opportunities and promise that lay ahead for Black Americans. Haith explained to the Norwich Bulletin that the starburst as the representation of a new people, with the star bursting out. The curve of between the red and blue background colors represents the star rising into the heavens, where the other stars are in the blue, Haith said, noting that we all belong to the universe. The red and blue background colors along with the white star, burst and date represent the American flag and serve as a reminder that slaves and their descendants are Americans. The inclusion of the June 19, 1865 date marks the date that enslaved Black people in Galveston learned they were freed from the institution of slavery. While Haiths flag design is widely used to help commemorate Juneteenth, he said he considers himself a small part of the holiday and all it stands for. Whats happening with Juneteenth is much larger than me; Im just a small part of it, and I appreciate peoples thanking me about designing the flag, which represents something much larger than itself, he told the Norwich Bulletin. Hopefully, people will start thinking about Juneteenth throughout the world, to help bring peace to our world WEST HAVEN With state and federal officials probing the citys finances, city officials said they are hoping for the best as there is no way to plan amid much ambiguity. We have unknowns, said Mayor Nancy Rossi. Without knowing if the city will be forced to refund state and federal authorities for misappropriation, mismanagement and alleged theft, Rossi said the city does not have a lot of leverage to prepare. Rossi said the city has unused money in its contingency fund, roughly $500,000. The City Council adopted budgets that called for $600,000 in unused contingency fund dollars in both the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years. The state Municipal Accountability Review Board will recoup $3.9 million in unused restructuring funding from the city to fund increased accountability measures after the city was placed under Tier IV, the highest level of state oversight allowable under statute. It is expected that the state Office of Policy and Management will hire a financial manager to work in West Haven City Hall at MARBs behest. Although the city has not included restructuring funds from MARB in its budget for two years, certain other funds may be at risk. Questions over expenditures The city does not know how much, if any, funding it will be required to pay back to federal authorities from its $1.15 million allocation of Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars. A forensic audit commissioned by OPM concluded that 80 percent of the funding had been either misspent or misappropriated an assessment that would could lead to a roughly $900,000 bill from the federal government. City officials believe the forensic audit overstated the depth of the issue, however. Rossi and Finance Director Scott Jackson have said they believe that hundreds of thousands of dollars in CRF spending was eligible under U.S. Treasury guidelines, but auditors did not review or had not been provided with the proper documentation that would show funds had been spent on legitimate expenses related to pandemic relief. Jackson and West Haven Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan did not respond to requests for comment. Funds allegedly stolen The city also is uncertain of the potential fiscal impact of the alleged theft of $636,000 of local taxpayer money will have on the citys budget. In October 2021, former Democratic state Rep. Michael DiMassa was arrested and charged with wire fraud after investigators allegedly discovered falsified invoices that redirected money earmarked for pandemic recovery to a shell company controlled by DiMassa and City Hall employee John Bernardo. On Tuesday, Bernardo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after accepting a plea deal with the U.S. Attorneys Office. DiMassa has pleaded not guilty and his next scheduled court date is in September. Forensic auditors hired by OPM, however, concluded that the money allegedly stolen by DiMassa and Bernardo was actually local taxpayer money that had been kept in the same account as federal CRF money. Rossi said the DiMassa case has not been fully adjudicated and it remains uncertain whether anyone accused of theft will be made to pay restitution to the city. Seeing where the money went The city is also running late in completing its mandatory audit of the 2021 fiscal year after it was dropped as a client by its auditing firm. A newly-hired auditing firm is contracted to complete an audit of the citys 2021 and 2022 fiscal years. City Council Finance Committee Chairwoman Bridgette Hoskie, D-1, said she is concerned with the possibility of the city having to pay back any of the monies, but she was uncomfortable speculating publicly as to what might come to pass. Earlier this month, the City Council approved a $700,000 contract for a financial management firm to be paid with American Rescue Plan Act funding. ARPA Committee Chairman Ken Carney said firm UHY LLP was the only firm to bid in two competitive bidding processes, but its employees are no joke. He said auditors told him the citys CRF funding would be a deterrent to most auditing firms, and auditors from UHY agreed to represent the city throughout the ARPA spending process if it also could review and recover funding from the CRF grant. I hope with the new accounting company coming in, and the investigation, there will be some changes to the audit findings, Hoskie said. We were told by industry professionals they expect to address some if not all of the findings. Trying to plan ahead On June 9, the City Council rejected a proposal put forth by Rossi to reserve $450,000 of ARPA funding in contingency funds in case the Federal Emergency Management Agency were to determine any emergency expenditures were ineligible under department rules. City Grants Manager Doug Colter said the nature of FEMA expenditures is that a city cannot receive prior authorization which means emergency expenditures sometimes are reimbursed by FEMA, but a city cannot know ahead of time whether money that is rapidly deployed might be ruled ineligible later. Colter said FEMA has requested tens of thousands of dollars back from the city years later after some expenses related to the citys Superstorm Sandy response lacked proper documentation. City Coucilman Ron Quagliani, D-At Large, said he was adamantly opposed to keeping a half-million dollars in funding in reserve to bail out department heads who dont properly document expenditures, when the money is intended to benefit residents. The citys 2021 fiscal year budget incorporated $1.58 million in revenue on an American Recovery Plan line item. Rossi said no ARPA money was spent, and the city ended up using a mid-year increase in state Payment In Lieu of Taxes funding money from the state to make up for tax-exempt property in a municipality to supplant that line item on the budget. We havent closed those books, but I think weve got to keep moving forward, too, Rossi said. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg faces a historic impeachment trial this week for his actions surrounding a 2020 car crash in which he struck and killed a pedestrian. As the state Senate prepares to decide whether the first-term Republican attorney general should be convicted and removed from office, here's what to know ahead of the two-day trial that begins Tuesday: WHY WAS RAVNSBORG IMPEACHED? He struck and killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever as Boever was walking near the shoulder of a rural highway in September 2020. Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher he hit something in the middle of the road and later said he believed he had hit a large animal. The next day, he returned to the crash site and said it was only then that he discovered Boever's body. After a lengthy criminal investigation, Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to a pair of traffic misdemeanors, including making an illegal lane change. Ravnsborg attempted to move past the crash, but Gov. Kristi Noem, a fellow Republican, pushed for his ouster. The House in April impeached Ravnsborg on two counts: committing crimes that caused someone's death and malfeasance in office. WHAT ARE THE IMPEACHMENT CHARGES? The first charge centers on the crash and Ravnsborg's driving record leading up to it. The attorney general has broken the law, and as a result of that one of our citizens has died, Republican Rep. Will Mortenson told the House as he argued for impeachment. Mortenson said the crash was part of a disturbing pattern of driving by Ravnsborg, pointing to a score of traffic tickets and warnings he had accumulated. The malfeasance charge covers a range of Ravnsborg's actions. House lawmakers say Ravnsborg misled law enforcement, from telling a 911 dispatcher the collision happened in the middle of the road" to later interviews in which criminal investigators said the attorney general was not being straightforward and telling the truth. The House lawmakers also argue Ravnsborg abused the powers of his office by using official letterhead for a statement on the incident and later questioning a Division of Criminal Investigation agent about what the crash investigators could find on his cell phone. Ravnsborg has consistently denied wrongdoing and cast the Senate trial as a chance to be vindicated. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL? It takes two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Senate's 35 members to convict Ravnsborg, which would trigger automatic removal as attorney general. If he is convicted, senators could also bar him from holding future office with another two-thirds majority vote. They will make that decision after convening for two days in the first impeachment trial in state history. It will also give both sides an opportunity to openly present and examine the details of an incident that has roiled state politics for well over a year. Lawmakers have opted for a speedy trial. The impeachment prosecutors and Ravnsborgs defense attorney have each been allotted one hour for an opening statement, four hours for witness testimony and one hour to close their arguments. That's highly constrained, highly unusual something I've never done, said Pennington County States Attorney Mark Vargo, who is leading the prosecution. He was initially part of the criminal prosecution team but left before a charging decision was announced. Vargo and other prosecutors plan to present in-person witness testimony from crash investigators, as well as former members of the Division of Criminal Investigation. The agency is under attorney general oversight and thus was recused from the crash investigation, but Ravnsborg tapped into its expertise as the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation probed his conduct. One former Division of Criminal Investigation agent fielded questions from Ravnsborg about what could be extracted from his cellphone during the crash investigation, and another was asked about polygraph testing. Ravnsborg has not said whether he will testify. His defense attorney Mike Butler will not call any witnesses. He will instead rely on cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses as well as oral arguments. Senators may take additional time to ask additional questions and debate the articles of impeachment. They plan to vote on a verdict by the end of the day Wednesday. The Senate will vote on each impeachment article, as well as whether to bar him from holding future office in the state. WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARD? The trial outcome may have implications for others besides Ravnsborg. A conviction would be a victory for Noem, who has adamantly pushed for Ravnsborg's ouster. She said last year she was outraged at the result of the criminal investigation and suggested that impeachment could hold Ravnsborg accountable. Noem would name Ravnsborg's replacement until the candidate elected in the November race for attorney general is sworn-in. Ravnsborg was up for reelection this year but decided not to run. Ravnsborg has argued that the governor, who has positioned herself for a possible 2024 White House bid, pushed for his removal in part because he had investigated ethics complaints against Noem. His office is also investigating whether an organization aligned with the governor broke campaign finance disclosure laws. It's not clear how Ravnsborg's permanent ouster would affect those investigations. Meanwhile, the South Dakota GOP is set to decide its next candidate for the attorney general's office at a convention in the days after the Senate trial. One of Ravnsborg's top aides, David Natvig, has declared his interest in the nomination and portrayed himself as someone who could continue Ravnsborg's work. Natvig directed the Division of Criminal Investigation under Ravnsborg. However, Marty Jackley, who held the attorney general's office for roughly a decade before Ravnsborg, is also vying for the GOP nomination for his old job. He has support from Noem and from much of the state's law enforcement community. Delegates from each county Republican party will vote on an attorney general nominee on June 25. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) The two Republican candidates in Alabamas U.S. Senate primary runoff on Tuesday can each boast that at one point they had Donald Trumps endorsement in the race. Trump first backed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in the spring of 2021. That endorsement stood for nearly a year until Trump rescinded it as the conservative firebrand languished in the polls. The former president took his time in issuing a second endorsement, supporting Katie Britt in the race only after she emerged as the top vote-getter in the states May 24 primary. In other races Tuesday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is facing voters amid growing concerns about crime. Runoffs in Georgia will resolve close contests in several congressional races and a secretary of state nomination, while primaries in Virginia will set up competitive congressional contests for the fall. Arkansas is holding primary runoffs for several legislative races. What to watch in Tuesdays primaries: ALABAMA The Senate runoff will decide the GOP nominee for the seat being vacated by 88-year-old Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who announced his retirement in February 2021 after serving six terms. Two months later, Trump announced his endorsement of Brooks, rewarding the six-term congressman who had objected to the certification of the 2020 presidential election and spoke at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. But Trump soured on Brooks as the primary campaign progressed, growing unhappy with his showing in the race and some of his comments urging the party to move on from the former presidents fixation on his 2020 election defeat. He pulled his endorsement last March. Britt, Shelbys former chief of staff and a former leader of a state business group, won the most votes in last months primary, capturing nearly 45% of the ballots compared to Brooks 29%. Britt had needed to earn more than 50% of the vote to win outright and avoid a runoff. Another top candidate, Mike Durant, best known as the helicopter pilot who was held captive in Somalia during the 1993 battle chronicled in the book and film Black Hawk Down, finished in third place and failed to advance to the runoff. Brooks has been backed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both of whom campaigned with him. Britt comes into Tuesdays runoff with a fundraising advantage and a shiny new endorsement from Trump, which came a couple of weeks after the primary. The former president, who has a mixed record of success in backing winning candidates in this years midterm elections, waited to make an endorsement to help stave off the embarrassment of backing a losing candidate in a high-profile race. The winner of the GOP race will face Democrat Will Boyd in November, though Democrats have found limited success in the deep-red state in the last 20 years. GEORGIA A Democratic contest for secretary of state headlines the Tuesday runoffs in Georgia, while Republicans will settle three congressional nominations. State Rep. Bee Nguyen, backed by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, is trying to defeat former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler in the secretary of states race. The winner will face Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the fall. Raffensperger beat back a challenge in his May 24 primary from U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who was endorsed by Trump. Trump made Raffensperger a top target for rebuffing his efforts to find enough votes to overturn Joe Bidens win in the states 2020 presidential election. In congressional runoffs, Vernon Jones, a Trump-backed candidate and former Democrat, is competing against trucking company owner Mike Collins for the Republican nomination for the 10th Congressional District seat east of Atlanta. Collins was endorsed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who also won his primary over a Trump-backed challenger. In the 6th District in Atlantas northern suburbs, emergency room physician Rich McCormick is trying to hold off Trump-backed lawyer Jake Evans. That race has revolved around accusations by each candidate that the other is insufficiently conservative. The Republican winners in the 6th and 10th are heavy favorites in the November election over their Democratic opponents. Republicans also have high hopes of knocking off 30-year Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop in southwest Georgias 2nd District. The GOP is choosing between former Army officer Jeremy Hunt and real estate developer Chris West. VIRGINIA In Virginia, voters will be picking Republican nominees to take on Democratic U.S. House incumbents in two of the most highly competitive districts in the country. In the coastal 2nd District, which includes the states most populous city, Virginia Beach, four military veterans are competing for the GOP nomination. With a big fundraising lead and the backing of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing House Republicans, state Sen. Jen Kiggans is widely seen as the front-runner. The winner will face Democrat Elaine Luria, a retired Naval commander and member of the Jan. 6 committee, in the general election. In central Virginias 7th District, six candidates are jockeying to take on Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer. WASHINGTON, D.C. Bowser, the two-term mayor of Washington, D.C., is trying to fend off challenges from a pair of Council members as the district contends with rising crime rates and homelessness concerns. Bowser has had a tumultuous second term that saw her repeatedly face off against Trump and walk a public tightrope between her own police department and a vocal coalition of activists led by Black Lives Matter. She is campaigning on the need for proven leadership and her history as one of the faces of Washingtons ongoing quest for statehood. Her primary challengers are Robert White and Trayon White, who are not related to each other. Both accuse Bowser of favoring developers as spiraling costs of living drive Black families out of the city and of mishandling public safety issues amid rising rates of violent crime, like a Sunday night shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead and a police officer and at least two other adults wounded. The Democratic primary essentially decides the mayoral race in deeply blue Washington, D.C. Robert White has a history of successful insurgent campaigns, having unseated an entrenched incumbent for an at-large Council seat in 2016. Trayon White openly invokes the spirit of late D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who remains a controversial but beloved figure among many Washingtonians. White was criticized in 2018 for claiming the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty and frequent subject of antisemitic conspiracy, were controlling Washingtons weather conditions. He later said he didnt realize his comment could be construed as antisemitic. ___ Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Ashraf Khalil in Washington, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics. BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, presided over the 40th group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Friday afternoon to discuss the issue of making coordinated efforts to ensure officials do not dare, are not able, and have no desire to commit corruption. Combating corruption is the most important political issue that concerns the people's trust and support. It is a fight that we cannot afford to lose. We must deepen our understanding of improving Party conduct, building clean government, and fighting against corruption under the new circumstances, enhance our ability to advance coordinated efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to engage in corruption and that they have neither the opportunity nor the desire to do so, and thus win this tough and prolonged battle in all respects, Xi stressed. Liu Meipin, director of the Case Supervision and Management Office of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, explained the issue and put forward suggestions. Then members of the Political Bureau conducted a discussion. Presiding over the study session, Xi made important remarks. To have the courage to carry out self-reform is the most distinctive part of our Party's character tempered during century-long struggles. Throughout different historical periods, our Party has stayed committed to strict self-governance. Upon entering the new era, we have put forward a series of new concepts, ideas, and strategies to incorporate the Party's strict self-governance in all respects into the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, and we have explored an effective approach to avoiding the historical cycle of rise and fall through self-reform. With unmatched efforts to combat corruption and uphold integrity and as a Party with unity and solidarity at the forefront of the times, our Party has seized the historical initiative in maintaining close ties with the people and winning their wholehearted support and in leading the Chinese people toward national rejuvenation. Xi noted that since the Party's 18th National Congress in 2012, we have seen marked achievements in combating corruption and accumulated valuable experiences. First, we have set up the work system for fighting corruption under the Party's overall leadership. We have improved systems and mechanisms under which the synergy of efforts makes a difference. They are characterized by unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, command and coordination of Party committees at different levels, organization and coordination of discipline inspection commissions and supervision commissions, effective cooperation between functional departments, and participation and support of the people. Second, we have started from addressing the symptoms of corruption and incorporated the incremental achievements into the fight to eradicate the root causes, to ensure that Party members and officials are deterred from abuse of power, are not able to be corrupt as confined by the system, and have no desire to commit corruption because of their clear conscience and political awareness. Third, we have maintained the severity in our discipline and punishment that are meted out to corrupt elements, with zero tolerance toward corruption. We have worked hard to resolutely contain the increase of corruption while cleaning up the remains of corruption. We have strictly dealt with corruption that hampers the implementation of the Party's theories, guidelines, principles, and policies and that undermines the Party's governing foundations. We have showed no mercy in ridding our Party of the corrupt elements who feigned compliance and practiced duplicity. To further anti-corruption work in key areas, our attitude has remained unchanged, determination undiminished, and discipline unabated. Fourth, we have built tight the cage of institutions that prevents corruption by forming a relatively complete system of intraparty regulations and anti-corruption laws. We have enforced Party discipline and laws more stringently to prevent some from taking advantage of loopholes in the systems and made sure that all the laws, regulations, and institutions work effectively and produce a synergy to make anti-corruption mechanisms bite. Fifth, the ideological defense against corruption has been built up. Party members and officials have been equipped with correct ideals and convictions, and the whole Party has been armed with its new theories. Party members and officials have also cultivated their conduct and mind with fine Chinese cultural traditions. As such, they have developed moral integrity and correct political convictions. Sixth, we have strengthened checks on and oversight over the exercise of power and deepened reform of the Party's discipline inspection system and the national supervision system. We have ensured that internal oversight covers the whole Party, and that supervision covers everyone working in the public sector, strengthened the Party's self-supervision and subjected ourselves to public oversight, and integrated identifying problems, promoting rectification, boosting reform, and improving institutions. We have educated and guided Party members and officials to exercise power for public affairs only, in accordance with the law, and for the interests of the people and never to abuse the power in their hands. Xi stressed that corruption takes place because various unhealthy factors inside the Party have been accumulating and deteriorating for a long period of time, and that crackdown on corruption is to combat all pathogens that undermine the Party's advanced nature and purity. Such battle is so complex and tough that we can hardly allow even the slightest concession or compromise. We must have the courage to face problems squarely and be braced for the pain, and remain firm in fighting corruption, removing its roots, and clearing away its negative influence, so as to ensure the Party's nature remains unchanged and our socialist country stands forever. Xi noted that although we have won overwhelming victory in the fight against corruption and fully consolidated what has been achieved, the situation is still tough and complex. We should never underestimate the stubbornness and harm of corruption. We must carry the anti-corruption campaign through to the end. To make coordinated efforts to see to it that officials have no audacity, opportunity, or desire to engage in corruption, actions in the three aspects must be taken at the same time, to the same direction, and in an all-round manner. In this way, the deterrence of discipline and punishment to ensure that officials do not dare to abuse their power, the cage of institutions to ensure that officials are unable to do so, and the ideological defense to ensure that officials have no desire to be corrupt can be integrated. A "full cycle" management mode can be used to ensure that all measures coordinate with each other in terms of policy orientation, complement each other in the process of implementation, and bring out the best in each other in terms of effects. Xi stressed that we must strengthen the CPC Central Committee's centralized, unified leadership over anti-corruption work, give full play to the Party's political, organizational, and institutional strengths, and ensure Party committees and leading Party members' groups of all levels take on their responsibilities in strengthening Party self-governance in all respects, with particular emphasis on the responsibilities of heads of Party and government bodies. We must make sure that relevant functional departments coordinate and fulfill their supervisory duties, so as to perfect the accountability framework for Party self-governance in which all sectors carry out their respective responsibilities and coordinate with each other. The anti-corruption campaigns should be coordinated with the Party's political, ideological, organizational, conduct, disciplinary, and institutional development. We should launch a comprehensive offensive against corruption, with political supervision, ideological education, organizational management, improvement of Party conduct, discipline enforcement, and institutional improvement all playing important roles in preventing and curbing corruption. Xi noted that we should stay vigilant and strike hard with zero tolerance of corruption, and coordinate our efforts in various fields to reduce recurring problems until they are eliminated and prevent new ones from spreading. We should resolutely contain the emergence of new corruption cases and eliminate the existing ones. We need to have an accurate understanding of the characteristics of corruption in different stages and its changing patterns, focus on major areas and key links, take firm actions to "take out tigers," "swat flies," and "hunt down foxes," eliminate high-risk industry-specific and institutional corruption, and effectively prevent and defuse the risks of corruption and economic and social risks related to it. In light of their actual conditions, all localities and departments should conduct in-depth analysis of their own political ecology, identify prominent features, key areas, and vulnerable links of corruption, and carry out targeted rectification with all-out efforts so as to achieve results. Xi stressed that we should address the source of corruption by improving mechanisms and systems for the use of power and management of officials, so as to realize regular and long-term prevention and control of corruption. We should try to reduce opportunities for corruption and, for those exercising powers such as of policy-making, decision-making, administrative approval and supervision, and law enforcement, we should impose strict regulations on their duties and jurisdictions, introduce standard work procedures, tighten checks on their exercise of power, and reduce illicit interference in micro-economic activities. We should take effective actions to prevent corruption from growing, introduce prevention measures in the earlier stage, enhance everyday management and oversight, and make precise use of the four forms of oversight over discipline compliance, so that problems can be identified early and rectified while they are nascent and layers of prevention against corruption can be in place. We should carry forward the Party's glorious traditions and fine conduct, launch targeted education on the Party spirit and campaigns to enhance Party members' awareness of the need to combat corruption, nurture our body and mind with a probity culture, establish an evaluation system of officials that meets the needs of the new stage and new era, and pay close attention to educating and guiding young officials. A mechanism must be established between early warning against corruption and the punishment of corrupt elements. We should strengthen analysis and research on new features of corruption such as deeply-hidden ways of abuse of power and varied methods of rent-seeking and improve our capability to promptly detect and effectively deal with corruption. Xi called for deepening the reform of the oversight systems of the Party and the state, with intraparty oversight as the mainstay, for promoting the integration of various oversight forces and oversight work, and for improving the coverage and effectiveness of the oversight of power in order to ensure that it is not abused in any way. Xi required that intraparty regulations and the national legal system must be optimized and anti-corruption laws and regulations involving foreign countries improved at a faster pace. We must strictly implement our institutions and internalize the compliance with rules and disciplines into the ideological and political consciousness of Party members and officials, Xi said. When carrying on self-reform, we should rely on people's support and help to solve our own problems. Xi stressed that comprehensively governing the Party with strict discipline and fighting against corruption must start with the management of leading officials, especially senior officials. The higher an official's position is, the more power he or she has, the more he or she should hold in veneration his or her work and be self-disciplined. Leading officials, especially senior ones, should strictly discipline not only themselves, but also their family members and people around them. They should make efforts to create a clean environment in the sectors under their immediate or indirect supervision. They must set a good example themselves in creating a clean political ecology, building a clean work relationship among colleagues and between ranking officials and their subordinates, and drawing a clear demarcation line between government departments and businesspeople. Their good example should help create a social environment where social morals prevail. Members of the Political Bureau must uphold the highest standards as far as self-discipline is concerned. They must be the first to do what the Party requires its members to do, and resolutely refrain from doing whatever the Party prohibits its members from doing, Xi said. Xi stressed that discipline inspection and supervision agencies must take the initiative to respond to new situations and new challenges in the fight against corruption, deepen their understanding of the laws governing Party management and the anti-corruption struggle, constantly improve their capabilities and work performance, and accept, of their own accord, oversight from the Party and all sectors of society. With the spirit of self-reform, they must never be blind to their own problems. Discipline inspection and supervision officials must be loyal to the Party, have firm political convictions, remain selfless and fearless, always uphold the Party spirit, enforce discipline impartially, exercise power prudently, dare to and be good at fighting against corruption, and truly ensure that the CPC Central Committee is rest assured and people are satisfied with their work, Xi noted. Niger State Governor and Chairman, North Central States Governors Forum (NCSGF), Abubakar Sani Bello has described the victory of the All P... Niger State Governor and Chairman, North Central States Governors Forum (NCSGF), Abubakar Sani Bello has described the victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Ekiti State gubernatorial poll as a good omen for the ruling party ahead of the 2023 general elections. Bello said this in a statement to congratulate Biodun Oyebanji of the APC over his landslide victory at the just concluded Ekiti State gubernatorial election. He explained that the victory of Oyebanji is a clear indication that the APC-led government in Ekiti State and the country at large has executed people-oriented projects. The Governor also said the governor-elect has significant work to do in complementing the efforts of Governor Kayode Fayemi as governance is a continuous process. I congratulate you on the well-deserved victory, this is a clear testimony that our party is doing the right thing for the people. Ekiti State has witnessed significant progress, I am confident that the governor-elect will continue with the good work by the present governor, he stated. Armed men have reportedly bombed the Izombe market in the Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State. The hoodlums on Monday carried out the... Armed men have reportedly bombed the Izombe market in the Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State. The hoodlums on Monday carried out the dastardly act while they were said to be enforcing every Mondays sit-at-home order which the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had since called off. IPOB had in 2021 ordered every Monday sit-at-home across South-East and some parts of South-South to demand unconstitutional release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu who had been in detention at facility of the Nigeria secret police, Department of State Services (DSS). Sources said the incident caused uneasy calm as the traders and customers in the market scampered for safety. One of sources said the gunmen had stormed the market, warning the traders of the implications of coming out on Monday for their business transactions. Angered by their defiance, the hoodlums set two vehicles ablaze in the market which caused serious pandemonium before bombing the market. The source disclosed that everybody in the market sensing danger scampered for safety, while many attempting to escape danger got wounded in the process. Meanwhile, in the midst of the commotion, traders in the market seeking safety got wounded while struggling for survival. They came and threw a local bomb inside the market, everybody started running for safety, they poured fuel on two vehicles and everywhere was in flame." The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, has said the attack on the... The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, has said the attack on the convoy of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was politically motivated. Folarin who represents Oyo Central Senatorial District made this disclosure on Monday. It was gathered that a bus conveying a press crew of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and attached to the convoy of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling APC was attacked yesterday in Lagos. The incident occurred at the Adeniji Adele end of Isale Eko after Tinubu visited the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu. Tinubu was returning to Lagos State after emerging as the presidential candidate of the APC ahead of the 2023 elections. Folarin, while condemning the attack alleged it was politically motivated. He urged security agencies to fish out the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others. The lawmaker in a statement made available to newsmen also described the attack as a criminal act. Folarin said, The attack on the press crew of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olus convoy is utterly condemnable. Its a politically motivated and criminal act. I urge the law enforcement agencies to fish out the perpetrators and bring them to book as it will serve as a deterrent to others. The Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka, has disassociated himself from the protests on Sunday against... The Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka, has disassociated himself from the protests on Sunday against the ban imposed by the Enugu Diocesan Bishop, Most Rev Callistus Onaga. Bishop Onaga had, in a pastoral injunction read in all Catholic parishes, chaplaincies and religious formations, imposed a ban on the ministry. He directed that no Catholic faithful should henceforth go there for any activity. But less than 24 hours after the ban, some Mbakas followers thronged the Adoration Ground on Sunday in disobedience to the Bishops ban and protested against Onaga, calling him unprintable names. Consequently, Mbaka in a statement he personally signed, disowned the protesters and warned them to desist forthwith. He said that he received with obedience the directive of the Bishop and warned his followers against any measure of violence either in action or by abusive utterances. The statement partly reads, My attention has been drawn to activities that took place in the Adoration ground on Sunday. I am not in any way involved in such activity. We received with obedience the directive issued by my Bishop, His Excellency, Most Rev CVV Onaga, on June 17, 2022. May I, therefore, appeal to the faithful, in particular,r members of Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria, to remain calm and united with the body of Christ in the Diocese and also refrain from any measure of violence either in action or by abusive utterances. Those who take to attacking or insulting my dear Bishop, should desist from such. The Bishop is the Shepherd of the Church in the Diocese and we remain his flock who in every way and at all times is expected to be respectful, obedient and willing to respond favourably to his apostolic directives. May I also remind you that all Adoration activities have been suspended till further notice. Adoration Ministry is ever submissive to the mother Church. I enjoin all adorers to know this and remain constantly in prayers for the manifestation of the wiil of God in the life of the Ministry. Dr Sam Amadi, the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ... Dr Sam Amadi, the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to act according to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 in cases of fraudulent substitution of names by political parties. There have been issues of substitution of names of the legally nominated candidate for some more influential politicians by some parties. Prominent among such cases are those involving the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, both of whom contested for the APC presidential ticket but returned to claim their senatorial district tickets having failed to secure their number one interests. Dr. Amadi, a visiting Professor at the Emerald Energy Institute at the University of Port Harcourt, feels the electoral umpire is feet-dragging in exercising its powers as provided by the Electoral Act. He said the INEC has the power to remove names fraudulently sent to the Commission by the political parties and also punish such parties and must not wait for the judiciary before taking such actions. If you are talking about Akpabio and Lawan whose names appeared on the INEC list, the situation is very simple. When the Akwa Ibom REC said if your name is not on the list of INECs verified list, you are not a candidate, the same Fedtud Okoye said he was right and theres only one INEC therefore all their officials are right so what INEC should do is to come out straight. Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act is very clear that when any political party does not fulfil the conditions stated in the act, INEC is authorised to discipline and reject such nomination. It is very clear that what should be done is about everybody, its confidence in the Electoral Act, its about the 2023 election. Weve worked hard to get INEC the right law. Its really shocking if INEC doesnt want to exercise the power the law gave us probably because some of the officials are compromised. The Chairman should come out swingingthe reason why INEC asked for those things to be put in their portal is for them to be reviewed and part of that review is to say this entry is wrong, and put the rightful person. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says Nigerians need to take back their country. He said this on Sunday... Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says Nigerians need to take back their country. He said this on Sunday at the Men of Valour conference, organised by the Revival House of International Church (RHOGIC), Abuja. The conference had the theme Navigating the Corridors of Power, the Church, and the Politics. Obi, who described Nigerias political space as an asylum, said Nigerians cannot allow the current status quo to continue. We cant allow this gangsterism to continue, Nigerians should take back their country. Seventy percent of those who are in politics today should not have any reason to be there. I have said it, politics in Nigeria is a case where lunatics have taken over the asylum, he said. This is the only country where the worst is leading. I was a trader and gradually entered into politics. When you take far more than you need, you are sick. How do you explain that one person took N80 billion? It is not greed; it is sickness. When you take N1 billion, that is greed, but when you take N80 billion, that is sickness. Mad people have taken over our politics. If we get young people with the competence and capacity to be there, things will change. On whether a third force has what it takes to challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former Anambra governor said it is left for the people to decide. It is about the people. When I contested as governor in Anambra, I did so in a small party. People told me that I had no structure. People are the structure. When I was a governor in Anambra, my party had no state or federal lawmaker, he said. When I left as governor, no state was financially stable as Anambra. We were not owing anybody. The people will decide who will rule them. Luckily, we have eight months. Let people come and tell you how they have started. Come and tell us; dont use people or glossy paper. Tell us from your mouth so that we can hold you to account. President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, said things are getting better with the All Progressives Congress following the victory of the partys... President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, said things are getting better with the All Progressives Congress following the victory of the partys candidate in the Ekiti State governorship elections last Saturday. According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, titled President Buhari receives Ekiti Gov-Elect, says things getting better with APC, Buhari made the comment when he received the newly elected Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Premising his comments on the support Oyebanji had received from the other APC governors, the President expressed hope that such support would continue. According to Adesina, Buhari said he keenly followed the polls held on Saturday, June 18, and was delighted with the orderly conduct, and the way the electorate and security agencies comported themselves. I loved how the APC Governors mobilized, and supported you. I think the party is very lucky, and things are getting better. I congratulate the Chairman, and I pray you sustain it, he said. The APC Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, ascribed all the glory for the election victory to God, and pledged that same would be replicated in Osun State next month. In his capacity as Chairman of the Campaign Council for Ekiti, Gov Badaru congratulated Buhari on the successful outing, saying; Your unending effort to reposition the party is paying off. If we combine the votes of the candidates that came second and third, our candidate still beat them by a wide margin. APC is being daily endeared to Nigerians. Our gratitude goes to you, Mr President. The governor-elect, while appreciating the President, said the election was a referendum on the party, and a clear, positive signal to the election in Osun, and the National one next year. APC is still the party of choice. Oyebanji lauded the President for the leadership and the level playing field you provided, adding that he would be magnanimous in victory, as earlier advised by the President. He was led to the State House by the APC Chairman Senator Adamu, Governors Kayode Fayemi, Atiku Bagudu, and Mohammed Abubakar of Ekiti, Kebbi, and Jigawa States, respectively. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered an investigation into Sundays attack on a bus conveying journalists on Lagos Island. ... Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered an investigation into Sundays attack on a bus conveying journalists on Lagos Island. This was contained in a press statement by the Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, on Monday. The journalists were attacked between Ebute-Ero and Adeniji, Iga-Iduganran, during the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubus visit to the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu on Sunday. At least, two people were injured while the vehicle conveying the journalist was vandalised. The statement read in part, Sanwo-Olu has directed also that those involved must be fished out and made to face the law. Besides, the government will pick up the hospital bills of those injured in the incident. Lagos State Government condemns the incident. We hold the media in high esteem and the government has always ensured that they have a conducive environment to perform their duties. Nobody or group will be allowed to destroy our cordial relationship with the media. Lagos has no room for hooligans. Earlier, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos State Council, condemned in totality the reported attack on journalists by some hoodlums and criminal elements in the state on Sunday. Chairman of the Lagos chapter of NUJ, Adeleye Ajayi, expressed displeasure at the attack, describing it as dastard, barbaric, wicked and the height of lawlessness. President Muhammadu Buharis Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has urged men of God to emulate the General Superintende... President Muhammadu Buharis Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has urged men of God to emulate the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor Williams Kumuyi. Adesina said men of God should be apolitical like Kumuyi. He spoke yesterday at the promotion of a book, titled: Kumuyi: The Defender of the Faith in Lagos. Adesina said Kumuyi has remained forthright, and stayed true to his calling, at a time when most men of God in Nigeria took sides politically. He described the Deeper Life founder as a great man of God. According to Adesina: We are glad that Pastor Kumuyi is in that group. When Pastor Kumuyi talks, we can listen, knowing that his message is not tainted with politics, prejudice or any other consideration. Whatsoever he says, you can be sure is what the word of God says. Wherever he stands is where the word of God stands. Only recently, Adesina had slammed the founder of Living Faith Bible Church, Bishop David Oyedepo. The presidential aide said Oyedepo was blinded by his hatred for Buhari following his series of messages against the current administration. The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended its support for religious schools, ruling that parents who send their children to such institutions have a right to tuition aid if the state provides it to other similar private schools. You voted: Stepping off the boat in New Orleans about 8 a.m. Jan. 7, 1821, the young artist was in an understandably foul mood. He had been traveling for some time, Confined to the Smoky inside of a Dark flat bottomed Boat, he wrote in his journal. Until he could find more permanent accommodations, he was staying aboard that same keelboat, moored near the French Market, which he described as the Dirtiest place in all the Cities of the United States. On just his second day in the city, his pocket was picked at a celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. That night, one of his traveling companions fell overboard and almost drowned. He complained about the weather. He complained about the women. He even complained about the parties, which were so loud and mirthful they really sickened me. He was homesick, he was uncomfortable and good-paying work was hard to find, even for an artist of his caliber. I rose early tormented by many disagreeable thoughts, nearly again without a cent, in a Bustling City where no one cares a fig for a Man in my situation, he wrote in his journal on Jan. 12. It was, to put it mildly, a difficult time for John James Audubon. He had recently decided to devote himself full-time to his art. While he worked on his soon-to-be-famous illustrations of birds, he came to New Orleans to support his family through portrait work and teaching art. That work was slow to come. On the plus side, there were birds, and lots of them. The first observation logged in his journal upon arriving in New Orleans, in fact, concerned the hundreds of fish crows that filled the riverfront with their cacophony of calls. He later noted seeing doves, ducks, Canada geese, herons, finches, thrushes, purple martins and numerous other species, all of which naturally caught the naturalists eye. He hadnt yet published Birds of America, the 1827 illustrated masterpiece that would immortalize him, but that would come soon enough. First, he needed to get off that boat and locate a suitable roost on terra firma. Renting on Barracks He would find it in the unassuming, one-story, red brick Creole cottage at 706-708 Barracks St., in which he would rent a room that would become his first Louisiana studio. A neighborhood mockingbird charmed him, but given his financial strain, he still found things to grouse about. Our present situation is quite a curious one to Me, he wrote. The room we are in and for which we pay $10 per Month is situated in Barraks Street near the Corner of that & Royal Street between the Two Shops of Grocers and divided from them and our Yellow Landlady by Mere Board Partitions, receiving at once all the new Matter that Issues from the thundering Mouths of all these groupes. For five months, Audubon and assistant Joseph R. Mason lived in the Barracks Street house, toiling away over his ornithological artworks and sending money back to his family in Kentucky. A change of venue Then, in June, an opportunity arose: an offer of room, board and $60 a month to tutor a 15-year-old budding artist. The catch: He would have to leave New Orleans and travel to Oakley Plantation, near St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish. But when he wasnt teaching his young charge, he would be free to scour the countryside for new winged specimens to paint. He jumped at the offer, trading city life for country life. The change of scenery was good for him. The Rich magnolia covered with its Odoriferous Blossoms, the Hol(l)y, the Beech, the Tall Yellow Poplar, the Hilly ground, even the Red Clay I Looked at with amazement, he wrote in his journal. Such entire change in so Short a time appears often supernatural, and surrounded once More by thousands of Warblers & Thrushes, I enjoyd Nature. He would remain there just a few months, returning to New Orleans to continue his work at, among other places, 505 Dauphine St., now part of a hotel known as Audubon Cottages. (For the curious, his was Cottage No. 1, according to the hotel website.) He also reportedly did work in a no-longer-extant structure on the site of todays Dauphine Orleans Hotel. Learning to love La. Meanwhile, his attitude toward the Bayou State would soften. The state of Louisiana has always been my favorite portion of the Union, he would write, although Kentucky and some other states have divided my affections. He would remain in Louisiana on and off for years, through 1837. In that time, his Birds of America consisting of 435 exquisite hand-colored prints made from engraved plates, many produced during his time in New Orleans was published as an 87-part subscription series. Almost instantly, it catapulted him to a fame that endures today. Just 120 complete sets are known to exist; in recent years, they have fetched prices of $8 million to $11 million, making Birds of America one of the most sought-after books in the world and making Audubon one of the most well-known artists to boast Louisiana links. Loving him back Back on Barracks Street, a small plaque affixed to the front of 706 Barracks notes Audubons residency there. Oakley Plantation has become a state historic site dedicated to his legacy. Some 201 years after his arrival in town, he is celebrated locally with streets, a park, a riverboat and a zoo just to name a few carrying the Audubon name. So, on one count at least, Audubon was wrong. New Orleans is still a bustling place, but there remain plenty of people who care a fig for him. Thanks to reader Jack Belsom for suggesting todays topic. Know of a New Orleans building worth profiling in this column, or just curious about one? Contact Mike Scott at moviegoermike@gmail.com. Sources: The Times-Picayune archives; Journal of John James Audubon: made during his trip to New Orleans in 1820-1821; Historic New Orleans Collection; Library of Congress; AudubonCottages.com The gigantic steel sculpture of an Afro hair pick that appeared on St. Charles Avenue in the CBD last weekend is everything a public artwork ought to be. At 28 feet tall, the sculpture decorated with a peace sign and topped by a clenched Black Power fist demands attention and makes a clear statement that pretty much everyone can understand. The towering piece, titled All Power to All People recalls a half-century of the Black Civil Rights Movement, from so-called radicals defiantly raising their fists in the 1960s to Black Lives Matter activists marching in the streets in recent years. And it does so with a whisper of wit, a nod to nostalgia and an evocation of peace. Artist Hank Willis Thomas, the Brooklyn, New York-based artist who designed All Power to All People, was born in 1976. In a recorded statement, he said his grandmother was a hair stylist who jammed a pick through his hair to inflate it to the proper proportions. The pick had a Black Power fist on top. As a kid, Thomas said, I just thought of it as how you comb your hair. But as he came of age, he recognized that the pick was an icon of African American culture and history. The image of Grandmas pick stuck in his head. Search for the story on https://t.co/ePBMG6NNcM: Two-story Black power hair pick, symbol of African identity, erected near Gallier HallNew Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell calls temporary addition to citys streetscape Breathtaking. Sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas. pic.twitter.com/UKf6oXeXgX Doug MacCash (@dougmaccash) June 18, 2022 As an aspiring young artist, Thomas said he encountered, of all things, a four-story-tall clothespin in downtown Philadelphia. The absurd sculpture was by world-famous 1960s pop artist Claes Oldenburg, who created monuments devoted to the most ordinary stuff, like typewriter erasers, shuttlecocks and clothespins. Oldenburgs oversized clothespin stuck in Thomas head, too. A few years back, Thomas blended the pick and the clothespin concepts into a 9-foot preliminary version of his All Power to All People design. But it had to be bigger. It has a different reverence when you have to look up to it or be in the shadow of it, he said. The towering All Power to All People artwork is part of a traveling exhibit of outdoor sculptures called the "Monumental Tour," which has had previous stops in Philadelphia, Chicago, Oakland and even the Burning Man art fest in Black Rock, Nevada. The arrival of All Power to All People in New Orleans was meant to help celebrate the Juneteenth holiday and the upcoming Essence Festival. "Monumental Tour" director Marsha Reid said shes the one who chose the location of the big Afro pick. She said that Lafayette Square was perfect because there was no fence around it, so people had unfettered access, plus the park is frequented by locals instead of tourists, and its in the center of city politics, with the modern City Hall and the federal courts not far away. She didn't have the old Gallier Hall on her mind when she positioned All Power to All People, Reid said. But in ways, Gallier Hall, located across the street, is the perfect backdrop. The old City Hall was finished in the 1850s. It had doubtlessly been built with slave labor and was a signature piece of architecture of the pro-slavery society of the time. Its neoclassical design venerates ancient Greece and Rome, also slave states. Which makes it intentionally or not a symbolic foil for a sculpture that speaks to the African identity of much of the population. Theres no erasing the past, of course. But you can certainly have a conversation with it, and thats just whats going on down on St. Charles Avenue right now. The citys picturesque streetcars rumble between the two aspects of history, the unchallenged White rule of the past, and the ongoing striving for Black equity. In art terms, that dialogue is a beautiful thing. And that means All Power to All People is a beautiful thing, too. On one hand, its a smile-evoking selfie-op based on a ridiculously enlarged comb that was popular with a past generation. In a way, its comforting. On the other hand, its a spark plug of social issues thats not supposed to make us comfortable at all. As Picasso supposedly put it, good art "ought to bristle with razor blades." Neither City Hall nor Reid would disclose the cost of the "Monumental Tour" project. Get to know a New Orleans bartender, even in passing, and youre bound to hear them say it's time to pass the same $20 bill around this time of year. Its an old chestnut, passed down from generation to generation of bartenders, making its yearly debut just as the vengeful heat of New Orleans summer settles in and the tourists and fair-weather transplants scurry for cooler climates. The implication, of course, is plain: With nobody around but us barflies to collect tips and tabs from, things are about to get lean. This isnt simply an expression. Bartenders literally make the rounds during the summer, spending a little bit of time and money in different bars to make sure everybodys ends stretch until the heat breaks. Earlier this month, BJs bartender Michelle McMahon posted to Facebook, Looking for your bar shift schedules. When and where are you? Summertime is here and we need to pass around that same $20 bill. Even during the prosperous years of the Before Time, summer was tough for bartenders, and forced them to plan their spending carefully year-round, lest they find themselves in mid-August with no rent money and less for food. The pandemic hit New Orleans bar workers hard. COVID-19 rolled in just before St. Patricks Day a holiday loathed by most in the industry even while they give thanks for every green beer-soaked dollar St. Pat leads out of wallets and into their hands and the subsequent city-wide lockdown ended the fat season of spring festivals, bachelor parties and weddings before it even began. Few are paid a living wage by their employers and fewer still have health insurance. While most make sure to carry enough savings to get through the summer and the stray hurricane, few had the kind of cash squirreled away to sit at home for six months let alone a year or more. While restaurant owners (and to varying degrees their employees) were the subject of much national sympathy and support, with no trade association or union reps in Baton Rouge or Washington, D.C., bartenders securing additional pandemic support was a pipe dream. As the weeks stretched into months, some barkeeps threw in the towel, moving in with family elsewhere in the country, heading back to college full time or shape shifting into Day Walkers, their lives redefined by laminated desks and Zoom calls instead of three feet of wooden bar and last calls. Most simply took stock, realized things were grim and once again muttered, Its time to start passing around the same $20 bill. But this time, they werent just passing it between themselves. Bartenders across New Orleans joined the front lines of the mutual aid movement, which was responsible in no small part for thousands of residents being able to feed themselves, stretch their savings a little more to cover bills and generally get through one of the roughest stretches in recent memory. And as the city slowly began re-opening, they found themselves on another front line, combatting the spread of the disease. Bartenders are famously modern Americas therapists, confessors, single-serving friends and nightly news anchors, but before the pandemic, few would have expected them to also be public health experts. And yet thats where they found themselves, first serving go-cups of booze and beer across makeshift doorway and window bars before graduating to indoor health code enforcers, tasked with mask and anger management. Each time city leaders proudly declared New Orleans was open for business, scores of bartenders would end up sick in service of uncaring tourists insatiable thirst for cheap drinks and a return to normal. Even more bore the brunt of anti-mask and anti-vaccine resentment. With the city now truly wide open even as the virus continues to wash over us with alarming frequency it can be easy to give in to the impulse to memory-hole the worst times of the pandemic. Most of us are back to work and back to going out. And that means regular paychecks for most New Orleanians although they dont go nearly as far now as they once did. But as we round the corner on June and temperatures hover at 90 or higher, for bartenders it means it's back to the hard times and passing the same raggedy ass $20 bill around. New Orleanians love a good barstool, and we rarely need a reason to duck into a well air-conditioned barroom for a quick nip. But this summer we do have a reason to stop at that unfamiliar bar youre passing by on the way to somewhere else, or the old haunt down the block. This summer, lets all throw an extra $20 into the tip jar and help our friends, our confidants and our high priestesses of merry blackouts get by a little easier. New Orleanians gathered Sunday to commemorate Juneteenth, the celebration of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in 1865, coming together for games, food and music. In a second day of events held across the city, locals led a second-line at Armstrong Park, musicians played at Congo Square and a march celebrated both Juneteenth and Fathers Day to honor fathers of the movement. Oliver Thomas, a New Orleans City Council member, worked with WBOK, WDSU, Hancock Whitney Bank and Equity Media to host another event, the inaugural Juneteenth Freedom Fest, on the historic block of Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard between Martin Luther King Boulevard and St. Mary Street. There, panelists discussed economic opportunity, health and fatherhood. Thomas said he hopes the festival on Oretha Castle Haley will become an annual event, and he encouraged other celebrations and remembrances of Juneteenth, now in its second year as a national holiday. At this level, its long past due, he said. Wendy Washington, who volunteered with WBOK on Sunday, said the establishment of the national holiday by President Joe Biden last year will help grow the holiday beyond the smaller, community celebrations to much larger ones in the years to come. But most of all, she said its inclusion with other federal holidays is about the nation owning up to its history. NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up I think what this does is bring honesty to the American narrative more than anything, she said. Washington said that in her view, Juneteenth is not only a celebration but a vehicle to focus attention on the inequities that still exist within the Black community. But she still hopes to see it celebrated with joy and happiness, because a community subjected to so much violence needs it. Adam Haughton, who owns Johnnys Jamaican Grill food truck with his brother and has been a member of the New Orleans community since 2009, made it a priority to bring his food truck out to the festival Sunday. He said that celebrating his culture and sharing it with members of the community is important to him. Being at the festival was about giving back to the community and showing a lot of love, he said. Members of the community, he said, "are the ones who put me on the map. Juneteenth commemorates the march into Galveston, Texas, by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and Union Army troops on June 19, 1865. There two months after the end of the Civil War and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln declared all enslaved people free they enforced the Emancipation Proclamation and freed the last enslaved Black Americans, 150,000 of whom had been brought to Texas by slave owners after the Union Army captured New Orleans. Louisiana is one of at least 24 states and the District of Columbia that recognizes Juneteenth as a public holiday. St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Charles Preston will co-host an online Suicide Prevention Symposium on June 24. It is free, open to the public and begins at 8 a.m. Coordinating with the National Alliance on Mental Illness-St. Tammany (NAMI) and the Florida Parishes Human Services Authority (FPHSA), the Coroners Office will present speakers and a panel discussion. Topics will include how to spot warning signs of suicidal thoughts, causes of suicide, and services that are available for those in crisis and their loved ones. We have made progress in adding resources over the years, but St. Tammany continues to have a high suicide rate, said Preston, who lost two family members to suicide years ago. Many resources are available through my office, NAMI, FPHSA, and other organizations to help prevent this tragedy from striking families in our community and beyond. To register for the event, visit www.LOPA.org/symposium. Registrants will receive a link and instructions by email. Five St. Tammany residents appointed to boards, commissions St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Half of the 10 people Gov. John Bel Edwards recently appointed to Louisiana boards and commissions are from St. Tammany Parish. Lacombe resident Ellis J. Bourque III was appointed to the board of supervisors of Community and Technical Colleges. A program director for New Orleans Pipe Trades, he was nominated by the AFL-CIO and will represent the 1st Congressional District. This board serves as the management board for Louisianas public two-year institutions, with a mission is improve quality for state citizens through educational programs offered through their colleges. Meredith F. Jordan, of Madisonville, was appointed to the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council, whose mission is to lead and promote advocacy, capacity building, and systemic change to improve the quality of life for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Jordan, the director of diverse learners for the Louisiana Department of Education, will represent the department. Daniel J. Brown, a Madisonville resident, was reappointed to the Life Safety and Property Protection Education Board, which advises on initial and continuing education requirements for individuals licensed to perform Life Safety and Property Protection contracting. Brown is manager of strategic projects for the Hiller Companies and will serve as a representative of technical endorsements for fire suppression. Madisonville resident Doneva P. Halphen was appointed to the Louisiana Real Estate Commission. Halphen is a managing broker for Coldwell Banker LLC and will represent the 1st Supreme Court District. The commission's mission is to serve and protect the public interest in real estate transactions and real estate related activities. Cap. Edward M. Michael Bopp, a Covington resident, has been reappointed to the Water Resources Commission, which works with the Commissioner of Conservation to prevent waste of ground water resources and prevent or alleviate damaging or potentially damaging subsidence caused by withdrawal of ground water. Bopp is president of the Crescent River Port Pilots Association. The Ministry of Minority Affairs has been assisting economically weak students of minority communities to study abroad by providing them interest-subsidised loans. The scheme of the ministry named Padho Pardesh seeks to help such students attain higher education in foreign universities and thus enhance their employability. (Dr Shujaat Ali Quadri) As part of the scheme, the interest subsidy is linked with the existing Educational Loan Scheme of Indian Banks Association and is restricted to students enrolled for courses at Masters, M Phil and PhD levels. In order to avail the scheme, students should apply for the benefits under the scheme during 1st year itself of the course. Fresh applications received during 2nd year or subsequent years are not accepted. The applying student should also have secured admission in the approved courses at Masters, M Phil or PhD levels abroad. Interestingly, the students dont have to seek verification of their documents from various authorities, they can self-attest them and submit them to the ministry. A certain condition of the scheme is that the total income from all sources of the employed candidate or his/her parents/guardians in case of unemployed candidate shall not exceed Rs 6 lakh per annum and the income certificate should be submitted from the notified authority in the State/ Union Territory. The scheme is rolled out in a very meticulous way. The beneficiary students are given loans for the duration of course period, plus one year or six months after getting a job (whichever is earlier) by a designated bank that maintains a separate account and records relating to the funds received from the ministry and submit quarterly reports to the ministry. The account and records are open for inspection/audit by the officers of the ministry, or any other agency designated by the ministry or CAG. It is noteworthy here that the ministry doesnt provide any loan to students, it only reimburses 100 % interest component of the loan availed by the student from the bank up to the moratorium period. Under the scheme, the student can take Educational Loan from any Private Bank, Public Sector Bank, Scheduled commercial Bank and member urban Co-operative Banks, etc. The scheme is evaluated at regular intervals by the ministry or any other agency designated by the ministry from time to time to ensure that the beneficiary students and lending banks are not violating any promulgated term. The education-friendly scheme, that makes students free of burden of paying interest on bank loans, has generated enthusiastic response from aspirants from minority communities like Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, etc. Every year, around 2,000 students reportedly avail of the schemes and many of them are studying, working or have returned to India from US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Russia, etc. Muslim students form the majority of the beneficiary students. As per the quota decided by the central government for minority students for each state/UT, the number of Muslims slots outnumbers any other community. (Writer is Chairman of Muslim Students Organisation of India) From the kitchen of his New Orleans business earlier this month, a local restauranteur first heard noise that "would not stop," the throaty roar of unmuffled engines with straight-through exhaust systems and the shriek of tires skidding across pavement. As customers cleared out, he witnessed foolishness and ridiculousness at the intersection of St. Claude and St. Roch avenues: drivers of Dodge Chargers, Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros burning donuts on the street. All I saw was smoke everywhere, people standing everywhere. ... It was chaos, said the owner, who asked not to be named. When I saw that kid jumping on top of the police car, I was like, Is this really happening? Can't see the video above? Click here. The entrepreneur witnessed the latest urban eruption of a rolling subculture, a conflict between stunt drivers and authorities as old as muscle cars, pavement and the human urge to push the limits. Whats new are the explicitly anti-police sentiments, the guns, the takeovers of densely populated urban areas and the use of social media. Its more serious now that those perpetrators have gone into communities and chosen to block traffic, said New Orleans City Council member Eugene Green, whose proposal to prohibit vehicular stunt activities was approved Wednesday by the Criminal Justice Committee. It proceeds to the full council for a vote. Enthusiasts defend the high-stakes car stunts, saying they are a legitimate form of sport, albeit one that criminalizes most participants because access to legal venues is both rare and pricey. They say the anti-authoritarian antics exhibited at unsanctioned stunt events put the entire car community in a bad light. But they also understand where that mentality is coming from. The origins of car culture Known as sideshows, these events have their roots in 1980s and 1990s car culture. At sideshows, stunt drivers practice drifting a form of glorified donuts that requires drivers to lose control of the vehicle in an intentional, practiced way. Originating in 1970s Japan, drifting competitions are held worldwide. Drifting events are an adjunct to drag races, which take place legally in motorsports parks and illegally on empty roadways, a recurrent issue city officials have for decades tried to tackle. In New Orleans, the unsanctioned drag racing scene centers on a deserted avenue in the East, according to Foxx Theriault, who is active in the local motorcycle scene and has attended some of the races. Theres every single kind of human having fun, Theriault said. Its really wholesome too, people of all walks of life and races. Fans describe motorsports as a good hobby, one that can help participants learn driving skills and build automotive careers. Thats what happened for one self-described car guy, who asked to remain anonymous because he fears his involvement with car stunts could put him in legal jeopardy. He says he dropped out of school in seventh grade and went to work detailing cars armed with a Craigslist ad, a bucket and Autozone supplies. Since then, hes built performance vehicles, worked as a stunt driver in music videos and hosted legitimate drifting events in addition to participating in sideshows. He saw anti-police sentiments taking hold years ago in the car stunt community. A few years ago, the guys started doing a donut around an NOPD officer, the stunt driver said. When I saw that happen, I was like s, we have an issue. Chaos in the streets That issue came to a head June 5, when stunt drivers shut down four intersections across New Orleans, including St. Claude and St. Roch avenues, where spectators were seen brandishing guns and jumping on a police cruiser in what Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson described as total disrespect. It was the latest and perhaps most brazen in a series of similar takeovers in New Orleans. The dangerous trend exists nationwide. A Detroit police officer was hospitalized this month after being dragged by a vehicle that had been doing donuts in the street. The San Francisco Police Department tweeted that in May it was outnumbered and outgunned at unsanctioned stunt shows, because people are bringing automatic weapons to these events, firing indiscriminately. In the past two years, two spectators at Minneapolis drag racing events have been killed by stray bullets. And in New Orleans, a video recording shared on social media shows a bystander getting hit by a stunt car. People have been killed at these events, City Council member Eugene Green said. Two weeks ago, we saw injuries. We don't have to wait until death happens. "Us versus them" NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Many motorsports parks dont allow drifting events, because of the wear and tear they place on courses. It costs $10,000 to $30,000 to rent NOLA Motorsports Park near Avondale for a private drifting event, according to the stunt driver. When he shelled out thousands for his sanctioned drifting event hosted by a local business, hiring police and a DJ, he did not recoup expenses. For this reason, drifters have historically practiced their sport in deserted areas, the driver said. We would go to an abandoned lot in the East and do this, the stunt driver said. Next thing you know, cops are running everyone off. ... When they don't have a place to go, they'll go do dumb things. NOLA Motorsports did not return requests for comment. The us versus them mentality is heightened by the outlaw nature of a sport whose participants are criminalized. For some, the chase is part of the appeal. A little bit of it is, they like the cat and mouse game, the stunt driver said. Stunting for the gram? A woman who helps runs The Shade Room BR, an Instagram message board that has posted event information from sideshow organizers, says social media offers a platform for car stunt enthusiasts, many of whom arent old enough to drive, to make a statement and craft an image for themselves. I feel like sometimes they do these things because they feel like they're unheard, said the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. Theriault thinks social media show-offs are responsible for the guns at recent events. As far as guns and car culture, there's not a big intersection, Theriault said. Thats not to say people wont get wild on their optics and social media and look how they want to look. In addition to making takeovers possible, social media heightens the drama. Through social media, a one-sided narrative emerges about the fun, joy, community, and, inevitably, the event's unjust shut down by police, said Elijah Miller, CEO of the website RC Ride On Cars. Street racing and sideshows create the perfect storm for increasing anti-police narratives and sentiment because in their very nature, they pit two groups against one another. Several social media pages associated Louisiana's car stunt community went offline or became private after the June 5 takeovers across the city. District Attorney Jason Williams vowed Thursday to use these social media mavens' tools against them. Individuals are literally bragging about criminal activity, Williams said. We can use social media to hopefully get in front of them before a single donut or gun is brandished on our streets. Spinning out of control Ferguson also promised to toughen charges against stunt drivers. When the police chief announced arrest warrants for five suspects in takeovers this month, he said they would be charged with aggravated obstruction of highway of commerce, a felony that carries a sentence of as long as 15 years in prison, rather than reckless driving, a misdemeanor punishable by, at most 90 days in jail and a $200 fine. Police on Friday made their first two arrests. Police arrested Eduardo Gomez, 26, of New Orleans. He was booked with the felony charge, in addition to inciting a riot and disturbing the peace. Police also booked a 17-year-old boy from Denham Springs on charges of aggravated obstruction of a highway, assault, inciting a riot, felony criminal damage to property and disturbing the peace. But car culture enthusiasts say officials cant arrest their way out of this issue. They say stunt drivers need a safe place to go. These kids need guidance. They need a place to do this, and they don't have a place to do this, said the stunt driver, who noted that he approached the City Council in 2019 about repurposing an abandoned parking lot to create a space for motorsports enthusiasts to legally practice drifting. That suggestion got no traction, he said, and the issue continued to spin out of control. Officials "are saying this isnt Gotham City. Well, if it is Gotham City, then yall look like the Jokers," he said. "Because this is a simple fix. Gabriella Killett and Matt Sledge contributed to this report. When a school closes its doors, an emotional, sometimes chaotic period can follow for students and their families. In New Orleans, where charter schools are evaluated on academic, financial and organizational benchmarks to determine whether they can remain open, closures happen regularly. This year, four Orleans Parish public schools closed: two because of declining enrollment and two because their charters were not renewed after poor academic performance. So what happens to students after their school is closed? And do the supports provided by NOLA Public Schools priority in the school enrollment lottery system and access to EdNavigator, a nonprofit support group for parents have an impact? Based on an analysis of students from three New Orleans schools that closed after the 2017-2018 school year, students who used those supports were more likely to be placed in higher rated schools, according to a study from the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans and the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice released this week. 'Traumatic events' Researchers reviewed data from 582 students, tracking OneApp school requests and placements, where they enrolled, how long they stayed at their new schools and state test scores. They compared groups of students who switched from the three schools the year before they closed and students who switched from other "D" or "F" rated schools that were not closing. School closures can be remarkably traumatic events for the families affected because oftentimes they dont have a whole lot of warning," said Jon Valent, a research partner at the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice and author of the study. If were going to have schools close, we need to put a lot of emphasis on supporting kids that can be most directly harmed by these closures." NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Starting with the 2017-2018 school year, New Orleans enrollment application system, at the time called OneApp, offered students priority placement if their school had been closed, essentially moving them to the front of the line for schools with open spots. Additionally, a nonprofit group called EdNavigator gave one-on-one support to families, recommending specific schools and helping them through the process. Among the 582 students, families who received priority and support were more likely to request higher-rated schools and be placed in the higher-ranked schools than families who did not receive support, though the study noted that many students across all groups were placed in low-rated schools. More support, better outcomes Data showed that if they were given support, families were more likely to complete the school application process in the first round and were more likely to stay in their new schools for at least a year. Basically, it looks like families who got priority and got that support ended up being very stable in the schools they ended up in ... and quite a few families ended up in higher-rated schools, Valent said. Test scores of students who received priority and support increased slightly after they were placed in a new school but still remained far below state averages, the study said. We need to keep school closures as an absolute last resort, Valent said. If were going to keep [school closures] in the school improvement toolkit then priority one in this has to be taking care of the families." Yes, in case you were wondering, it has been hotter than usual for this time of year. It's not even technically summer until Tuesday, but temperatures in parts of south Louisiana are already flirting with 100 degrees, the National Weather Service has issued a succession of heat advisories and it's only expected to worsen. "There are days I cant come out here because of the heat," said Jennifer Peters, who does psychic readings outside of Jackson Square. She has an umbrella and a small battery-powered fan on her table to combat the heat. Shes been providing spiritual guidance in the French Quarter for six years but recently has taken more days off because of higher temperatures. "Its the hottest its ever been. Usually it would be wind keeping me from coming out, but now Im looking forward to the wind," Peters said. Last week, the state's climatology office said temperatures so far in June have been above normal across nearly all of Louisiana, tweeting: "If you think it has been a hot start to June in Louisiana, you are not wrong." The National Weather Service's forecast office for the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas warned of temperatures approaching or exceeding 100 degrees in the coming days. "Hitting 100 degrees in this area is uncommon, but very rare during June," the forecast office tweeted on June 14. According to State Climatologist Barry Keim, the warm and humid air that blows in from the Gulf of Mexico is to blame for these temperatures. While climate change is gradually turning up the heat worldwide, Keim said he is hesitant to directly attribute the current above-average temperatures to global warming. "All I can really do is shrug my shoulders and say maybe," he said. "It's certainly consistent with what climate change is expected to throw at us. But it's not like we've never had heat waves before either." 'Above-normal temperatures' Part of the problem this year is that there have been fewer afternoon showers to cool Louisianans off. This is due to a high pressure weather system that is keeping storm clouds from forming as often as they normally would. High levels of Saharan dust could also be to blame for the fewer afternoon showers. By June 16, there had been accumulated rainfall of 1.95 inches recorded at the New Orleans airports weather station. In a normal year, that weather station would have gotten over four inches of rain by the same day in June. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Of the hottest 10 Junes on record in the New Orleans area, five have occurred since 2006. As of June 15, this months average temperature was only a half-degree cooler than the 10th year on that list. "Above-normal temperatures are favored over a large swath of the country, with the highest probabilities centered over the Southeast," Forecaster Daniel Barandiaran of the federal Climate Prediction Center wrote in a forecast discussion. According to the center, theres a 70-80% chance for temperatures to be above normal in Louisiana for the rest of June. And, the National Weather Service expects more heat advisories to come. "Upper 90s for today will help keep the heat advisory going, and this may be posted each successive day for the next several days," NWS forecaster Hannah Lisney wrote in a forecast discussion Friday. "Remember, heat is cumulative." 'Different vibration' Tree, who works for Need A Ride Nola, said that since he started working as a pedicab biker in 2016, hes noticed the summer heat coming sooner, and feeling hotter. Still, he enjoys feeling the sun on his skin and working up a sweat. "It might be climate change. Maybe its a cycle that comes around and its really not change," Tree said. "Now why would anyone want to get on a giant tricycle and pull people around? You have to be on a little bit of a different vibration." Usually Need A Ride bikers will pedal on a ride for at least half an hour, and often ride for multiple hours. Tree rides for four days out of the week, with the occasional vacation. But, he doesnt have plans so far to escape the New Orleans heat. "If youve got stuff to show them, theyve got time to listen," Tree said of his customers. "And a few of us have a lot to show." Royal Carriages, a mule carriage service, has also been affected by the temperatures. During the summer, the service has built in strict 30-minute breaks to its ride schedule. Royal Carriages also doesnt provide rides during the afternoon, splitting up the day between morning and evening. "Ten years ago, we probably would have been able to work through the entire day," said Benjamin Speight, director of training and livestock management for Royal Carriages. Carriage drivers carry buckets to fill with water for each of their mules to avoid crowding at the water trough, and they spray the mules with water to help them cool off. The drivers are also encouraged to drink Gatorade and plenty of water. Mules are more resistant to heat than horses, but they can still fall victim to heat exhaustion. Thats why Speight ensures that any mules that are sensitive to the heat either work evening rides or none at all until temperatures begin to cool down. Carriage drivers also watch their mules closely to see if they need a longer break, or to stop giving rides for the day. "It's not worth the chances of something bad happening," Speight said. "A person falling out or an animal falling out." Louisiana hospitals, doctors offices and pharmacies are preparing to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for children as young as 6 months, the last age group to receive vaccine eligibility, after federal agencies and the Louisiana Department of Health recently recommended the shots for younger children. In Louisiana, 175 providers have ordered 25,820 vaccine doses for children under 5. For many parents, it's welcome news after months of anxious waiting for the regulatory approval process to play out. "There are a lot of families across the state who are very eager to get their youngest kids vaccinated," said Dr. Joe Kanter, the state health officer, at a press briefing Monday. "And I count myself in that group as well." Although health leaders predicted there may be an initial rush, it's not likely the uptake among young kids will exceed that of older kids. Louisianas rate of vaccination among children between the ages of 5 and 11 remains low, at about 12% compared to 30% nationally, according to federal data. Louisiana ranks fourth-to-last for total vaccination rate, with 54% of residents fully vaccinated compared to 61% nationally. The Food and Drug Administration authorized both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for children under 5 on Friday after a unanimous recommendation from an advisory panel. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on that agency's recommendation on Saturday. Doses arriving this week On Monday, the state recommended all eligible children receive the vaccine to protect against severe outcomes from COVID-19 infection, including heart conditions, long-term complications, hospitalization and death. Providers who pre-ordered the vaccine expect to receive it this week, with plans to distribute it as soon as it is on hand. Children's Hospital in New Orleans expects to receive doses late Monday. Parents can make appointments online, and the hospital will also hold events in the community to vaccinate young kids that will be announced at a later date. Ochsner Health will keep patients across the state updated on making appointments once vaccines have been received, said Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, the system medical director of hospital quality. Appointments may open up as early as Tuesday afternoon. Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge expects doses to arrive later this week. The system will give out the kids' vaccine in nine different locations, according to a representative. NOLA Business Insider The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every day. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are given to children in lower doses than the adult version. The Pfizer vaccine is a three-shot series for kids ages 6 months to 4 years with the first two doses given three weeks apart followed by a third dose, which is not considered a booster, at least 8 weeks later. The Moderna vaccine is two doses given four weeks apart for kids 6 month to five years. 'An opportunity to protect the smallest kids' While some parents will welcome the protection for their smallest family members ahead of a summer travel season that's coming amid a surge of infections, pediatricians have also run into apathy or hesitancy from parents, said Dr. Mark Kline, an infectious disease specialist and the physician-in-chief at Childrens Hospital New Orleans. This is an opportunity to protect the smallest kids from severe disease or death, said Kline. Im really hoping uptake is going to be good, but it remains to be seen. Hales Pediatrics is one of the independent providers on the state's list. Pediatrician Nora Oates said many parents are excited, but there are also some discussions with parents of kids being lower risk for severe complications than adults. "My argument is that it is not zero risk," said Oates. "I think these are still important vaccines, and I have no hesitation here." Twenty-one children have died of COVID in Louisiana since the pandemic began, with nine of those deaths in children under 5. More than 330 kids have been diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, a rare but serious condition that emerges after a COVID infection. "It's a misnomer that COVID is not a significant concern for kids," said Kanter. "While most kids do OK with COVID, that's not all kids, and with the amount of COVID that has been spreading and is currently spreading, it's far from insignificant." Clinical trials found the vaccines safe for young children, with no severe reactions or swelling of the heart muscle a rare side effect in older children and adults. The trial showed the vaccines triggered the same level of antibody response as they do in older kids and adults. The state directed parents to contact their childs pediatrician to schedule a vaccine appointment. If the pediatrician does not offer the vaccine, parents can check for another provider on the state's website or by calling the state's COVID-19 support hotline at 1-855-453-0774. Every year, three months before hurricane season, nursing homes along Louisianas Gulf Coast are required to submit a stack of paperwork to state and local officials, detailing how and where theyll evacuate their medically fragile residents in the event of an emergency. But last years botched evacuation of hundreds of nursing home residents to a squalid, ill-equipped warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish as Hurricane Ida bore down raised questions about how closely regulators scrutinized those plans. Months before nursing home magnate Bob Dean ordered his seven facilities to evacuate, his staff filled out the required paperwork, listing the old pesticide warehouse as their primary evacuation site. As Ida careened toward Louisiana, Dean followed through on that plan. And for several days, more than 840 residents languished at the partially flooded warehouse, with inadequate clothes, hygiene and food. Louisiana Department of Health inspectors, who had been monitoring the site and had initially found it met minimum standards, finally shut it down after days of deteriorating conditions. They described patients on mattresses on the floor, crying out for help, many lying in their own feces and urine. Dozens of patients later died. State officials who took away Deans nursing home licenses days after Ida have said at least five of those fatalities were "storm related." Deans facilities remain closed, though he is fighting to get his licenses back. He is also the target of numerous civil suits and a criminal investigation; a pending civil lawsuit also blames the LDH for the botched evacuation. Following the fiasco, state lawmakers wondered aloud who, exactly, was responsible for approving nursing homes emergency preparedness plans, copies of which are generally kept by state and parish officials. LDH lawyers answered that, technically, nobody was responsible for signing off on them. The statute that mandates nursing homes in Louisianas coastal zone draw up evacuation plans, they said, only required the health department to review not approve them. The relevant state law was passed after Hurricane Katrina, when a handful of nursing-home residents died from the stress of lengthy evacuations and dozens of others died after the homes managers decided against leaving. More accountability To add a layer of accountability, state lawmakers this session passed a bill, backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, that will require nursing home preparedness plans to go through a more thorough vetting process. Under the regulatory scheme laid out in House Bill 933, sponsored by state Rep. Joseph Stagni, R-Kenner, the LDH must approve a nursing homes plan in order for the facility to keep its operating license. Also, all nursing homes in Louisiana not just those located on or near the Gulf Coast will be required to submit plans. And the approval process will include input from a range of state and local entities, including the state fire marshal and parish emergency preparedness offices. Much of the proposed law wont go into effect until later this year, but Louisiana isnt waiting to beef up its oversight. Around 23,000 Louisianans are residents of nursing homes. About 9,200 live in the parishes most at risk of getting struck by a hurricane. Usually, when a nursing home evacuates, it will send its residents to another licensed nursing home or medical facility with empty beds. But they can also evacuate to an unlicensed site, like a school or church. Ahead of this years hurricane season, which began on June 1, the state health department, for the first time, conducted inspections of all unlicensed evacuation sites. Deans warehouse was one such site. The plans submitted this year by the 98 nursing homes along the coast listed 14 unlicensed facilities as primary or secondary evacuation sites. All of those sites have undergone a preliminary inspection. If an evacuation is triggered, theyll face another inspection. The new law requires nursing homes to notify the LDH within one hour of their decision to evacuate. Get hurricane updates in your inbox Sign up for updates on storm forecasts, tracks and more. e-mail address * Sign Up Its one thing to do a review in an empty building. Its another thing to do a review once its set up, LDH Secretary Courtney Phillips said in May. In the past, inspections typically took place in the lead-up to evacuations. In fact, days before Ida made landfall, the state twice inspected Deans warehouse and determined it had the minimum necessary components to provide a safe sheltering environment for a very short period of time. This year, the team of inspectors includes a concerted, larger group of surveyors and specialists, from across state government, a health department spokesperson said. Over the next several months, the LDH is expected to promulgate a set of rules that detail what they expect evacuation plans to include. Stagni's bill sets out minimum requirements, but the forthcoming regulations are expected to go into more granularity, spelling out, for instance, how many bathrooms are needed at an evacuation site. Those regulations will be based on recommendations from the Nursing Home Emergency Preparedness Review Committee, which will grow from 17 to 24 members under Stagnis legislation. Nine of those seats will be reserved for nursing-home industry officials. Most of the other members will come from across state government. Advocates cheer reforms So far, the states policy response to the crisis in Independence has won high marks from advocates for Louisianas senior citizens. Do I think the state has done what it needs to do in order to be prepared? I do, said Denise Bottcher, Louisiana state director for AARP. But Bottcher, who served as then-Gov. Kathleen Blancos chief spokesperson when Hurricane Katrina struck, said with the increasing severity of storms, its hard to predict what might go wrong. Bottcher said its important to have open and transparent conversations about what worked and what didnt following evacuations. An earlier draft of HB933 required nursing homes to submit after-action reports following evacuations but would have kept those records secret. The final draft of the bill removed the obligation to submit those reports altogether. Altogether, Bottcher said the reforms that have emerged since last years debacle have put Louisiana in a stronger position. When I talk to my counterparts in Florida and Texas, they dont have all those stakeholders around the table, Botcher said. Under the new law, nursing homes in Louisianas 22 most hurricane-prone parishes will have to submit new emergency plans to the LDH by Sept.1. The department will have to either approve or reject those proposals by May 15, 2023. Nursing homes in the 42 other parishes will go through the same process. They need plan approval by May 15, 2024. In the years that follow, all Louisiana nursing homes will have to submit updates to their emergency plans by Nov. 1. Bottcher said its important that as the reforms are phased in, and administrations are replaced, Louisiana officials dont lose sight of why oversight is necessary. As Phillips, the LDH secretary, put it back in May: What happened last year at the Independence site cannot happen again. You might not remember Reginald Lewis, but its quite likely many of you were connected to him. A Harvard-educated attorney, Lewis created an equity business, and bought, ran and sold the McCall pattern company. After buying Beatrice International Holdings Inc., he owned or once owned Avis, the car rental operation; Coca-Cola bottling operations; Orville Redenbachers popcorn; Peter Pan, the peanut butter folks; Playtex and Tropicana juice. Lewis co-authored an autobiography, "Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion Dollar Business Empire." When he bought Beatrice, he made it the largest African American-owned business in the nation. Not a bad role model for young Black college men finding their way. Imagine what it means to Ebenezer Aggrey of East Baton Rouge Parish (Aggrey is the son of an Advocate employee). A Catholic High School graduate who participated on the schools track and field team, Aggrey is a rising junior at Northwestern State University where he majors in business administration. Last week at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Aggrey joined 17 others who have been a part of the University of Louisiana Systems first Reginald F. Lewis Scholars program cohort. They met 18 new Lewis Scholars from across Louisiana, two from each of the systems nine member institutions. They were part of a crowd of about 300 scholars, ULS faculty and staff and program partners, sponsors and supporters who gathered for a Black Male summit. During his freshman year, Aggrey was an active, engaged student. He participated in campus activities and studied. He earned a 4.0 GPA. Aggrey earned the respect of Reatha Cox, one of his professors, who suggested that he consider the Lewis Scholars program. He was selected. Between regular activities and Lewis Scholar activities, it's been quite a year. He was an orientation leader for Northwestern States Freshman Connection program last summer. He became a member of the nations oldest Black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha. He traveled to France with a study abroad program. He met Gov. John Bel Edwards and state legislators. He engaged with business and community leaders. He performed community service. This summer, hes doing an internship with Our Lady of the Lake Franciscan ministry. And theres more. The program includes professional development with business, community and university leaders; research and study abroad opportunities and community service learning experiences with the UL Management & Leadership Institute. And a full scholarship. A couple of Southeastern Louisiana University faculty members shared some ongoing Black male research during the summit. They find that Black males experience low expectations that carry into higher education. The UL System has proportionately low enrollment and retention of Black males, in part because they havent had mentors. Claire Norris, the UL System vice president for advancement, has been an integral part of making the Lewis Scholars program successful. The program was created to knock out systemic barriers and establish new pathways for Black male students who might not experience a strongly guided academic journey. Former New Orleans City Council member and attorney James Carter, a former UL system board chair, connected the system with the family of Reginald Lewis, leading to the systemwide diversity, equity and inclusion work under the Reginald F. Lewis Educational Equity Initiative. Carter met Aggrey last year and was impressed. He had nothing to do with the selection of the first James Carter Exemplary Leadership Award, but he wasnt surprised when Aggrey was announced as the recipient. During a morning keynote that was more like a man offering some fatherly advice and counsel, Lee Jackson, president and CEO of Jackson Offshore Operators, encouraged the scholars to pursue their dreams and to accept help and guidance from more experienced people, no matter their race. He shared his career and life story, including how an unexpected encounter changed his life when a White man decided to introduce him to the maritime world. Blessings dont come with a prerequisite of color, he said. Aggreys introduction to the scholars program didnt come with a color, ethnicity or race prerequisite. Cox, the professor who recommended him, is White. Its highly unlikely youll see Aggrey and these scholars on the evening news for something bad. His early success is proof that investing in good young people at the right time can make a difference. Aggrey is making Carter and Cox happy. He plans to hone my communication skills, and help the next cohort do well. That's what we want. It's what we need. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the massive and rich galaxy cluster Abell 1351. Galaxy clusters contain thousands of galaxies of all ages, shapes and sizes. Typically, they have a mass of about one million billion times the mass of the Sun. At one point in time they were believed to be the largest structures in the Universe until they were usurped in the 1980s by the discovery of superclusters. However, clusters do have one thing to cling on to; superclusters are not held together by gravity, so galaxy clusters still retain the title of the biggest structures in the Universe bound by gravity. Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity that massive objects will deform the fabric of space itself. When light passes one of these objects, such as a massive galaxy cluster, its path is changed slightly. This Hubble image is filled with streaks of light, which are actually the images of distant galaxies, Hubble astronomers said. The streaks are the result of gravitational lensing, an astrophysical phenomenon that occurs when a massive celestial body such as a galaxy cluster distorts spacetime sufficiently strongly to affect the path of light passing through it almost as if the light were passing through a gigantic lens. Gravitational lensing comes in two varieties strong and weak and both can give astronomers an insight into the distribution of mass within a lensing galaxy cluster such as Abell 1351. Abell 1351 is located some 4 billion light-years away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. Also known as MACS J1142.4+5831, this cluster contains at least 100 members galaxies. The Hubble observation is part of an astronomical album comprising snapshots of some of the most massive galaxy clusters, the researchers said. This menagerie of massive clusters demonstrates interesting astrophysical phenomena such as strong gravitational lensing, as well as showcasing spectacular examples of violent galaxy evolution. To obtain this astronomical album, astronomers proposed a Snapshot Program to be slotted into Hubbles packed observing schedule. These Snapshot Programs are lists of separate, relatively short exposures which can fit into gaps between longer Hubble observations. Having a large pool of Snapshot candidates to dip into allows Hubble to use every second of observing time possible and to maximize the scientific output of the observatory. Todays problem in AIADMK is between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam as to who should be the supreme leader of the party. by N.S.Venkataraman There is an ongoing unseemly leadership wrangle in AIADMK party in Tamil Nadu . AIADMK party which was founded and strengthened by former popular film stars MGR and Jayalalitha over several decades with a large mass base , looks like breaking down , which would not be good for the interests of Tamil Nadu. Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. Credit: PTI Photo In the last state election, in spite of DMK forming a strong alliance with several parties and AIADMK also forming an alliance with less number of parties , DMK could get more votes than AIADMK only by around 3%. This speaks volume about the popularity of AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. In the last five years, after the demise of Jayalalitha and after a few hiccups, Edappadi Palaniswami emerged as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and provided a reasonably stable administration. He adopted a co operative attitude towards the central government and avoided unnecessary and counterproductive friction in the centre state relationship. This was a healthy trend. However, after the DMK has come to power , friction with the central government is being deliberately created by the DMK government under one pretext or the other . Hate politics against the central government appears to have become the central theme of DMK , leading to counter productive politics that is impacting the progress and healthy climate in Tamil Nadu in several ways. Apart from DMK, a few friendly parties of the DMK government too have been speaking and issuing statements in abusive tone against Hindu religion and questioning the several traditional practices in Hindu temples . For DMK, it appears that more than any other issue, focus on Hindu religion has become the priority. In view of several controversies created by the DMK government unnecessarily like on the NEET issue, National Education Policy apart from interference in administration by party men, there is a climate of unrest and violence emerging in Tamil Nadu. These conditions are avoidable if the DMK government would conduct the administration focused only on economic development with cooperation of the central government. Overall, it appears that a sectarian or separatist content is being practiced in the affairs of the state by the DMK government. Under such circumstances, weakening of the opposition party AIADMK would leave DMK unchallenged in pursuing some of its negative strategies, which would do harm to the short term and long term interests of Tamil Nadu and India. All said and done, the leadership of AIADMK is committed to the unity and integrity of India, much more than that of the DMK party. It is well known that after the demise of Jayalalitha, when AIADMK was facing virtual split between the faction leaders , Prime minister Modi intervened and ensured that AIADMK would stay united O.Panneerselvam , the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has publicly said a few days back that he was advised by Prime Minister Modi to work with Edappadi Palanisawami with cooperation and Panneerselvam said that he accepted the advice of the Prime Minister. At the present time, similar intervention by Mr. Modi is necessary to ensure that AIADMK would not split and the progressive forces in Tamil Nadu with nationalist thoughts would remain strong. Todays problem in AIADMK is between Palaniswami and Panneerselvam as to who should be the supreme leader of the party. It appears that the overwhelming view of the partymen is in favour of Palaniswami, though Pannerselvam is hailed as a good and decent person. To protect the unity of the AIADMK, what is required urgently is that Pannerselvam should be given a face saving formula by Mr. Modi to exit from the leadership tussle and protect his position in public life, Mr.Modi can appoint Panneerselvam as Governor of any state or as full fledged cabinet minister in central government, which he is likely to accept in the present conditions . To make him a minister , AIADMK should be a firm coalition partner with BJP and AIADMK under the leadership of Palaniswami would agree to this arrangement. What we are especially proud of is that the people of the area have accepted this bridge with full heart and cannot imagine a life without this bridge. by Anwar A. Khan Bridges are building structures made to cross rivers, straits, ravines or highways. Bridges are also built for pedestrian crossings, two- or four-wheeled vehicles or trains. In Bangladesh, many bridges are built across rivers or straits to shorten the distance or facilitate relations between a region to another. The grand Padma Bridge, just completed in Bangladesh, is two-storied. The motor vehicles will travel on the upper part of the bridge while trains will run underneath. The bridge will be open for traffic on 25 June. The train service will be launched later. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana, on Friday visited the Padma Bridge in 2021 The length of the Bridge (the main structure) is 6.15 kilometres which is the longest and a grand event in Bangladeshs History. The works on river training and construction of the main structure of the bridge started in late 2014. Before that, other relevant works, including the construction of link roads, commenced in 2013. The Padma Bridge will directly connect some 19 districts in the south and south-western part of the country. It will create a direct and uninterrupted transit among the Mongla port, Benapole land port, port city Chattogram and capital Dhaka. The Mongla port and the Benapole land port will be directly connected with port city Chattogram and capital Dhaka through the Padma Bridge. Bangladeshs economy will get a huge boost with the expected industrial revolution in 21 southwestern districts after the inauguration of the long-cherished Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge within a year or a bit more. The experts said the double-deck Padma Bridge, with road and rail tracks, is expected to contribute around 1.3 to 2 per cent to the annual GDP growth, reduce poverty and increase economic activities of the people of the neglected southwestern region. Terming the construction of Padma Bride as a tremendous achievement for Bangladesh, eminent economist and former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin said the bridge will play a great role in employment generation, alleviation of poverty and industrialisation in the southwestern region as well as the entire country. The bridge is also expected to enhance regional trade and collaboration along the Asian Highway and the Trans-Asian railway network. The bridge will be amazing and unforgettable. Very well made. If I lived there, I would love to run it that would be a fantastic achievement. In addition to being an icon, the Padma Setu (Padma Bridge) is also proof of infrastructure progress in Bangladesh. I heard that the community is impatiently waiting for the inauguration of this bridge because this bridge has a very important function as the main access route connecting 21 southwestern districts - facilitate inter-regional transportation flows, streamline logistics costs to encourage economic growth in surrounding areas, and create new economic centers. After the inauguration, I hope the bridge will be utilized as well as possible to generate and advance productive activities in the community so that the impact can really be felt by our people. Infrastructure development must provide added value, namely integration with various existing areas, such as agricultural, plantation, and industrial areas. It will also support the development of the southwestern districts staggeringly. We hope that it really gives leverage to productivity and competitiveness, as well as creates new economic growth centers which are expected to create more jobs. In addition to providing benefits, we believe that this new landmark will beautify the landscape of the bridges adjacent area and become the pride of the surrounding community. This is also the first toll bridge in Bangladesh. At night, the bridge will be very beautiful with light and more vibrant with the presence of floodlights from the top of the bridge tower. It will be an inspiration and a pride for the people of Bangladesh. What we are especially proud of is that the people of the area have accepted this bridge with full heart and cannot imagine a life without this bridge. The World Bank should now offer apology to Bangladesh for its cancellation of fund for Padma Bridge over its so-called graft allegation, Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) said on Saturday last. The platform of economists alleged that the Washington-based lender cancelled the loan deal with Bangladesh only to keep the country at its knees. BEA leaders made the observation while presenting a paper styled: Padma Bridge with Own Resources: Realisation of a DreamFelicitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presented at a press conference at their office in the capital. The association thanked the Premier for successfully constructing the much-needed bridge by overcoming all the conspiracies and the so-called corruption allegation. PM Sheikh Hasina declared construction of Padma Bridge amid a severe image crisis of the country after the World Banks loan cancellation on corruption charges. The construction of the 6.15km bridge over the countrys second-toughest river with own money has given the nation the joy of victory once again and Bangladesh has proved to the world its capacity under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The long-cherished dream for a bridge over the mighty River Padma is now a reality, but making the dream come true was never an easy task as it had to overcome conspiracies hatched home and abroad. So, the Padma Bridge is a befitting reply to conspirators. The 6.15km mega structure constructed with Bangladeshs own resource is going to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 25, putting an end to the long wait of people for it. The completion of the bridge is seen as the biggest achievement of the Awami League government that has to foil the conspiracies leading to cancellation of committed fund by the World Bank over a corruption allegation in 2012, which was finally proved false. Besides, some local politicians and civil society members also stood behind the allegation and raised questions over the countrys capacity for building the bridge with own money. But it was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has been able to remove all the confusion along with overcoming all the financial and technical challenges. A three-member team visited Dhaka to investigate the alleged corruption of the World Bank. The group was led by Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief lawyer of the International Criminal Court. Despite meeting with the ACC, they could not provide any evidence of corruption conspiracy. The bridge will not only play a role in boosting trade and commerce, but also bring out socio-economic progress in reducing the poverty in Barishal at 10 percent higher than other parts of the country. It will also play a key role in reducing the poverty elsewhere in the southern parts of Bangladesh. The farmers of Barishal region will get good prices of their crops, which will develop the socio-economic condition. The wounds inflicted by domestic and foreign conspiracies have finally ended as the work on the main bridge of the Padma has been completed with the countrys own funds and it is now a testament to the capability and bravery of the country. The Padma Bridge has not only been constructed with concrete. Our love and pride mixes with it. Sheikh Hasina has constructed it with our own fund. She has courageously implemented it for the love of people. Dr. Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister said the World Bank has been deprived as it rejected the loan proposal for the Padma Bridge project on made-up grounds. Noted economist Dr Khaliquzzaman said that the construction of the bridge with own fund has increased Bangladeshs dignity in the world. The bridge has brought out the dignity and respect of the Bengali nation in the world. True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new ... well done Bangladesh under the able and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Congrats! She has had the best performance ... -The End The writer is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs. The choices and comments made on this list belong solely to the author. The next entry in Google's flagship lineup is bound to make waves in the tech community in late 2022. Between Google's own I/O 2022 tease and the pretty consistent stream of leaks about the Pixel 7, we get the idea feelings about the 2022 flagships will not all be positive. 4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 3D Printing , 5G , Accessory , AI , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , Arc , ARM , Audio , Benchmark , Biotech , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , DIY , E-Mobility , Education , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel , Intel Evo , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Leaks / Rumors , Linux / Unix , List , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Raptor Lake , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Single-Board Computer (SBC) , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Wi-Fi 7 , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) , Zen 4 Ticker 1. Another Samsung-made SoC Google's camera smarts have always been one of the series' strongest points, and the dedicated Tensor processors found in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro took Google's computational smarts to the next level. The problem many fans had with the Google Tensor SoC is the Samsung partnership that seemed to contribute to poor battery life, heaps of bugs, and not-so-stellar performance in the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro devices. While in-house silicon has proven to be very fruitful for companies like Apple and its Bionic processorsallowing companies to more tightly integrate features and security into their platformsthe first-generation Tensor processor suffered some major speedbumps. Hopefully, Google's second-generation Tensor platform will see a smoother launch and better reception. If you're phone shopping, you can still get your hands on the Tensor-powered Google Pixel 6, available on Amazon REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 3Z, a Reykjavik based drug discovery company is pleased to announce the closure of a $2 million funding round led by seasoned investors in pharmaceuticals and medical technology. The just closed funding will accelerate finalization of preclinical studies on 3Z's lead therapeutic candidates in ADHD and insomnia. Using its unique zebrafish screening platform, 3Z has identified both novel and repurposed therapeutics for these indications; the platform allows for cost-effective high-volume screens in vivo. Currently, the lead therapeutics are being re-assayed in mammalian models, replicating, extending and validating the therapeutic potential of the compounds. The novel ADHD therapeutics are all non-stimulants, poised to fill a gap in the market, with less side-effects compared to contemporary treatments and offer an alternative for non-responders. The insomnia therapeutic encompasses a novel mechanism of action that may combat insomnia and metabolic syndrome, indications with significant comorbidity. 3Zs CEO Karl Karlsson is a PhD in behavioral neuroscience and professor in Biomedical Engineering at Reykjavik University. Karl was extensively involved in sleep research before merging the neuroscientific and engineering skillsets to high-throughput in vivo drug screening. Discussing the significance of the financing round Karl stated: "We are extremely pleased to welcome the investors onboard, which significantly strengthen and deepen the company's network and competencies for moving forward. 3Z now has the financial means to forge ahead, getting our current assets ready for the clinic and managing outsourcing activities while initiating the next screens." To find out more, please visit www.3z.is or follow on Linkedin. CONTACT: Karl gir Karlsson karlsson@3z.is +3548256467 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/3z-ehf/r/3z-closes--2-million-funding-for-preclinical-development-of-novel-adhd-and-insomnia-therapeutics-ide,c3588505 The following files are available for download: American-Made Solar Prize Kicks Off Round 6 The Sixth Round of Competition Offers $4.1 Million in Prizes for Those Ready To Revolutionize the Solar Industry The American-Made Solar Prize gets funding directly into the hands of solar innovators and connects them with expertise at national laboratories to advance their technologies. In this photo, a previous Solar Prize competitor works with researchers at NREL using the technical support voucher received during the competition. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL Round 6 of the American-Made Solar Prizewhich focuses on encouraging solar innovation and supercharging the clean energy revolutionlaunched on June 15, this time with a $4.1 million prize pool up for grabs. Established in early 2018, the Solar Prize has funded 120 teams with more than $15 million in prizes. The prize was originally designed to energize U.S. solar manufacturing through a three-contest structure, offering cash prizes, technical support vouchers, and connections to a diverse and powerful support network. Now in its sixth round, the competition has grown beyond just the manufacturing focus to incorporate all kinds of software and hardware technologies. The competition is open to entrepreneurial individuals and teams based in the United States, who will progress through a series of three consecutive conteststhe Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contestsdeveloping new ideas, products, and solutions. As competitors move on through the competition, they receive increasing financial support and resources, accelerating the entrepreneurial process from years to months and reducing the overall time it takes to transform concepts into early-stage prototypes ready for industry testing. The Solar Prize creates a level playing field for entrepreneurs with great ideas by providing resources and support through the American-Made Network, said Garrett Nilsen, acting director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. The last five rounds of the competition have really demonstrated how American innovators can think outside the box when it comes to devising new ways to propel the solar industry forward. We look forward to seeing another crop of promising ideas in the coming round. Round 5 of the Solar Prize, which launched in June 2021, is getting ready to wrap up the final contest this September. This round uniquely separated hardware and software innovations into two separate tracks. Round 6 of the Solar Prize will return to the competitions original structure of having one singular cohort of competitors. Some of the highlights from the ongoing fifth round include innovations such as geospatial software that optimally sites utility-scale solar to avoid challenging terrain; a portable electric appliance with an integrated solar PV system and electric vehicle charger; and a PV panel awning mounting system that could reduce the cost of residential solar for manufactured homes. The Solar Prize consists of three consecutive conteststhe Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contestsin which competitors earn bigger cash prizes as they advance in each contest. Shining a Light on Solar Equity The launch of Round 6 begins with the Ready! Contest, in which interested teams will have until October 6 to prepare their submissions outlining their solar innovation. Competitors will continue refining their concepts throughout the contests, with the final winners being chosen after the Go! Contest in September 2023. Competing teams can also opt to participate in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contestwhich focuses on advancing solar in underserved communitiesfor additional cash prizes throughout the competition. The JEDI Contest challenges entrepreneurs to consider addressing barriers to solar adoption in communities that traditionally lack access to renewable energy. The addition of the JEDI Contest was introduced in Round 5s Software Track. Some of the JEDI Contest winners in Round 5 are developing creative solutions for encouraging solar installations in underserved communities and directing surplus solar energy to neighborhoods in need. Round 6 offers the opportunity for all competitors to incorporate solar equity elements in their solutions. The JEDI Contest is an important new facet of the Solar Prize, said Sarah Gomach, Solar Prize program lead at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. We want competitors to examine the energy and social justice impacts of their concepts and encourage them to ensure theyre thinking about all of the ways their innovations could positively impact both the environment and disadvantaged communities. To learn more about the Solar Prize Round 6, join an informational webinar on July 13 at 2 p.m. ET. Prize administrators from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy will be on hand to answer questions and discuss best practices for prize submissions. Register here. Follow the Solar Prize Round 6 on HeroX, the official competition platform, for updates. Experts are worried that after getting a training of four years, they would be a hot-cake for those who are interested in establishing their personal armies and even for the groups involved in different terrorist activities. by Ali Sukhanver Serving ones own country is the most popular desire everywhere all around the world. People feel honored when their sons sacrifice their lives for the esteemed and prestige of their homeland and it is really a hard luck for the whole youth of a nation if illogical restraints are hurdled into the way to completion of this sacred desire. Today the whole of the Indian nation is raising its protesting voice against BJP governments decision of changing the procedure of induction into the Indian army. Now onwards, there wont be the permanent soldiers but the temporary Agniveers defending the country. The status of the Agniveers would be like those of the daily-wagers and for a very short period of four years. For many of my esteemed readers the term Agniveer would be strange and new but today in India this term is very much popular and root cause of the rapidly disturbing law and order situation as well. According to media reports the Union Cabinet has recently introduced the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force. This recruitment would be largely on a four-year short-term contractual basis. Just after a short period of four years the streets of India would be thronging with the innocent Agniveers and there would be hundreds groups of extremists and terrorists alluring those Agniveers to join them. According to the details provided to the media the youngsters ranging from the age of 17 and a half to 21 years will be inducted into the three services of the Indian Army. After completion of the four-year tenure, 25% of the recruits will be retained for regular service and the remaining 75% would be said good-bye forever. It is yet not clear what those 75% would be doing after being kicked out of the army. Experts are worried that after getting a training of four years, they would be a hot-cake for those who are interested in establishing their personal armies and even for the groups involved in different terrorist activities. Moreover this new scheme of induction of personnel below officer rank would shatter the decades-old selection process which was however based on merit and there was a future surety to the employed ones. Now this tenure-track type of system of induction would give birth to depression and disappointment among the so called Agniveers. Reports say that every year around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited under this scheme and recruitment will be done twice a year. Thousands of young men, who had been dreaming of becoming a part of the military forces, are protesting against the Agnipath scheme as they are unhappy over the changes in selection system. They say that after serving for four years in the army and after ending up with no pension and no monetary benefits, they would be standing nowhere. A number of experts on military affairs and opposition leaders belonging to different Indian political parties are of the opinion that this scheme would adversely impact the functioning of the armed forces. They are demanding the time-tested recruitment system which had been opted for decades. More interesting is the fact that no specific criterion has yet been described for the selection of Agniveers. It seems that the selection procedure would be completed at local level and the local unit commanders would be all in all in making decisions. The only restriction is that of the age bracket. Keeping in view, Indias present secular scenario, it is very much sure that in the suggested force there would be no place for the Muslim and the Sikh youth; only the Hindu young-men would be entertained. Since there would be only Hindu soldiers in this newly formulated force, it is quite sure that during their training, more poison would be injected in the veins of the Agniveers against the Muslims and other minorities and influenced by that venomous preaching, the Agniveers would target the Indian religious minorities like guided-missiles. After completion of the four year tenure, each of the Agniveers would be like a blazing suicide-bomber ready to explode on the minorities particularly on the Muslims and the Sikhs. Mr. Modis desire of making India a Hindu country is not hidden from anyone; the present Agnipath induction scheme also reflects his desire. It seems that Mr. Modi has designed this scheme just to produce another RSS type of force which would be more skillful, more trained and more poisonous than the RSS. One finds a lot of resemblance between the RSS and the Agnipath force. An introduction leaflet about the RSS says, The initial motive behind formation of RSS was to provide character training through Hindu discipline and to unite the Hindu community to form a Hindu nation. The organization promotes the ideals of upholding Indian culture and the values of a civil society and spreads the ideology of Hindutva to strengthen the Hindu community. In that entire introduction, there is no reference to the Indian nation; it is all about the Hindu nation. Various historians are of the opinion that the RSS drew its initial inspiration from the Italian Fascist Party which was very much vibrant during the World War 11. The RSS also started working on the same lines mapped out by the Italian Fascist Party and with the passage of time grew into a prominent Hindu nationalist umbrella organization sheltering rather feeding several affiliated organizations. These organizations patronize different educational institutions and think-tanks to spread Hindutva ideology. Now the Agnipath Force would provide another strong support to the RSS philosophy with the help of young Agniveers. Mr. Modi is doing nothing unexpected by introducing Agnipath like schemes as kill the minorities has ever been the salient feature of his character. His political party had been warning the Muslim and the Sikh community to get out of India. And above all the horrible pictures of burning houses and blood-dripping human bodies in Gujrat massacre 2002 are still there to describe Modis temperament but the problem is that in spite of all these facts and figures, Mr. Modi and his followers try to introduce themselves as the great seculars and on the basis of that claim of secularism, they try to win sympathies and favors of the world. This ridiculous contradiction certainly needs worlds attention. No religion, either it is Hinduism or Sikhism, Buddhism or Islam advocates hatred; if someone tries to disfigure the philosophy of a religion in the name of love for that religion, he must be taken to task rather dealt with iron hands. Without doing so, an extremism-free world could never be dreamed of. Extremism is no doubt the first step to large scale destruction. PORTAGE A 33-year-old Gary man was arrested while on the job after a co-worker picked up on the smell of marijuana and a surveillance video revealed the accused holding what turned out to be nearly an ounce of the illegal drug, Portage police said. Police said they were called out shortly before noon Thursday to a business on Amperiplex Drive where a manager told them he followed the smell of marijuana to a computer desk. The man found four plastic bags containing marijuana and an open bag of Doritos chips. A surveillance video showed the accused, William Willis, reaching under the desk and then holding the bags in question, police said. A woman then appears from underneath the table and talks to Willis before walking away. Willis denied knowing anything about the marijuana and referred police to another employee. Willis was taken into custody and faces a misdemeanor count of possessing marijuana, according to police. Love 0 Funny 8 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 2 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PORTAGE Police say a 29-year-old Portage man left his 6-year-old daughter home alone in an unlocked house at night as he headed to Hammond to meet up with someone he met on a dating app. "I asked Jodoniss (Edwards) what his thought process was for leaving his daughter home alone, to which he stated, 'Loneliness,'" according to Portage police. Edwards was taken into custody and faces a felony count of neglect of a dependent, according to the incident report. Police said they were tipped off shortly after 11 p.m. Friday by a witness who saw Edwards arrive home in the 3200 block of Hickory Street with the child and then leave without her. An officer said no one answered the door to the house upon her arrival, so she looked through a window and spotted the young girl sleeping on a couch. After finding the front door of the house unlocked, officers walked in and after speaking to the girl and lightly shaking her for several minutes, were finally able to wake her, the report says. They said the girl was very groggy and took several more minutes to become alert enough to communicate with them. "She attempted to lie back down on the couch and go to sleep several times before becoming awake," police said. The child was wearing only underwear and as police tried to find clothes to dress her, she reportedly told them she does not own any socks. Officers contacted Indiana Child Protective Services and took the girl to the police station. The person who reported the situation again contacted police around 11:33 p.m. Friday saying she had contacted Edwards and he was on his way home, according to the report. Edwards then called 911 around 11:53 p.m. and reported he was home and could not find his daughter, police said. When Edwards arrived at the police department as instructed, he admitted to leaving the child home alone, police said. He reportedly told officers he left the child alone at the house sometime between 11 and 11:30 p.m. When asked if he left the girl alone for a date, Edwards said, "Kind of. I don't really consider it a date," according to the report. He went on to explain he was heading to meet someone he met on a dating app. "Jodoniss then explained when he got to Hammond no one was there and he started getting 'a bad feeling' so he turned around and came home," police said. He said he also started getting text messages from someone telling him police were at his house and he was going to lose custody of his daughter, according to police. He could not tell police who sent the messages. The mother of the child lives out of state, and no one was available to take custody of her until she arrived, police said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. VALPARAISO Valparaiso High School will allow students to get credits toward graduation by completing community service, the school board approved Thursday. The course allows students to earn two high school credits for completion of approved projects or volunteer service that relates to a course in which the student is enrolled or intends to enroll. For each student who wishes to earn credit under this law, the student, a teacher or a community or volunteer service organization must submit an application to the high school principal. It must include the name of the community service organization or volunteer service organization that the student intends to assist and the name, address and telephone number of the director or supervisor of the community service organization. The application must also include the nature of the community service or volunteer service performed by the student with a certification that the service performed is voluntary. It must state the total number of hours the student intends to serve during the school year. In addition, the application must include a written statement by the students director or supervisor certifying that the application is an accurate reflection of student expectations and the community service or volunteer service organizations need for the student service. The application must also include a description of the educational or career exploration that benefits the student and school, the service and benefit the organization will gain, the description of how community or volunteer service relates to a course in which the student is enrolled, the manner and frequency the student will be evaluated and the name of the certified school employee who will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the students activity and performance. In other business, the school board also approved a proposal to replace defective chilled water coils at VHS, which are typically used to cool or remove moisture from the air. The process will cost $66,900. The board also decided not to award a contract to any bidders regarding miscellaneous work at several elementary schools. Todd Van Keppel, director of buildings and grounds, said the prices were all higher than expected due to manpower availability, equipment procurement and competition throughout the state. Keppel said they should reject the bids for two schools but should advertise for Thomas Jefferson Middle School, as the work needed there is more crucial. The board also has a new schedule proposed for the remainder of the year. The next meeting is July 28, according to Superintendent Jim McCall. While the general schedule of the third Thursday of the month remains the same, several dates may change. This was also school board member Karl Cender's last meeting. He was honored by McCall. "Karl has been a tremendous, steady hand for Valparaiso Community Schools," McCall said. Several school board members echoed the sentiment and provided him with a gift. "He's just a good person," school board member Rob Behrend said. "I can't thank Karl enough. We are going to miss you." Cender then expressed his thanks for the opportunity. "I have enjoyed working in this role," Cender said. "To the Valparaiso community and constituents, thank you for always supporting our schools." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GARY The WGVE Media Day Camp at the Gary Area Career Center this summer will prepare middle school students for careers in media. WGVE Radio and Television Station Broadcast Director Jeffrey G. Smith created the summer camp with the theme "Let's Communicate." It's meant to highlight the radio and television program at the Gary Community School Corp.'s Gary Area Career Center at 1800 E 35th Ave. We see this as a recruitment strategy in order to grow the media offerings and programming at the Career Center," said Smith, who is also the host of "Wake Up GI" and "That Afternoon Podcast" at 88.7 FM. "What we're trying to do is get young people to learn about different ways of entering media. A lot of them want to be influencers and use social media. We're trying to give them an access point to learn media, to experience radio and experience television broadcasting. Hopefully, that will pique their interests into enrolling in the full-time program at the Career Center." The program for 7th and 8th graders is sponsored by A.N.D. TV and The Morning Bishop Theatre Playhouse, Inc. Students create their own game shows, commercials, podcasts, radio announcements and television pilots. "It doesn't hurt to try it out," Smith said. "One thing I say on my show as we look at the marketplace is things are getting a little skill-oriented. If you have the opportunity to take advantage of these programs, it doesn't hurt. It costs you nothing. It's free. In addition to radio, television and broadcasting programs, there's aviation, there's cosmetology, there's auto mechanics, there's business entrepreneurship. So we want to encourage kids to hedge their bets on their future and take advantage of these opportunities. If a two- or four-year program is in your future, you can move on to that. But you can leave the Gary Area Career Center with certifications. You can get your cosmetology license. You can get your barber's license." Participants at the summer camp learn how to create public service announcements for radio, produce 10-minute podcasts, make 30-minute television broadcasts and interview subjects and report local news. "We have state-of-the-art equipment where you can go in industry-ready," Smith said. "In this limited amount of time, we're going to give them opportunities to create these projects from start to finish. They'll get to produce them and show them at the end of the class. We're trying to get people to really see the opportunity at the Gary Area Career Center." They also are taught how to make 30-, 45- and 60-second commercial spots and will get a chance to participate in TEDx Gary- TED-Ed Student Talks. When school resumes, the students will take field trips to WBEZ in Chicago. The first session is underway and runs from 8 a.m. to noon through June 25, and the second session runs from 8 a.m. to noon from July 6 through 15. For more information or to register, email smith1@garycsc.k12.in.us or call 219-516-3927. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. HAMMOND After multiple contamination complaints, PolyJohn Enterprises is moving forward with a plan to clean up plastic pellets found in and around George Lake. PolyJohn has been manufacturing portable toilets and sinks in a facility just a few feet from the north basin of George Lake for almost 40 years. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management completed an initial inspection of the PolyJohn site in July 2020 after a resident reported finding thousands of plastic particles in the wetlands around George Lake. The IDEM report explained that PolyJohn's stormwater lines extend to ditches that lead to George Lake. The IDEM inspector observed numerous plastic pellets in both ditches. After the July 2020 inspection, IDEM completed a follow-up investigation and found that PolyJohn had ramped up cleaning operations but that some plastics were still present. On Nov. 8, 2021, IDEM approved an agreed order requiring PolyJohn submit a compliance plan identifying cleanup efforts and preventative measures, as well as a stormwater pollution prevention plan. PolyJohn also had to pay IDEM $11,350 as part of the agreed order, which allows a settlement of violations without the alleged violator admitting guilt. Another resident complaint prompted an inspection of the site on March 25, 2022 IDEM found plastic pellets and "a fine gray plastic powder." IDEM issued a noncompliance letter March 31, 2022. The gray powder is called roto-powder, a material that is melted down to make portable sinks and port-a-potty tanks. The powder is usually collected by the catch basins that block PolyJohn's drains; however heavy spring rain can cause those basins to overflow, explained Sam Cooper, chief operations officer with PolyJohn. The numerous plastic pellets are polyethylene, a plastic that never fully breaks down in nature. Julie Peller, a Valparaiso University chemistry professor, said the polyethylene pellets only weather, becoming smaller, harder to remove and easier for critters to consume. When the many animals that call the lake home eat the plastic, it occupies their gut, giving them a false sense of fullness, and they ultimately become malnourished, Peller explained. Once it has been exposed to an environment, polyethylene is very difficult to get rid of. Because George Lake is owned by the city, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. met with PolyJohn to discuss the pollution. During a June 13 Common Council meeting, McDermott said he thought the meeting was "real positive." "It seemed to me that they were really concerned about the allegations of the plastic going into the water," McDermott told the council. "They were telling us about the containment they were establishing up there to prevent that from happening again." On March 23, PolyJohn submitted the required compliance plan. The companies' stated cleanup plans include using high-velocity vacuums to collect pellets that are on the soil and installing a containment boom and using skimmers to collect pellets in the water. PolyJohn now vacuums and sweeps its storage yard daily, using leaf blowers to get plastic pellets out of tight spaces. It also bought a tractor with a sweeping element, put up screens along the fences, mounted boot brushes near exits, have a new silo for chip storage and installed a curb that directs stormwater to storm sewers where chips should be captured by screens. PolyJohn said the screens are monitored daily. On May 31, IDEM responded to PolyJohn's compliance plan; many of the "deficiencies" IDEM noted had to do with the plan being too general. IDEM asked that PolyJohn document where exactly pellets have been found in the past, keep a detailed log of all inspections, specifically address how the roto-powder will be cleaned up, detail how new employees will be trained in the new maintenance measures and elaborate on how pellets found in the water and wetland are will be retrieved. IDEM also wanted PolyJohn to monitor after any storm event with 0.1 or more inches of rain. IDEM would like to see weekly monitoring until plastic pellet observations begin to decrease, at which time Respondent could transition to monthly monitoring, IDEM's response stated. PolyJohn will now submit a revised compliance plan for review before actual cleanup work can begin. The revised plan was due June 15. McDermott said that during his meeting, the possibility of PolyJohn eventually relocating was discussed. "The best-case scenario would be if we could relocate PolyJohn, but keep them in Hammond," McDermott said. "They are sort of out of place now, that whole area around PolyJohn with the Lost Marsh has turned natural on them, and they are the only industry really left in that area. ... They are open to making a move if we could find a place for them. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. MERRILLVILLE The former Fieldhouse facility has a new owner that intends to invest millions in the town and bring dozens of jobs to the community. Town Manager Patrick Reardon said Midwest Aerospace Casting acquired the building in the AmeriPlex at the Crossroads business park along Broadway and between 93rd and 101st avenues. The parent company, if you will, Chicago Magnesium, is long-standing, actively involved in working with NASA, certainly the aerospace industry, Reardon said. He said the firm is expanding into Merrillville from Illinois, and Midwest Aerospace will invest about $6 million in the first phase of the project. That investment consists of building acquisition, building renovation and equipping of that building, Reardon said. He said the company is expected to retain about 25 jobs and create another 20 positions in the initial phase. Reardon said there will be manufacturing positions and good, competitive wages will be offered. Midwest Aerospace will participate in the towns job fair that runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 21 at the Dean and Barbara White Community Center, 6600 Broadway. To assist the company, the Town Council unanimously approved an economic development agreement that will provide a financial incentive of up to $375,000 to Midwest Aerospace. Tax abatement had been considered, but town officials believe the direct financial support is the best option. If you look at the tax abatement, overtime, this up to $375,000 is less than what that projected tax abatement savings would be over 10 years, Reardon said. Reardon said the incentive must be earned by Midwest Aerospace, and it will be distributed as the company accomplishes objectives in the economic development agreement. That includes making certain investments in the property. Reardon said the business compliments the warehousing, distribution and manufacturing operations that are already in AmeriPlex and planned for the business park. Merrillville staff feels this is a home run, Reardon said. This is exactly the kind of company that we really want to bring. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BOSTON A second bar employee in Boston was indicted in connection to the stabbing death of Daniel Martinez, a Merrillville High School graduate who grew up in Crown Point and went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. Martinez, a 23-year-old Palos Hill resident, was fatally stabbed in March outside the Sons of Boston bar while visiting a fellow Marine he served with for St. Patrick's Day. Alvaro Larrama, a 38-year-old bouncer, was arrested shortly after his slaying on a charge of murder for fatally stabbing Martinez during an altercation in the street, where he was waiting with his friend to get in. Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden just announced a second Sons of Boston employee, 34-year-old Everett resident Alisha Dumeer, was indicted as an accessory after the fact. Dumeer will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on June 30, when details of the charges will be released. Larrama also will be arraigned then. This is a case that not only involves the fatal stabbing of Mr. Martinez but also the actions of people, including these two defendants, immediately after that stabbing. Our investigation is continuing and if additional charges are warranted, they will be pursued, Hayden said. The investigation into Martinez's death remains ongoing. His family, including his mother who lives in Crown Point, has filed suit against the Sons of Boston nightclub on Union Street in downtown Boston. The city of Boston suspended the liquor license of the bar. Martinez, who also attended Hammond Baptist Schools before going to Merrillville High School, was looking to buy a house, attend college to study photography or film and pursue his passion of traveling the world, his parents said. They are starting a foundation in his honor to carry on the legacy of his good deeds, including feeding the homeless in Chicago and volunteering at senior homes. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Dozier School itself was built on land owned by a descendant of Floridas Confederate governor, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot following the war, not long after telling the State Legislature that death would be preferable to reunion. After slavery, white reactionaries built a convict-leasing regime that ensnared Black Floridians, including children, in new systems of incarceration, coerced labor and violence. In fact, the segregated Dozier School was founded in 1900 to provide a progressive alternative to convict labor for juveniles. Instead, the school became a house of horrors that was always deadlier for Black boys than it was for white ones. Family members on the outside learned of some boys deaths with little information, after their bodies were already in the ground. Survivors remembered classmates being dragged away for corporal punishment and either returning with ghastly injuries or not returning at all. In 1914, a dormitory fire killed boys, the youngest only 5 years old, who had been chained to their beds. Despite all the evidence of atrocity, Kimmerle details the resistance she faced from some local residents who accused her team alternately of digging up graves or making them up. Because of the schools longevity, many in the community had deep connections to Dozier. Kimmerles response was to keep up the constant drumbeat of inquiry, proof and interpretation, trusting the scientific method to do its work. We Carry Their Bones walks readers through the painstaking job of reconstructing fragmentary skeletal remains, but Kimmerle also stops to register the emotional weight of particular discoveries, like a white-and-burgundy marble found in one boys grave. The result is a fascinating account of forensic science that gleams with moral clarity. As the book unfolds, Kimmerle increasingly focuses on the teams efforts to put names to buried remains and connect them to living family members through DNA testing. Drawing on her work in the Balkans, she spotlights the right of relatives to know about the fate of disappeared loved ones, and she movingly introduces the families, white and Black, who look to her to fill in painful gaps in their genealogies. For some, a measure of closure comes by the end of the book, though justice remains elusive. The emphasis on reuniting the remains with relatives does leave some aspects of Kimmerles investigation less fully addressed than others. After noting that a disproportionate number of Black deaths were attributed to a flu outbreak, Kimmerle asks, How were white and Black boys cared for during the flu epidemics in 1918 and 1932? The question recedes from view. Likewise, readers learn about a second group of survivor-activists, the Black Boys of Dozier, who appear at key junctures in Kimmerles narrative but whose aims and members are not as fully described as those of the White House Boys. In one corner, you might find an artisan hand-painting cyan blue onto white ceramic tableware, creating scenes of wildcats and tropical flora. Elsewhere, you can observe a silk engraver who uses her computers touch screen to color and fill in the design that will then be printed onto the lustrous fabric. Or perhaps youll catch a whiff of the deep, earthy scent of Hermess Volynka line of mahogany brown leather bags. Theres also an interactive workshop on the exacting process of leather stitching; guests get to take the fruits of their labors, stitched leather bookmarks, home with them. As part of the project, there have also been two panels, held at Detroits College for Creative Studies and moderated by Rebecca van Bergen of the nonprofit artisans guild Nest, on the concepts of repair and regeneration, with Aki Choklat, the chair of fashion design at the college, and the fashion designer (and Detroit native) Tracy Reese acting as panelists. And throughout the course of his travels he related the events of a world being turned upside down by war and emancipation. In the diary, which was later transcribed into a book, complete with misspellings, he recounted how in New York City he had visited the offices of The Anglo-African, one of the countrys leading Black newspapers, then passd throug some of the wealthey streets of Brooklyn and later Listened to a verry good Lecture by George Thompson of England, one of Britains leading abolitionists. Gould was across the Atlantic, helping chase down Confederate warships, when he heard the news that Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had captured Richmond, Va., the Confederate capital. On my return on board I heard the Glad Tidings that the Stars and Stripe had been planted over the Capital of the Dnd Confedercy by the invicible Grant, he writes. While we honor the living soldiers who have done so much we must not forget to whisper for fear of desturbeing the Glorious sleep of the ma[ny] who have fallen. Mayrters to the cau[se] of Right and Equality. After the war Gould settled in Dedham, Mass., and became a prosperous contractor. His diary ended up packed away in his attic. System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: %method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: %perl> 28: